Longboat Key Club Moorings (Jan 22-Feb 6)

January 22, 2013
27 22.104 N
82 37.110 W

NOTE: We will be here for at least two weeks. I will update this page for the duration of our stay. I will start a new page when we arrive at a new destination. Bob

Tide Hiker backed in

The Club House

We picked up Jon & Bonnie at 9:00AM and headed to town We wanted some breakfast and a look around the city before we headed out at about Noon. We found a decent deli for breakfast and then stood on a corned and waved down "Lollie the Trolly" for a 30 minute tour of down town. The price was right $0.25 for me and $0.50 for my young wife.

Back on the boat we dropped the pennant right on time and headed for Longboat Key, about 28 NM away. The trip was uneventful except for two bridges that were only a couple of miles apart but only opened every 1/2 an hour which was awkward. The weather was OK but with a fresh breeze of 15 - 20 MPH on our stern.

We arrived at the marina at about 5 PM. Bon Voyage went in first, we waited 10 minutes in the bay so that we would be sure of getting serviced by the dock hand. Good thing we did because our assigned slip involved some tight maneuvering in the strong breeze. My first approach was a bust and we hit one of the pylons pretty hard, but in a "good spot" so no scratches. Next try I was a bit wiser and we made it in OK.

But the slip was no good as there was no way for us to get off the boat and the water near the bulkhead was too shallow for Tide Hiker to back in. So we arranged for a change of location the next day.

Bonnie and Jon came over for dinner. Deidre excelled as usual.

Wednesday January 23, 2013

Sunny but chilly morning, and the wind had died down. Jon came over after breakfast and helped us move the boat. We are now backed in and in a more convenient part of the marina. We explored the marina - seems like a nice place. It is associated with a resort hotel and golf course. All we need is another 10 degrees.

We got the bikes down and did a shop at the local Publix supermarket.

Thursday January 24th, 2013

Jon and Bonnie have a truck that follows them around. The truck was currently located in Brunswick Georgia and so Jon rented a car and the two of us set off at 8 AM to fetch the truck. It was a 330 miles each way, we had lunch in Brunswick and headed back, home by 8 PM.

While we were away, Deidre had arranged to meet up with Barb Pesnichak, an old Valparaiso friend who now lives in Bradenton, about 30 minutes away. (In a previous life, Barb had invited Deidre to visit her in Peking. Deidre still thinks it was the best trip of her life.) They had lunch together and Barb introduced Deidre to her hair dresser.

Friday January 25th, 2013

Sue and Bruce were arriving Saturday so we had today to clean up the boat. We were still having some problems with the "master head" and an ordered part - a replacement "joker valve" - had arrived Thursday. I had to take the toilet apart to install it, and that took most of the day. Dinner and a movie on Bon Voyage - our hosts both fell asleep in the movie.

Saturday January 26th, 2013

Australia Day. Sue and Bruce arrived in time for lunch. We chatted on the aft deck and enjoyed some beverages. Later in the afternoon we drove a few miles to an outdoor art show at St. Armands Circle. The people looking was good.

Sunday January 27th, 2013

Eating at the beach

This morning I got Bruce busy on a few varnishing jobs. Barb and Jim Pesnichak arrived at Noon and we six drove to a fun restaurant for lunch. The place was right on the beach and in the sun. When we got back to the boat Bruce and I set to the task of changing the oil in the two engines. After dinner we four headed for the hot tub.

Meanwhile the weather has been perfect - high 70's and low 80's with hardly a cloud in the sky. The marina resort and the surrounding area is just a small paradise. Longboat Key is just a neat place.

Sue's Corona-rita

Monday January 28, 2013

Deidre discovered that our toilet was leaking this morning. That revelation pretty much determined my day.

When I put it back together on Saturday I was concerned that the stress on the components was going to cause a leak. So we spent most of the morning driving around Sarasota looking for the parts I needed to change the plumbing. Back at the boat Deidre, Sue and Bruce headed for the beach leaving me in the crapper. I was still at it when they returned. That evening we played a card game called "500". As required by tradition, the "girls" creamed the "boys".

Tuesday January 29, 2013 .

The toilet project remains basically resolved, but not complete and tested. We have guests and they take precedence and so today we headed for a picnic and beach day. We drove to Turtle Beach on Siesta Key. Unfortunately we hit Sarasota just as the "Great Wallender" completed his high wire thing and got caught in the traffic. But we eventually arrived and enjoyed bar-b-que lunch and the beach.

