Monday 27th November

Miami

After having such a full harbour for the weekend it was great to see that all but eight boats had left. It made the space between each boat big enough to be comfortable to swing in. We had planned on going ashore today to find the library and shops however it rained most of the day so we stayed on the boat and commissioned the water maker. It was thought that we should do this before leaving the US incase there were any problems with it. Whilst we weren’t keen on the idea of doing the commissioning in the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway) we really didn’t have a lot of choice. In order to commission it we had half of the seating in the salon up and it looked like a bomb had gone off with tools, cushions and paper towels just about everywhere. It took a while for us to get it right, with Gerry tightening bolts and me running backwards and forwards spotting leaks and checking if we had any water coming out of the test tap. Eventually we had a dribble of water happening – how exciting! The first couple of bowls of water went down the sink without a second glance then Gerry started to test them for amount of total dissolved solids, this averaged out to 150 which was well below the maximum of 600 which is recommended as being alright for drinking water (the water we took onboard at the marina had a level of 195 so we think we are doing ok). As for the real test – well I let Gerry take the first mouthful – if one of us is going to be ill I’d rather it wasn’t me. It tastes like the real thing! We are not however going to fill our tanks with water made out of the ICW water - who knows what “nasties” lurk in it. We will also be sterilizing the water in the tanks with bleach, we can’t afford for either us to get ill from contaminated water but at least I can now be assured of having water to shower with all the way home.
We have discovered the washing machine and water supply in the harbour which we can use (the rangers try to discourage use by the weekend boaties by locking it away and only giving the pass numbers to a select few people) thank goodness I will be able to have clean clothes again before we leave here.

Sunday 26th November

Miami

We though today would be quieter than yesterday, it began that way however just about lunchtime the never ending stream of boats began to arrive. We had a quick dink around the harbour and on our journey we saw a huge iguana hiding in the mangroves, where was the camera? on the boat! We did a very quick trip back to get it but not quick enough, it had disappeared by the time we got back to where he had been, however we did manage to get a picture of another one that was lurking in the trees - spot it in the photo! .

Just after 1400hrs a couple of power boats dropped their anchors right over ours, then another 2 boats came and rafted up to them. We were more than a little concerned and told them about where our anchor was laid – not that it made any difference. To our horror another 2 boats then arrived and rafted up to them. The gap between our bow and their sterns was less than five feet, we couldn’t move even if we wanted to and they certainly weren’t going anywhere. They cranked up their music, cleaned the fish they had caught on the way here which brought the birds around the boats in their droves and lit their bar – b – ques whilst yelling at each other from one boat to another. We continued to enjoy the loud Cuban music, shouting, birds swooping and food cooking smells for the following 3 hours whilst waiting for the wind to drag them into us – luckily it didn’t happen. We were relieved when the light began to fade and they took off for home. Once they had gone we checked our anchor to make sure we were still firmly in place and breathed a sigh of relief, there is such a thing as anchoring too close for comfort. At least tomorrow should be quieter for us.

Saturday 25th November

Miami

What a day, we watched a steady stream of boats of all sizes and shapes arrive for the day, anchor or tie up, turn their music up to maximum volume, light bar b que’s and enjoy themselves. Most of them only stayed for the day and headed off when the light began to disappear. Gerry and I headed ashore mid morning for a walk around the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park of which No Name harbour is a part. We walked the sea path as far as the Key Biscayne lighthouse and then did the road completing the circle back to the harbour. On the harbour shore there is a restaurant which seems to be extremely popular for lunch, we stopped there and had an early lunch then headed back out to our boat for an afternoon of entertainment – watching other boaters anchoring – and yes it was very entertaining!

Friday 24th November

Miami

Belated Happy birthday for yesterday to our favourite pole dancer - you know who you are!
Happy birthday Garry, only another year and we can celebrate it together!
After a quick trip to the supermarket this morning we readied the boat and left the marina motoring south to No Name harbour, arriving mid afternoon along with several other boats. We anchored and then watched a steady procession of boats arrive after us. The harbour isn’t big and very soon we thought it was full to capacity however even more boats arrived and it became very cozy. We settled in for the night, deciding to explore tomorrow.

