Thursday, November 27, 2008

Ponce de Leon to Sarasota

11-11-2008

Diesels are wonderful engines; they develop more power per gallon of fuel than gas engines and they have no spark plugs and the associated electronics required to operate them. Another good thing about diesel is that it does not burn, quite unlike gasoline so it is much safer.
So if the engine was sputtering occasionally the only real problem it could be was the fuel. I had already changed the fuel filter and there was no improvement which meant it was either a faulty fuel pump or air in the line. So I did something that no man should ever do, I read the directions.
Turns out there is a bleed pump for air on the engine with a drain hose so I grabbed a jar and bled the system, quite a bit of air came out.
We pulled the anchor and motored out of Ponce de Leon bay and the motor ran flawlessly.
Our next destination was about 40 miles up the coast, a spot where we could anchor for the night called Dismal Key. A name like that conjures up visions of deep dark mangrove swamps and even more NoSeeums (the nasty little biting mites that drive you crazy). When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised. The keys here were covered with a low jungle canopy with beautiful sandy beaches.
We anchored behind a key that would give us the most protection, donned our swim suits and hopped in the dinghy to go over to a beautiful beach on the next island. About 100 feet from the shore we ran aground so everyone got out, except for Ziggy and pulled the dinghy up to the beach.
We spent the better part of an hour (If most of an hour is called the “better part”, what is the worst part?) walking in the water along the beach which was knee deep 150 feet out. We were looking for shells, fish and watching Ziggy go crazy running in the shallows. He would run in water 6” deep and while trying to drink water that he splashed up, which is not a good thing since he tends to get sick when he drinks anything but tap water or wine.
The next morning I took Ziggy ashore just after dawn and started hearing strange noises in the “jungle” not terribly far away. It was kind of strange and made me think of the TV series “Lost”. A minute later about 100 small egret or heron looking birds flew out of the tree tops about 100 feet away and swooped out to the water directly over my head.
We weighed anchor and headed up towards Marco Island which was only a few ours north. We motored into the bay thru a twisty channel which appeared to go over land in a coupe of places. As we got near the marina we were going to stay we saw a large sailboat laid on it’s side, half submerged in the shallows, it was an eerie sight.














Half sunk boat Marco Island


We docked and John ran off to get a rental car so we could do some shopping, he was going to drive to Miami the next day to catch a flight back home.
Early the next morning John took off, it had been great having him with us again. His help on the boat and steering had been invaluable. After hugs and farewells he walked down the dock and Julie and I were alone.
The forecast was for strong winds and waves so we decided to wait a day for better weather and work on the boat some more. One of the 2nd tier projects that had been on the list had moved it’s way all the way to the top with John’s departure – fix the autopilot.
I had looked at the autopilot previously and all of the components were in place and connected to the controller but it would not power up. I traced the power wires and found that the positive wire had been connected to the engine battery but the crimp connector was broken.
This was one of those bad news good news things. The bad news was that the connector was broken the good news was that if it wasn’t I never would have found out that it was connected to the engine battery. Autopilots use a DC motor to steer the boat and in heavy weather can draw quite a bit of power.
On a boat with 2 sets of batteries the starter battery is supposed to be isolated from everything but the engine starter. This way you can run lights, stereos and anything else on the “house” batteries until it is stone dead and with the flip of a switch you can still start the engine to recharge the house battery.
By having the autopilot hooked to the engine battery we had a very real opportunity of being out on the ocean without lights or the ability to start the engine.
I found a spare breaker on the house power system, flipped the switch, adjusted the course on the autopilot and watched the rudder turn, success!
The next day we headed out of the bay and turned north to Sarasota.
We talked to someone at the marina we wanted to stay at and they suggested that we get into the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) at Venice Inlet since none of the entrances to Sarasota Bay were deep enough.
We got in the ICW and had to wait for 2 draw bridges and a swing bridge.














Swing bridge on ICW


We motored thru Sarasota harbor and arrived at the marina around 3:00 in the afternoon.
I ran some errands and when I got back Julie took the dinghy from the boat and met me at the Marina Jack bar. We waited about 45 minutes and Scott from Atlantic Sail Traders arrived with our new used headsail.
As our original sail was trashed in Charleston we had purchased a 3 year old sail and had it modified with a new bolt rope and roller furling cover all for under $1,000 where a new sail would cost at least $4,000. The sail had draft stripes and 2 telltale windows which are racing features and many serious racers replace their sales every few seasons. After a few seasons the material may have stretched a little and may not have the perfect shape. For cruising, a sail like this will last another 5 years.
We had dinner on the boat and went to bed, our plan for tomorrow was to head up the ICW and sneak out into the Gulf at the first opportunity.




A man's home is his castle really..........