Wednesday January 30th, 2013

Warm and very windy, white caps on the bay, red flags on the Gulf.. We drove over to the beach side resort and tried to get in the sun and hide from the wind. Enjoyed lunch on the patio out of the wind. Went to see "Quartet" at the movies and then Sue and Bruce shouted us dinner afterwards. Nice relaxing day.

Deidre and Sue

Thursday January 31st, 2013

Last day for Sue and Bruce and they took us out for a slap up breakfast near Square. We were back by about Noon and they finished packing and headed out for the Airport. I rode my bike to Ace and picked up some parts for the toilet and finished the job. I think it is OK! The photos below show "before" and 'after". The difference may seem insignificant, but it took me about 3 days "on and off". The change resulted in much less stress on all the joins and hence less propensity to leak.

Before

After

Friday February 1, 2013

Spent most of the day in the car with Jon and Bonnie doing errands and shopping and getting a hair cut. Lunch at a Thai restaurant and coffee at Starbucks. Spent some time in the hot tub.

Saturday February 2, 2013

Today I scrubbed the underside of the canvas over the Flying Bridge, and the canvas awning over the Aft Deck. Both had been showing signs of mildew and were looking a bit sad. They look pretty good now.

Sunday February 3, 2013

Today I changed the oil and filters in both generators and cleaned up the ER a bit. In the afternoon we went to see "Zero Dark Thirty" with Jon and Bonnie, followed by Mexican dinner. A good day.

Monday February 4, 2013

Quiet day

This morning I had a tooth removed. I cannot say it was just "pulled" because I had to go to a dental surgeon and he needed to cut it into about 8 pieces to get it all out.. The tooth has been bothering me for 6 months and was starting to get worse. I did not want to end up with a major tooth ache any time in the next three months as we will be moving pretty continuously.

We will leave Longboat Key when I am happy with the healing process, probably later this week. Unfortunately Bob Voyage will not be with us as they have company coming here, and we need to get underway so that we can be sure we will be back at the Palm Coast to catch the plane to Australia on 3/30.

Tuesday February 5, 2013

Went to be ad 8 PM last night and enjoyed 12 hours of drug induced sleep. Deidre made me a "soft breakfast of scrambled eggs and baked beans which was yum. Took it easy most of the day, ended up reading in the sun at the pool until about 5 PM when Barbara and Jim arrived to take us out to dinner.

Wednesday February 6, 2013

I am feeling pretty good so will be leaving Thursday. To day is "get the boat shipshape" day, starting with a pump out this morning.

St. Petersburg, FL

Sunday January 20, 2013
27 46.571 N
82 37.733 W

Great Mooring Ball, right downtown

There are good days and there are great days - and today was a great day!

We had the anchor up at 7AM sharp, called the bridge and were on our way. We had about 12 miles of waterway to Venice and then we were heading out into the Gulf. Overall trip to St. Petersburg was 63 NM.

A bridge

As we approached Venice we saw dead fish in the water, the numbers increasing to the thousands. I asked a bridge operator on the radio and he explained that there had recently been a large algae bloom in the Gulf that had killed the fish. This is a problem in the Gulf, seems to happen every summer, because of the warm water temps and all the fertilizer coming down the rivers.

By 9:30 AM we were out in the Gulf. The pass at Venice was very attractive, with marinas, white sand beaches and beautiful houses on either side as we approached. The Gulf was very benign and all we had to do was set a course and keep an eye out for crab pots. We set a course that would take us out past the 3 miles limit so we could "you know what". The sun was in and out, when it was shining the water was perfect blue. A bit of weather rolled past, for an hour or less we had breaking waves, but then it settled again.

After about 40 miles off shore we made the turn into Tampa Bay. There is a new cable stayed bridge spanning the entrance. We were in this area 20 odd years ago on vacation and a ship hit the bridge the day after we arrived, bringing it and a dozen cars down. It made the drive back to the airport later that week much longer for us. The new bridge is quite impressive, and it is well protected!

Into Tampa Bay

We were heading for a mooring field in St. Petersburg. The couple who sold us Tide Hiker, Norm and Vicki Naughton, now live in a fancy high rise apartment building overlooking the mooring field.and they had kindly invited us to dinner. The mooring field was right down town "in the middle of the action". When we were moored we had "front row seats" to a rock concert going on in the park. The mooring field was surrounded by parks and right down town. What a spot.

