Cruising the Florida Coast

Cruising Again

Now that our time as dirt dwellers was over it was time to get cruising again.  On May 7^th we had a good weather window and were ready to leave dock at Harbourside Marina in Fort Pierce Florida and commence our trip north to Canada. Our next port of entry was to be Fernandia Beach, Florida on the border of Georgia and Florida which was a 260 nautical mile run over 33 hours offshore.  But it wasn’t meant to be.  We were underway at 09:00 and at 13:00 we discovered an oil leak. Ted was able to isolate it to a gasket on one of the head covers.  We monitored the situation and recalculated our cruise plan for the day. Our only option was to go into Port Canaveral and find a marina. While Ted was down checking the engine I observed a rocket launch that had been announced by NASA and the coast guard. It happened so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to grab my camera and take pictures. All I saw was a yellow object heading straight up with a long trail of smoke. At 15:45 the oil leak increased and the oil pressure dropped.

SEATOW to the rescue

Time to call in for assistance. We radioed SeaTow and explained the situation that we were concerned about doing damage to the engine if the oil got too low.  They rendezvoused with us at the entrance of the Canaveral Barge Canal and took us under tow while we shut down our engine.  I was a little busy at the bow getting the tow line in place and watching for traffic to take pictures. Rick the towboat driver brought us under tow into Sunrise Marina but not without a few more marks on our newly paint hull.  Once at dock the staff wanted to move us off the gas docks and back us into a slip. We discussed our strategy and decided that SeaTow would pull the boat and Ted would start the engine to assist with the manoeuvre.   I was at the stern when I heard a shout and then a crash. One of the staff on the stern with me rushed to the fuel pump which got knocked over by one of our ropes which had been left unattended. Luckily no gas leak, no explosion and no damage except for the glass in the front of the pump. As a precaution they took it out of service.  We washed down the boat and waited for engine to cool down before starting the much needed clean-up of our oil spill in the bilge.  Within a few hours the next morning we had the gasket replaced on the head cover, the bilge and engine cleaned and had time to enjoy a Mothers Day breakfast before getting back underway at 11:00. We timed our departure so that we would arrive in Fernandina Beach at daybreak the following day. Once again we called John and Nora aboard SaberTooth to check in with them as our shore contact during our offshore run. We shut down at 19:00 for 20 minutes to check the oil levels on the engine. Winds were light and waves were less than 2 feet so we just drifted in the Atlantic Ocean rather than dropping an anchor. At daybreak we were approaching the entrance of St. Marys River and Fernandina Beach. We dodged the many fishing trawler who were already out shrimping at the entrance of the River.  By 07:45 we were at dock at Florida Petroleum, our cheapest fuel stop along the entire trip. We take on 630 gallons of fuel and a wash down to get rid of the salt spray before walking into town along the picturesque little town on Amelia Island. Back to the boat for dinner with Nora and John we get a chance to catch up with them on their winter experiences cruising in the Bahamas. We had not seen them since leaving Fernandina last November.

Pictures to follow once I have a chance to upload them.

Boat Yard Blues

The Haul-Out

On April 2^nd we left Fort Pierce Municipal Marina with Branko and Maggie as crew to assist us with the narrow approached to the haul out basin at Riverside Marina.  I explained to Jason who drove the 70 ton travel lift that I could not watch them lifting our boat. He responded with a laugh “I don’t like to watch either”!  The glint in his eye reassured me he was joking.  At this point I handed Ted the camera and went inside to wait while they lifted, moved and blocked our boat. We were officially “dirt dwellers” again and had to climbed a ladder to get on the boat, on “the hard”. We picked Fort Pierce because of the proximity of our Cummins engine mechanic who would arrived to rebuilt our engine with new liners and pistons. 

By the end of the long month we had re-fibreglassed our top skylounge deck, rebuilt and repainted our engine, painted the topsides of the boat, lightly sanded and repainted the antifouling bottom coat, replaced our sea strainers and completed some maintenance repairs needed on the hull. We completed this with a record breaking heat wave for Florida in April. Temperatures reached 30 degrees Celsius (90+ F). The emails home fell on deaf ears as everyone continue to complain about the cold in Canada. After 34 brutally long days, to the amazement of our friends in the yard we were done our job list and ready to be splashed. It is said that a boat yard project never starts or finishes on time but long hours and perseverance we proved them wrong! We took 2 half days off to get supplies but otherwise we worked from dawn till 6:00pm and then trotted off the showers at the marina where we had a daily shower which disgustingly smelled like sulphur. We called it the spa treatment which made it a bit more bearable! 

We managed to take some time in the evenings to get to know others in the yard. One night we had a cocktail party on Boatel one night, forgetting for a few hours that we were all on land. Once repainted we celebrated with dinner on the top skylounge deck with Maggie and Branko. We biked to Norris Restaurant for .99 cent beers on those days that it was too hot or we were just too tired to cook.  We stopped early (3:00pm) on our 8^th wedding anniversary and bike to the restaurant to sit on the patio at Harbourside Marina for a delicious seafood dinner.