Thursday 23rd November

Miami

A very happy 9th birthday to princess Jessica, we hope you have a lovely day and lots of presents!

Happy thanksgiving to all our American friends, we are celebrating with you today and yes we are thankful for you all. The turkey dinner is just about to go in the oven, as neither of us are keen on pumpkin pie we’ve made our favourite dessert – chocolate mousse. It was the best thing being stuck in Miami for thanksgiving!
We plan on taking the boat out of the marina and down to No Name harbour tomorrow and anchoring there for a few nights.

Wednesday 22nd November

Miami

I can’t believe how cold it’s gotten, it even snowed in Orlando last night. It is a bit warmer where we are in Miami but not much! We had a day of being “off” the boat and walked into Coconut Grove where we went to the Library, Starbucks and The Cheesecake Factory. After picking up a few groceries we headed back to the boat for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday 21st November

Miami

This waiting for a weather window is getting a bit monotonous. At least I managed to do all the laundry today, it was an excuse to leave Gerry on the boat where he was “fixing” the forward toilet pump handle which had developed a leak. After taking it all apart and attempting to band aid it we decided to hunt out a marine parts store and see if we could buy a new replacement part. Luckily for us there was a Hopkins and Carter store within easy walking distance and even better – they had the part we needed in stock! Of course we didn’t limit our spending to just what we needed we had to buy a few other “essential” bits as well. I’m glad to say that the toilet is now back in working order.
One other thing requiring attention was the wind generator, Gerry thought it was making an odd noise so he took it apart and we all know what happens when you go looking for trouble. One of the 3 blades had a crack in it, a few phone calls found a spare set of blades in a local suppliers and parting with a few more dollars had them couriered to us at the marina. Another successful day of fixing stuff!

Monday 20th November

Miami

An overcast start to the day. We have tried to find an internet connection here but haven’t been successful. Gerry spoke with Bob this morning, there would be a space for us in the Marina where they are however there are no laundry or shower facilities there and we don’t see any point in going there so we are going to stay put for at least another day. Gerry found something else to fix this morning; the cockpit shower tap has a small leak so it has been taken apart, fiddled with and hopefully will not leak in future.
Once the fixing things came to an end we decided that I needed to learn how to operate the new outboard motor so we donned our life jackets and launched the dink. We then proceeded to roar around the bay, I managed to get us both soaked in a matter of minutes (well it was a bit choppy at the time) but at least I now know the workings of the new outboard. The weather forecast was for increasing winds over the next couple of days so Gerry decided that we should check back into the marina where we can do laundry, shopping and watch TV in comfort, so at just after midday we stowed all the gear away, donned the life jackets and hauled up the anchor. In increasing winds, which were not suitable for sailing, we motored down the bay to our next proposed staging point to check it out prior to heading into the marina. The staging point – no name harbour, is a hurricane safe hole. It’s an almost enclosed bay with a narrow entrance. Our charts showed the depth to be only 3feet so we approached it with great caution as we need 5.5 feet clearance and we were very glad to find the chart was wrong and we had at least 7feet under the keel at the important places. The harbour has limited facilities but will make an excellent jumping off point for our next passage – over to the Bahamas – when the weather improves. Having checked it out we headed back to Dinner Key marina and checked in for a couple of days. We walked to a local restaurant for dinner however it was closed so we ended up back on the boat cooking for ourselves. The good thing about being back here is that there is an internet connection so I’ll be able to up load this blog.

