April 11th We waited for the tide to leave Palm City Marina as we would be passing through very shallow water. I called TowBoatUS to get local knowledge as to the passage on the Matanzes River. The tide was with us and we were advised to hug the red buoys from 82 through 79 and we made it safely, although tense the whole time. This was the area last year at this time when we had to call TowBoatUS to tow us off a shoal which we hit while in the middle of the channel. Sometimes you just can't do anything right! Release contacted us during the sail and we advised them of our knowledge. They bounced once but made it off the shoal with some finesse at the wheel. We pulled up to the St. Augustine Marina fuel dock, filled our tanks and ice box and picked up a mooring. Release came in after us and picked up a mooring. Skipper recognized us as they came in and we took the dinghy over, picked him up and took him to shore for a swim and all the other necessities.
April 12th We needed a new anchor line and Release needed a new anchor, so Bill and Ken took the bikes and rode 10 miles to and from the marine supply stores. Of course, we ended up with more than the necessities, but what are marine supply stores for! Francie and I and Skipper walked to the hairdresser for very needed hair necessities. We met for lunch at one of our favorite outdoor restaurants we discovered in December (dogs allowed), but then the rains came and we headed back to the boat to make sure all those marine supplies purchased worked.
April 13th. Bill and I hiked to the grocery store and pharmacy. We met Ken, Francie and Skipper there. They had ridden their bikes. We shopped and called a taxi -- Skipper opted to ride in the taxi too. Laundry was next and that pretty much took care of the day. We ran into Mile and Youla, cruising friends we met in Coinjack on our trip down who live here in St. Augustine. They were out working on their boat. We plan to connect with them again before heading out. Snow Goose and Release had a couple of games of cribbage in the evening.
April 14th. Still enjoying St. Augustine and will through Sunday.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Tt. Pierce, Palm City, Daytona to Isles of Palm
April 4th
Saturday Daniele the diver scrubbed Snow Goose's bottom and said our paint was holding up well We had a lot of barnacles and some grass. We took the shuttle to Walmart and bought supplies again, hopefully for seven days.
Sunday we topped off the water tanks at the fuel dock (Bill had filled up the jerricans on Friday).and headed for Ft. Pierce. It was a little tense for the first few miles after leaving Manatee Bay heading north on the ICW as we had only 6 to 8 inches under our keel (close to grounding out) which makes for holding your breath. It seemed to go on forever. Then it opened up, we furled our headsail and had a beautiful sail into Ft. Pierce. We anchored early and enjoyed the downtime.
Monday, April 4th, we woke up to winds of 25 to 30 knots. We decided to hang out here and do some bright work. While doing bright work sanding, we saw a large fish come out of the water, do a 180 flip and go back into the water and it was big! We managed to get the stern done with one coat of varnish and the toe rail (the first one third) sanded. While sanding the toe rail we spotted a very large sea turtle and hundreds of little yellow tailed fish swimming along the hull. At 8 pm the wind is finally subsiding. We received a phone call from Ken, Francie and Skipper that they had crossed the gulf stream from Grand Bahama and had arrived safely in Ft. Worth. The winds picked up again and didn't die out until some time early AM. Bill and I took turns up during the night checking the anchor. Another boat here in the anchorage had a bad night, dragging anchor into the swallow water. However, they got off bottom with the tide and moved to a deeper area.
Tuesday, April 5th, as predicted the cold front came through about noontime, blowing and raining with a little thunder, but we missed the high gale winds and lightening. It is 4 pm now and the temperature has dropped from the morning high of 78 to 62 degrees. The rain has stopped but a lighter wind continues to blow at 15 mph.
Thursday, April 7th. We left Ft. Pierce on Wednesday AM April 6th. The wind continued to blow and the waterway was choppy. We had to wait for a couple of bridges, but we managed to get in 30 miles and anchored behind a spoil in Palm City. We promised dinghy he too would have his bottom cleaned, so we took dinghy into the beach on the spoil island and have him a good cleaning.
Today, we probably set a record in Florida with the bridges and actually traveled better than 50 miles! We are anchored in Titusville .The day was sunny and traveling much easier as there was a whole lot less wind. We did experience the typical Indian River lack of water and managed to clean the kelp off the bottom of the keel in a couple of places. There was also a dolphin who I am sure got a thrill when he came right up out of the water next to the boat and Barb at the helm. Tomorrow we plan to fill the tanks, get ice and continue on Daytona.
Saturday, April 9th we had an uneventful trip to Daytona -- again doing over 40 miles. The waterway was very busy with weekend boaters. We picked our anchor spot before the first of three bridges over Daytona. As we were positioning the boat to drop the anchor we hit a shoal and bottom. However, those weekend boaters came to our rescue creating rolling wake that lifted us off. We chose another spot to anchor but it was silty and holding was not great. We decided in the middle of dinner to move again. I felt like Release. Anyway, it was a restless night on anchor watch.
