Vero Beach - Preparing to Provision
The temperature
really dropped through the night. Our sleeping bags just weren’t keeping us
warm enough. So, we eventually pulled out our long underwear and stocking caps.
That made a big difference and we finally got to sleep.
The cockpit was covered with a heavy dew in the morning. We ate breakfast in the salon and didn’t venture out until the bright and warm sun evaporated the dew. We watched the scullers getting their exercise as they passed to and fro astern of us. Several of the crews were beginners as evidenced by their less proficient rowing skills and the corrections shouted out by their coach. We haven’t seen teams rowing since we left New England a few months ago.
Cocoa to Vero Beach
We left
Cocoa at 0830 with cold winds at our back making for chilling ride down the
ICW. We were very glad to be cruising at 7 knots much of the day. We covered
the 43 miles to Vero Beach in 7 hours. Upon our arrival, we took a mooring ball
and went in for showers to warm up.
Titusville to Cocoa
January 28:
We had an
easy run of 20 miles to Cocoa. It was cool with temperatures in the low 60s.
The wind chill and dampness in the air made it seem colder. We added extra
layers to stay warm. Last spring, we anchored off Cocoa on April 15th and mailed
our tax returns. We agreed we’d have to stop in Cocoa again to explore this
quaint little town.
Rockhouse Creek Anchorage to Titusville
We left the Rockhouse
Creek anchorage at 0745 so we would so we would pass through Ponce Inlet near
high tide since there are low spots where the inlet meets the ICW. Pearl left at first light and was
running ahead of us. We were both bound for Titusville for the night and
planned on getting together there for dinner.
St. Augustine to Rockhouse Creek Anchorage
We departed
St. Augustine shortly after sunrise. The tide was with us and we needed to get
through the shoal area at the Matanzas Inlet with tidal help. We arrived there
right near high tide and made it through with no difficulty. This inlet is one
of the more challenging to negotiate as the bottom changes enough that the
Corps of Engineers has 6 floating aides which are periodically moved to reflect
changes in the water depths. To make matters worse, the charts are inaccurate
in this particular area. In fact, our boat traveled over land if you believed
the boat image on our chart plotter.
Macerator Finally Installed
We woke to
another beautiful warm day in St. Augustine. The pump-out boat showed up
shortly after nine. We wanted to have an empty holding tank before attempting
to replace our broken macerator. We went ashore right after the pump-out. Dwayne
headed for the Ace Hardware store to get the adapters we needed to mount the new
macerator. Carla did laundry and watched TV while waiting for Dwayne to return
with the parts. Two hours later, we were in the dinghy heading back to Foreign Affair with clean laundry and
the right fittings.
Groceries and Uber
We ate
breakfast and listened to the news on the radio before heading in to St.
Augustine to pick up our new macerator pump for our sanitary system and fresh
water pump for our galley sink. We needed milk and bread as well.
We stopped
at a few shops while on our way to First Mate to pick up our pumps. Carla
purchased a couple of items for grandkids. Dwayne bought an extra 5 gallon
diesel can at Ace Hardware. We also stopped at Dunkin Donuts so we would have
something aboard for breakfast.
A Good Day in St. Augustine
We made it safely
through the night. There was no apparent damage to Foreign Affair. We have been through worse weather than we experienced
this weekend. However, it was the first time we got tornado warnings from our
cell phones. It is good to know this phone feature works. We are also fortunate
to have good daily weather forecasts from our weather forecaster and router,
Chris Parker and his crew. It was their forecast which prompted us to depart
Georgetown a day earlier than planned and encouraged us to run as far south as
we could so as to avoid the severe storms which we experienced over the past
few days.
Tornados in Florida
The wind
howled through the rigging and the boat danced on her mooring all night. In the
morning, we discovered we had a leak somewhere in our black water system. We
had over a gallon of sewage sloshing around in the compartment that houses our
holding tank. We called the marina for the pump-out boat which makes a morning
run. It wasn’t long before the mess was cleaned up and we began our efforts to
discover the source of the leak.
Pine Island to St. Augustine
Once again,
we woke to a foggy morning after a very quiet night at anchor. As we climbed
into our cockpit for our morning coffee, we saw Maluka, a Seamaster ketch which spent the night at anchor with us
preparing to depart. She looked like a very seaworthy vessel and was managed by two
fellows who appeared to be quite experienced sailors. Halfway up her mainmast
was a crow’s nest which is great for negotiating coral heads and shallow waters
in the Bahamas. We guessed that was where she was headed. She was a long way
from her hailing port of Honolulu, Hawaii.
Resting at Anchor - Pine Island
We spent the day resting at anchor off Pine Island. It was still foggy when we finally crawled out of bed around 0930. It was a bit damp in the cockpit because of the dew. By 1100 the sun was shining bright and we were able to enjoy the balmy temperatures which rose to the mid-70s.
We had the best television reception over with 27 channels coming in mostly from Jacksonville. We watched the Inaugural Parade. Then, we both took naps in the afternoon. We launched the dinghy and mounted the outboard during the calm period just before the sun went down. Dwayne was very pleased when the outboard started on the third pull of the starting rope. We are now ready to use the dinghy as we travel down the ICW. We won't be going offshore again until we make our crossing over the to Bahamas. Tomorrow, we will head in to St. Augustine to get on a mooring ball since high winds and rain are forecast for the weekend.
St Johns Inlet and Pine Island Anchorage
We arrived at St. Johns Inlet shortly after dawn; however, there
was very dense fog so we had to reduce our speed to about 3 knots hoping the
fog would lift before we reached the harbor entrance.
We began to
encounter commercial shipping when we were about 3 miles from the harbor sea
buoy. A tug towing a huge barge picked us up on radar and called us as we were
close to being on a collision course. The Signet
Thunder suggested we alter course 90 degrees to provide sufficient
room to pass. Of course, we complied. We began to monitor VHF radio
channels 13, 14 as well as 16 so we could hear the ships and harbor pilots
discussing their locations and intentions. At times, we could barely see 50
yards ahead of us the fog was so thick in places which is not enough time to
really get out of the way of an on-coming vessel.
Port Royal for Fuel and Out Again
Around 3 AM the southerly wind picked up and the waves went to 4 feet plus. Foreign Affair broke through the waves and we rode the rocking horse for about 3 hours. We took some Bonine to knock off the queasiness. It worked. Things settled down shortly after the sun came up.
We passed the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island on our way to Port Royal. Marines recruited east of the Mississippi River get their initial training at Parris Island. The water tower at the base reads "We Make Marines" in big bold black letters.
Goodbye Georgetown and Harborwalk Marina
After waiting for the morning fog to lift, we cast off our lines and bade farewell to Georgetown and the Harborwalk Marina. It was a great place to leave Foreign Affair while we headed home to spend time with family and friends over the holidays. The marina staff (Chris, Larry and Joe) really took good care of us. They run a well managed, clean and convenient marina. We will definitely make this a stop on our way north this spring.
Lucky Ones
We went out to check on Lucky Ones, our Catalina 27 which we have on the hard in Kansas awaiting our return from our seabbatical. She is doing well all things considered. It will take a while to clean her up and prepare her for launch once we have complete our days on Foreign Affair. Here is a picture of Lucky Ones taken in February, 2014. Fortunately, we haven't seen any snow on Foreign Affair's deck although the temperatures have dipped below freezing a few times.
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