June 18-21, 2015 Kennedy Space Center and Marineland

Titusville is situated right across from the Kennedy Space Center.  The marina, and several anchorages near by afford a perfect view of any launch activities.  I always wanted to anchor here and watch a Shuttle launch but alas, the program ended too soon.  However there are other launches, 9 more this year, so we may catch one as we make our way back south in the fall

With Jack on board, we did manage to leave before 9 the next morning and  spent most of day at Kennedy Space Center.  It was hot and humid but most of the exhibits are inside buildings so we didn't suffer too badly.

Shuttle Atlantis exhibit

We first made our way to the Atlantis Exhibit.  You watch a short video which is on what appears to be a movable screen.  As the video progresses the screen slides to the side to revel another screen while the video continues to play.

At the end, the screen slides once more to reveal an image of the shuttle imposed on an opaque screen which, after a crescendo of music, opens up to a view of Atlantis.  And it's the actual shuttle hanging there in a large room.  Very cool.  It reminded me of the Grand Canyon experience where you are suddenly confronted with the immense vista of the Grand Canyon as you emerge from the surrounding foliage along the road.  

Shuttle Atlantis 

The Shuttle is unchanged from when it landed.  No cleaning or refurbishment was done.  It was plucked from the runway and stowed as is, until they moved it to the exhibition hall.  You can see little pock marks on the tiles, and soot along the back where the engine nozzles are located. The whole scene is really quite amazing. 

I should mention this whole exhibit is privately funded.  NASA doesn't provide any financial support other than some consulting and retired staff engineers etc. who love talking about the shuttle and the whole operation.

After spending an unspecified amount of time looking at all the artifacts you wander down some stairs to another exhibit area where you can humiliate yourself trying to land a shuttle on one of their simulators.

Jack had spied the gift shop a short distance away and of course was in there practicing his math skills trying to figure out how much he could buy.  I was walking by a ramp type structure when a nice lady motioned me over and began convincing me to try the shuttle launch experience.

What?  Yes, a shuttle launch experience.  Well, a ride simulating a shuttle launch which she described as spectacular.

I was convinced!  But I had to pry Jack out of the gift shop, convince him to join me for this "experience".  At first there was reluctance but as we made out way up the ramp reluctance turned into excitement.  
We were ushered into a large room with about a dozen other folks.  There, we watched a video describing the launch experience and when that was over, two doors opened and we walked into a hallway to stand in front of more doors.  We could hear rumbling and machinery noises in the background.

After a few minutes a lady gave a short speech, basically saying once your in there your not getting out and if your wary, leave now.  And if you have marginal health, consider leaving.

Yikes, what they heck are we getting into?

After the speech, another set of doors opened exposing a room with a rows of seats.  Since there were only a dozen people we had our pick and chose the middle row.

Much like an airplane, you buckled up and then were scrutinized my a stern looking women who was not shy about tightening up your belt.  I was beginning to wonder if were were really going to be launched?   Jacks mother would have me flayed alive!

After the belt checks, the doors closed, and the large monitor came alive with a former astronaut briefly explaining the various launch phases and the meaning of the displays flashing on the monitors.

Suddenly, there were mechanical noises and the lights went dim.  Without warning the whole floor (and the attached seats) rotated up 90 degrees accompanied by louder mechanical noises mimicking I guess, the launch tower decoupling.  

On the main display I noticed the 1 was replaced by a 0.  Uh Oh ...

The ensuing rocket firing noise simulation was a saturating experience along with shacking and rolling of the seats.  The noise abated slightly and the shacking was replaced by vibrations.  I should rephrase that.

VIBRATIONS.

I found it kind of funny, vibrating like that.  Then we were thrust forward simulating the shutting down of the SRB (Solid Rocket Booster).  Immediately after, we were thrust back in our seats as the simulated main engines we're throttled up.  All of this took place within several few minutes, and was always in concert with a low frequency background, chest shaking wall of sound which, they say is pretty close to the real thing.

It was quite impressive.  And hilariously fun.  Even Jack offered his approval.

Jack rocketed back to the gift shop while I tried a few more times to land the shuttle.  I failed every time.   The pubescent young girl who calmly took over after me, landed the thing perfectly.  She smiled that, "this is so easy its boring smile" at me while I slinked away feeling a bit like a washed up old man.  Sheez ... 

Tired of the gift shop, the next best thing is a medallion dispenser

We ate lunch at the Orbit Cafe where you can place your order at any number of kiosk by passing the  long line at the ordering counter.

