January 27, 2013

We booked an extra night on the dock in Stuart, rather than going to the mooring field, because the engine had been running warmer than Dave liked and he hadn’t been able to find the problem.  He called a mechanic and left a message.  Before we got a call back, Vic and Wendy came over.  Vic had a look in the engine, while it was running, and poking around found a small hose that was leaking coolant.  A $5.00 piece of hose later, the engine was fixed, thankfully, rather than the hundreds of dollars Dave had  envisioned.  Cherie and Dan, Vic and Wendy’s friends, invited us to a picnic potluck in the park that night.  We went and also met another couple, Bonnie and Lonnie.  Had a nice time and said our good-byes to Vic and Wendy.  

Tuesday morning we moved out onto the mooring field to allow us time to catch up on some small jobs on the boat.  We also got talking about our plans and decided we would not go to the Bahamas this trip.  The weather windows for making the trip across have been short and very few and far between.  With the time we have left, before returning to Canada, we felt that we would use a lot of that time waiting for a weather window to go across, and one to come back.  

Wednesday morning we started heading south towards the Florida Keys.  This section of the ICW has a lot of bridges, most of which open at a specified time.  Most of the bridges we have dealt with so far, have opened ‘on demand’ by calling the Bridgemaster on channel 9.  We travelled through 8 bridges to get to Lake Worth Inlet Anchorage.  On the way there we passed Mile Marker #1000 (Norfolk, VA is Mile Marker #1).  It was a large anchorage and even with a large number of boats, there was a lot of room.  

Thirteen bridges later on Thursday, we arrived at Lake Boca Raton Anchorage.  This anchorage is  Florida’s version of Covered Portage Cove in the North Channel, but instead of being surrounded by granite cliffs and trees, you are surrounded by high rise hotels and condos (feels a little bit like a fish bowl).  

Our timing on Friday was better... of the 8 bridges, we only missed the opening time on one.  We arrived at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, at noon.  We planned on staying here for the weekend to avoid the heavy boat traffic on the ICW.  We tried to get in touch with friends, Liz, BA, and Judy from the 12th of Bruce that were vacationing in Fort Lauderdale.   We were unable to arrange anything since BA and Judy were leaving in the morning and had plans for that evening.   

Saturday morning we set out to go shopping.  We visited a really good nautical book store called Bluewater Books and Charts and as we were leaving, the phone rang and it was Liz.  On her way back from dropping Judy and BA at the airport, she decided to stop at a mall near where we were anchored and call us.  It turned out to be the same mall we were in and so we met up at the fountain a couple of minutes later.  We picked up a few supplies at the grocery store and then went back for a visit at Liz’s condo.  Later in the afternoon Liz brought us back to our dinghy and we took the dinghy across the ICW back to Time 2 Go.  

 We had planned Sunday to get things ready to go and work on our blog.  It just wasn’t meant to be.  Several large boats came into the anchorage to party - all with very powerful stereos and different tastes in music.  The large power boat that anchored near us had a party going on the back deck plus a photo shoot on the front deck.  The young models must have been Dental Assistants, as they were all wearing bikinis that looked to made of dental floss!   As the sun set and the air started to get cooler, the boats left.  

Ibis at the potluck dinner in Stuart.

  

We have seen lots of huge homes on the way down but
Palm Beach mansions are twice as big

In Palm Beach not only are the yachts bigger but they have
their own boats stored inside

Lake Sylvia anchorage, Fort Lauderdale

Some of the entertainment over the weekend.
Paddleboards seem really popular around here

January 20, 2013

Monday morning we said our good-byes to our friends we made on the dock and started heading south again.  The day started out nice and calm flat water, and we were able to travel 36 miles.  We arrived at Indian Harbor Beach anchorage, formerly known as Dragon’s Point, until the statue of the dragon fell down.  

The next morning we raised the anchor and headed 38 miles south to Vero Beach.  Vero Beach Municipal Marina is a very popular stop, some of the guide books refer to it as “Velcro Beach”.  There are very few docks available, but most people take a mooring ball.  It gets so crowded that the boats can be rafted together 2 to 3 boats to a mooring ball.  Fortunately, we had our own ball.  We had planned on staying 2 days, but a cold front was forecasted to come in, with wind gusts to gale force.  So we ended up staying 5 nights.  This enabled us to take advantage of their free bus service to explore the area down by the beach and go to a large grocery store for supplies.  Thursday afternoon the cruisers held a get-together at a picnic shelter at the marina and we met other boaters.  It was interesting to hear other experiences and get  advice for our trip.  Friday, our friends, Bob and Connie, from Tiverton, drove down to us from Zephyrhills.  We had a nice visit out for lunch with them.  They introduced us to Raspberry Sweet Tea, a yummy popular Florida drink.  They have a really nice Farmer’s Market, on the bus route, near the beach, on Saturday morning.  We saw a lot of different items that you wouldn’t find in a market back home, such as a large variety of orchids, fresh citrus fruit, and articles woven from palm fronds.  There was also the usual fresh produce and items that we would find at home.  