We picked up Bonnie and Jon in the dinghy and headed to the Naughtons for dinner. Their condo was on the 10th floor with fantastic views of the waterfront. Norm had watched us approach from 10 miles away. (Deidre and I had expertly picked up the mooring ball, and knowing Norm would be watching, we had taken a bow towards his building. He had seen us and appreciated the show of respect.) Vicki put on a great dinner and a good time was had by all.

Monday January 21, 2013

Today is MLK day so we are headed down town for the parade and an explore.

Lemon Bay

Saturday January 19, 2013
26 55.670 N
82 21.221 W

We are now travelling with Jon and Bonnie so "early" is the plan of the day. We were underway at 8 AM sharp. (Tomorrow we head out at 7 AM!) For the first 20 miles or so we were retracing our route North past Pelican Bay. Other than a couple of bridges it was an uneventful day. We were anchored by 3 PM.

Shortly thereafter we watched a Monk 36' arrive in the same anchorage. We waved to the captain as he passed and 1/2 an hour later he was back in his dinghy for a beer. What a character. I found him quite interesting, meantime Deidre was hiding the silver.

Early to bed, we are raising the anchor at 7 AM tomorrow for a 62 NM offshore run to Tampa Bay.

Ft. Myers Beach

Thursday January 17, 2013
26 27.310 N
81 56.462 W

One of my new "rule of thumb" habits is to watch what the sailing boats do. When we struggled out of bed and put on the coffee this morning, it was hard to ignore the fact that the sailing boats were leaving the anchorage "en masse". So we rubbed our groggy eyes and looked at the weather forecast, to discover that the cool front due on Friday was a day early and was bringing some strong winds.

Sailors are strange people

So we decided to beat a path back to the Ft Myers area so that we would be strategically placed to get Kylie to the airport on Friday - tomorrow. So we had the dinghy back on the roof and the anchor up in no time flat. Unfortunately our departure was only about an hour after low tide so we needed to carefully feel our way out. All went well.

The wind picked up as we headed south, but it was mostly on our beam. The front "blew through" at a bout 1 PM and we retreated to the pilot house and Deidre made hot chocolate all round. We had been offered use of a private dock on the south end of Pine Island, but we decided to get close to the AP, just in case the wind was strong in the AM. We reserved a ball at Ft. Myers Beach, and arrived about 3 PM. It was blowing a bit and the balls were in poor condition, many of them missing the pennant. We tried 3 or 4 times before succeeding. At one point we ran over a ball and heard a loud "crunch". I assume it hit a prop.

The pennant was in poor shape (covered in growth) and I was concerned it could fail so decided to put our own lines on the ball, so we launched the dinghy in record time and Kylie and I added an extra line from our bow to the ball. Much better.

Chicken salad for dinner followed by plum pudding and hot custard in front of the fire. Kylie chose a DVD (Mr. Brooks) and we settled down for a windy night. I have just put an extra line on the dinghy, run up the batteries and we are going to hit the sack.

Friday January 18, 2013

Easy morning. We loaded into the dinghy about 10 AM and headed to shore. Ky needed to be in a cab on her way to the AP by 12:30PM. We paid for the ball and then headed into town looking for breakfast, which we found at a restaurant overlooking the beach. Ky ordered the taxi and it arrived on time and we said our goodbyes. It had been fun.

Deidre and I killed an hour wandering around this beach town doing a little window shopping. We were impressed with the beach and decided that we would like to return one day in the summer. Back in the dinghy we cruised around the shrimp fleet till we saw a "Shrimp for sale" sign and found a place to land the dinghy. We bought two pounds of fresh large headless shrimp for $20. The lady even boiled them for us and packed them in ice.

Moored at Ft. Myers Beach

Back on Tide Hiker we made contact with Bon Voyage and plans for dinner. Deidre and I were both looking forward to the reunion - we had left Bon Voyage in Charleston December 4. The mooring field was in bad shape, so I identified a ball for Bon Voyage and visited it in the dinghy and added a 1" line and a float so they would have an easy pick up. They arrived on time.

Deidre put on a slap up shrimp dinner and we drank two bottles of champagne. It was fun.

