Nov 16-17

Wednesday

Port Canaveral to St. Lucie (Stuart, Fl)

We get off to a great start.  By noon we're through the inlet and in the ocean for what promises to be perfect conditions for sailing 1 or 2 nights.  We are able to motor sail or sail the afternoon.  We stay within 2 or 3 miles of shore because of the Southern current we are running into - I guess it's the outskirts of the Gulf Stream.

Sunset is beautiful.

Around 7 PM, we decide that we probably should cut the trip short.  Clara can't come down as planned for the next phase, and we've checked with Jim Moores in Palm Beach about what it will cost to keep a boat there for a few weeks - about $900 per month.  We figure we'd best start looking further away from the high priced Palm Beach, Miami area.

However the guide books suggest that you don't even attempt the St Lucie Inlet in the daytime, much less at night, without some local knowledge.  We call Tow Boat and they advise against it, however, a local boater overheard the conversation and said he would meet us at the outer marker and guide us in.  Lucky for us.  It is a very tricky inlet.  We got down to 1 foot under the keel. We would never have made it without his assistance.  He brought us in to an anchorage and went on his way. 

Thursday morning we start checking on local marinas, and true to our guess, the rates are much more reasonable.

We start up the engine to get closer to some of the marinas that we want to check out and within a few minutes we get an engine overheat warning.  We quickly anchor and upon checking the engine compartment find that one of the belts has shredded.  Thank goodness for spares.  Joe and I are able to take everything apart and replace the belt and we inspect the impeller while we're at it.  Everything now works okay.

Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart Fl

We contact Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart, FL and they have space on a mooring for us.  We check everything out and it seems like a reasonable rate ($275/month) and we make arrangements to have someone check the boat and batteries every week. 

Now we start making arrangements for a rental car.  But no rental agencies are willing to make one-way rentals this weekend because of the holidays.  Finally, we are able to make an on-line reservation with Hertz.  We pick up the car tomorrow and head back to Beaufort.

Nov 15-16

Monday, Tuesday

We left Daytona Beach mid-morning Monday heading to Ponce de Leon Inlet to go offshore.  The seas were subsiding and the wind forecast is favorable to 2 or 3 days outside.

As we get outside, we find the wind very light, and sometimes none at all.  It looks like it's going to a good motor/sail to at least Ft. Pierce and maybe even beyond.

On this leg we go around Cape Canaveral and pass the Kennedy Space Center.  We are able to see the Vehicle Assembly Building and Space Shuttle at the Space Center all day long.  Around sunset we are passing the Space Center and planning for a pleasant evening. 

We have found the weather forecast generally be useful for only one thing - and that is that the forecasters predict there will be weather.  That's about all.  The wind speed and direction have never been right - and tonight, the forecasters have maintained their 100% record of being wrong.  They are calling for late night increase of wind to 10 to 15 mph out of the Southwest, and dieing down by morning.

Around 9 pm the winds do start to pick up - straight on the nose - about the time we pass the Cape. 

I laid down to take a brief nap and when I woke up around 10:15, the winds are howling, running 15 to 20 knots right on the nose.  The seas are building and it is getting very uncomfortable, with the nose of the boat diving into the waves.  We're having a hard time making 3 knots motoring into the waves and prospects don't look favorable for another 8 hours of beating into the wind.  We can't even use the sails to help stabilize the motion.

We take our bearings and see that we are about 10 miles offshore from Port Canaveral and decide that we should probably head there.  One of the most worrisome things is coming into an unknown port in the dark, but the charts show a well marked channel and our phone GPS systems have been operating flawlessly.

After we make the turn back to the Northwest, the ride becomes much more comfortable.  We make contact with Tow Boat US (FYI,  Tow Boat US called us this morning to see if everything was alright - that's good customer service)  for local knowledge and he suggests that we plan to tie up at Port Marina's fuel dock when we get in and settle up with them in the morning. 

We make it to the marina around 12:30 am.  We had no problems navigating in.  We did observe a major blob of light coming out as we were heading in.  Port Canaveral is the embarkation point for several cruise ships.  They are an imposing site at night on the sea.

Tuesday morning we check the weather and find that the prediction of winds has once again been wrong, keeping up the 100 % record.  They were supposed to swing more Westerly and drop off, however, they are out of the South (our intended direction) and running 15 - 25 knots.

So we decide that we will once again get on the ICW.  It was interesting leaving Port Canaveral.  There is a canal going inland and you have to actually go through locks that raise and lower the water level 3 to 4 feet. 

We motor sailed all day down the ICW with winds running 15 to 20 knots. 

Tonight (Tuesday) we are anchored  near the Sabistian Inlet.  It has been a very pleasant evening with very comfortable temperatures.  I'm beginning to feel like we're getting far enough South to begin feeling good again.  The area we're in reminds me a lot of the Florida keys - really whetting my appetite to get down there.

We again hope to be able to get outside tomorrow for a 2-3 day run South, but we are flexible.

Nov 14

Sunday, Nov 14

Our two week anniversary.  We left Beaufort two weeks ago today.  It's been an interesting and educational journey thus far.  A few frustrations - alternator -, lots of excitement - sailing in BIG seas, and something new - sailing offshore overnight.  I hope the rest of the journey is equally exciting and educational.

We did not get offshore.  The seas are still running real high, even though the wind has decreased to around 10 knots.  We decided as we went through the inlet at St. Augustine that we didn't want to be rolling in those seas with such a light wind - so we sailed a loooong day in the ICW.  If there is one part of the trip that is the least fun, it is sailing on the ICW.

However, we did get to see St Augustine.  We wish we had planned a day or so there.  There waterfront is among the most beautiful I've ever seen - and they have mooring balls to tie up to.  Lots of them.  It is a shame that Beaufort doesn't have mooring balls.  The harbor would be so much more attractive to transient boaters. 

Along the waterway, it continues to amaze me the fine homes and boats along the waterway.

We went a long way today, and it really is a drag listening to the engine all day and watching the homes and swamps roll by.  But it's the price you have to pay to get where it's warm.

We had a special visitor for a while today.  A couple of dolphin swam along with us for a while.

And it's actually beginning to get warm.  This is the first evening that we can be outside comfortably. 

We've found that our cell phones, both of which have Navionics charts on them are our best GPS system.  We've turned off the boat's GPS system - it doesn't have Florida charts on it anyway.  But the charts on the phones are great.  We've even found a good use for the radar on the boat.  It holds the holder for the cell phone.  This is the first time we've seen the radar useful.

However, with old eyes and small print, we've also come up with another essential piece of boating equipment.

We stopped tonight in the Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach.  It's a real fine facility.  Our little sailboat gets lost in the big (expensive) boats that are here. 

As we think about tomorrow, we both feel we want to get back on the ocean, so we hope to go out the Ponce de Leon Inlet a few miles South of here and stay on the ocean a couple of days.  Maybe the seas have calmed down a little.  We'll see.