Sunday morning we left for Stuart to meet up with our friends, Vic and Wendy, from Port Elgin.  As we got near to the St. Lucie River, boat traffic was a lot heavier.  The large mega yachts seem to show absolutely no regard for smaller boats.  One boat’s 4 foot bow wave knocked us right out of the channel!  Fortunately, we didn’t go aground.  Until we get at least south of Miami, we probably won’t travel on the weekends.  Eight miles up the river, 2 bridges later, we arrived at Sunset Bay Marina & Anchorage in Stuart.  Dave got a surprise when he radioed into the marina and Odyssey responded (Vic).  Vic and Wendy were there to greet us and help tie up, when we arrived at the dock, along with their friends, Dan and Cherie.  We enjoyed visiting with them all.  

The Mooring field at Titusville as we left Monday morning

Spanish Moss and plants growing on a Live Oak
really neat to see

View from our mooring ball in Vero Beach Marina

Live Oaks covered in Spanish Moss formed a tunnel all
down the street in Vero Beach 

Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart, Florida

January 13, 2013

Our first morning back in Titusville, we started re-stocking the boat.  To do this we had to catch the bus to the grocery store.  Dave checked the price of the tickets with Jimmy, the bus driver and he declared that it would only cost us $.60 each instead of the $1.25 each, we had paid before Christmas as we were now SENIORS.  We thought this was kind of funny until we stopped for a tea and coffee the next morning at the Burger King, and the price at the till didn’t match the price on the wall.  When we asked about the price, we were told that was the SENIORS price.  I guess it must be official. It is not to hard to take with half price bus tickets and half price tea and coffee.  

Our canvas top did not get done while we were away, but since we have been back, Bob the canvas guy, who lives on our dock, has been here everyday measuring and fitting the new piece.  Bob and his wife Evie, own a business called the Dock Dude, besides for doing canvass work they also sell used boat parts.          A really neat store to explore if you are looking for boating bargains.  We found a set of SCUBA gear at a really good price.

Most of the rest of our week was spent fixing all the little things that need looking at on any boat.  On Friday we rented a car for the weekend to finish off the odds and ends that were still left.  What a treat to be able to go some place  not on a bus route.  The buses have been good down here but a trip to Walmart and back took us 5 1/2 hours , it really slows down the restocking process.

Sunday was our last day in Titusville before starting south again and it was busy.  Early in the morning Bob came and did the final installation of our sun awning.  It is going to make a huge difference in our comfort heading south.  We are very pleased with it.  

We had postponed any visits with friends due to us both having colds when we arrived back to the boat.  So Sunday was our last opportunity to get together with friends in the area.  Gaetane and Jerry, friends from Port Elgin, arrived around noon and we went out for lunch at the Dixie Crossroads Restaurant, famous for their Rock Shrimp.  Later in the afternoon Ron and Mary, friends from Glammis, who have a winter home in Titusville, came for a visit.  We went out for supper with them to the Dixie Crossroads Restaurant - Dave can’t get enough of their Rock Shrimp!  We have met a lot of nice people on our trip south, but it is a real treat to meet up and visit with friends when you are almost 2000 miles from home! 

Dixie Crossroads Restaurant
Great shrimp and Dave got a belly full

January 6, 2013

We wanted to fill in the gap in time, since we stopped on November 1st to our return to Titusville on January 6, 2013.  

Staying in Titusville gave us a mailing address that allowed us to order a new raw water pump.  The rear seal leaking on the raw water pump has been our only major equipment failure.  The easy availability of parts down here has been great, 2 days after ordering it the new pump arrived and took about 15 minutes to install.  

With the boat fixed, we decided on a date to return to Canada.  There was a Titan rocket launch scheduled for Nov. 17th.  Our slip would have provided a spectacular view of the launch.  Our hope was to stay until after this, and still get a flight before the U.S. Thanksgiving rush.  However, the launch was postponed after we bought our tickets.   