It was, edible food.  I think that's where we acquired the free space food, freeze dried ice cream.  And speaking of ice cream we stopped at one of the ice cream places and had some soft serve.  It wasn't cheap, but on a blistering hot day was a cooling treat

SpaceX and launch pad 39A

Next we went over to the where the buses are loaded and took a bus to the Apollo exhibit but first drove by Launch Control Center, the Crawlerway and the Vehicle Assembly Building, before driving by launch pad 39A which is part of Launch Complex 39.    We also had a closeup drive-by of the huge Crawler Transporter.

Launch pad 39A

Launch pad 39A was the platform where of many of the Apollo and Shuttle launches took place. Its now being leased by SpaceX.  There's even a building there with a large SpaceX sign but no rockets.

Crawler-transporter

We were able clearly see the all these places but weren't allowed out of the bus.  We ended up at the Apollo exhibit where they had the Apollo 14 capsule and a Saturn 5 rocket which is immense.  And there were some Apollo artifacts include some moon rocks, Jim Lovell's space suite and an Apollo Lunar.  And the actual Lunar Lander emergency procedure manual.

We only stayed here an hour or so before heading back on a bus to the main Visitor Complex.  It was in the mid 90's so we didn't have much desire to seek more knowledge from the outdoor exhibits.  

Apollo Launch Control

Wooses, we dashed to the promised comfort of an air conditioned car.

We had to drive over to Cocoa (not cocoa Beach) so I could make a quick stop at West Marine for an antenna connector.  That took us a good 30 minutes, and after I had the part it was another 45 minutes to the iconic Dixie Crossroads restaurant where Mary wanted to have dinner.  

Tuckered out after a day with the old folks

It was, well ok I guess.  Edible food but I think Jack enjoyed feeding the fish more.  The fish  congregate near the bridge which spans the area between the building and the parking lot.  And of course there is fish food you can buy.

We made it back to the boat and went to bed since I had to get the car back by 7:30M so we could leave the dock for Rockhouse Anchorage near New Smyrna Beach.

I was up and talking with Simon, the young and very competent Enterprise guy by 7:35 and back at the boat by 8AM.

After doing all the things we have to do before leaving a dock, and then actually leaving the dock, we still made out to the ICW by 9AM.

One of the unusual things we had to do this time was securing the dinghy to the port side of the boat so it wouldn't catch the dock as we powered away.  Once we were out in the channel I loosened the line securing the dinghy to the port side and it just floated back and was caught by the tow line and off we went towards Haulover Canal and Mosquito Lagoon.

That's right.  The water temp was  92.3

This section of the ICW through Florida is, well boring.  Low marshy shoreline with occasional spoil islands and plenty of never ending shallow (2-3 feet) water outside the channel.  And it was hot.  In the mid 90's again and very humid.  And the water wasn't cool either, it hovering in the 90's.

We don't run any AC while cruising so all we had was a pittance of a fan blowing hot air around in the fly bridge.  The crew, dedicated more to remaining comfortable I think, remained on the sundeck reading in the cooler breezes while I, stalwart captain that I am, fried and sweated up on the fly bridge.  They owe me! 

A dolphin duet

However once again the dolphins decided to mock our slow progress by circling around and zigzagging in our bow wave.    Mary, ever the dolphin singer, had Jack out there too.  So the poor dolphins were able to listen to a duet.  They did leave soon after but I'm sure all the singing had nothing to do with their abrupt departure.  Nope.  Nothing at all.

The nice beach in the upper center

We didn't have to have any bridges opened for us and glided around the somewhat troublesome curve at New Smyrna Beach and entered Rockhouse Creek which is adjacent to Ponce deLeon Inlet.  We were the only boat there except for the dozen or so small boats pulled up on the beach in the distance.

It was delightful in no small part because of the discernible sea breeze which offered some respite from the heat.  We were in plenty of water and the anchor was well set so we got in the dinghy and headed over to the beach.

The beach before it got busy

I walked up and down the beach talking with several people who had their boats pulled up to shore.  And from them,I learned a number of interesting bits of info about the beach, and the inlet.

Jack and I Shot the Pooch too.  Shooting the Pooch is a local term riding the down along the beach.  The current here runs about 3-5 mph so its a fun ride.  We did it three times, twice with noodles one of the kind boaters lent us.

Talked for quite awhile with a guy who lives nearby and makes a living flipping houses.  He seems to be doing pretty well.