Pelican Bay

Tuesday January 15, 2013
26 41.483 N
82 14 561 W

We set off at about 9 AM and made the 35 NM run to Pelican Bay in perfect weather. As we left the Caloosahatchee River and turned North into Pine Island Sound the water started to clear and turn blue. At last! There were lots of dolphins around and several times a pod of 3 or 4 decided to ride our bow wave. It is intriguing to lean over the rail and watch them swimming so effortlessly and watching back at us.

Porpoise watching

The entry into Pelican Bay was a bit tricky but we had done our research and all went well. The anchorage is separated from the Gulf by Cayo Costa and also protected from the East by a cluster of mangrove islands. There was about a dozen other boats anchored when we arrived.

We quickly launched the dinghy and Kylie and I went for an explore. There is a park Rangers Camp on the Island (the island is also a popular camping site) so we went ashore to investigate. They sold a few supplies including ice creams, so we bought one for Deidre and ran it back to Tide Hiker. The ranger had also told us of a Manatee breeding creek, so the 3 of us found the creek and puttered arround in the mangroves. We did not find any manatees, but we did find a lot of mosquitoes and no-see-ums. I am still itching 12 hours later.

Cheeseburger in paradise.

Two or three miles before anchorage we passed Cabbage Key. It is a little island with a famous cafe, reportedly where the Jimmy Buffet wrote the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise". Some how I managed to con Deidre into making the trip for dinner in the dinghy, knowing that we would be coming back in the dark. The trip there took about 45 minutes as we navigated around the various mangrove islands to Cabbage Key. On arrival the place seemed deserted, but the cafe was open for business. We were the only people there. I had a cheeseburger.

The trip back in the dark was a hoot. It was dead calm, Deidre drove and I used the iPad to navigate. I enjoyed the whole experience, the Admiral said "Not again". Kylie remained neutral.

Wednesday January 17, 2013

Yikes!

A really relaxing day. French Toast and lots of coffee for breakfast. It was a perfect morning, warm and sunny with a gentle breeze. We loaded into the dink and headed for the island. We landed at the Rangers pier and walked over to the beach and spent a hour or so walking in the shallows towards the point. We hitched a ride on the "tram" back to the bay side and dinked back to the boat for lunch.

After lunch Kylie and I had a go at cleaning the "mustache" off the bow with lemon juice. It worked! We should be in "clean" water for a few months now so hopefully the mustache is a thing of the past. Kylie wanted to be a bit "blonder" and so we then used the  same supply of lemon juice to give her hair a treatment.

Deidre had her stockings on back to front

Girls on the beach

Then back into the dink for a trip to an isolated sand bar for a relax.

Ft. Myers

Monday January 14, 2013
26 38.853 N
81 52.207 W

Power Station

We were moving at 9 AM and we were docked in Ft. Myers by 11:30 AM. The only interesting feature on the way west was a new natural gas power station.

Deidre headed off on foot to the supermarket, I headed off to the hardware store on the bike. I rode back to the supermarket to meet Deidre and we both humped the groceries back to the boat.

Kylie turned up right on time. That evening we walked into town for dinner.

Franklin Lock Marina and Park

Friday January 11, 2013
26 43.390 N
81 41.461 W

"We" scratched the boat today. Its not that bad but it frustrates me that I make these mistakes. We were heading into a lock on the Chattahoochee river. The lock master told us "any side" and we were set up for port so I decided port. But as we entered the lock the wind caught Tide Hiker and I just could not move her close enough port side for Deidre to grab a line. So I decided to let the wind blow us the other way and called down to Deidre to move the fenders to starboard side. But now the problem was reversed and I had a hard time holding her off the starboard wall. Deidre got one fender in at the stern and I ran out to tend to the bow. That was my mistake. If I had stayed put I could have used the bow thruster to keep her off. The forward rub rail touched the dock ever so softly, but 30 tons of boat running into the immovable concrete wall, even so slowly, popped the paint on the rub rail. DAMN.

Otherwise it was a good but long day. We had planned for 42 NM day ending up in a little town called La Belle. We had 2 alternate plans for the night in the area. It's a river/canal so there are not a lot of anchorage choices. But when we arrived at about 4 PM it turned out that neither alternative would work, so we had to continue on. The next possible spot was a Corp of Engineers camp ground that had a small marina attached, about 14 miles ahead. Sunset was at 5:50 PM, we would arrive at about 6:15 PM. I used the satellite image of the approach and docks on the iPad - we were the little blue ball.