The rest of our time, we used to visit the local attractions.  We saw many different species of birds at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.  Although expensive and Disney-like, the Kennedy Space Center was very interesting.  The beach at the Canaveral National Seashore was miles long and the water was warm enough for swimming, if you were from Canada.  

November 19th we flew back to Buffalo, New York and then home to Port Elgin.   We were home just  long enough to have to put the snow tires on both vehicles and get the snow shovels out.  Winter is hard to take when you miss the fall.  We saw family and many friends and spent Christmas in the Niagara area. 

While we were home we purchased a Spot Satellite GPS Messenger that will allow us to let family know we are ok in areas where there is either poor, or no cell phone coverage.  The added feature with Spot is that when we are moving, we are going to be able to show our track on the map on our Blog.  

On Jan. 6th we went back to Buffalo, NY and flew via Atlanta, Georgia to Orlando, Fl.  and shuttle bus back to Titusville.

Kennedy Space Center
The rockets that they sent men into to space were not very big

Merrit Island Wildlife Refuge
Lots of different birds

Cape Canaveral National Seashore
Water was warm enough for Canadians

A Titusville neighbour stopping by for a drink

Nov. 1, 2012

This morning has been one of the coldest days we have had since leaving Port Elgin, when Hurricane Sandy moved north she sucked a lot of cold winds down from the northwest.  Today was another short day traveling from Palm Cove Marina, Jacksonville to St. Augustine arriving at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina around 1 pm.  There were 3 historic cities we had wanted to visit on our way south:  Charleston, Savannah and St. Augustine.  In both Charleston and Savannah the cities have maintained the historically significant areas and buildings.  It was almost like stepping back into the past, when you toured these areas.  Not so, in St. Augustine, the buildings in the old area have been restored and turned into t-shirt and souvenir shops.  The historically significance that dates back to the Spanish ownership of Florida was totally lost.  It was very disappointing after visiting the other two cities.  

The high winds and cold temperatures continued into Tuesday.  So we made it into another short day.  We had planned on going to Marineland Marina near Palm Coast but when we arrived in the area described in the guide book, we found we had passed it by 4 miles.  So rather than go back, we went south to Palm Coast Marina, where we met up with Lee and Randy on Silver Maple.  

Wednesday morning the weather is starting to warm up a little bit.  Although it is not t-shirt weather yet, it is no longer double sweat shirt and foul weather gear.  Daytona Beach, our next destination is only 27 miles because of the last several short days.  We arrived around 2 pm. and went for a walk in the old downtown area.  They are trying to restore this area of Daytona Beach but right now there is not much there.  One store that we did stop in was the Indian River Orange Growers.  They had only opened in the last few days and we suspect that not many people had visited the store yet.  We were there for an hour talking to the owner and learning the significance of the Indian River in producing fruit that is far superior to the rest of Florida.  The longer we talked, the more free samples he put into a bag for us, so by the time we left the store, we had a large bag of delicious oranges, tangerines and grapefruits!  We bumped into our friends, Lee and Randy and they invited us to go out for supper at the yacht club where they were staying.  On the walk over there, from our marina, we saw our first manatee.  We had a fun and enjoyable evening and a delicious meal.  

Based on the way the weather had been the last few days, we planned on another short trip of 16 miles to New Smyrna Beach on Thursday morning.  When we left Daytona Beach the weather had turned nice and the tide and currents were pushing us on at 7 plus knots.  These conditions got us to New Smyrna Beach a lot earlier than we had thought and after some humming and hawing, we decided to carry on to our final destination before Christmas, Titusville.  We travelled down through the Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River, both are very wide bodies of water, but very shallow on either side of the marker buoys.  We saw lots of dolphins in this area which broke up the monotony of staying between the red and green markers for miles and miles.  We arrived in Titusville around 4 pm., ending the first part of our journey south from Port Elgin.  

We plan on spending the next few weeks doing minor repairs and cleaning ‘Time 2 Go‘ in preparation for our trip to the Bahamas after Christmas. The sun has been a lot stronger than we had anticipated and we are arranging to have a canvas shade made for the cockpit prior to going on.  We will also spend some time doing the tourist thing, visiting the Kennedy Space Center, a bird and wildlife refuge and just laying on the beach.  

Boating in Florida after Hurricane Sandy. COLD!!!!

St.George St the historic area St.Augustine.

Lots of dolphins in Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River

Pelicans standing along the side of the ICW channel.