Sunday 19th November

Miami


Another slow start to the day due to the night interruption. Gerry decided that today was to be his ”fixing” minor irritating things whilst I was going to catch up with typing this blog – ready for when I have an internet connection and can upload it.
Bob and Kathy have taken off for a sail and then they are going into a marina for the night. We intend staying put for a day or 2 more, the weather window just isn’t happening as yet so we are again doing the hurry up and wait thing.
Gerry started off with the snubbers on the anchor, changing them out for a much bigger line with more stretch. After which he took the windlass foot switch cover off and sprayed WD40 on the switch to make it operate better (it was temperamental before)
Then it was on to the rigging system for lifting the dink up onto the davits, we had decided yesterday that it was quite a difficult system to use as one of the blocks had a ratchet which only operates one way. The fix was to remove the ratchet from the block which Gerry has now done – hopefully lifting the dink will be much easier now. The last “fix” was to try out a new bracing system for the dink. This is intended to hold the dink in place when we have it on the davits and are moving along in the Caribbean (we keep it on the foredeck when we are undertaking a sea passage); from what we can tell at the moment it should work just fine. Once all the “fixing” for the day was done we took the dink out for a blast around the shoreline. Taking it under the Rickenbacker Causeway was an interesting moment as there were loads of people fishing off the old causeway so we had to be careful not to get tangled up in any of their lines – I’m sure they would have been a bit miffed with us if they had “caught” our dink! It was a lovely day which translated to lots of people on the water operating all sorts of water craft, we got fed up of being rocked about by the speed freaks on sea-doos, etc. and headed back to the boat (where we were rocked by speed freaks in super cigar boats – they really move). Gerry stayed below deck to “watch the football on TV”, I actually found him studying the backs of his eyelids a bit later on. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading my book. Finally we managed a night without the noise from shore.

Saturday 18th November

Miami



After sleeping in a bit later today we decided to put the dink in the water and christen our new outboard motor. Along with Bob and Kathy we set off to explore the area to see if there was anywhere that we could dock the dink and use the facilities – we were after an internet connection and washing machine. We tried everywhere around us – yacht club, fuel dock, marina x 2 and the local restaurant to no avail – they simply didn’t cater for boats that were anchored out. As we zipped past the local restaurant, The Rusty Pelican, there was a couple getting married on the deck outside. Their backdrop, the city of Miami from the water, was lovely however I’m sure the noise from us zooming by as well as the planes going overhead would have been an annoyance. Our new outboard motor worked very well, which was a relief as we didn’t need that to give us any grief. In fact it worked so well that we even gave Bob a tow when his outboard conked out and wouldn’t start again ( he did get it going eventually).
We toured around the ex – marine park and I have to say it was a bit of a disgrace. The seating stand is still there but has been vandalized to the point that it is an eyesore. The area around the stand, where we assume the entrance used to be, has also been left to fall into disrepair – it looks like it has become the local dumping ground for trash. We were at a loss to understand why the local council hasn’t demolished the stand and cleared the debris away. The bay, where we understand water sport displays and shows were carried out, remains in good condition with a few boats anchored there. A local rowing club uses the bay to practice their sport and we spent the evening being entertained watching them race around the bay. I say rowing club as that is what their club house says however they were using an outrigger (or dragon boat) type of stroke rather than a rowing stroke so I’m not sure really what they would be classed as.
I spent most of the afternoon cooking as we had invited Bob and Kathy to eat with us. As soon as it was dark we had drinks, dinner and enjoyed the company of our friends accompanied in the background by fireworks which we are sure were set off in our honour! We discussed our plans for the next few days – ours are to remain here until we get a good weather window, whilst Sundancer are planning to try moving a bit further south. Bob and Kathy had phoned around the marinas further south and were horrified to find that most of them are already booked out until the new year and that the available ones are charging $32 per foot – I don’t imagine they will be staying in one of them.
Once we went to bed the party music from the shore cranked up again, at least it wasn’t quite so loud or quite as awful as last night and we did managed to sleep until Gerry got up at 04.30hrs and announced that we had dragged anchor. It was a quick scramble into track suits (it was quite cold out side!) and a mad rush to bring in the anchor, motor back to a suitable spot and re – anchor. This is how we know for certain that the party on shore was still going at 05.00hrs! Once we were happy that we weren’t going anywhere again we returned to bed to try and get a bit more sleep.

