Thursday Feb 18

We left Nettle Island  at 8:00  continuing down the Indian River and passed through several towns including Fort Pierce, Vero Beach and Indian Beach.  We saw  a new way of advertising- just anchor your boat in the middle of the channel.We also saw another Pirate ship.

and this Canadian sailboat.We ended up anchoring near the Melbourne bridge at 4:00, after going 63.5 miles.Another Canadian boat ended up anchoring near us- their boat name was “just faking it”, Andy talked to them on the VHF radio.

Friday Feb 19

With the winds blowing through the night, we found that our anchor had dragged somewhat- so  the Admiral stayed up from about 3 a.m. on to ensure we didn’t get too near to the shore or other boats.  At 7:00, we departed Melbourne and continued northward, we passed through Sebastian, Eau Gallie, Palm Shores, and Cocoa, Titusville.    We saw the Kennedy Space Centre and launch pad from a distance as they are located on the Banana River, which is parallel to the Indian River and   closer to the Atlantic.    We continued on the Indian River entering the Haulover Canal at mile 869 and into the Mosquito Lagoon—it must be too cold for mosquitoes- cause we didn’t have an issue with them yet. We ended  up at a free dock in New Smyrna Beach at mile 846.    We met some other boaters at the dock,   Terrapin and Catalina 315 that gave us some tips about places to stay farther up north.Feb 20 There was a farmer’s market nearby that I wanted to check out prior to leaving the dock.  I bought some baking, fresh beets and some hot sauce.  We departed New Smyrna at  7 50, and continued North on the Indian River.  After Ponce de Leon inlet, the ICW becomes the Halifax River. Here’s the lighthouse:Prior to reaching Daytona Beach we went through a small community called  Wilbur by the Sea, we reached Dayton Beach around  9:45.  There was lots of boats on the river, and at the marinas we passed by- I wondered if maybe this was because of the Daytona 500 race.  Andy said this pillar with the 2 on it is part of the racetrack.We also saw jets- likely the Blue Devils, fly in  formations. We passed through  a number of beach communities and Palm Coast,  here the name of the ICW body of water became the Matanzas River.    We continued northward through Marineland, Summer Haven, Crescent Beach, and reached St. Augustine around 15:00.After going through the Bridge of Lions, we overtook Catalina 315, a sailboat, which had left New Smyrna several hours before us. We were now traveling on the Tolomato River.Since it was a nice day with very little wind, we decided to go another 25 miles north and anchor out near Pine Island at 4:15.Feb 21

We weighed anchor at 7:20 and continued on our journey, it was another relatively calm day so we had hoped that we would get out of  the state of Florida.   We traveled along the Tolomato river which turned into San Pablo creek at Isle of Palms,  we passed through Jacksonville  and Mayport, which is  near the inlet for the St. Johns River. Throughout the day our speed changed from 7.2 to 11.3 depending on where we were and the tidal currents caused by the many inlets we passed.  At Mayport we entered Sisters Creek and followed it for 10 miles until we came to the Nassau Sound inlet and the South Amelia river.  By 12:30 we had reached Fernandina Beach and the St. Mary’s  Entrance, and we were ready to say good bye to Florida.Shortly after getting into Georgian waters, we heard on the VHF radio that there was a war ship entering the harbor and all boats had to  give way and 500 yards  of clearance.  We were hailed by the security vessel with blue lights flashing and told we would be escorted  out of the area.Luckily we were close to the marker leading us away from Kings Bay Naval base.  The warship was actually a nuclear submarine that you can see peaking out of the water in  the centre of this picture.The captain says “depending on your perspective- we were either chased by a nuclear sub or led it to it’s home base” .  We went another 10 miles north and ended up anchoring in Shellbine Creek at  3:00,   at low tide in 8.4 feet of water, several hours later when high tide hit we were in 15.8 feet of water.  The landscape looks quite different depending on how much water is around.  At our anchorage we were visited by a pod of dolphins,  Andy counted at least 11 that were happily swimming around and snorting.

During the night the boat swung around as the tide went out and came in again.

Feb 22

When we left the anchorage at 8:45 it was high tide and we were at 16.3 feet of water.  We traveled  the 20 plus miles to Brunswick Landing Marina passing through  St Andrew Sound inlet, where  I saw this lighthouse on a cliff. We then took the Jekyll Creek  and entered St.Simons Sound inlet , where there was quite a current and progress was slow.  On our approach to Brunswick we went under this bridge, which  has a 185 ft clearance.

We arrived at the Marina at 11:30 and tied up.    Once we were checked in we spent the next 2 hours scrubbing down the outside of the boat as there was salt everywhere.  Plan for the remainder of the day is to  go to the clubhouse at 5:00 for a free drink  and then to a Thai restaurant for supper.

