Slowly moving south! In Titusville, FL

We left Fernandina Beach on Thursday Feb. 11^th (nine days after arriving!) having been there much longer than we wanted to – three days needed for parts and repairs to the sea strainer and then another five days due to weather. We traveled about 3 hrs to Sisters Creek to a public dock where we tied up with one other boat that was already there. It was a great location – easy to take Gracie for her doggie business! The current, however, ran extremely strongly at max so it was like we were under sail while at the dock!!
We left early the next morning to go about 33 nm to St Augustine. We arrived on Friday Feb. 12^th earlier than we had expected with only one wait for bridge opening – the last one – the Bridge of Lions just before our anchorage for the night. We took a mooring at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina which gave us access to dingy dock for Gracie, showers and town for us!! We had asked if it was possible to get a mooring as close as possible and they gave us mooring #1 which was the closest one in the mooring field!! St. Augustine is a really great city to visit. It has the southern charm of Charleston, SC (complete with lots of pirate history and attractions) and it has the feel of New Orleans! It is quite the tourist town – there were people from all over the country visiting for their winter vacation.
Joan's comments about St. Augustine:
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“It felt good to have moved on towards our goal of going South!! St Augustine's is a very nice city. We tried to take a trolley tour of the city, but they didn't allow dogs, even in a carrier. Whit saw a golf cart type thing go by called “Hopper” and it said it did tours. So that's what we did!! What a crazy experience. Our guide/driver/college student was just the ticket for learning about the eclectic side of this city. Very fun, but a few moments in traffic when I thought, “well this isn't going to be pretty”. Since it was Feb 13, we decided to treat ourselves to an early Valentines Day lunch. Had a great meal at a place called Harry's. We ended up staying a few extra days so we really got to know our way around the walking radius of the area. It seems to me that we are some sort of magnet for the unfortunate homeless population, I think, because they want to pat and talk to Gracie! We have granola bars in our backpacks so when one man asked us for money we asked if he would like a granola bar. He was so happy that I now will pack more in my backpack!”
***
We had planned to stay two days (Friday and Saturday) and leave on Sunday but because I wanted to consult with some diesel mechanics about our oil consumption, which seems a bit excessive, we needed to remain until Monday to contact them. I was concerned that perhaps we had done some damage with our overheat due to the sea strainer and that is why we were burning more oil than I had remembered. (We also seemed to be making more oil smoke out the exhaust than I recalled too!) I did an oil change Sunday and talked to four mechanics on Monday who all basically said the same thing – 1) an oil change was important to do after an overheat and 2) I would need to monitor closely the oil consumption because it was possible that we had scored the piston cylinders and would, in fact, burn more oil. So we are doing just that – carefully monitoring!!!
We left St. Augustine on Tuesday February 16^th headed to Daytona Beach, FL on an absolutely beautiful day that finally warmed up to the temps we were expecting on this trip – the 70's!!! We made excellent time and anchored in Seabreeze (in Daytona Beach) at a lonely little spot with access to a boat ramp. (For Gracie of course!) It was a completely calm night at anchor and we were off early the next morning for Titusville, FL, where we are now. We did NOT go ashore in the morning for Gracie – a first on this trip – because we needed to catch a bridge opening and she had been reluctant to do her business, for one reason or another, ashore the night before. We figured she might finally use the sod which we STILL have on the aft deck!! (Nope! - she waited until we got to Titusville at about 3pm!!)
We needed to take on fuel so we first came in to the fuel dock at the Titusville Municiple Marina and were asked if we were staying with them for the night. I said that we were planning to stay on a mooring but would consider a dock if they had a “deal” for us. After a quick call to the main office, we had a “deal” and we got a nice dock spot for the night, which has again been a godsend because the winds have kicked up to 20+ knots and being on a mooring would have been insanely tough to get to shore. A good call once again!!!
We have ordered parts for the dingy engine which we need and are waiting for them. Our plans are to leave for Merritt Island today (Friday Feb. 19) where we plan to visit my high school drama teacher – Phil Stewart. Phil and I have remained in contact for all of these years and is not only a mentor but good friend. After Merritt Island we plan to stop in Melbourne, FL and then our immediate goal of Vero Beach, FL.

       Leaving Fernandina Beach anchorage one is reminded of exactly how deep the water is!!

   At Sisters Creek the Navy went by!

   They all had machine guns that were manned too!!  One of these or just like these went hard aground on the jetties outside of Jacksonville!!!

    This is the free public dock in Sisters Creek.  This is just before you enter the St. Johns River leading up into Jacksonville, FL

   At Sisters Creek we were met that evening by Brown - the self appointed "Greeter".  Brown met our "Greeter" - Gracie, who is plying him for treats!!!

