June 13-18 Stuart to Titusville

We did leave Loggerhead until around noon having only 22 miles to travel today.  It was just another day on the ICW.   Uneventful.  Or maybe we’re so experienced now that its all routine?  Who knows.

That's Ft. Pierce in the background

We didn’t go into Faber Cove but anchored outside of it across from Ft. Pierce municipal marina.  We found an ideal spot opposite marker G9 and the anchor held perfectly.

Since were secure so early in the afternoon we decided to take the dinghy down and do the starter test I was going to take care of the previous day.

So down she came, and in I went only to be confronted with nothing.  Nothing as in no starter sounds.  Dead silence except for a short and expressive oath uttered by me!

A meter on the showed 12.7 volts.  Meter on the solenoid showed 0 volts.  I really couldn’t think of anything to try at that point.   You just know how this is going to turn out in the end …

So we just hauled it right back up and we stayed on the boat while I fumed awhile over this stupid starter problem.

The dredge in the main channel

We left the anchorage in the morning for another day on the ICW.  The only excitement came south of Melbourne where they were dredging.  To avoid the dredge I had to momentarily leave the channel.  I just left it for too long and we almost went aground.  Twice.

We did notice lots of people frolicking on the spoil islands that border most of the ICW in this part of the state.  Heck with water in the mid 80’s why not!

And we had our usual accompaniment of dolphins despite Mary's singing.

Dolphins seem to enjoy her rendition of  "My only Sunshine"

We ran for 9.1 hours to an anchorage called Georgina, just south of Cocoa.  Great spot right off the ICW.  

Nice quiet anchorage 

We anchored in front of the typical array of big homes.  And, unexpectedly, a large number of jelly fish.  Big wide ones, the size of large dinner plates.  Unusual to see that.  No skinny dippin for us tonight. 

There were dozens of these floating around us

 Its here the generator remote start switch died.  I had to go below and manually start it with a start switch inside the sound shield.  Hard to describe how suffocatingly  hot it is down there after a long run like this.  But anyway,  I’m pretty sure I know what the problem is and can fix it, but we’ll be in Titusville tomorrow and its easier done at a dock when the engine room isn’t blistering hot.

I called ahead to a mechanic in Titusville who agreed to look at the outboard tomorrow afternoon when we pulled into the dock.

We did make water after I got the gen set running so at least we have plenty of water now.

The aft AC unit isn’t cooling at all any longer and even with the other two running full tilt with four fans, the stateroom was a balmy 86 degrees. 

For me, it will be a sleepless night.  I can really sleep when the temps hit over 80.   Maybe I should be an arctic cruiser and not ply these tropical waters?  But we’ve actually never been in Florida much past late April so this is out first taste of a Florida summer. 

Entering Titusville Marina

We left the anchorage at 8 and pulled into Titusville marina around noon.  They accommodated our request for a side tie so we could get the dinghy down in anticipation of a repairs.

T-head of A dock in Titusville

I called Phil from the repair place and he came over around 1:00pm.  We went up and he checked this and that for several seconds before clamoring down, getting his $60 from me and leaving.  He did give me a phone number of a local marine AC guy though so at least I got something out of the deal.

In 30 seconds he noticed what I completely overlooked.  And its something I always checked.  Except the day we tried the dinghy.  It seems my brain is now beginning its journey down the daisy lined path of senility.

I had the shift lever in gear which tripped the neutral safety switch hence cutting power to the solenoid which controls the starter.  Phil, before even getting his meter out, pushed the shifter into neutral and turned the key energizing the starter.

It was a classic 30 second repair job.  I felt like an iconic idiot.  He found my distress humorous and noted he gets calls like this once week.  Sometimes even from old salty fisherman who are probably sliding down the same daisy lined path I’m on.

Still feel like an idiot though.

Next I talked with Jim, the AC guy who’s name I received from Phil.  He arrived a few hours later and we talked and tinkered.  And then  arrived at the sad diagnosis of a dead compressor.  And just to make it really interesting when we measured, it turns out the unit will only be extractable through a bulkhead in the small closet where the washer and dryer are located.  In simple terms it means I’ll have to disassemble the laundry closet and then squeeze a stacked washer/dryer out into the stateroom before removing a wall and then manhandle an air conditioner unit out. 

The dead AC unit

I can send the whole unit to Mermaid in Ft. Meyers for a rebuild or buy a new AC unit.  With installation that’s about $4000.  So we’ll be cooling off with only the two forward AC units which cools off the aft stateroom with some degree of success, but only after I set up my intricate series of cascading fans to funnel the cold air from the front to the back where we sleep.

Right now its 86 and humid outside.  Inside the boat it’s a pleasant 75 and not overly humid.  Good sleeping tonight which is a what we both need since last night we didn’t sleep much at all with the heavy air hovering around 85 degrees.

Lousy picture but that Mary rubbing a Manatee's belly

We've had this Manatee loitering around the marina sine we arrived and Mary finally got her chance to break the law by petting it.  Not wanting her to rot in jail alone I sprinkled some fresh water for it too.  So it got its belly rubbed and was able to gulp down fresh water.  If we go to jail it better come visit us. 

Manatee visitor

Rolling over for a belly rub

Corroded exhaust hose clamps

So, tomorrow I tackle the generator and fix a few broken clamps on the exhaust ducting of the port engine.  Have to ride to Publix too for something so I can get some cash having dispensed all I had to Jim and Phil, the repair guys.

We did take the dinghy down and successfully started it reminding me what an idiot I was, and then went for a ride out in the river but it was getting rough an unlike Cocoa, there isn’t much here on the river in the form of bars or places to tie up.  So we came back after 30 minutes of bouncing around.

The next morning I walked to Enterprise to pick up the car.  A very competent young man, Simon, took care of setting me up and even gave me a free upgrade to an Chrysler M200.  It comes equipped with an 8 (or is it 9) speed transmission and a dial which replaces the shift lever.  It took me several seconds trying to shift into reverse and not turn the radio up.  I don’t find rotary dial knobs a good replacement for a normal old shift lever.  Oh well.  Progress for some, annoyance for other.

Since we were having some difficulties with our port side VHF radio I had taken it  the day before and  noticed the antenna wire was pretty beat up and the antenna itself was old.  So I just went t West Marine in Cocoa and bought a new one for $77.  

Before getting to the bat I stopped at Publix for some Jack shopping.  Jack our grandson is going to be with us for a few weeks as we make our way up to Brunswick, GA.  He’s 10 and all that implies as far as groceries.  The M200 has a large, commodious trunk.  We stocked up!

I returned early enough for us to haul all the stuff back to the now mostly clean boat before heading to Orlando Airport to meet Jack and his dad, David.  While we were waiting for them we purchased Space Center Tickets for tomorrows first Jack adventure.

Making sure David and Jack could find us, I sat next to a Disney icon

They arrived shortly after and we all went to the Hyatt in the Orlando airport for lunch/dinner.
After eating we had to peruse the various gift shops.  Well, they did being shop-o-holics.  I sat in a comfy seat waiting.

2 of 3 shoppers.

We soon left David who had to catch a flight back to Milwaukee and drove back to the boat where Mary and Jack watched Apollo 13 in preparation for tomorrows all day Space Center adventure.

We all went to bed early (thank god!).  Jack rises early, like 6:30AM.  We, subscribing to a more relaxed morning routine, don’t.  More like 9ish for us.  Except tomorrow when we have to be up early enough to drive to the Space Center and be entering the grounds by 10AM.

Should be an exciting day!