Mostly pellicans

The track around the lake had been a bit boring, but the ride along the waterway was rather pleasant. As we moved west the waterway changed from mostly man made to mostly river. We had seen plenty of bird life, but only one alligator and he dived before I could get the camera. Much of our surrounds had been swamp or sugar cane farms. During the morning we had seen several columns of smoke that we concluded to be burning sugar fields. Sure enough, ash started to land on the boat and make quite a mess.

The marina camp ground turned out to be good value. With our senior card, just $12 per day, including water and electricity. We are now only 12 miles from Ft. Myers so will probably stay here a couple of nights.

In the photo on the left shows us running the boat on dry land, per the chart plotter. This bothers me, it cannot be good for the paint on the keel!

Saturday & Sunday January 12 & 13, 2013

Nice spot!

We stayed two more nights., planning to leave on Monday Morning so we can meet Kylie in Ft Myers some time in the afternoon.

Torry Island Free Town Dock

Thursday January 19, 2013
26 42.197 N
80 42.937 W

Woke with somewhat of a sensitive head this morning, do not understand that. Nevertheless we were underway by 8:30 AM with out cruise plan calling for two locks and 49 NM, so quite a big day. Weather forecast was OK though calling for 15-20 mph winds during the afternoon, calming to 10-15 mph this evening.

Hang on Deidre!!

We were soon out of the river and into the first lock of the canal system. This lock lifted us 16' and took about 20 minutes. We were the only boat in the lock and all went well. The canal was "canal-ish" cutting thru swamp and mangrove alternating with farm land. By 3 PM we had arrived at the lock that let us out into the lake. This lock lifted us a mighty 2". (Not a typo, just two inches.)

The swing railway bridge

We also had a couple of lifting railroad bridges to pass. They are typically up and open, just closed when there was a train coming. To our dismay the first such bridge closed as we approached. Usually they are automatic, but I tried the radio to get details. To my surprise we received an immediate response to our call, that was something like: "Sorry about that! The train is on its way but if you hurry I will open the bridge and let you through!" We sure hurried, Deidre had visions of a four locomotive freight train slamming on its \brakes as it approached the open bridge at 75 MPH.

We must have been protected in the canal for as soon as we hit the lake the wind hit us. My new hat went straight overboard – it was a Christmas present from Deidre. (It was sorta inevitable - I left it at the restaurant last night and the waiter had to chase us down with it.) The wind was quite strong, but mostly on our beam and so in effect was just a nuisance. We hugged the east shore (it was an east wind) and so the water was still reasonably flat. We had about 20 miles to cover.

Too fast....

Lake Okeechobee is the Bass Fishing Capital of America, so we are told. And people who fish for bass drive bass fishing boats. BFB tend to be about 25' long, flat on top, painted with sparkly paint and powered by one or two enormous outboards. They are driven at 80 MPH or more wherever they go. I have no idea why this is the case, although maybe bass fish can swim really fast? I suspect the BFB owners also own assault rifles, but that is just a guess. Anyway, we were passed by a bunch of these boats today and I tried to take a photo but they go too fast to get a decent photo. I have included my best results below.

Hand operated swing bridge

We had picked out an anchorage that would be a bit tight, now especially so because the wind was forecast to swing from East to West during the night. There was a small town on the way that offered a city dock for free, and we planned to check out to see if we could fit. To get to the dock we had to go through a hand powered swing bridge – no kidding. We called them on the radio but the guy who operated the bridge was cutting his lawn and could not hear the phone, so someone had to go “fetch him”. But after a 20 minute delay he arrived and the bridge was duly opened.

A little tight

The dock was probably a bit small for Tide Hiker but by now I was pretty keen to make it work. So we did, and here we are, although our bow is nestled in the water hyacinth that grows by the shore. 

Stewart

Tuesday January 8, 2013
27 12.604 N
80 16.990 W

Another good day. We dropped the pennant about 8:15 AM and threaded our way out to the ICW. It was another perfectly calm morning. First stop was a fuel depot in Fort Pierce, about 15 NM south where we took on 475 US gallons. We are now chocker with fuel.