The end of the first half of our trip

Monday October 22, 2012

Monday morning we left Kilkenny Creek and headed for an anchorage called “New Teakettle Creek”, that had been recommended to us by another boater.  The scenery was more of what we had been seeing throughout Georgia, salt marsh and very few trees.  We arrived in the New Teakettle Creek anchorage around 1 pm. and we found it wasn’t that special, more salt marsh with high winds.  We moved on to an anchorage closer to the Little Mud River and to wait for high tide on Tuesday afternoon.  As we got closer, we called ‘Silver Maple‘ and asked how they had found Little Mud.  They responded that they had loads of water just before high tide and made it through without a problem.  By the time we got there, it was just after high tide so we decided to try it, there was loads of water.  It was late in the day by the time we found another anchorage farther on in the Hampton River, more salt marsh and wind but south of the Little Mud River.  

We arrived early because of the tides at Jekyll Marina on Jekyll Island on Tuesday morning.  All week they have been calling for gale force winds on Friday and the winds had been progressively getting worse the last couple days, so we decided that we would skip Jekyll Island, and go on to Florida. We had to go out Jekyll Sound to get around shoaling, it was very rough near the inlet to the sound.   We were happy to make the turn around the shoal and head back up the Sound towards the ICW again.  There was one more Sound between us and Florida:  the Cumberland Sound.  It wasn’t quite as rough because the wind and tide were going up the Sound.  This combination of wind and tide dropped our speed to about 4 knots, making it a very slow trip down the Cumberland River towards the Sound.  We passed by Kings Bay, a navy nuclear sub base, and saw 2 nuclear submarines sitting in the open, a big one and a little one.  Didn’t think we could take any pictures as it is a restricted area.  By the time we arrived at Fernandina Harbor Marina in Fernandina Beach, Florida, the forecast had changed, Friday’s gale force winds were now being called ‘Hurricane Sandy’.  Dave had been asking experienced cruisers what to look for in a ‘hurricane hole’, it turns out we fell into one.  Fernandina Harbor Marina is protected  from the winds from the east and north east by the town Fernandina Beach.  The dock and breakwater are large floating concrete slabs that float up and down on 2 foot square concrete pillars, this is what we were tied to.  We were well hidden on the inside of this sandwiched between large sportfishermen and other mega yachts. People kept telling us how good a hurricane hole this was, but when the Coast Guard brought 3 of their boats over from Kings Bay to tie up, we really started to believe them. This was our first day in Florida and we finished it off with cocktails with a group of boaters.  

Wednesday was the day we had planned to catch up on groceries, laundry, email etc.  In the afternoon we took a walk up town and looked around in some of the shops.  While we were waiting for an ice cream cone, we heard someone behind us say “How is Time 2 Go today?”  It was David of ‘Memory Maker’, whom we had first met at Elizabeth City.  David and his wife, Barb had stopped to visit with friends, Eileen and Larry who live in Fernandina Beach.  They introduced us to them.  Eileen and Larry have done a circumnavigation and now cruise the inland waters of North America.   They generously offered to give us a ride to the grocery store while we were there, as Eileen said there had been many times she couldn’t get to the grocery store from their boat.   

Thursday morning the winds picked up and they issued a ‘Tropical Storm Watch’ for the area.  So we booked another night at the marina and doubled up all of our dock lines.   We called Eileen and took her up on her offer to the grocery store.  It is surprising how much you appreciate being able to get to a large grocery store while cruising and how special people like Eileen and Larry are to you, for offering to take 2 strangers.  

The rest of our week was spent taking long walks downtown, watching the weather channel in the boaters’ lounge, and talking and visiting with other boaters.  The biggest concern that we heard talking to local people, was what effect the winds were going to have on the Florida /Georgia College Football game on Saturday (the largest tailgate party in the world).  Would it mean a running game or passing game?  The weather was gradually getting better as the week progressed.  “Sandy” hit south of us and north of us and missed Fernandina Beach.  Saturday afternoon the ‘Tropical Storm Watch’ was lifted for our area and farther south.  That night we celebrated Dave’s birthday by going out for a nice seafood supper.  Everyone started to make plans to leave Sunday.  

We decided we would leave as well.  The ICW was choppy and still windy in the area of the marina so we planned to only go to Jacksonville, 30 miles south.  We arrived just after lunch and walked to the mall, where we found all the stores closed.  So we went back to the marina to do laundry and showers before bed.  