Two guys in another boat next to us would Shoot the Pooch and the return to the boat to smoke a joint before heading back up stream to Shoot the Pooch again.  And yes they did offer but I declined.

Wash down!

After a few hours the tide was beginning to encroach on the available beach so we got back in the dinghy and rode out the inlet.  It was a bit rough with the tide running so we didn't go out far but ran back towards New Smyrna and around that troublesome curve and came back to the boat.

Cocktails

It was cocktail time so Jack and I took chairs up on the sundeck roof and enjoyed sausage and cheese with a beverage.

Had dinner and watched Big Hero 6 before going to bed.  There were thunderstorms in the area but we they seemed to bypass us all night.

The next morning we left Rockhouse around 9 AM and headed for Marineland Marina which is about 12 miles south of St. Augustine.  It was another hot muggy day and we more dolphin encounters.

A pretty good helmsman 

Jack took the helm for a while too.

Line handlers preparing lines for docking

Approaching the Marineland marina dock

Marineland Marina is one of those quaint marinas that are small and just plan friendly.  A bit skinny(skinny meaning shallow water) at low tide but doable without much trouble.  And its right off the ICW.  There is a beach across the road Marineland,an aquatic research place which has a dolphin experience and a few turtle exhibits.

Tomorrow we go feed the dolphins at Marineland research institute.

After we tied up I bit the bullet and fixed the aft head which had been acting and sounding like it was near death.  I have a whole new macerator which I was going to install.  But when pulled out the old one I found the chopper blade and shaft intact but wrapped in some sort of cloth.  Once I removed that I put it all back together and it works fine albeit a bit noisy.  But I'll save the new assembly for when it really breaks.

We did a laundry in the morning.  Well, I nly hauled it to the laundry place and Mary actually did it.  Its free here so we do as much as we can.  So while Mary was slaving away in the laundry room, Jack and I took a cooling dinghy ride 5 miles up the ICW to Matanzas Inlet.

Matanzas Inlet has an old fort and is an anchorage if you know how to get in.  And I do now having used the dinghy to sound out (using the dinghy depth sounder) where the deep water channel is located.

Matanzas fort

After we did a few sounding runs Jack and I anchored the dinghy near the beach and strolled around a bit.  It wasn't possible to get near the fort but the beach was great!

Mantanzas Beach

We couldn't stay long because we had to be at Marineland for the dolphin feeding encounter by noon.
  

Mary had the laundry pretty much completed and we made it back in time so we headed across the street to Marineland.  We checked in, wandered for a few minutes looking at the 3 sea turtles they had before heading over to the dolphin encounter area.

The dolphin area is comprised of a number of pools and gates which let the trainers control which dolphin(s) enter which pool.  Very efficient.

We opted for the feeding experience which was, highly priced, over the swimming experience which was three months of fuel.  Per person.  Ouch!

The rather limited turtle exhibit

We waited for a about 20 minutes before we were led up onto the encounter deck bordering the pools and given instructions.  Once that was complete we put all our stuff, cameras included, into a little locker space and walked to the edge of the pool with our trainer whose name I forgot.   But I'll never forget the image of her in a wet suite carrying a huge bucket of dead and smelly fish.

Dolphins may differ with my assessment, insisting how aromatically delicious they are.  But for me  they smelled like dead, rotting fish.  We were informed though that they only feed them the finest of dead fish.  Gourmet dead fish it would seem.

We began by meeting the dolphin, whose name we've embarrassingly all forgotten.  We splashed her and she drenched us, and I mean drenched.  She'd use her head to toss a wall of water.  The interesting thing about this was her aim  It was perfect.

She really enjoyed the belly rubbing

Next we rubbed her belly.  It was quite impressive.  She rolled on her back and we all rubbed her belly and she closed her eyes as if really enjoying the whole episode.  When I asked the trainer about it she said yes, they do relish touch.  Who knew.

We got drenched!

Next she ducked her head down in the water and raised her tail up and we all grabbed on.  We didn't know, but this was a photo opportunity.  You cant have a camera when your involved with the dolphins so the staff conveniently takes pictures for you.  And yes, you pay for them after.  But in this case we let go too soon for them to take a picture so we all raised our hands and she popped up out of the water for a few seconds which gave the photographers enough time to snap a few pictures.

Like were all doing some disco dance at a wedding

Jaack holding her fins

Jack feeding her fish

Mary smooching the dolphin

Next we shook her flipper.  Mary though got to plant a kiss on her forehead.