Now with confidence in Jason having watched him park boats in the yard like an expert valet driver, I was able to watch as they picked up Boatel I off her jack stands and launch her. All of our friends in the yard were at the dock and cheering as we backed away from the basin and headed out of the channel. We had already smudged the fresh paint job on the hull with the straps from the travel lift but we were again afloat which is all that mattered. We left with Dennis our mechanic to do a sea trial with our newly rebuilt engine and headed to the neighbouring marina to drop him off and fuel up. Once at the marina we quickly discovered how tired we both were and that we needed time to relax after a long brutal month in the yard. We went to the swimming pool to relax before dinner and early bedtime. The next two days preparing, cleaning and cooking.  We secured our new BBQ, reinstalled the radar and prepare the boat for an outside run up the coast.

Discovering Fort Pierce, Florida

Fort Pierce, Florida

 At 11:00 am on March 29^th we decided to leave Lake Worth and head North to Fort Pierce to await our haul out day. We had planned to head outside and do a run up the coast but as luck would have it the winds from the previous day had left large swells. We got out on the ocean, sized thing up and decided to turn around and head back inside. Mr. Weatherman is now official off my Christmas card list. Just as we were headed towards the first opening bridge they announced that the bridge was closed until further notice. Determined to continue we dropped the radar antennae and slipped under the bridge while the other sailboats and sportsfish waited. By 18:30 we approached Fort Pierce municipal marina which looked nothing like the pictures in the cruising guide. We later found out that the docks had been destroyed by not one but two hurricanes (Jean & Fiona) within weeks of each other that were both a direct hit in the area. We picked this marina because we liked the long approaching dock wall which was no longer there, but now we were committed to entering inside the harbour hoping there would be enough turning room for us. As we approached dock and tied up our shore lines on March 29^th we realized that this would be our time at dock since December 8^th. We hooked up to shore power and turned on the air conditioning and had a LONG hot shower. We liked it so much we stayed for 4 nights enjoying the luxuries of shore power and television access. We enjoyed dinner ashore at the local waterside Tiki Hut, borrowed the car from the staff at the marina office to do groceries and discovered the art walk featuring local artist that had crafted benches and statues throughout the down town area. We met up with Maggie and Branko from H2Obo (water-hobo) formerly of Port Credit, ON that we met in the fall cruising south in Southport, NC.  They had spent the winter in the Abacos in the Bahamas and had crossed back to Florida to be hauled out and provision before heading to Bermuda, the Azores to Croatia and points beyond. We took part in the First Friday Festival in Port Pierce (happens the first Friday of every month) with bands, food, drinks and craft displays.  We discovered Cobb General Store with their selection of 500 beers. The person working in the store was working his way through the selection and had become quite knowledgeable on his stock. After a quick assessment he hand picked a six pack for Ted of stouts and porters.  This is definitely a place to come back to.

We're back in Florida

You’re  probably wondering if we are in a jail cell in Nassau because I haven’t written in the blog since we got evicted from Nassau. I have discovered that if you do not keep up with the daily ramblings then it’s more difficult with each passing day to catch up.  I will recap the last two months.

We waited for a weather window to leave Nassau and travel across the Great Bahamas Bank where we anchored overnight waiting for the weather window to cross the Gulf Stream back to Florida. On March 25^th at 2:30 (yes am) we pulled up anchor and got underway to cross to Hens & Chicken shoal at daybreak. As we approached the gulf stream I promised that I would send the weather man a new yard stick for Christmas because obviously he does not know the difference between 2 to 3 feet and 4 to 6 feet and he needs a new wind direction indicator too. Needless to say it was not what we expected but at that point we didn’t have a choice but to put up with it. Luckily we were going into the waves which is not as bad as taking them broad side, although we had to keep adjusting our heading to get the best angle for the walls all day.  It was the left over ocean swells that had not yet settle down as expected. We kept telling ourselves it would get better as we got closer to the Florida coast and pick up some protection from the land. We did eventually but it was a long day. We considered ourselves fortunate after hearing from the coast guard about a boat taking on water and sinking at Great Sail Cay in the northern Bahamas.  At 14:11 we reach the 9 mile line of the Gulf Stream that was surprisingly marked by a line of debris in the water.  We learned that NOAA (The weather Gods) take aerial satellite photographs and use thermal sensors to determine the exact position of the wall of the Gulf Stream, which is updated weekly.  We arrived back in Florida and dropped the anchor at our favourite anchorage in Lake Worth at the same location we departed from on December 8th.  We relaxed with a martini on the back deck and reflected on our 3 ½ months in the Bahamas.

We reward ourselves with Sunday brunch at our favourite Tiki Hut in Riveria Beach. As we arrived to  clear custom we passed through security and they spotted something in my backpack of concern. It looked like a small gun on the scanner but it was the cigarette lighter plug for our GPS which we had brought along for the rental car. We got soaked going to customs so once we picked up the car we did a pit stop at Walmart to pick up rain jackets and flip flops. The rain and thunderstorm that threatened was now a reality for our day trip to visit the short list of boat yards in the area.  We travel to Fort Pierce to visit the yards and decide on Riverside Marine after speaking to the owner and some cruisers we know in the yard. Local Knowledge from Nova Scotia  and Flying Pig were both cruisers we had met in George. We would soon discover that this was a favourite yard for many cruisers leaving their boat in Florida for the summer season.