Friday 17th November

Miami



First thing today Bob and Kathy (Sundancer) decided to leave the marina to see if there was a place where they could anchor out until there is a break in the weather which will allow them to head off farther south into the Keys. After waving them off we decided to do a little grocery shopping at the local Fresh Market which is just a couple of blocks away from the marina. After a very easy walk there we filled just one basket, which was very difficult as I’m sure that anyone who has ever been to the Fresh Market would appreciate – it is full of all those wonderful things that you can’t find any place else. Gerry had to keep control of both the basket and me as I oh’d and ah’d my way around the shelves. I have to add that he gave in to buying a couple of their filets – which will feed us for 2 meals, they are so huge. Our one basket cost us $126 so you can see why we restricted ourselves a bit. We crammed everything into 2 backpacks and 2 carry bags and strolled back to the boat. After a couple of calls from Sundancer we decided to join them at a spot that they had found to anchor. We had a leisurely lunch then stowed everything away and prepared the boat to leave. The “check out” time was 1500hrs so we had plenty of time to gather in our lines and leave the dock. Our first stop on the way out was the fuel dock, we replaced the fuel we had used in getting to this point, topped up our extra Jerry cans and the dink fuel can and headed out into the intra coastal water way. There was a large fleet of “star class” sail boats from all over the world out on the water obviously competing in a race; we kept well clear of them – unlike Bob, who later told us that he got abused by one of them for getting in the way. The wind was just off the beam so it was perfect for putting up the sails and giving them an airing, we zipped along doing a pleasant 5-6 knots for a short while and then had to furl the sails away to go under the Rickenbacker Causeway. We watched a couple of micro light sea planes doing scenic flights around the place; I swear they could turn on a dime. At the Rickenbacker Causeway we turned immediately to starboard and followed the path taken by Sundancer, into what used to be a marine park, we anchored there, broke out the rum and watched the sun set over the city of Miami – quite a spectacular view with the high rise buildings all lit up. Just as the light faded an air ship floated past, I tried to get a photo of it against the skyline but unfortunately it was too dark and didn’t show up. We headed off to bed only to be kept awake for hours by the noise coming from what we think was a party on the shore – it was the worst monotonous droning sound imaginable and very loud, it stopped at about 04.30hrs and we finally got to sleep.

Thursday 16th November

Dinner Key, Miami

25 43.533 N
80 13.868 W

Here we sit in the marina at Miami doing the “hurry up and wait” thing again. The weather has turned quite nasty and isn’t expected to improve for the next few days. We elected to stay in the marina for at least today and then review our options tomorrow – once we have checked the forecast again. Our friends on Sundancer also stayed here today as the rain began early this afternoon and they didn’t want to leave when in bad weather either. So what does one do when it rains and you are stuck in the marina? Well Gerry was very glad that I noticed our auto pilot had leaked a small amount of hydraulic fluid (only a tablespoonful) during our passage to Miami and spent all day trying to figure out why it leaked. This was the second time that this has happened and just like the first time there seems to be no reason and it wasn’t possible to repeat the leak here in the dock. Frustrated by this he then spent a while looking at diagrams and web sites with the idea of replacing the cylinder, this proved to be more frustrating as he was unable to find an exact replacement without going directly to the manufacturer and as he’s not entirely convinced that a new cylinder will solve the problem he has temporarily given up worrying about it………watch this space!
Me? I spent all day trying different ways to write this blog, so that I can keep it current when we have no internet access. I had some success – I can write the text in word and then import it to the blog, as yet I haven’t found a way to import the photos to it unless I am actually online at the time. I guess there will be a few blogs that have no pictures (unless some computer nerd out there can tell me how to do it). Yes, it took me almost all day to sort that one out! I did take some time out to fiddle about with some of our photos using Adobe photo shop, not that I kept the “enhanced” pictures – it was just to amuse me but I now know what special effects I can use to make me look good! I also sent off a few emails and updated my email address book.
Exciting as it is we are now watching the T.V. (and drinking rummy things – a trip to the bottle shop is going to be needed if we are to survive this hurry up and wait stuff).
Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Tuesday 14th & Wednesday 15th November