 Right outside of Sisters Creek is our first bascule bridge - being replaced by a fixed bridge under construction.

 We see a lot of wrecked and abandoned boats in FL.  Results of Katrina?

 Pirate Gracie!!

 On Mooring #1 in St. Augustine!

   The Bridge of Lions in St. Augstine

   St. Augustine's Flagler College

   Joan was thinking about going back to teaching!!

     Our neighbor at dock - The Pirate ship - Black Raven.  Daily and evening "shows".

   For Mike Noble - the compass - showing which way the wind is still coming from!!!

 This was NOT a wreck - this was a mistake.  There are some very shallow spots we had to navigate through on the ICW.  This person must have gone aground at high tide.  Not good!!!

   But this is remnants of Kartrina (or other) I think.

 The marina in Titusville.

 We think we found Mike Conroy's new boat!!  (Note: no name change needed, Mike!)

 Another sunken sailboat just outside of the marina in Titusville.

Still waiting in Fernandina Beach, FL for better weather!

        It is still blowing like crazy here!  It blew all night long last night at about 20 knots (about 23mph) along with the fact that it got down to about 42F this morning.  It has piped up to a fairly consistent 20-25 knots with gusts up into the 30 knots!!!  We just saw two power boats come in to the marina.  One successfully got on the inside of the outer wall with lots of bow thruster!- the second didn't do so well but finally made it on to a T-head two docks over from us.  (We are on the T-head of dock 4.)  It is supposed to blow all day today until about 6pm before we drop below 20 knots .  It is also supposed to be even colder tonight down to about 29F!  (Good thing we have a nice Espar diesel heater on the boat!)
        Thursday looks like it might be our opportunity to continue down towards St. Augustine which will take two days of travel.  (First night we will anchor just before we reach Jacksonville in Sisters Creek.)  It is also supposed to warm up into the 60s and then 70s the following week with the exception of next Sunday which we will have heavy NE winds and temps in the 50s for one day - we hope!!   As you can see the weather really controls a lot of what you do on a trip like this!!!  The most dangerous thing, however, you can have on a boat is a schedule!!  So being patient is a good thing!

                   

                     The view - but it is difficult to really see how rough it is out in the bay.

                                                     
                                                            The average wind speed               

                                                             Max speed lately!

Arrived in Fernandina Beach, Florida!

Saturday February 6^th

We have been here in Fernadina Beach, FL since Tuesday mid day after a successful overnight on the Atlantic.  Here is the rest of the story!