Feb 15-18

One of the many pelicans that hangs out here…

Once we were settled in at the marina, Andy called Don Allin, a friend from Toronto.  Don was actually the yacht broker that we had bought “On Business” through.  Don and his partner Barb, spend two months in Nettle Island, so they were relatively close to the marina.  Don had offered to take us anywhere we needed to go by car.  We imposed on him and went out to Walmart in Stuart  to reprovision.  On our way back the skies opened and the rain fell for over an hour.  That night we went for supper to a restaurant called shuckers.  The food was very good- Elaine and Andy enjoyed the seafood special,  while Don and I had BBQ ribs, and Barb had eggplant.

On Tuesday, Don had agreed to take Elaine to the airport in Miami, Andy went along for the ride, and I remained at the boat catching up on some cleaning and paperwork.  That evening Barb and Don stopped by after their dance class.

On Wednesday morning we had originally hoped to leave Nettle Island and start northward.  We began the day by calling the local Xantrex service centre to see about getting a new battery charger as ours did not seem to be working.   We were given some advice from the technician when he called back, but was told they don’t keep the chargers in stock and it would take at least 10 days to get them as they are shipped from Burnaby BC Canada.  Andy did some tinkering in the engine room as was able to get the main battery charger operational.  We still need to replace one of the digital eco charge boards for the house batteries- which is available at West Marine.  We called around to the local West Marines, but no one has them in stock.  We decided that we will order one on line and have it shipped to the West Marine in Murrell’s inlet, as that will be the nearest store, once we arrive in Myrtle Beach.

Andy needed some in-line fuses, so he called Don and was able to get to a hardware store.  We went for drinks in the Tiki hut and met a couple from Vermont, as well as the owner of the “Boomer too” boat from Hamilton ON, which is parked beside us.

Thursday morning we are moving north- but  not sure  how far we’ll get.

Feb 13- Pahokee

Saturday morning the sun was shining and there was very little wind, we continue our trek eastward from Moore Haven which is located on the south west corner of the lake.   We continued along on the  Caloosahatchee Canal until we reached Clewiston  which is the decision point as to whether the Lake route is taken (25 miles in open water) or the Rim Route, which is 35 miles along the edge.  Since we had already done the Lake crossing- we choose to do the Rim route- so that we could see some other places on the lake.  Prior to arriving in Clewiston, we were passed by 11 people on Jet skis,

we weren’t sure where they were headed but on the following day we saw them again just outside the  St. Lucie lock- so they must have crossed the lake and gone  at least as far as Stuart.  At the boat launch near Clewiston, Andy counted over 35 boat trailers- we learned that there was a Bass fishing tournament on the lake- which explained all the go-fast boats zipping around us.  We went by Torry Island-  where there was a camp ground and even more boat trailers.

Here we  watched the  swing bridge” man”ually  cranked open .

It was a nice day so we called ahead to Pahokee mile 50.6, to see if there was a slip available for the night, and were told we could dock in a free space on Dock a, b or c.

The first slip we chose on Dock c, ended up being too short- so we moved to a second one.  Once we were all tied up- we realized the 30 amp  shore power outlet wasn’t working  and our 50-30 amp adapter wouldn’t fit.  So we had to move a 3^rd time- after pre-checking the power boxes to find one that was working  ( many of the power boxes had wasp nests in them  or appeared to be burnt out)– we chose to move to Dock B.    Pahokee likely has about 100 slips, however only 11 were occupied- many were inhabited by gulls and other birds and covered with poop.

While having cocktails on the back deck

 we did meet another Canadian who stopped by after seeing our flag  and later another Looper stopped by and  we exchanged information with  him.

The marina has a break wall, where   dozens of people were fishing for ‘crappies’,

and I guess that’s what attracts the birds.  After supper we took some great pictures of sunset,

the wind started to pick up and we learned another reason why there wasn’t many boats there—inside the marina becomes a pin-ball game—the waves bounce around hitting you multiple times.  We put 8 ropes on the boat to secure us to the dock and we bounced all night long- with Andy checking the ropes  every hour—a sleepless night in Pahokee!  This could be a nice Marina- but the maintenance and break-wall design sucked!

February 14- Valentine’s Day

We left shortly after   900 and continues along the Rim Route towards Port Mayaca Lock,  there were a few waves, but nothing like what we had experience the last time we crossed the Lake.  We arrived at the Lock at 1030 and were able to drive right through,

since the Lake was high, the lock was wide open letting water out into the St. Lucie canal.  At mile 28.2, we had to wait for 15 minutes  at the Indiantown railway bridge, as an Amtrak passenger train was expected .

We passed throught the  St. Lucie lock at 200, and arrived at our anchorage in the 4 rivers loop at 220.  The boat hardly moved through the night and we all slept a lot better than the previous night.