Fort Pierce to Dinner Key Marina, Miami

25 43.535 N

80 13.979 W

True to their word the riggers from Mack Sails arrived at our boat at 0900hrs and began to carry out the repairs to the jib furling system. The riggers, Rich and Jay, bought with them a bo’suns chair which I envied and I think anyone who has ever hauled their partner up the mast would happily pay to have – it was a self hauler and Jay made it look like a very quick and simple task to get himself to the top of the mast. When I enquired they told me that the seat came from West Marine and the rigging system for it was done by Mack Sails – I WANT ONE!!!!! I feel certain it must qualify as a safety issue. The repairs/replacement involved installing a new forestay (yes we know we had only just had a new one in Jacksonville) as the furling mechanism had caused the wires to begin unraveling, a new wrap stop and upper and lower furler bearings. All in all the work took the guys 2.5 hours. Once they had finished Gerry cut the extra leather loop off the top of the sail and we threaded the jib back onto the furler hoisting it aloft (yes just to see if we could sail in the dock) and furled it away. The end result was that the sail would have engaged in the furler mechanism better if the leather loop had been left in place, whoops! A few foul words and a longer shackle or two later and we were back in business again with a functional jib and a few hundred dollars lighter in the pocket. Our thanks to Rich and Jay of Mack Sails for a job well done.
To celebrate we had a quick lunch in the Marina bar where we decided to leave for Miami as soon as we could – high tide was to be at about 1500hrs so we knew we would be able to get out of the marina almost immediately. We hurried back to the boat and stowed things away, disconnected the shore power and water, attached jacklines, donned lifejackets, consulted the charts, listened to the weather forecast one last time (it was going to be an easy passage with winds 10 – 15 knots SW and seas 3-5 feet) and eased our way out of the marina, onto the intra coastal waterway and eventually out into the sea. The passage was going to take us about 18hrs if we could do an average speed of 6 knots an hour.
The first few hours of the trip were perfect, we motored along doing the 6 knots
an hour, it wasn’t possible to sail as the wind was just about on the nose and then just as we were comfortable the Gods of wrath descended. The winds blew up to 20 + knots and the seas grew to 8-10 feet oh, and of course it got darker as night closed in. From this point on we bounced, danced, pitched and rolled, taking a few big waves over the bow as we continued to edge our way south. Our average speed dropped to 3 knots, we tried sneaking out a pocket handkerchief size piece of jib to try and steady us a bit as well as pick up a bit of speed – this worked marginally for a short time and eventually we furled it away again as it wasn’t doing a great deal. It was a very long and uncomfortable night, we took turns in cat napping in the cockpit as it was to difficult to go below to try and sleep. We decided that for future trips we need to have a “ready box” of enough snacks and nibbles in the cockpit to last the entire trip so that neither of us has to risk injury trying to negotiate the steps, fridge, falling objects etc. whilst trying to find something easy to eat and drink. Although we were only 1.5 miles off the coast we think we caught the effects of the Gulf stream (it was supposed to be at least 3 miles out). As dawn approached Gerry sneaked us a bit closer to shore – maybe incase I decided it would be quicker to swim!
Gerry went out on deck at one point to move the jib track forward a little and nearly scared me to death when he yelled out for me to look – only to fall about laughing as we had “caught” our first fish – a flying fish had made a fatal judgement error and landed on our deck, needless to say it didn’t qualify for our “fillet and release” program so it was returned to the sea to maintain the food chain there. We did pick up a little speed as we continued on our way to Miami but the trip turned from being an 18hr easy passage to a total of 25hrs, mostly horrid one.