The we we started feeding her fish.  You'd pick up a nice juicy dead fish out of the bucket and she'd rise up out of the water with an open mouth and you drop the fish in.  There was no chewing even though she had an impressive row of very sharp teeth..  She just swallowed them whole.  We each fed her maybe 5 fish before our time was up.

Then we waved goodbye and were ushered out being careful to stay outside the blue line which wound around the pools.

Checking the line Jack?

Bike path along route A1A to Publix

Once we returned to the boat, Jack and Mary went to the beach while I worked on the water maker and entered routes into the navigation system.

Needing milk and a few other essential items I took my bike don and rode off to the Publix about 4 mils down the road.  It was a very pleasant ride because there was a paved bike path virtually the entire 4 miles.  Nice

For dinner, Mary made squash spaghetti.  Jack, a smart and vegetable savoy young man,  noted the spaghetti tasted like vegetables.  Busted!  He then went on to speculate that Mary didn't have the skills necessary to create spaghetti from icky squash.   Quite funny.

We were planning on leaving the next day for St. Augustine.  It was less than 20 miles so we decided we'd wait until the tide started rising which puts us around 11:30.  S I guess we can sleep late tomorrow!

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!

June 3-12, 2015 Lake Worth and Stuart

We left Lake Worth this morning after a lot of rain last night.  The boat is pretty much salt-less.  Gotta love these free boat washes.

Nothing exciting on the journey except we still marvel at how many lavish homes line the waterway.  

I wanted to fuel up before pulling into Loggerhead marina but was debating to get it before we arrived or wait and fuel up at Ft. Pierce where the price was $3/gal.  

But saw a fuel price in Manatee Pocket of  only $3.04/gallon.   

I couldn’t resist.  And of course I couldn't see the small print which, after I started filling the tanks, triggered an audible curse.  “Not including tax”.

We’ve only used 194 gallons of fuel from Nassau until we fueled here in Stuart (actually Port Salerno) at Sailfish Marina.  Gives us about 2 miles per gallon on average although coming across the Banks yesterday we were running pretty hard and I’m sure we weren’t getting that mileage.

Ugh …   So we ended up paying about about $20 more after figuring in the discounts for Boat/US and adding the Florida sales tax on fuel.

We left the dock rather messily banging our big ball fender against the dock several ties because the wind was so strong it was pushing us against the dock.  Normally I’d have backed away which is much more desirable than trying to get the bow off the dock first.  But here we were tied up only a few feet in front of a sport fish boat which was also fueling.  There was little room for us to back out. 

Following a Krogen 42

We left Manatee Pocket and ended up following a Kadey Krogen 42 through the Evans McCray bridge and then around the shortcut through the St. Lucie River.  But it was shallow and Mary says they went aground while we, drawing a few inches less than, puttered along without a problem.

The shortcut saves about a 1/2 mile off the normal channel route but also runs through much shallower water.

Well, almost no problems.  I usually run up our engines to near full throttle every ounce in a while to blow them out a bit.  This time there I noticed a definite vibration, so its either the port side prop or the shaft is misaligned.  Or the engine mounts are loose.  And this engine was also running a little warm at that speed so I’ll have to check the raw water pump and clean out the heat exchanger at some point..

Stuart and Loggerhead Marina on the right

We are stopping in Stuart to relax and recover from all the Bahamas fun.  We really like Loggerhead here and since we have spent many months around here it sort of has a homecoming feel to it.  Plus we know where most everything is located.

On H dock, our favorite dock at Loggerhead

Steve and Jim were waiting for us at the dock and we came in and tied up  even in the storing wind.  I just wish once someone would take a breast line and tie it off on a cleat so I could use the line to spring the boat around.  Much easier docking experience.

After kibitzing with them for awhile and learning all the local gossip (Wahoo’s the iconic bar/restaurant here has closed!) we went up  to the little marina eatery called Splash.  Or, if the sign is to be believed, the Boathouse.  We had hamburgers cooked by Sara the newest cook and general restaurant/bar person.  She's an engineering student and learned to cook while living with her Italian grandmother.  And its shows.  Very good food!   A good place made better.  And they are planning on still more improvements.

Later we did a few things on the boat and after I had all the hookups completed and the A/C units running.  Still trying to come up with a method  of venting the master stateroom head (bathroom).  Its probably 15 degrees hotter in there with only a tiny window.  Its becomes a heat sink for all the engine room heat which then stokes up the temps in the stateroom.  Nice in the colder months.  Not so nice now.

