On Board in Stuart

We moved on board March 12, 2012 and we are planning to leave April 4th, 2012. So we have "survived" for 19 nights and have 4 nights to go. And we are ready! Maybe not in the "technical" sense but certainly in the "let's get on with it" sense. I must say it has been a very steep learning curve for 19 days and I suspect the slope will not level out for some time!

I do not have enough time or space to spell it all out, and all the details would probably bore you to tears, so here are some of the highlights!

The Provisioning Stage!

The Sunset Bay Marina is located just "inside" and to the south of the Roosevelt Bridge, which conveys US Highway #1 over the St. Lucia River. It is really a 1st class marina, well sheltered, new facilities and in a scenic location. (It's also a great big-boy location because we are close to the approaches to the Stuart Airport - lots of private jets coming and going - and close to the railroad tracks that use an adjacent bridge - so lots of long trains). There is a very fancy restaurant adjacent to the marina and they have a band on the water front every Friday and Saturday evenings - free concert for us in the marina..

It only took us a few hours to load the goods we had hauled over from Arizona in the truck and trailer. The boat seems to have lots of storage and it all "disappeared" with space left over. We then started a shopping spree with the apparent intention of filling up the remaining space. Just about every day for a week we went shopping for "boat stuff" and provisions. On one visit to Walmart we spent over $450.00. Our Dodge truck was "big" in Stuart and the traffic on HWY 1 rather busy, so we both tired of this activity soon enough. However, I am happy with my beer and wine "ballast".

Arranging strong access to the internet was a high priority. The boat had a WiFi aerial, but I am now convinced it does not work. Its too late to order a new one, so I will delay that to Charleston. We did purchase a "Personal MiFi" from Verizon that we could equip with an aerial to improve 3G/4G reception and that seems to be "OK" but not great. We will see how it works "on the high seas" but the next step up will cost $1,000 (AKA "one boat unit") and I wanted to try the $50 alternative first.

Another item we purchased was a small combination "safe". I found a place where I could bolt it down out of site. I am sure that if a determined thief found it he/she could get it out, but it would need a big efforts and plenty of tools. We loaded it with our passports and other important documents all wrapped up in waterproof bags.

We have now sold the truck! The buyer paid us in cash - green folding money. The cash went into the safe and we probably will not have to take cash out of the bank for many months. So without personal transport our big shopping days are over. Yesterday I rode a marina loaner bike for a 9 mile round trip, to pick up a part for the boat. It was great! So much more fun than driving in all the traffic.

First Adventures on the water.

The first week in Stuart was calm as a millpond, but we were shopping! When the time came to actually start the engines and  move the boat it was blowing a gale (or so it seemed) for a week! But on Thursday the 22nd I could not look Deidre in the eye any more and just had to make the attempt, 20 MPH breeze or not! And it all went OK - basically.

The hardest part was getting Tide Hiker off the dock and into the fairway. In our section of th marina, all the boats were parked nose and tail, and so we basically had to make Tide Hiker move sideways. A boat does not turn like a car - it turns around its middle ("mid-ships) and so you cannot just drive out of the space. We were moored "starboard-to" with the bow point "out to sea". The breeze was on our stern. My method was to put the port engine forward and the starboard engine in reverse, which started to "twist" the stern out and the bow in towards the dock. I countered that motion with the bow thruster, with the effect that Tide Hiker moved sideways away from the dock. Because the wind was on our stern, I tweaked the starboard engine occasionally to counteract the breeze.

Once in the narrow fairway we headed at idle speed towards open water. As we reached the end of the fairway a largish power boat came from our port side (on its way to the fuel dock) and completely cut us off. We do not have brakes, and the wind was on our stern so I had to stop the boat by going into reverse. We were still in tight water, so it was a bit exciting. To make matters worse the crew on the other boat abused us! Deidre was on the bow and so copped the worse of it. She responded with a "I'm sorry, its our first day". That pissed me off even more, because I was 99% sure we were in the right!

The important thing was that we returned and "parked" Tide Hiker like a couple of pros! Our neighbors were impressed - mainly I suspect out of relief that I did not crash our boat into theirs.

Next challenge was an overnight.   We left the dock early on Monday 26th, headed for "Peck Lake" to anchor and stay overnight. First thing we discovered was that our chart plotter was useless, and we had to revert to paper charts and binoculars. We had to pass thru a very busy and confusing intersection of the ICW and St Lucie entrance which added to our general terror level. Everyone else seemed to know where they were going.

When we arrived at Peck lake it was full of Canadian boats, and there was limited room for us. We did put the anchor down, but in a bad spot, it was windy, and another boat had the cheek to up anchor and move away from us! I also had trouble managing the anchor and windlass. It did not seem to operate as I had expected.

We headed to another more isolated spot a couple of hours away - a small "pool" of about 12' deep surrounded by very shallow water, but we plonked ourselves nicely in the middle and settled down for the night quite pleased with ourselves. Deidre made tuna patties and salad for dinner - yum.

We slept well. I woke up about 6 AM hearing a "drip, drizzle, drip-drip" noise but it did not seem serious (a "gush-gush noise would be serious in my opinion) so I tried to go back to sleep. That was possibly a mistake. About 8 AM we got up and started breakfast, only to have our appetites blunted by quite a bad smell. Investigation discovered that the "Black Water Storage Tank" was overflowing into the bilge, and each time we used "the facilities" it overflowed by a commensurate amount. Not good.

After a couple of phone calls we figured out the root cause ("operator error") and put an end to it, but that left us with the "problem" in the bilge. So we decided to call it quits and head for the dock where I could clean up the mess. And that's when it went a bit "pear shaped"

To make a long story short, when we were upping anchor the windlass blew a fuse, and while I was sorting that out (more phone calls) we blew aground. And the wind started to pick up. It was low tide (thank goodness for small mercies) so we decided to wait it out and "float off". But the wind got worse so I decided to call for a tow. But that was going to be $800 so I re-decided to get off independently (Boating seems to involve lots of decisions)

Anyway, as a result of some brilliant sea-woman-ship we got off OK and made it back to the dock, where I spent a few hours cleaning the bilge, which is now sweet smelling.

Friends

New friends - Jon & Bonnie, Lisa and Jeff Noyes

We were told we would meet lots of people, and this seems to be the case. There seem to be plenty of live-on-board trawler people, like us, and we have palled up with a few on our dock. Surprisingly, most (like about 99%) are oldies like us. We are told they can be a bit "clannish" - Nordhavn crew do not mix much with DeFever crew) but we have not struck that yet.

There are also lots of active Clubs and Associations, and we have joined a few, and this month we are headed for our first rendezvous in Fernandina Beach, FL -  the Marine Trawler Owners Association. We are told there will be lots of educational seminars - like "How to make your Social Security go further on the water", plus social events.

We will be heading North with another boat in convoy - a Kadey-Krogan, no less! I hope we can keep up.