We both welcomed the sight of Government cut – our turning in point to Miami and eventually Dinner Key marina. A huge merchant ship followed us in through the channel, it was quite a sight to see it bearing down on us, luckily it turned into a dock before it became an embarrassing problem. As many of you know we are wary of bridge heights and with just one bridge between us and our destination we approached the Rickenbacker Causeway with trepidation, happily we cleared it without even the aerial dinging. We arrived at Dinner Key Marina at 15.00hrs to be met on the dock by Bob and Kathy (Sundancer). We tied up, hooked up to power and water, checked in, showered and then crashed for a couple of hours sleep. Once revived we were treated to dinner out by Bob and Kathy – it was a great meal with good company and whilst we may have been a bit monosyllabic we really appreciated it, thanks guys. After satisfying our appetites it didn’t take long for us to fall into bed and catch up on some much needed sleep.
One sad thing that came out of the conversation that night was that Bob and Kathy had decided to alter their travel plans and continue on to the Keys rather than cross with us to the Bahamas. They have a few commitments in about 6 weeks time and as the weather has been delaying us rather more than we expected they were going to run out of time to do the things that they wanted to do. We understand their decision and will miss their company. We hope that you have a fabulous time and some better weather as you head down the Keys, keep in touch – Skype is free!!!!!!!

Monday 13th November

Fort Pierce

Own up, how many of you are sick of seeing Fort Pierce as the heading - well if you aren't we definately are. As to be expected on the 13th of the month, the planets aligned to destroy any plans we had for leaving here today. We were told the riggers would be here between 9 and 10 this morning. They didn't lie so much as twist the truth - the riggers were certainly here - on someone else's boat!! There were 2 boats needing "things" ahead of us. By 15.30hrs Gerry ( ever the patient one) had had enough of "hurrying up and wait" and went to find out when the riggers would get to us - tomorrow as it turns out!

So I guess it was a wasted day in some ways but hell - the deck has never looked so shiney. Gerry amused himself by doing stuff that no one will ever notice and I lazed around reading my book. We did take time out to walk to the supermarket, cook dinner and stagger to the bar for just one drink. I guess it will be an early night tonight as we need all the beauty sleep we can get, and we need to be up at dawn "incase the riggers arrive early" ha ha ha. Fingers crossed for tomorrow, a quick fixing of the rigging and then a favourable tide for us to be able to get out of the Marina and on with the trip.

Sunday 12th November

Fort Pierce

Another day of waiting - it's so hard to do when we really just want to be on our way, especially as our travelling companions on Sundancer are on their way south towards Miami where we will eventually catch up with them. More cleaning and polishing has been on the agenda today along with re-housing some of our canned foods. I made the mistake of opening the freezer and finding that a bag of chicken breasts had defrosted, this meant I had to do something with them so out came the cooking pots and I now have enough chicken and broccoli a la king to feed us for the next couple of days. I did vacuum bag it so we will have that as a meal when we are under way and can't be bothered cooking anything else. We have also finally managed to do an inventory list of all the cans and packets of food we have on board, I now know what I need to stock up on when we reach Miami. Just for the fun of it I've vacuum bagged flour, washing powder, desert mixes, dried fruit, rice snacks and toilet rolls (not as many as Lorie did!!!) all into individual portion sizes ( no not the toilet rolls - those are one or two rolls to a pack) in the hope that we will be able to monitor and manage our stores. Of course we are rapidly running out of chocolate chip cookies - thank goodness there is a publix supermarket nearby! I'm sure Bob and Karen will be shocked to hear that the inside of the boat is all neat and tidied away - we took a picture to prove it - see above! ( it's also to show those who haven't seen our boat what the interior of the salon is like.) Fabric Floozies take note the pin dolls are on the column in the left hand picture - you are all with us!

If you are reading this blog, let me know what else you'd like me to include and I'll do my best, obviously I can only update it when I have an internet connection so if there is a gap you have to be patient.

Saturday 11th November

Fort Pierce

As we are stuck here in the marina until we have the jib problem sorted out we have been keeping busy with the mundane things in life. We are being kept company in the slip by a couple of pelicans who seem to have made the poles next to our slip their home, they are amazing to watch as they land and almost overbalance then tuck their bodies up and sleep on a place no bigger than a dinner plate. We have also been aware of a clicking sound coming from below the keel since being in the marina,our conclusion is that it must be the crabs in the water trying to munch their way through our hull. Of course this has yet to be proven correct!

