We spent a very comfortable night, it was dead calm, the boat did not seem to move a foot. We were up at 7 AM and on our way by 8 AM. It was sunny and calm, but the forecast called for increasing NE winds, and they arrived by mid morning. Because the wind was coming from the North, and we were heading North at 8 kts, up on the bridge it felt pretty strong.
We were headed for Palm Shores, about 35 miles North. Palm Shores is a large housing area on a canal system, so that all the house have waterfront and most seem to have docks. Apparently there are about 20 trawlers based here, and they are hosting a party for people like us headed North for the rendezvous. The party is tonight. You can see a representation of the canal system on the chart plotter in this photo.
We had been told that if we called ahead and arrived early the organizers would have a dock for us, and that's how it worked out. The depth was marginal for us, and we certainly churned up some mud, but we are now safely docked behind Bill Golden's house. They invited us to "plug in" to their 30 AMP service on the dock, and we have done so, so now our batteries are happily charging. ("Happy batteries, happy boat"). I also attached one of our hoses to their garden tap, and gave the decks a bit of a clean up. I would have washed down the whole boat, but Deidre thought that was "taking advantage".
New friends: Bill and Laura Benson popped in before the party. Bill & Laura happened to be visiting "Bobby" the MTOA Port Captain when we were "in distress" a few nights ago and so knew the whole story. Bill went below with me to check on the fan belt replacement He also offered to help me re-set the main engine tappets next time we crossed paths. Nice guy!
Short note on sunken boats.
We have now seen three sunk boats - all sail boats. I assume there may be more, its just that these did not sink "all the way". We saw one at the anchorage at "Peck's Lake" on our first venture out, another in the Vero Beach mooring area, and another today a little north of where we anchored for the night.
Apparently abandoned boats, on the bottom or not, are a bit of a problem in Florida. If one abandons a car, the tires go flat and after a month or so the city tows it to a junk yard and its gone. But abandoned boats eventually sink, pollute the area with their oil and whatever, and are expensive to remove, and have zero value. At the moment, many local governments do not have the $$ to remove them. This boat (on the left) was just off the main channel and looked like it had been stripped (no wheel, no winches. no rigging etc)
When a yacht runs aground on the outgoing tide it cannot stand on its keel and it falls over. When the tide comes in the boat fills up with water before it has the chance to refloat. I learnt this from David Miller when he lent me his 33 ft yact on Pittwater north of Sydney.
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