Feb 15- President’s Day in the USA/ Family Day in Manitoba

We  weighed anchor at 912 and   headed up the  St Lucie Channel into the Saint Lucie River.  At Mile 0 of the Okeechobee waterway, we turned north and  entered the  Atlantic  Intracoastal waterway/Indian River  (mileage 987.9).  We proceeded about 10 miles  to the Nettles Island Marina located at mile 979.2.   Enroute we passed about 50 small sailboats in a regatta—this seemed fitting  for a send-off for Elaine as we had been in the middle or a regatta 3 weeks ago when we picked up Elaine in Miami.  It was quite windy when Andy  tried to dock — the wind was pushing us away from the dock, we finally got our lines secured.     There is mainly sailboats at this marina.

January 26-30 update

After doing  some shopping and picking up Elaine at the airport, we returned to the boat, to show her the 5 star accommodations for the next three weeks. With unfavourable weather in the Bahamas, we made the decision to go down to the Keys, as far as  Marathon and then head north to Fort Myers and then cross Florida through Lake Okeechobee ( rim- route) and come back to Miami  while Elaine is with us.

On Wednesday morning, we left Bayshore Marina at 10:40 and headed back out into Biscayne Bay in southern direction.  Once again we had to dodge sail boats, as the international regatta was continuing.   A small dinghy, having seen our Canadian Flag, drove by us, as they also were flying the Maple leaf.

There was some wind and there was a light chop as we got away from land.  We passed the Turkey Point nuclear plant about 1:00, and had a little more shelter from some of the smaller  uninhabited   “Keys”.  We entered Card Sound and  anchored in angel fish Creek, near  Grayvik, in North Key Largo.   Between the tidal current  and winds and a thunderstorm , we somehow turned around during the evening and our anchor indicator (milk jug with a string; that I try to tie off at about 3 X the depth) was caught under the boat (we could hear it scraping).  Not a good thing, as it could get caught in the props or rudder.  Andy said that we may have to swim under the boat in the morning and cut the rope.  Well guess who didn’t sleep after that-  me  being the better swimmer I would have been assigned that task and the thought of swimming in waters that may be jelly fish, shark or alligator infested scared me.   The water here,  is a  lovely aqua blue, not black and murky like Lake Winnipeg. Once it was light, at 7:00, Andy moved the rudders  and then stared the boat, the milk jug popped out- with the rope cut.  Thank goodness for that- no swim for me!

Seeing as how we were up, and there was another storm predicted to blow through the area, we chose to moved on .  We followed the ICW through Barnes Sound,  passed Key Largo,

Tavernier and Islmorada (Purple Island) , which is located on the Upper Matecumbe Key. With bad weather still looming we tried to make as much distance as possible going through steam boat channel- (the shallowest part of the loop so far) while at high tide.   We were being followed by dolphins yet again.

We found a complimentary mooring ball on the west side of Lignumvitae Key and tied up at 2:00—there were crab pots everywhere that had to be zigzagged around.  Being the first mooring ball that we had used- I was not sure of the process and I managed to drop the boat hook in the water—thank goodness it floats. On the third attempt we managed to get the rope through the loop and tied off to the Captain’s satisfaction.

A weather system with rain and winds passed though in the afternoon and evening, rocking us around, but we were more secure on the mooring ball than we would have been with an anchor out.  We started calling Marina’s in Marathon to get a slip for the next day—but all were booked up and some didn’t have openings until late March.  We finally found one that we could get into on Sunday.  We have stayed attached to the mooring ball, reading and playing cards in the evening.    There is another Looper boat- Phaze II  at the next mooring ball, which made contact with us Friday morning.

Friday was a sunny day and Elaine and I read our books on the back deck and got some sun- a little too much in places.  Elaine is a great crew mate!   Here’s a picture of the McKendry siblings, having decktails.

Early Saturday morning the wind picked up slightly, and we are once again bouncing a little.

January 24,25

We left the anchorage by 9:00, and traveled under quite few more bridges, crossed the Port of Miami entrance, where once again there were a number of cruise ships.

We then traveled through the city of Miami and out to Biscayne Bay.

We entered the channel to Bayshore Marina from the bay and saw over 150 sailboats participating in an International regatta.  They were everywhere including the channel we were in, Andy avoided them as best he could.

We arrived at our slip and tied up by about 12:15.  Later in the afternoon we walked to a nearby grocery store.

Today, the technician came and was able to fix the head, and I did some cleaning. In the afternoon we walked to Coco Walk; a nearby district that has shops and restaurants.

For tomorrow, we have rented a car for the day, so we can go pick up Andy’s sister Elaine at Miami airport—the next visiting crew!   We also plan to do some banking and grocery shopping.  The internet at this marina; doesn’t work well so not a lot of pictures being added.

We will assess the weather on Wednesday morning and make a decision if we’re going to the Bahamas or the Keys or ?? ( it won’t be crossing the gulf to Carabelle!!)  for the next 3 weeks while Elaine is here.