Gerry has done a good job of cleaning the decks and canvas - much needed as everything was covered in salt water from our trip to this point. To ensure that the riggers have enough room to carry out the work required to the jib furling system we have moved the dingy off the bow and it is now floating alongside us in the slip, we will have to take the jib off the furler before they come, a job we are leaving until there isn't a breath of wind which would make taking it down hard. I cleaned out the stern lockers as they had taken on some sea water, dried out everything and then repacked them, after that I was directed to a below decks job - varnishing the newly completed cabinetry. Once I'd completed the first coat I decided to catch up on my reading until dinner time.

Mid afternoon we waved goodbye to Sundancer, Bob and Kathy had finished installing their new radar and were heading out of the marina. We had a call later to say they were anchoring just outside and would be doing the trip to Miami in short hops over the next few days, we wish you a pleasant trip and the first one to Miami buys the drinks!!!!! (Guess that will be you).

We spent the evening in the marina lounge watching some TV and enjoying being off the boat where the varnish fumes were somewhat overwhelming.

Friday 10th November

Fort Pierce, Florida.

27.28.050 N

80.19.635 W

Well today has been a mixed bag of success. Gerry has managed to fix ( we hope) the generator problem by adding a small pump to the fuel intake line - it seems to be working OK now, lets just hope it stays that way when we take off again.

On the other hand the jib is a problem, the riggers came this morning to assess the problem and they will be back on Monday morning - hopefully to fix it.

I did boring stuff like laundry and cleaning the cockpit this morning whilst Gerry did his "fixing stuff".

Then this afternoon Gerry had to go up the mast again to drop a new halyard through it, luckily for me Bob ( Sundancer) was here and did the honours of hoisting Gerry aloft - thanks Bob, I know how hard it is!

We have debated whether or not to go out to anchor for the weekend and then come back into the dock on Monday. As this weekend is Veterans day and there is an air show on just down the road from us we suspect that the intercoastal anchorage will be busy with boats speeding past and causing us to rock around uncontrollably. The marina wins - we will be staying here for the next few days and enjoying Hollywood showers and lots of rum.

Gerry has just come in from cleaning the decks so it's time to sign off and enjoy some rum thingies and pre dinner nibblies.

Thursday 9thNovember

Fort Pierce, Florida.

27.28.050 N

80.19.635 W

We decided that we needed to go into the closest Marina to sort out our jib problem. So after a hasty breakfast we headed into Harbour Town marina and the luxury of unlimited power and water. We unfortunately discovered another small problem today - our generator seemed to be struggling at times to keep running. It meant a day of frustrations and heavy duty work. Gerry had to go up the mast to see if he could find a reason for the halyard breaking, and guess who had to winch the him up there - he really needs to lose some weight! The bad news on the jib was that it looks like a job for the riggers - oh well that's what BOAT stands for - Break Out Another Thousand! So the riggers are coming to assess the problem tomorrow. On to the generator - Gerry suspects a fuel starvation problem when the fuel tank is below half full and thinks that inserting a small pump to help lift the fuel will solve the problem - will see tomorrow.

Sundancer also had a problem on the way down - their radar didn't work so they are going to have to get that fixed. I thought cruising was fixing your boat in EXOTIC places - I feel cheated as Fort Pierce isn't exotic, but at least it has the spare parts and the people who can fix the problems. We hired a car and chased around to get the parts for the generator then kicked back with a dinner and a couple drinks at the marina. Again it was an early night to catch up on some sleep.

Tuesday 7th & Wednesday 8th November

Blount Island to Fort Pierce.

On waking today we decided that the weather was reasonable enough to take off from Blount Island and begin the journey to Fort Pierce. Along with Sundancer we set off at 10.45 and headed out towards Mayport and the ocean, the rest of the trip down river was uneventful we saw several dolphins on the way out and very little traffic which made it quite pleasant.