Sunday, April 10th, we started through the three bridges only to find the last one, Main Street bridge out of order. We pulled over to one side of the waterway and dropped anchor with two other Northbound sailing vessels. However, luck was with us because as soon as the anchor was overboard the bridge tender called that they were putting up the bridge. Just a little anchoring practice. We fought the tide all morning and decided we were not going to make St. Augustine. We have pulled into Isles of Palm Marina and treated ourselves to showers and a meal of very tasty pizza at a place we discovered in January.
Monday, April 11th, we are waiting for the tide so it will be coming in when we get to Devil's Elbow in the Matananzes River--the shoal we had to be towed off last year. We should see St. Augustine today.
.
Saturday Daniele the diver scrubbed Snow Goose's bottom and said our paint was holding up well We had a lot of barnacles and some grass. We took the shuttle to Walmart and bought supplies again, hopefully for seven days.
Sunday we topped off the water tanks at the fuel dock (Bill had filled up the jerricans on Friday).and headed for Ft. Pierce. It was a little tense for the first few miles after leaving Manatee Bay heading north on the ICW as we had only 6 to 8 inches under our keel (close to grounding out) which makes for holding your breath. It seemed to go on forever. Then it opened up, we furled our headsail and had a beautiful sail into Ft. Pierce. We anchored early and enjoyed the downtime.
Monday, April 4th, we woke up to winds of 25 to 30 knots. We decided to hang out here and do some bright work. While doing bright work sanding, we saw a large fish come out of the water, do a 180 flip and go back into the water and it was big! We managed to get the stern done with one coat of varnish and the toe rail (the first one third) sanded. While sanding the toe rail we spotted a very large sea turtle and hundreds of little yellow tailed fish swimming along the hull. At 8 pm the wind is finally subsiding. We received a phone call from Ken, Francie and Skipper that they had crossed the gulf stream from Grand Bahama and had arrived safely in Ft. Worth. The winds picked up again and didn't die out until some time early AM. Bill and I took turns up during the night checking the anchor. Another boat here in the anchorage had a bad night, dragging anchor into the swallow water. However, they got off bottom with the tide and moved to a deeper area.
Tuesday, April 5th, as predicted the cold front came through about noontime, blowing and raining with a little thunder, but we missed the high gale winds and lightening. It is 4 pm now and the temperature has dropped from the morning high of 78 to 62 degrees. The rain has stopped but a lighter wind continues to blow at 15 mph.
Thursday, April 7th. We left Ft. Pierce on Wednesday AM April 6th. The wind continued to blow and the waterway was choppy. We had to wait for a couple of bridges, but we managed to get in 30 miles and anchored behind a spoil in Palm City. We promised dinghy he too would have his bottom cleaned, so we took dinghy into the beach on the spoil island and have him a good cleaning.
Today, we probably set a record in Florida with the bridges and actually traveled better than 50 miles! We are anchored in Titusville .The day was sunny and traveling much easier as there was a whole lot less wind. We did experience the typical Indian River lack of water and managed to clean the kelp off the bottom of the keel in a couple of places. There was also a dolphin who I am sure got a thrill when he came right up out of the water next to the boat and Barb at the helm. Tomorrow we plan to fill the tanks, get ice and continue on Daytona.
Saturday, April 9th we had an uneventful trip to Daytona -- again doing over 40 miles. The waterway was very busy with weekend boaters. We picked our anchor spot before the first of three bridges over Daytona. As we were positioning the boat to drop the anchor we hit a shoal and bottom. However, those weekend boaters came to our rescue creating rolling wake that lifted us off. We chose another spot to anchor but it was silty and holding was not great. We decided in the middle of dinner to move again. I felt like Release. Anyway, it was a restless night on anchor watch.
Sunday, April 10th, we started through the three bridges only to find the last one, Main Street bridge out of order. We pulled over to one side of the waterway and dropped anchor with two other Northbound sailing vessels. However, luck was with us because as soon as the anchor was overboard the bridge tender called that they were putting up the bridge. Just a little anchoring practice. We fought the tide all morning and decided we were not going to make St. Augustine. We have pulled into Isles of Palm Marina and treated ourselves to showers and a meal of very tasty pizza at a place we discovered in January.
Monday, April 11th, we are waiting for the tide so it will be coming in when we get to Devil's Elbow in the Matananzes River--the shoal we had to be towed off last year. We should see St. Augustine today.
.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Lantana, North Palm Beach and Stuart, FL
Ft. Lauderdale to Lantana
Lantana to North Palm Beach
North Palm Beach to Stuart (check out the little guy in the dinghy)
We leave Stuart Sunday morning, weather permitting, for Ft. Pierce.