I took a much needed long walk across the Roosevelt Bridge into downtown Stuart. We've  been on the boat for so long with little chance for any exercise and I'm pretty stiff.   Stuart remains much the same except the Chicago school teacher’s hot dog stand we loved so much has disappeared.

Came back aboard and after a little TV and showers (we’re using dockside water so no water worries) we went to bed.

 

Tomorrow is breakfast at Cafe Roosevelt’s, ordering the starter for the dinghy outboard, Mary’s drugs, grocery shopping and pizza at a Taste of Brooklyn!  So much for relaxing!

Ever have one of those days when you wake up early to a beautiful morning counting on a nice, easy day?  Yeah.  They certainly are wonderful. 

But not for me this morning.

My bike, our car as it were,  seemed to have suffered more harm than I thought when we were taking seas over the bow.  The chain was really rusted.  Even the sprockets were looking pretty nasty.  But it’s our car.  So it had to be ok, right?

I oiled up everything with Kathy’s magic bicycle oil and loosened the chain links. Good… or so I thought.  I get on the bike and work the pedals a little and then take off riding.

Broken derailleur

There was no sound really, just a sudden release of pressure.  The bracket holding the rear derailleur just sheared right off.  And the loosen chain wasn’t really all that loose as I discovered after examining the whole derailleur system.  Some links were rusty.  Well, actually rust/welded together.

Marvelous!  No Bike.

Ok, but we have Mary’s.  It too resembled a flaky orange colored piece of weird art.  But the chain and derailleur’s were in less bad shape than mine.  I’m speculating that it didn’t suffer as badly because it as on the starboard side and we had been taking big seas off the port side of the bow.

But no matter.  I got it off the boat and oiled it up and loosened up all the individual links and slathered the sprockets in oil.   Worked the pedals and took it off for a little ride and everything worked!  Well, most everything  The large drive sprocket derailleur was stuck but the rear gears worked.

The only issue was the bike and me. It’s a small bike so when I ride it my knees get a bit to close to the handle bars as a I pedal.  But at least it’s a functional bike.

Ok, that being done I tackled the outboard starter issue.  Turns out, after speaking with the head guy at Outboards Only, Yamaha and Mercury had an unholy alliance of sorts back in the late 90’s and early 2000.  They both used the same parts!  And of course the starter I had on our outboard was as Mercury starter.

After several phone conversations and exchanges of info with Phil, the parts manager guy, he ordered me a new starter.  From Fondulac. WI. Sheez .. Haunted by WI again?  But, it most likely wont get here until Thursday!  So I guess we'll be staying a few extra days.

Ok, now time for breakfast.  I woke Mary up and after a bit we walked to Roosevelt’s, a favorite of ours, for breakfast.

We finished eating and I talked with Pro Cycles, the bike repair shop explaining my bike problem and they said bring it in.  Luckily they weren't to far away.

The two real broken parts

Mary stayed on the boat while I walked and coasted my bike the mile to the bike shop where I learned, sadly they didn’t have such a part in stock.

The owner though, gave me another place to try because they sold Giant bikes which is what we have.  So I called The Bike Shop  but they needed to see the broken part.  Great.  And it was only a few miles down the road a piece.  Well more like 4 miles, but an an easy route.  And it was very near to Stuart Plastics where I had some sea strainer covers made for me three years ago before we even left on this sea voyage.  SO I knew where I was riding.

But first I had to walk a ways in the opposite direction to CVS for Mary's prescription.  That actually went more smoothly then I thought possible.  Its usually a documentation hassle but not this time. Once I returned to the boat it was time to take care of the bike derailleur hanger.

I had retrieved the broken part which was lying on the dock when the derailleur bracket snapped in half.   And I also picked up another metal piece which I assumed was the segment that was originally attached to the derailleur.  I didn't bother checking to see if both parts sort of fit together since it was lying on the dock right under the broken derailleur.  I mean if you found a little metal piece that appeared to be similar to another piece hanging on a derailleur would you fit them together to see if they were really 2 pieces of the same part?

So I rode the almost 4 miles to the bike shop where the kind lady there waded through a pile of derailleur hangers but could not find a match.  She turned to talk to the bike shop guru who took three seconds to say that the other part I had wasn't from the derailleur hanger but something else.  The real"other" part I needed was still on the bike.

Ok.  Back on Mary's bike and another 4 miles to the first bike shop where the kindly owner did indeed find other jagged metal part hanging on the axle nut.   He took it off and gave it to me and then I took off back to the second bike shop where, after they fitted the two pieces together found they didn't have anything like it in stock, but could order it.