Once we hit the ocean we began to wonder if we should have stayed at home, the seas were rough with waves between 8' and 10' and winds blowing between 13 and 22 knots motoring was the only safe option so the sails stayed neatly furled. We were rocking and rolling all over the place which was bad enough during daylight hours but seemed twice as bad once night fell. We took turns at eating dry crackers, sipping water, being the watchkeeper and sleeping ( well cat napping was more like it). Eventually the new day dawned and the waves seemed to be a bit more bearable now it was light again. We even put the Jib up to help steady us - it also blew us along a bit faster

We continued to share the watchkeeping etc. until at 11.00hrs we were hailed by the US coastguard patrol boat, they asked all sorts of questions and then disappeared for a while. As we ate lunch, while motor sailing and minding our own business we were again hailed by the coastguard - they wanted to board us to do a safety inspection of the vessel! Despite our protestations that boarding our boat in these conditions constituted a safety threat they insisted and we had to pull in the jib and help the boarding party onto the boat. Needless to say we had everything - including the bell and whistles, that the coast guard requires us to carry and after half an hour of our guests arriving we had a piece of paper to say so! So it was then back to motor sailing on towards Fort Pierce.

Our next bit of excitement came at about 16.00hrs, whilst trying to reef the jib the halyard broke and the jib begin descending onto the deck. There was a mad dash to gather it all in and secure it to the rail without it dropping into the water. Once this was achieved we continued to motor on to Fort Pierce whilst trying to work out why the halyard had broken - it looked like it was cut - something that was going to need more investigation tomorrow. We finally arrived and negotiated the channel in darkness, had our anchor down by 20.30hrs, showered and were asleep before 21.30hrs.

Monday 6th November

Blount Island, Florida.

At last we are off on our trip home. We left the Whitney's Marina at 13.00hrs after a round of goodbyes and good wishes. After 4 years of living there it was quite sad to see the place vanish into the distance.

Goodbye to all our nieghbours and friends in the Jacksonville area, thanks for 4 years that we will never forget. Special thanks to Bob and Karen for helping us get away from the dock, Barbara, Luther and Alice for the donuts, Lyn and Peter for the fishing gear, Steve and Marilyn for a wonderful "last supper".

Leaving the dock at high tide to ensure we didn't get embarassingly stuck in the dock channel meant that we could only get as far as the Buckman bridge and then had to anchor there until low tide. Our 64'9" mast only just clears the bridge at low tide and we didn't need to get caught under it. We anchored just off to the East side of the bridge, turned on the generator and sat waiting in the cool, eating dinner and then at 19.00hrs we carefully edged our way under the bridge - scraping the ariel as always but with no other problems. Once the bridge was cleared we motored down the Saint John river in persuit of Bob and Kathy who are travelling some of the way with us, they have a shorter mast so cleared it much earlier in the day.

The Jacksonville lights were spectacular as we travelled down river, I'm sure my pictures won't do it justice but I tried!

We arrived at Blount Island at 23.13hrs and dropped the anchor, tidied away the mess and went to bed.

1st November 2006

Orange Park, Florida.

Belated happy birthday to Bernard and Mick, we love you both.

'Things' are still conspiring against us to further delay our departure. Our masthead wind indicator was sent off for repair in California, overnight Fedex but was sent back 5 day surface freight so should arrive today. The next step is a trip up the mast to fit it - 65 foot above the water.

As we are delayed because of this (and a few other minor things) the weather window has closed in with gales forecast over the next couple of days. The seas and wind should start to calm down on Monday night so Tuesday morning may be an appropriate time to leave. Orange Park (where we are docked) is a 6 hour motor from the ocean and so we stage the journey by spending a night at the mouth of the river at a place called Mayport. This gives us a good nights sleep before the 35 hour trip to Ft.Pierce.

While we were in Australia we had a company called Custom Creations in Wood build a microwave area in the galley and a functional navigation station in the nav cabin. The work has been completed, and a great job it is. Thanks Steve. See attached photo's for some idea.

Nicky has spent hours vacuum bagging all sorts of essential items including toilet rolls and tissues. Once bagged they resemble bricks and would definately be useful as missiles. Bagging reduces the size by more than half allowing us to store the goods in tighter spaces. The additional reason is of course to keep the items dry.

We have filled just about every space on the boat, tested navigation and communication systems, filled the water and fuel tanks and are ready to go. After 4 years in the Marina we now just want to get off the dock