A new shore power cord with 5 minutes to spare.

   My new boat has two shore power receptacles, one on the stern and one on the bow. We found out yesterday that the bow receptacle is not functional, this wasn't a big deal until today. 

  We had 20 MPH winds all day with gusts over 30. Our new dock at Safe Harbor Marina in Stuart, FL was tight with a BIG sailboat docked next to my slip with only three feet of water between us. I had a hard time docking "bow in", there was no way I was going to attempt to "back in" with this wind and a gazillion $$$ boat next to us waiting to be bumped. We docked successfully but our shore power cord was 15 feet short of the power hook up. 

  I rented a car today (drive Jeff to the airport tomorrow and pick up Connie on Friday), so I was able to purchase a 50-foot shore power cord after I got the car. When we tried to connect the power cord, we found the plug was defective and wouldn't twist into place. I called the store where I purchased the cord, they told me to bring it back for a replacement, tomorrow. I told them I needed it TONIGHT, I got to the store 5 minutes before they closed, and the new cord worked fine.

Left dock this morning at 10:00, I had to UBER to West Marine this morning to purchase a new antenna, the old antenna snapped off yesterday, I do not want to be on the water without a working VHF radio.

This trip is getting expensive :-)

Spaghetti and sausage for dinner (Jeff fixed dinner while I was purchasing power cords).

Asleep at the wheel.

   My dog Cooper is an 8-month-old Field Spaniel. Cooper goes to the office with me every day, his routine is to race about greeting everyone in the shop, snoop in the trash for hidden treasure, then curl up under my desk for a 6-hour nap. 

  Coopers' routine on board is being awakened early, taken for a quick walk, climbing up to the fly deck with Jeff and I, and spending the next 8 hours watching sea gulls and trying to keep his balance. Today Coop was just worn out after 5 days on the water. Most of the voyage today consisted of long straight travel so I was able to use the autopilot to steer the boat and didn't need to man the wheel. Cooper finally got his nap, "Asleep at the wheel".

  

  We had dense fog this morning followed by heavy rain in the afternoon. The sky finally cleared just before we docked at the Vero Beach Marina. We are now only 70 miles from West Palm Beach where Jeff will leave to fly back to frozen Ohio on Thursday and I will meet Connie at the airport when she arrives on Friday.

  We had dinner out tonight at Riverside Cafe, just a short walk from our dock (more like a death march in a light rain).

Jeff could almost touch this dolphin when he took this picture.

Navigating under these conditions is really difficult!

Winner by a nose, FLIPPER.

  Just south of Daytona we passed a pod of Bottle Nosed Dolphins. We have seen many Dolphins on this trip, but this group was different, they wanted to play. We had 4 or 5 of them gliding alongside the boat for quite a while. They would roll on their sides and look at us and leap nearly out of the water. Jeff took a video which I clipped shorter so it would download onto this blog.

  We were on the water for nine hours today. Seven of those hours were great, the last two hours, not so great. The weather started getting bad around 2:00, rain, wind, threatening thunderstorms, and we had 20 miles to go to our marina. We were fortunate, the thunderstorms skirted around us, but we still got soaked docking at Westland Marina near Cape Canaveral. 

  140 miles to West Palm Beach (two days travel)

Dinner tonight was beef tips in gravy with sweet corn and mashed potatoes.

How tall is the boat ?

   Now that we are entering truly populated Florida, we get to enjoy boat traffic, No Wake Zones, Coast Guard and Sheriff boats, and BRIDGES. The first bridge we encountered had a clearance of 18 feet. There was a sailboat waiting to pass through, so we waited behind the sailboat for the bridge to open. The bridge was scheduled to open every 1/2 hour, we arrived at 11:55, perfect. We passed through without incident.

  The next bridge had a posted clearance of 24 feet. I was not sure of our overall height (with antennae's and the radar mast) so we stopped and tried to measure the distance from the tallest part of the boat to the water (that was fun). We estimated the distance to be 20 feet, we were sure it was not more than 21 feet. Jeff went onto the bow of the boat as I SLOWLY approached the bridge. We got under the bridge, but not by much (pictures show how close we were). 

We approached the bridge slowly.

Glad we were centered on the opening.

  We did see a death occur today, a new experience on the water for me. Shortly after leaving dock this morning, we heard two shots. A moment later a small boat motored from the far shore and stopped directly in our path, we watched two hunters retrieve a duck they had just shot.

  We cruised the rest of the day without incident, fair weather and light winds. We are docked at Palm Coast Marina where we were able to fuel up and top off the water tanks.

  Tonight's dinner was kielbasa and sauerkraut.

                 

They're a damn liar.

   Some years back, an old sailor told me,

  "Any sailor that claims to have never run aground is a damn liar."

You probably think this is leading up to a story of how we ran aground today, and you are correct.