$24 for the part plus $10 express shipping so I would have it early the following week.  Sounded good to me since the outboard starter wouldn't be here until later next week anyway.

Back on the bike, I headed towards out boat but first stopped off at Verizon and altered our calling plan.  For only a few dollars more a month we now can use 10 Gigs of data which helps us immensely.  We rarely have a decent internet connection anchored out or even in marinas.

Then I rode over to Publix for some staples and finally back to the boat.

I hopped in the showered and Mary and I walked to the Taste of Brooklyn (Uncle Giuseppe's) Pizza Restaurant and had the usual great food and the usual great wine.  Nice relaxing end to a busy day.

Mary was having digestive issue so after talking with the doctor in Green Bay, made an appointment with a clinic here in Stuart for Tuesday at 8am.

Meanwhile I rode to the Publix a few more times and then took a walk into Stuart.  Feels oddly feels like home I’m so familiar with everything.

We ate at Roosevelt’s again for breakfast this morning and Mary felt worse after so maybe we wont be going there anytime soon again.

I skipped the Derby party the marina was having at Splash, their little bar/restaurant.  I had the autopilot all disconnected trying to locate its problem with our GPS.  After taking it all apart and running the diagnostics, I put it back together and had the same problem.  Guess that means I didn't fix it.

Met a nice couple from Colorado, Mark and Joanna on the sailboat Marguerite.  We may see them again since they are heading up the same way we are.

I decided to walk the 3.5 miles to the Enterprise car rental place to pick up the car.  It took awhile, but it wasn’t all that hard so I guess I haven’t aged too badly over these last several months lolly-gagging around in the Keys and Bahamas.

Took the car down to Hobe Sound in search of Campobello Chianti, a favorite wine we discovered at a Taste of Brooklyn restaurant here.  The liquor store there used to stock it, but no longer.  A 20 mile drive for nothing.

Went back and got Mary and we drove around discovering where the clinic was located so we wouldn't be looking for it in the morning.  Then it was of to do some shopping.   

I decided we'll need to buy either a stand up room air conditioner or a small dehumidifier.  Leaving the boat closed up for almost 2 months without some form of de-humidification is just asking for trouble.  Wal-Mart didn’t have the AC unit and only had dehumidifiers with no drain in the drip pan.  Oh well.

We made it back and after once again going to Taste of Brooklyn for dinner.  They didn't have any of our favorite wine though which was a disappointment, but the pizza was still good.

We arrived the next morning at the clinic where Mary filled out a ream of paperwork before being shepherded back into the examine rooms.  After some time she emerged and we had to go pick up a prescription.   

The prescription was went to CVS and to be filled.  It was the CVS where I had picked up her previous prescription a few days ago.  Wrong!

It was sent to a CVS very near the liquor store I had driven to the previous day in my quest for our hard to find, favorite wine.  Luckily I like to drive.

We  made an interim stop at home depot where I mulled over their AC units or dehumidifiers.  The AC units were almost $300 and weighed a ton.  The little 30 pint dehumidifier was less than half that.  Was still mulling that over as we shopped in Wal-Mart for groceries and other assorted junk.

We hauled all that back to the boat and then I went for a walk while Mary napped.  I had to have the car back the next day at 9AM so I decided to just go buy the dehumidifier at Home Depot and then stop at Wal-Mart where they had Rotella engine oil back at the original price from a few years ago! 

$12.74 / gallon.  When I change the oil on the main engines it takes 4 gallons each.  The generator takes 1.5 gallons.  So I need a lot of oil and since I’ll be changing oil again soon I stocked up!

Sorry Jack.  Your shower has become an oil store room of sorts unless I can find another place to store it!

Next morning I helped  Marguerite off the dock as they headed out to Faber Cove near Ft. Pierce.  We've been to Faber Cove a few times so I relayed what I knew about it.  

I returned the car and they dropped me off at Sunset Marina a bit down the road here.  I had some old clothes to drop off at the mall near there so just walked there and then back to the boat.

Mary wasn’t feeling well so I dug in and started cleaning stuff.  The outside was washed off by the parade of showers we’re having at the moment although yesterday I did wash and wax the stern.

Took care (cleaned) the guest cabin, fly bridge and sundeck.   Used my beloved green machine upholstery cleaner to do the sundeck couch.  Lots of salt build up but not as dirty as before. 

We did clean some windows too but the stuff Mary used isn’t real good because it leaves a residue. I ended up going over most of the fly bridge windows with a spray foam cleaner called Klear-to-Sea which is pretty good.