The weather was calm and warm, with a few small thunder storms that pushed us below for 15 or so minutes each time. We were headed for Stuart where we hoped to take a ball at Sunset Marina in Stuart. Unfortunately no balls were available and so we resolved to anchor in the river.

Stuart Anchorage

During the afternoon we came across an Australian couple on a sailing boat also headed to Stuart. We had a good chat on the radio and resolved to get together for lunch tomorrow.

We were anchored by 3:15. Forecast was for south east winds backing further to the east so we should be good here.

Wednesday January 9, 2013

Enjoyed a restful night. It rained cats and dogs about 4 AM but there was no wind. We have decided to hang around here for the day so we can meet up with the Australians this afternoon. They have picked a bar-restaurant to meet that overlooks our anchorage so I will be able to keep an eye on Tide Hiker while we are away.

We met the Australian-Canadians at The Deck and had a fun evening. Its amazing just how much you have in common with a fellow countryman. We stayed for dinner and I maybe had too many beers, but the dinghy knew the way back to Tide Hiker in the dark

Vero Beach

Sunday January 6, 2013
27 39.639 N
80 22.325 W

Today was a fun day. We woke up under a blanket of fog. We had planned top leave at 8AM so we delayed that till 9AM to give the fog a chance to lift. But by then it was no better. We had to leave no later than 10 AM or we would not make Vero in the light (and I do not like boating in the dark). At 10 AM I could see blue sky straight up, and that was enough for me. It had to burn off soon! So we pulled out.

I was immediately disoriented. Even with all the aids to navigation under my nose I was disoriented and the boat was going in circles. Then, as usual, the Admiral came to the rescue. "Here is a compass course for the bridge. Adjust it to "true", enter it into the auto pilot and let go the wheel!" That worked, and we started making progress. We were only doing about 4 kts and had our radar and fog horn going, so felt comfortable enough. We were on the radio listening and talking to other boats. The water was dead calm.

The fog lifted at about Noon and it was a perfect sunny day. We moved from the Pilot House to the Bridge. Deidre changed into shorts and a tee shirt. It was warm.

Mooring field at Vero Beach

We arrived at Vero about 4:45 PM. We were assigned a ball and threaded our way thru the boats to our spot. There were all sorts of boats from all sorts of places. During the fog we had "made friends" with an English boat and had been invited over for drinks. As soon as Tide Hiker was secure we had the dinghy in the water and off we went. The captain was ex RAF and had sailed the boat over from the UK.

Deidre had been cooking during the afternoon. Its good to cook underway as we have more electricity then. Plus the vent for the galley must exit just under my seat on the bridge and I get to enjoy the aromas in advance. She had made a tasty meat sauce and we had it over pasta.

Tomorrow we will catch the bus into Vero Beach for breakfast. (No photos today. I took some, but forgot to put the memory chip back into the camera)

Monday January 6, 2013

Ladies Rowing Practice

This morning we were woken up by the local ladies rowing club practice. Since we were awake we put a fast 1/2 hour charge into the batteries and took the dinghy into the marina, from where we took the free city bus to "downtown" Vero. Found a decent breakfast place where we ate and read till we could eat and read no more. Followed by $100 shop at Publix and then back to the dinghy and boat. No lunch today! This afternoon we have done "boat things" and now taking it easy. We have decided to recover the dinghy before the rain comes and eat dinner at home.

Taking it easy - the new baby's blanket

Tomorrow we head for the St. Lucie River and Stuart. Arriving at Stuart will mark the end of our first "voyage" after just over 600 hours of engine time. On the way tomorrow we plan to stop in Ft. Pierce to take on about 500 gallons of fuel.

Cocoa

Saturday January 5, 2013
28 21.468 N
80 43.531 W

The honey boat arrives - late

The pump out boat did not arrive until almost Noon. We had planned to cruise south 42 NM and anchor in the Banana River but now it was too late to make it there. So we decided to just cruise 15 miles or so to Cocoa and check out the marina and the town. The place had been recommended by several people.

We were underway soon after Noon and the sun came out. We ran the boat from the bridge and it was just like "the old days". It was a pleasant and short run, and we were all tied up in our new slip soon after 3:00 PM. Barely got the engine war.

Its been a while since we have had 50 amp service, so we have everything going! It turned out to be more expensive then we expected. Deidre has stripped our bed and has the linen in the washing machine. I have every charger turned on.