  Jeff was at the helm, and we had just crossed into Florida. This section of the ICW reminded me of scene from the movie African Queen, where Bogart was navigating through a swamp maze.   I was sitting at the table behind Jeff, looking through a guide to find a marina for the night, when Jeff stated "Dick, we have a problem here". I looked at the electronic chart and the boat was sitting in an area that had NO WATER (never a good sign). We were able to back the boat off the mud and idle over to the main channel. Other than a bad case of nerves. everything was fine...

A picture of our electronic chart, the dashed line is the track of our boat.

The weather was good today, other than the gale force winds. We had to cross several large bays (over a mile across) where we hit waves that were high enough to break over the bow. This was a new experience for Cooper, he was actually quivering at one point.

  Being back in civilization (out of the Georgia swamps) means more boat traffic and bridges to go under. The tidal currents we encountered were so strong we had to use full throttle to power under a bridge where the channel was very narrow (at full throttle we were moving at 6 MPH). This trip is getting exciting.

  We are docked at Palm Cove Marina, just south of Jacksonville and plan to have dinner at the Marina restaurant. 

Where did the water go? I haven't the foggiest.

   I walked onto the deck this morning before sunrise and shined my flashlight over the gunnel. What a surprise, the stern of the boat was sitting against a mud bank. Seems we forgot that there would be an additional six feet of water flooding the creek during the night. The creek was narrow, so we kept the anchor line fairly tight (no wind or waves forecasted). When the tide came in, it lifted the anchor off the bottom and we drifted to the bank. No harm done, we idled away to the center of the creek then went on our way. The things a Lake Erie boater just doesn't think about.

  Our plan was to travel 60 miles to St Simons Island, stop at the St Simons Marina for water and to let Cooper relieve himself, then cruise as far south as we could before dark. The trip to St Simons was great except for the occasional tidal current whirlpools, which would turn the boat almost 90 degrees. Jeff was manning the helm when we hit our first whirlpool, "Christ, what the hell just happened" was all I heard.

  Arriving at St Simons at 1:30 Jeff filled the water tanks while I took Cooper for a long walk. We flipped the breaker for the freshwater pump after filling the tanks and heard the sound of water rushing behind the master cabin locker. We took the wall down in the locker and found a waterline fitting had burst. Jeff used all of his talents to remove the fitting and plug the leak, I played several vital roles in the job (held the flashlight, handed tools, and took an UBER to get replacement parts).

  We completed the repairs and were ready to continue south when I saw the warning on my phone.

"Dense Fog Advisory Starting NOW, Mariners beware, if you MUST travel, proceed with caution".

We are spending the night right here at St Simons Marina.

Spaghetti and Italian Sausage for dinner tonight.

Jeff filling the water tank

Breakfast with toast

Closet area where the water leak was

Closet after water leak repair completed

Fog starting to roll in

The fog has arrived

Hilton Head to Cattle Pen Creek

   Our plan was to depart Hilton Head at 7:00 sharp, we got on the water around 9:00. Oh well; great weather, light winds, calm water.

  We decided to take the inside route (ICW) as the ocean wave forecast was 4-to-6-foot swells. The Georgia ICW is basically 150 miles of uninhabited swamp. There is one marina located on St Simons Island, unfortunately St Simons is 120 miles from Hilton Head.......we traveled 65 miles today. That explains why we are anchored in Cattle Pen Creek somewhere in the deep south-Georgia swamps.

  Anchoring out wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have Cooper along (no bathroom walks) and if we had fresh water in our holding tank (oops). I filled the water holding tank when I was on Hilton Head over Christmas, so I didn't check it before we left. Either I have a leak in the system or the water tank I filled was for the raw water pump (outside wash down). Jeff found a second water fill inlet on the bow of the boat that I didn't know existed, I assume that is the fill port for inside water usage (IE showers, toilets, dishwater). Fortunately, we have an abundance of bottled water on board. Tonight's dinner was pan-fried boneless pork chops, sweet corn, and mashed potatoes.

  We plan to depart Cattle Pen Creek first light tomorrow which should put us at St Simons by lunch, there we will fill-up our water tank and take Cooper for a long, much needed walk.

Getting Ready

   My plan is to cruise my new boat, “Whatever It Takes” from Hilton Head (my current dock) down to West Palm Beach. Connie will meet me in West Palm on January 19th, we plan to cruise to the Bahamas on (or about) the 20th.

   After loading my Lincoln with  a myriad of provisions,  Jeff Smith (longtime friend and fellow boater) and I left cold, wet Ohio, yesterday afternoon bound for Hilton Head. We got 1/2 way last night and arrived at the boat around 2:00 pm. We moved everything from the car to the boat then headed to Krogers for a weeks worth of provisions. By 5:00 we had provisions on board but everything was piled in the middle of the salon.

  We left for dinner and a break then returned to find a home for everything we put on board.

  Plan on getting a good nights sleep and departing for Florida first thing tomorrow. Jeff and I are excited, Cooper seems a little concerned.