I gave it my last shot with the Auto Pilot/GPS interface and its still not working.  Might be time to get a techie in here to diagnosis the darn thing. 

Outboards Only called me around 2:30 and said the starter for out 40HP outboard was in!  Good old Phil came through.  All I had to do was pick it up.  So as the dark clouds built up I peddled Mary’s bike a few miles into Rio and picked up the starter.  I admit it was nice to only pay hundreds not thousands for boat parts for a change.  I installed it when I got back but couldn't take the dinghy down to try it out because of the weather.  

The old and the new.  Starters that is ...

So tomorrow we haul the dinghy down and take a little ride around to Sunset Marina and the bar there, Sailor Return for a celebratory cocktail.  I hope …

I started taking walks again into Stuart.  Always something interesting

Sunday farmers market and local music

Little guy was napping when I walked by.   

I've seen these colorful crabs a number of times walking along the river

On one of my usual evening walks into Stuart and had a fun conversation with an exuberant young hostess at an Italian place.  She was trying to convince me to stop in and eat.  Soon after I somehow was drawn into another conversation with an older couple who were in the middle of their 50th high school reunion party.   They were looking for directions to an Oyster Bar which of course I didn't know. They thought I was a local because,  "you looked like you live here".

Stuart is a wonderful place to stroll around.  There is a river walk adjacent to the smallish downtown area where all the bars and shops are located.  Its usually quite busy with bustling crowds strolling along the streets and rivers.

Heck, maybe we'll settle down here!

May 31-June 2 2015 Black Point Settlement to Lake Worth, FL

I was up really early again with the sun.  Not by choice either.  Since I was up anyway I checked the weather and found the latest update suggesting that we had Tuesday as the last decent day to cross the Gulf Stream.

Today is Sunday.  It’s 250 miles from where we are to Florida.  If we don’t make the June 2 crossing we will be here another week in a marina somewhere because the weather is going to turn nasty.  In fact there is, now, an almost 50% chance there will be a tropical storm forming and making its way up across the Bahamas and Florida.

So its 5:30 AM.  Mary is dead asleep.  Two sailboats near us are pulling anchor.  A quick computation says we can be in Nassau by 8 tonight if we leave right away.  That commits us to attempting a North West Channel crossing tomorrow which is 38 miles of open ocean, and then a 75 mile crossing of the Gulf Stream Tuesday.

What to do?  Easy.  Wake up Mary.

Leaving Black Point Settlement

We were on our way at 6:30 AM out into a calm Bank with only a slight swell and sunlight galore.  Wonderful cruising.

Just stowed the dinghy and didn't bother deflating it

I had to let Jeff know we wouldn’t be able to met up with them now that we’re trying to make this weather window.  So he doesn’t get his hat right away, and we don’t get our movies right away either.  But we’ll be seeing them this fall when we return here.

It was an endless day cruising at 7.5 MPH for 14 hours.

Nassau gets its oil by tankers like this one

We came up towards Nassau and followed the southern coast of the island, past a tanker ship and then using charts carefully, went into the anchorage area.  There were only a few other boats there so we picked a spot and, mindful of the reports of poor holding, laid out 100 feet of chain and the snuber.  I’m pretty sure we were hooked well.

Pulling into the anchorage

We didn’t run the generator or make water because we were leaving at 6AM the next morning and  running for 12 hours or more which will charge up the batteries and then some

We just enjoyed a drink and a sunset and then went below but not before watching another boat come

in well after dark and anchor near us.  Brave soul doing this at night, but there as lots of moon light.  His arrival did jog my memory about fixing the starboard running light.  Better do that tomorrow because I’m pretty sure we wont be arriving at the Bimini Northwest anchorage until nightfall.  It’s a 121 miles!

I was able to post a blog entry, taking advantage of the strong Nassau cell signal.  Earlier I had added 5 GB to our BTC phone because I had a ton of pictures to up load.  And I got most of them uploaded.  The rest I’ll do when we’re anchored at Bimini.

The stateroom was a sizzling 83 degrees but all I could do was run a fan since the A/C units wont run on the inverter.  Oh well!

A rare (for us) sunrise

Neither of slept very well so we were both up at 6.  I did an engine room check and made coffee.  While it was brewing we raised the anchor and made our way over the small, shallow bar at the western end of the anchorage then out to Northwest Channel.