We left Charleston, SC on Monday (Feb. 1st) at about 8am.  It was a bit overcast but fair weather was expected. The winds were blowing out of the SW which helped us get out of Charleston ok – but it meant that we were going to have wind in our face all day (and for that matter night too!) But for the most part they were going to be light (about 7 kts) so it was a do-able motor run. We expected the run from Charleston to Fernadina Beach (which is about 150 nm) to take us about 25 to 30 hrs depending on how fast we could move (6 kts or 5 kts) but the weather window for light winds and calm seas (less than 2 ft) was holding so we were looking forward to the crossing. Going this way saves us 6 days (the ICW through SC and GA is about 213 km doing only about 35 km a day).
About 4 hrs outside of Charleston, we had some problems!!! All of a sudden the motor sounded really bad and we had white smoke coming out of the exhaust as the engine overheat alarm began to sound! Quickly we shut the engine down and began to see what was wrong. Down below I could hear the sound of water coming in to the boat!!! When I opened the engine compartment I saw that the cap to the seawater strainer (which catches any debris that comes in to the raw water supply to cool the engine) had popped open and the water was gushing in – thus not getting to the engine to cool it!! We closed the sea cock quickly to stop the water and pulled out some sail to give us some steerage (albeit in the wrong direction but at least headed back to land – we were about 15nm out!) It took me about 2 ½ hrs to jury rig a fix. I used stainless steel wire to replace the bolt that had failed on one side of the cap. It seemed to work fine (after one more adjustment and another 1/2hr of work!). It was now about 4pm and if we decided to go directly to the nearest inlet (N. Edisto) we would be coming in in the dark – not something you want to do in an unfamiliar harbor. So we decided to stay out and continue our route!! WOW! But wait – the excitement was not over!!!
At about 6:30 pm we saw a very large boat with lights all over the side at about 9nm away from us. It looked like a cruise ship that was sitting outside Savannah waiting to come in to port because it did not move from being directly in front of us on the radar. At about 2 nm from this ship, which still seemed to be presenting a side to us and not moving, I then made radio contact with the captain of the ship. After a long discussion with a very heavily Italian accented captain we thought we both understood each others intentions. First of all this was a tanker and the red light I was seeing meant that he was facing into our path!!! He said he was, in fact, underway (which just did not seem to be so based on my radar!) and that he knew our position, course and speed and that he would keep track of us and that we were OK and to hold our course. (I do not have AIS so this all had to be done the old fashioned way – by communication!) The only disconcerting thing was at about 1 nm we saw both his green and red lights which meant we were directly in front of him-crossing his bow! We were very relieved to pass by quickly and know we were well away from him.
Now for some sleep. It had calmed down a lot, so at about 9pm Joan took the first watch (our tanker friend out of the picture) and Gracie and I retired to the main cabin for some sleep! At midnight, we switched and Joan slept below until 3am. We then sat up together for about an other hour and then Joan took another watch and I sleep then vise versa for an hour each. It was a fairly cold night and the stars on the Atlantic were unbelievably beautiful. The seas became like glass from about 4am to sun rise at 7am.
Our final challenge happened at about 11am for the last two hours of the trip into the St. Mary's inlet to get to Fernandina Beach – pea soup FOG!! This proved to be more annoying than anything – having lots of experience in dealing with fog from Long Island Sound and Maine. We missed seeing all the wonderful sights of coming into St. Mary's inlet – Ft Clinch, etc.
We decide to pick up a mooring at Fernandina Harbor Marina to be closer in to get Gracie ashore and we were expecting winds in the upcoming days and our engine would be down for some time while we fixed the sea strainer! We went ashore Tuesday afternoon – Gracie having been 30+ hours without relief (she had sod available all the time but just won't use it!! - but she never once complained!) and had a celebratory beer, seltzer and pulled pork on homemade chips!! (Sorry Rebecca but we deserved it!)
I was able to locate and order the parts I needed to fix the sea strainer Tuesday late afternoon. It would be Thursday before they would arrive so Wednesday was see the town day and enjoy. Gracie, Joan and I saw all the sights of Fernandina Beach FL and relaxed. Showers were also on the list of things to do!!
The parts arrived Thursday late afternoon. We had just come ashore in a torrential downpour having held off as long as we could for doggie relief so we wouldn't have to do the trip again to get the parts and just as we walked up the dock – the UPS guy arrived!! What great timing!!
We spent yesterday working on the repair – about 3 hrs to get the old latch removed from the strainer and then about 1 ½ hrs to get the new one installed!! Small parts in even smaller places to work and you don't want to drop anything in the bilge!
We were going to leave this morning to head towards St. Augustine but the wind has been blowing 20-25kts and is expected to continue for the next 5 days like this so we have given up on the mooring and are taking refuge in the safety and convenience of the marina. We got a special deal because we can get on an inside dock because of our shallow draft so the price is pretty reasonable!! So here we are for a while!!

                      Sunset in Charleston, SC the night before the "big voyage"!

                 Sunset on the Atlantic - somewhere around Hilton Head, SC

           Sunrise on the Atlantic - about 5 hrs away from St. Mary's inlet

     At the helm in the morning!  Note provisions!! - blankets, dog, crackers, PB and J's at the ready - and wool hat having replaced baseball cap!

   Gracie monitors VHF radio transmissions!!

   Check out how flat the seas became!

      Whit, however, had time to land "Walter" on the trip.

    Jury rigged raw water strainer!

   Our boat on the mooring in front of Fernandina Harbor Marina (below)

                    
                       Raw water strainer - with new latch installed.  Looks easy - eh?

         Here we are now, on the inside for a few days!

        Why we are hunkered down!

We left Little River on Friday the 29^th in crisp but beautiful, sunny weather. Got underway a bit later than we had planned (because we had to finish cleaning and close up the condo before leaving!) and made great time on a wonderful passage through Myrtle Beach and down the ICW in the middle of the land of swamp fox to Bucksport, SC. We stopped at a great marina there – a price that couldn't be beat. We were the only people there (except for some winter / year round campers in their campground). We were glad to have power so we could run our Espar heater all night! It was cold – got down to 39 degrees!

The sunny, warm weather was short lived – Saturday was just dreary as we proceeded down the ICW to the middle of nowhere!! Spent the night in an anchorage in the south Santee river – it was so desolate but beautiful. Another cold night!

We arrived in Charleston, SC at about 3:30 this afternoon and are readying for an overnight on the Atlantic tomorrow. We have a good weather window for an overnight on the Atlantic tomorrow night so we will be heading out early in the morning. We expect to arrive in Fernandina Beach, FL Tuesday morning. So we have been getting our boat all set for the trip; making sure everything is set for sailing. We should have a relatively easy trip – the winds and seas are not expected to be heavy – however, we expect to be motoring into some headwinds for a good portion of the time. Will let you all know on the other end how it went!!! 

