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.