Chart plotter displaying our position as we slowly travel west

The Northwest Channel is the ocean.  And deep, like 3000 feet and more.  Ocean swells have a much different motion than those on the bank.  They tend to have a longer period and are deeper so the motion of the boat is a slow rolling in most cases.  And this was one of those cases where we pretty much rolled our way towards the Bahama Bank about 43 miles to the west.  It was actually a pretty good day to be out here and except for the endless hours.

Once we entered the Bahama Banks the water depths went from several thousand feet to 15 feet in the span of a few minutes.  I wonder what that looks like.   A big cliff maybe?

And we had 6 hours to go 61 miles before nightfall.  Easy in a car.  Not so easy in boat going around 8 mph.  This was going to be an, anchor at night situation.

As we motored along in the calm seas of the bank the autopilot was steering flawlessly while I fixed the starboard running light made sure the two spot lights we have on the bow worked.   After that it was seemingly endless hours of being hot up on the fly bridge and marveling at how clear the water was.  And how shallow it appeared even though we were in near 20 feet. 

We passed over the Mackie Shoal, very close to where we anchored on our way from Bimini to the Berry Islands.

As the sun set we were still almost 20 miles from the anchorage.  Its just a place near Bimini and we can anchor really anywhere out here on the Banks.  But being near the island is a little safer since there is commercial traffic out here and they are not always diligent watch standers.    In this case tonight we'll be on a windward shore so there wont be any wind or swell protection form the island.

It was dark, but with an almost full moon as wound our way through the various shoals.  But we made it to the spot we wanted and I turned the boat around to face back into the disturbingly energized waves from the east.  Ironic that we are anchoring in a wide open spot, that’s facing east.  We were already bouncing pretty good before even setting the anchor.

We let out abut 20 feet of chain and it pulled up tight so I let out another 100’ feet and we attached the snubber.  We weren’t moving except up and down with the waves. 

By now it was 10PM and I still had to run the generator so we could cool down the boats interior and make water. 

That took until 11:30 so we didn’t settle in to bed until midnight.  And its another 6AM morning for us because the weather forecast describes tomorrow as a delightful crossing day but only before evening because that’s when the bad weather is predicted to arrive in Florida.

Luckily, we have coffee!

Good bye Bahamas.  Leaving Bimini for Lake Worth

We had the anchor up, and coffee made by 6:15.  We motored through the northern shoal by North Rock and out into the ocean and the Gulf Stream.

We were making for Lake Worth which is basically Palm Beach, about 85 miles away.  Luckily the Gulf Stream will push us that way, giving us a speed boost of about 3 miles per hour.  We’ll be flying. 

And we were. Almost 11mph for a few hours.

Half way to Lake Worth

I had the radar on and we were in company with quite a few other boats either coming or going to the islands.  The seas were almost flat calm.  Well for the ocean they were calm, just a gentle swell almost on our stern.  If it weren’t for the overcast skies this would be the perfect ocean cruising day.

We began picking up the coast line on radar (I had it set for 25 miles) and the Gulf Stream continued to push us along at 10.8 mph.  I wont admit this to Mary, but it is rather nice to be zipping along
almost 3 mph faster than we normally travel.

Mary tried calling the immigration people when we were in sight of the coast.  The procedure is to call and let them know we are back in the country but she was scolded because your not supposed to call before your anchored or at a marina.

Entering the harbor at Lake Worth 

We came into the Lake Worth inlet and tried to anchor in the south anchorage near the turning basin for the commercial harbor.  I read about some shallow spots where dredging had pushed large amounts of silt into the anchorage.  An sure enough we found them.  Went momentarily aground but it was soft silt so I was able to back off.

What a great way to reenter the country.  Aground in Palm Beach!

I was too tired to try and poke around to find a decent spot to toss the hook.  The whole area seemed iffy to me anyway.  Especially this one spot where a whirlpool was swirling around.  Weird to see that.

North Anchorage which we left for one further south

So we went south about  mile and dropped the anchor right in front of Rybovich Marina, a mega yacht marina.  It's almost the same spot where we anchored last year.

Mary called the immigration people and they dutifully noted our information and didn't ask any questions.  So I guess we have legally re-entered the country.

We're anchored right near Rybovich Super-Yacht Marina.

We are firmly secured to the bottom and just waiting for the rain to get here.  Tomorrow we leave for Stuart and a week at Loggerhead but we may have to spend one night at the Hampton Inn because the marina is still embroiled in this silly controversy regarding live-aboards.  It basically means we can be on the boat over-night for only four consecutive days.  We’re staying a week.  So, one night in a hotel.   I think we can manage!