Some of the Georgia mud we travelled through  

Tucked in for Hurricane Sandy at Fernandina Harbor Marina

A birthday to remember Dave, Anne and Hurricane Sandy

Monday October 15, 2012

Monday they were forecasting thunderstorms south of where we were located at the anchorage.  We headed on down the ICW & through the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.  The only wildlife we saw were a couple of dolphins that were swimming along on each side of our boat.  There was nothing distinguishing about this Wildlife Refuge, it looked the same as all the other salt marsh we’d been traveling through.  We ended our day early & anchored in the Whiteside Creek, about 15 miles north of Charleston, SC.  That nit we had a spectacular light show with lightening & storm clouds all around us, but nothing in our anchorage. 

Tuesday was an even shorter day, arriving in Charleston, South Carolina at 11 am.  We had a quick lunch, then caught a shuttle-bus to the old Slave Market.  There were several companies offering horse-drawn carriage tours of the downtown area & we decided this would be a good way to see the sites of  historic Charleston.  We saw some interesting single room width houses & large churches with huge steeples.  After the tour we went through the Old Slave Market which is a 2 block long building that is full of vendors selling crafts, food and other products.  The market was never used to sell slaves but was where the slaves would go to sell their masters produce from the plantations.  

We left Charleston the following morning & headed south again on the ICW.  We anchored in the South Edisto River, just off the main channel of the ICW.  The river is very wide here so the tidal current was not very fast, making for a calm anchorage.  We saw quite a few dolphins in this area.  

We have been pushing to get to Georgia, as there was not a lot we were interested in seeing after leaving Charleston.  Thursday night we had planned on anchoring in Skull Creek, off of Hilton Head Island but couldn’t find a good spot based on the description in the guide books.  We ended up going aground while trying to find this anchorage.  We were able to reverse off of it & decided maybe it was a good night for a marina, we got a slip at Hilton Head Harbor Marina. The tides are getting really high as we are getting closer to Georgia, about 8 feet at Hilton Head harbor.

We left Hilton Head Friday morning for Savannah, Georgia.  The tide was against us so the current was pretty strong, so with the motor on & the sails up & 14 knots of wind, we were only able to go 4 and half knots (slow!).  We arrived at Isle of Hope Marina in the middle of the afternoon.  Isle of Hope is where the rich people of Savannah, Georgia would go in the summer to escape the heat of the city.  The “cottages” all look like smaller versions of the southern mansions, surrounded with Live Oaks & covered in hanging moss.  

Saturday morning we got a guy from the marina to take us to Walmart so we could catch a bus to downtown Savannah.  The bus could not take us to where we hoped to be dropped off, because Savannah State University’s Homecoming Weekend parade was going across his normal route.  We stayed and watched a bit of the parade which was all the younger kids by the time we got there.  They put their heart and soul into their routine and it was fun to see the antics.  Our idea was to do a tour of downtown Savannah like we had done in Charleston.  We picked one of the trolleys and got lucky as the driver was a character who did a standup comedy routine while driving the trolley around downtown Savannah.  We became her new best friends from Canada and this was a really good way to see the sites.  Savannah is a beautiful city rich in history that they are maintaining to its original state.  They have 22 parks that were built when the city was originally laid out with different monuments to people that were important in the development of Savannah.   These are landscaped and shaded by Live Oak trees that are covered with moss.  The moss we found is loaded with Chiggers which are nasty little bugs that bite and can only be removed by painting them with clear nail polish, according to our tour guide.  Some of the streets near the old harbour area are still paved with ballast stones from the old sailing ships that used to come to load up with cotton.  They have done a great job maintaining the history of the area.

We had been reading & hearing about how shallow the ICW was through Georgia, so Dave asked the dockmaster what areas were bad.  He told us of the 3 main ones:  Hell Gate, Florida Passage & the Little Mud River.  He also told us how to get through them.  So on Sunday morning we left Isle of Hope late to get the rising tide.  The 8 feet of rising tide plus the 3 to 5 feet, that was there at low tide, provided plenty of water to allow us to go through Hell Gate and Florida passage.  We anchored that night in Kilkenny Creek, 25 miles south of Savannah and the next morning we used the same technique to go down the Little Mud River.

The tallest buildings allowed in Charleston are the churches

The Old Slave Market in downtown Charleston 

Our best dolphin picture so far

Savannah State University Homecoming Parade

One of the parks in Savannah

Swamp grass along the ICW, half South Carolina and most of Georgia  looked like this

Storm clouds and light show in the distance thankfully