With the boat humming we walked into town. As promised it was a cute and touristy place and we picked out a Thai restaurant for dinner. Back to the boat to reload the washer and clean up for dinner out. While we were walking to the restaurant I received a call from a boater in the marina - it was movie night at the marina and we were invited for an 8 o'clock showing of "Silver Lining".

Dinner was great, the movie was OK and we were back in bed by 11PM. Tomorrow we were headed for Vero Beach, a 7 hour run.

Titusville

Friday January 4, 2013
28 37.452 N
80 48.243 W

Friday morning in Daytona was a continuation of Thursday night - cool, wet and windy. I got up a few times during the night to check the anchor but Tide Hiker held her ground nicely, despite the exposed anchorage. The wind seemed stronger than advertised. (I would like my own anometer one day).

Sometimes you just need a place to stand

We were underway by about 10 AM. We were not in a hurry as our target today was the mooring field at Titusville which was only 41 NM away. The weather stayed the same so we set up in the Pilot House all day. The wind was still 10-15 kts but on our tail so it had no effect on our comfort.

We arrived at Titusville at about 4PM and did a good job connecting to our ball. The wind picked up as the sun set so we decided to stay put for the night - there is a nice restaurant under the bridge that we had dinghy-ed to last visit. The boat was bouncing around when we went to bed. We had "double roped" the mooring ball but just for my piece of mind I also set the anchor alarm. The way we were facing we wopuld blow right onto a rock wall if something let go.But nothing did and we both slept well.

Its saturday morning now and the sun is out. First time for a couple of days. We are waiting for the pump out boat and we will get underway.

Daytona Beach

Thursday January 3, 2013
29 11.767 N
81 00.208 W

Low tide was at 9:00 AM this morning, not the best time to leave the development. We remembered the water being a bit skinny on the way in, and that was close to high tide. So we took it easy this morning and delayed departure till 11.00 AM, with about 30% tide. We made it out to the ICW easily enough, although the depth gauge got down to 0.7 of a foot, and the depth gauge is located about a foot higher than the keel, so we were "plowing some mud" for a bit.

"Needs a little work"

The port starting battery crapped out again this morning. I had engaged the battery charger for a few days while we were at Palm Coast, but obviously it cannot hold a charge. So next time we stay more than a couple of days at a marina I will be ordering a replacement and looking for volunteers. Fortunately the port starting battery is the "easy one".

I had originally planned on reaching an anchorage in New Smyrna Beach but because of our late departure that seemed a bit out of reach. The weather was not especially pleasant, overcast and grey with rain threatening, so we were "just doing the miles". I ran the boat from the bridge most of the morning until it just got too cold for my bare legs. There were a couple of possible anchorages in the Daytona and that is where we have ended up. Its not a particularly protected spot but the wind forecast is pretty mild. It seems to be steady 10 kts from the North with some stronger gusts. Maybe it will lay down a bit tonight.

We have all of our Nav systems operation at the moment so I took this photo of the pilot house.
From left to right:
1. Active Captain - mostly for anchorages and marinas etc
2. Polar Navy - Chart Plotter on the computer
3. CMaps - Chart Plotter on the Furuno
4. eSea Chart Plotter on the Ipad
And of course Deidre has the paper charts out.I love the set up - Deidre thinks I am nuts.

Back to Palm Coast

Sunday Dec 30 thru Wednesday Jan 2

On the way back to Florida we paid a visit to a pair of Valpo friends. (Bill was the Plate Mill Superintendent at Inland Steel and Dee was in the personnel department. Bill and Dee retired 10 or more years ago and moved to Gulf Shores, AL about the same time Deidre and I moved to Scottsdale. We had kept in touch but had not crossed paths in 12  or so years.) When they heard we would be "passing their door" on the way to/from Houston they invited us to stay. We stayed two nights and had great fun catching up on all the news. I find it interesting that neither of them had aged a minute.

We were back on the boat by 6 PM Saturday. Sunday we did the shopping because the rental car was to be returned Monday. We were planning to leave Palm Coast on News Year's Day but were we expecting a package Monday that was delayed till Wednesday.

Head in the Electro Scan again

This gave me a chance to get on with some jobs. I had our new compass to install and wanted to try a few more fiddles with the Electro Scan. The new compass looks smart, the sanitation system is still kaput.

Wiring the new compass