Friday, April 1, 2011
April Fools Day
March 28th
When we woke up at 6 am the temperature was 80 degrees. We pulled away from the Los Olas Marina dock at 7:45 a.m. when the temp was 85 degrees. Connie and Patti had emailed us not to hurry because it was cold in their neck of the woods. Anyway, we traveled North thru the numerous bascule bridges noticing along our way that the temperature was dropping. Yes, and then the black clouds appeared and yes, followed by the thunderstorm. The temperature was now 62 degrees, lower than we had seen it since December in St. Augustine. Anyway, eventually the rain did stop and we reached our destination and dropped anchor in Lantana, Florida. Luckily, just in time because then the rain really came down, for hours, and the wind really did blow.
March 29th
Yes, the rain came down and the wind blew, but Snow Goose held her anchor and by sunrise all was well again. We caught the 9 AM bridge schedule and headed north. We arrived at North Palm Beach about 1 pm. We had a number of bridges and shallow water until then. North Palm Beach bridge informed us they had a malfunction and it would be at least an hour before the repair personnel would arrive. We decided to go into the anchorage just off the waterway. It is like a hurricane hole and there were strong thunderstorms forecasted for the afternoon, so it seemed like a prudent thing to do. As it turned out, the thunderstorms missed us, but you could tell by the wind and clouds that is was an almost. We took the dinghy into the mall area and walked around and then we explored the river around this beautiful community. We only did 20 miles today, but they were against the tide with the wind at our nose. Tomorrow we hope to get an early start and make Stuart. Snow Goose needs her bottom cleaned and we hope we can get it done there.
March 30th
We got the early start and made Stuart by 5 p.m. We picked up a mooring ball. We fought the tide all day and the wind really blew hard in the afternoon. There were storms all around us, but we managed to evade them. When heading into the Sunset mooring field in Stuart there are three bridges, one right after the other. The railroad bridge had closed for a train so we had to play around in the high winds for half an hour while the train passed and the bridges could open.
March 31st
This month is roaring out here in Stuart. Tornadoes all around us, thunderstorms again predicted and the winds are blowing 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. The sky has had a vicious look to it all day. Around noon we went into the marina for a shower and to walk around on dry land, but the blow really came and the trip back in the dinghy was not fun. So much for that fresh water shower! Bill has tried to find someone to scrub Snow Goose.
April 1st - April Fools Day and Duke's Birthday
We had a call from Daniele this morning, Bill picked her up at the dock and brought her out to scrub Snow Goose's bottom.
We had sad news today as Ed and Tricia lost Bingo. Bill and I will miss her.
We will provision tomorrow and head North on Sunday.
When we woke up at 6 am the temperature was 80 degrees. We pulled away from the Los Olas Marina dock at 7:45 a.m. when the temp was 85 degrees. Connie and Patti had emailed us not to hurry because it was cold in their neck of the woods. Anyway, we traveled North thru the numerous bascule bridges noticing along our way that the temperature was dropping. Yes, and then the black clouds appeared and yes, followed by the thunderstorm. The temperature was now 62 degrees, lower than we had seen it since December in St. Augustine. Anyway, eventually the rain did stop and we reached our destination and dropped anchor in Lantana, Florida. Luckily, just in time because then the rain really came down, for hours, and the wind really did blow.
March 29th
Yes, the rain came down and the wind blew, but Snow Goose held her anchor and by sunrise all was well again. We caught the 9 AM bridge schedule and headed north. We arrived at North Palm Beach about 1 pm. We had a number of bridges and shallow water until then. North Palm Beach bridge informed us they had a malfunction and it would be at least an hour before the repair personnel would arrive. We decided to go into the anchorage just off the waterway. It is like a hurricane hole and there were strong thunderstorms forecasted for the afternoon, so it seemed like a prudent thing to do. As it turned out, the thunderstorms missed us, but you could tell by the wind and clouds that is was an almost. We took the dinghy into the mall area and walked around and then we explored the river around this beautiful community. We only did 20 miles today, but they were against the tide with the wind at our nose. Tomorrow we hope to get an early start and make Stuart. Snow Goose needs her bottom cleaned and we hope we can get it done there.
March 30th
We got the early start and made Stuart by 5 p.m. We picked up a mooring ball. We fought the tide all day and the wind really blew hard in the afternoon. There were storms all around us, but we managed to evade them. When heading into the Sunset mooring field in Stuart there are three bridges, one right after the other. The railroad bridge had closed for a train so we had to play around in the high winds for half an hour while the train passed and the bridges could open.
March 31st
This month is roaring out here in Stuart. Tornadoes all around us, thunderstorms again predicted and the winds are blowing 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. The sky has had a vicious look to it all day. Around noon we went into the marina for a shower and to walk around on dry land, but the blow really came and the trip back in the dinghy was not fun. So much for that fresh water shower! Bill has tried to find someone to scrub Snow Goose.
April 1st - April Fools Day and Duke's Birthday
We had a call from Daniele this morning, Bill picked her up at the dock and brought her out to scrub Snow Goose's bottom.
We had sad news today as Ed and Tricia lost Bingo. Bill and I will miss her.
We will provision tomorrow and head North on Sunday.
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