We Are As Far As Jacksonville, Fl

The trip up the ICW from Vero Beach to Jacksonville was quite uneventful, however, we saw a lot of things that aren't usually encountered  on the ICW in south Florida. We anchored just off the ICW in Melbourne, Titusville, and Daytona Beach just spending the night and leaving around 7:30 AM to make bridge times.  There are several that open on the hour and half hour and a few on request.   One night we stayed in the Matanzas River anchored in front of Ft. Matanzas.

Ft. Matanzas, a Revolutionary  War fort.

St. Augustine from the ICW

Then it was on to St. Augustine, through the Bridge of Lions and up to the St. John's River.  We like the City of St. Augustine, the oldest in the country.  The Bridge of Lions is the most beautiful  bridge on the entire ICW in my opinion.  From Ft. Matanzas, we encountered morning fog and followed a tug pushing 2 barges  It was easy to see the tug's lights and stay a safe distance behind.  As the fog lifted we could see the name of it......"Anger Management", not sure how close we wanted to be!  

Anger Management passing through The Bridge of Lions

We did follow him all the way to St. Augustine and through the Bridge of Lions.  Tugs are something you don't often encounter on the southern part of the ICW and so are cruise ships.  As we approached the St. John's River, we passed this one headed south through a narrow section that we showed less than 6 feet of water under us at high tide.  I guess they made it since we didn't hear any radio calls for Towboat US. 

Cruise ship on ICW

                                                                                    

That day we made it a long one and continued up to Blount Island in the St. John's River so we could be in Jacksonville early in the afternoon on March 24th.  We arrived at Mulberry Cove Marina at Navy JAX around 2:00 PM. on a lovely, sunny, warm day.

A Week in Vero Beach

We arrived here Sunday and rented a car to do some errands.  We are less than an hours ride down I95 from my cousins' Elaine and Alan in Viera.  We left the boat on the mooring and drove up to spend a couple days with them.  We had fun catching up on old times, playing with their grandchildren, and driving around to see the area.  We found that we really like that community and will consider it for our relocation when we sell the Maine house.

Courtyard as you enter front door of Elaine's

Billy walking up to front door of Elaine's house

One of the biggest thrills was going to the wildlife preserve to see alligators.  I got out to take pictures (the only brave soul) and a rather large one was basking in the sun right on the edge of the water.  I said, "oh, he's asleep" and no sooner had I said that, when he jumped up with an open mouth!  I didn't think I could move that fast.  It scarred Elaine so much that she twisted her already sore knee and now will probably have to see a doctor for it.  We also got to see nesting blue herons, a turtle, lots of birds that I have yet to identify, and 6-8 alligators.

Now we are ready to set out again in the morning travelling north on the ICW towards Jacksonville and on up to the Chesapeake by mid April.

This is the guy that jumped up at me!

 

Marathon to Vero Beach

We have been traveling for 6 days and only stopping to anchor overnight and we're very glad to have reached Vero Beach.  This is a good place to pick up a mooring at the city marina and get supplies, through out trash and refuel.  Chico likes it because he gets to walk on solid earth!  We are planning to stay here for a week.  We'll rent a car and drive up to Viera, FL to visit my cousins Elaine and Alan for a couple days.  Then we'll come back and finish our errands before setting out for Jacksonville.

Let me catch you up on our traveling excitement.  We went off shore from Boot Key to Rodriquez Key which was a nice sailing day and about 45 miles.  We anchored on the north side of the island and had a comfortable night at anchor.  The next morning we dropped anchor at 07:00 and went off shore again we beat into the NE wind and it was slow going.  We made 24 miles and anchored in Angelfish Creek.  On the way south we had anchored here and knew the holding was good and it was a quiet anchorage.  We are fortunate to have a shallow draft on our catamaran because the enterance is only 5 ft. in depth and larger, deeper draft boats can't get in without hitting bottom.  Again we pulled anchor at 0:700and went into Biscayne Bay towards Miami.  We just motored this day because again the winds were out of the NE and we were only going to the north end of Key Biscayne to pick up a mooring in Crandon Marina for the night.  That was a 27 mile day and we stopped early because we were pretty tired of going long days.