   The swing bridge just south of Little River. (Taken from inside our cockpit enclosure!) 

    The gondolas that take the golfers across the ICW in Myrtle Beach!

      The marina at Bucksport!

    At Bucksport we were on the dock right in front of the Seaweed Restaurant.

   Second night out of Little River we anchored in the South Santee River.  Lots of current but absolutely in the middle of nowhere.  There are very few places you can go and not hear any sounds of civilization.  This is one of them.

         This is where we were able to take Gracie ashore.  It is a Wildlife Refuge dock.  Not supposed to be for the public but it was the only place we could get Gracie ashore.  Tide ran about 5 ft!

      We tried to get her to go on sod we have on the boat!!!  Sits, lays but nothing else!  Poor little doggie!!!

     Above is where we stopped in Charleston, SC.  Just around the corner in front of us is Tohlers Marina.  We readied ourselves here on night three for the 30hr crossing the next day.

We are still here in Little River, SC about ready to resume our trip south! We arrived here, as you may recall, back in the beginning of November 2015. The plans were to get the boats here and then for all of us to return to Vermont for the holidays. The Botulas left by plane from Wilmington, NC on November 10th and we drove home leaving on November 16^th. We had Thanksgiving in Maine with Joan's daughter, Lindsay; and Lindsay's husband, Noah, and daughter, Lucy. We then returned to Vermont to have Christmas with them as well as with my son, Bert, who came in from Seattle, WA for the occasion! Christmas in Vermont was a bit unusual this year – it was record setting warm – 68 degrees on Christmans day having not had any snow yet for the season! That didn't last, unfortunately. Because before we left to drive back down to South Carolina on January 4, 2016 – we got cold temps and about 5” of snow just in time for the drive!

The Botulas arrived in Little River the day after we did and proceeded to make ready as early as possible for departure from Little River to get to warmer temps in Florida as soon as they could. Joan and I, however, have had to wait until the end of January to resume our trip – doctors orders following a hernia repair for Whit while home in December. We are now re-provisioning the boat and getting ready for departure, however we are keeping an eye on the weather. We may have to wait a bit longer than next week for our departure. The weather is the big deciding factor. (Note that today, we have had a few flurries – all a part of the big Nor'easter that is slamming NE today!!)

A few cool harbor notes! Pictured below is our Irwin 38 in our slip here in Coquina Harbor.  Along with our boat are two other Irwin sailboats just across from us on the next dock! “Powerless” is a 52' Irwin cutter and “Distant Drummer” is a 68' Irwin cutter. Both of these other boats are owned by the same person and the 68' used to be Ted Irwin's personal boat. I think this was the last boat Ted built. So, in our little harbor, the three Irwin sailboats are just like the "papa bear", the "mama bear",  and the little "baby bear"!!! :-)

 Our boat (the "baby bear") in our slip on "O" dock

 

And just to our stern on "P" dock are "momma bear" -"Powerless" and to the right with the blue hull is the "pappa bear" - "Distant Drummer".

The mama bear - "Powerless"





The papa bear - "Distant Drummer"

Home for Christmas in Vermont

 

The mess we left just leaving from Vermont to come back down to SC.

We made it to Little River -  Friday afternoon October 30 about 2pm! We left Wrightsville Beach early on Thursday the 29^th – Alan was lead boat that day. (We took turns leading each day so the following boat could have a little more “rest” from the work of leading through the gauntlet of the ICW!) The weather was absolutely gorgeous – warm and sunny. We were headed to Southport, NC but because there were no anchorages available to get Gracie off we decided to go to a marina. As it turned out Southport was having a fishing tournament that upcoming weekend so we headed to St. James Plantation Marina – about 5nm further along the way. Staying there was a treat and it was also quite reasonably priced! It was Janet's birthday so we went out to dinner as guests of the Botulas at a really nice restaurant right at the marina. Janet and Whit both had peel your own shrimp!! Yumm!

Friday the 30^th was our final day of travel to Little River where we have a condo right next to Coquina Harbor. This is where the boats will stay for the next two months. We will be here for about two weeks and then we are driving back to Vermont for the holidays – Thanksgiving through Christmas. We then come back to SC in January to resume the trip to the Bahamas!

     In the slip at St. James Plantation Marina

 The ICW nearing Little River

 Almost there! - going by Crab Catchers restaurant in Little River

 The lighthouse at Lighthouse Pointe - the entrance to Coquina Harbor

Sunday - we take a little tour on the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach, SC - Joan and Janet are in their element!!