Miami the morning of the storm

Now comes the exciting part!!!  We left again at 07:00 and went outside at Miami through Government Cut.  It was a nice sunny morning and even though the wind was still out of the NE we motor sailed with the Jenny only.  All was good and we could see some rain showers forming on land.  We were 2and a half miles off shore and it was bright and sunny out there.  We had planned to go in at Ft. Lauderdale, but it was only 11:00 and the going was great so we decided to go farther up to Boca Raton Inlet.  We had gotten about 3 miles passed Ft. Lauderdale and I asked Billy what a water spout looked like when it was forming.  He said it had to be thunder clouds and these were not high enough.  I looked behind us and could see what looked like water being pulled up off the ocean and when I pointed it out he said, "that's a water spout forming"!  It was back at Ft. Lauderdale Inlet, so we said let's keep pushing north away from it and rolled in the sail.  We no sooner had the sail in than it started raining hard and within seconds the wind started blowing hard.  When Billy looked at the gauges it was 73 knots!  He didn't tell me that until it was over!  I got us all (including Chico) in lifejackets while Bill pointed us into 4-6 ft. waves (some more like 8 foot) at a 45 degree angle.  This pointed us toward land but we were being blown further off shore.  I got on the weather radio and NOAA said a line of  severe thunderstorms had been sighted to the north of us at Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach and the warning was until 12:45.  It was 12:10 at this point so we rode the waves and held into a 45 degree angle for about a half hour with 60-68 knot winds deminishing to  50-60 knots in about 15minutes.  By 12:45 the wind had settled to 35-40 knots and the waves were down to 3-4 feet.  At this point things were getting back to normal and when we checked the chart plotter we had been blown a mile off shore and started getting back to our track.  Bill says he didn't mind being blown that way because there was nothing to hit out there and if we had gone into Ft. Lauderdale we'd have been way to close to land and other boats and chances are we would have hit something since we wouldn't have had time to get tied up anywhere.  We pretty pleased with how the boat handled the storm and didn't feel threatened with capsizing or any other dangers.  By the time we got to Boca Raton Inlet it was back to being a nice sunny day, but the temperature had dropped a good 15 degrees.  Boca Raton is another inlet that not all boets can get into because the depth goes down to 5.5 feet.  We anchored to Boca Raton lake and, needless to say, had a cocktail as soon as we were anchored!  That was a squall we will never forget, but looking back even now, it doesn't seem as bad as I thought when it was happening.

Pelican in Crandon Park, Key Biscayne

From there we stayed in the ICW anchoring in Lakeworth and Ft. Pierce just for overnight. Now for a little rest and visiting family. 

On the Road (Water) Again!

Yesterday morning at 0700 we dropped the mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor and left Marathon, FL for this year,  We are surely hoping to make it back next winter.  It was a great place to stay and we met many wonderful people.

We have tried to sail for 2 days in a row, but the wind isn't cooperating.  The winds have been out of the NE at about 20 knots.  Yesterday we were travelling mostly East and the wind was right in our face.  Today we turned a little North and sailed for a bit but it was slow going.  Catamarans have a hard job sailing that close to the wind.  We are hoping that the wind swings to the SE tomorrow ad that should be a good sail.  Here is a peek at today's sail.

Yesterday we got as far as Rodriquez Key off Key Largo which was a 45 mile trip.  We anchored on the north side of the island and had a quiet night.  Today we only sailed at 4 knots (nautical miles per hour) and stopped around 1:30 PM in Angelfish Creek.

Yesterday we saw a large loggerhead turtle and 4 Man O War jellyfish in the water.  Today we had lots of dolphins playing around the boat as we were sailing.  I caught the dolphins on video!

Wildlife That We Have Seen in Florida

Since we have been here we have seen things I had only seen I pictures before. 

Turtle Hospital

There really is a Turtle Hospital and we got to go on a tour of it.  We saw turtles with flippers missing, deformed shells from being hit by boat propellers, and other various injuries many of which happen from being caught in fishing and shrimping nets.  The hospital has an operating room, an emergency room, and many tanks to house them in.  Some get private tanks and others are in big open tanks with lots of others turtles.  There were Green turtles, Loggerheads, and Leatherbacks.  It was amazing and eye-opening  to see all they do.  Mostly the goal is to rehabilitate them and return them to the ocean, but many times they are to severely injured and have to be kept at the hospital the rest of their lives.  Many of those are used to educate people on being careful in turtle habitats.

Loggerhead Turtle

While doing my laundry at the marina one day, there was a lot of commotion out in the canal.  Another person, also doing laundry, asked if I had seen the Manatee.  It had come into the harbor looking for fresh water to drink.  I hadn't realized until then that they had to drink fresh water to live.  There were lots of people holding a hose for it to drink from and it drank gallons.  It was there for about a hour until it had it's fill and moved on.

Manatee in Boot Key Harbor



Then there was this guy sunning himself on a dock.  I have seen four of these in the month we've been here and this is the smallest one, but the prettiest.

Iguana

We have seen dolphins and tarpon, but I couldn't get pictures.  Also there are pelicans everywhere, but  I never seem to have my camera and think to get a photo of one.  Maybe next post.