Hitchhikers on the way

Key Largo to Ponce De Leon Bay

11-8-2008



We left Key Largo headed for Marathon Florida which is on Vaca Key about a 30 mile jaunt. Our original plans were to go to Marathon for provisions etc.., spend the night and head down to Key West where we intended to see the sights and relax for a couple of days. Unfortunately these plans changed because of a hurricane brewing near Cuba.
Paloma was a tropical storm that briefly became a hurricane and then regressed into a tropical storm after crossing Cuba on it’s way north east. It was supposed to miss Key West by over a hundred miles and it did but there was a chance of it veering north and hitting the keys in a few days so we decided to cross over to the Gulf Coast at Marathon and run north as fast as we could like scared, or as I like to say cautious little children.
We stayed at a funky little marina in Marathon, we couldn’t get into the city mooring area because of the overhead power lines. As it was, the marina worked out well. They had showers, a small store, fuel, a restaurant and a bar; we utilized all of them.
We only set foot on 2 of the many Keys but there was a consistent theme on these two, laid back. There was kind of a hippy, Bohemian culture that ran from the old to the young. Dreadlocks and beards were common on both men and women, more so the beards on men but still….
The boat next to us was being painted by some old grey haired bearded guy who was more than happy to give us advice on products and techniques for applying non-skid to our decks. He told us where to get the glass beads used in pavement striping saying we should use it instead of silica sand because it sparkled when the paint wore off whereas silica sand made the deck look dirty. He also said the glass beads were much cheaper than any typical marine store non-skid additives.
For those of you that don’t know what non-skid is, it is a form of texture used on a boat deck where you would typically walk. This is not so important when you’re sitting at a dock but as soon as the deck gets wet and you are healing (tipping) any smooth surface becomes like ice.
That afternoon we took the dinghy up to West Marine (kind of an Ace Hardware for boaters and priced accordingly) to pick up some pieces and parts and line we needed. On the way we realized that we were almost out of gas for the Johnson so we went as slow as possible to conserve. When we got back to the boat we had the gas tank tilted so the fuel pickup was at the very bottom and we had about a tablespoon of gas left.
Later I took a cab to Lowe’s to get some hardware, paint stuff and a 2nd huge pipe wrench to use to tighten the stuffing box. Some of you might ask why I would need a pipe wrench for the stuffing box and most of you will ask, “What is a stuffing box?”. A stuffing box is fitting where the propeller shaft exit’s the boat that keeps water from coming into the boat. It consists of a threaded flange with a cup shaped nut that has a hole in it to let the shaft go thru and a lock nut that tightens against the cup shaped shaft to keep it from spinning loose. There is some waxed thread that goes around the shaft and is compressed onto the threaded flange by the cup shaped nut that when tightened properly acts as a seal to prevent the water from rushing in. Ideally it should leak approximately 3 drops of water per minute (or 180 drops per hour) thru the shaft to keep this waxed rope lubricated enough so that it does not overheat while motoring.
Our stuffing box was never going to overheat, we were leaking at about 3 gallons per hour and the sound of dripping which was clearly audible while lying in bed combined with the bilge pump turning on repeatedly was getting on our nerves.
With 2 big pipe wrenches John and I struggled to get the wrenches on the two 3” nuts thru the 8” wide opening which was ½ under our dresser and rotate them opposite directions to break the lock nut free. 20 minutes later we quit. We had done nothing but bang our knuckles while contorting around each other looking like we were playing twister and the lock nut wouldn’t budge. We were pushing so hard that the flange was flexing in the hull and were genuinely concerned that we might break it resulting in a trip to the boat yard to have the boat pulled out so we could pull the prop shaft and replace the flange.
This wouldn’t be all bad though, the replacement stuffing box would have a new lock nut.
We ate dinner at the restaurant, had a couple of beers listening to the live music and relaxed.
The next morning we got up, showered, filled up our diesel tanks and filled the gas tank for the outboard.
With this done we shoved off and headed out of the harbor towards the bridge that runs the length of the Keys to Key West. We had to go under the bridge and then straight north about 40 miles. The bridge was reported to have a clearance of 65 feet while our mast is 64 feet tall. Add antennas and wind instruments to the top of the mast and we should be at about 66 feet from the water.
To get some additional clearance we tied a loop on the end of the boom that John stood on and swung the boom straight out, Julie stood on the side of the boat holding the shrouds and leaning out to tip the boat as much as we could. We motored under the bridge as slowly as possible and cleared it by a foot or so.
















65 foot tall bridge

















What are you laughing at???


The wind was directly on our nose and sailing was not an option. The engine was stuttering again.
After a worrisome day of motoring, we motored into Ponce de Leone Bay dodging shallows with the Garmin chart plotter and sonar (depth sounder/fish finder). Approaching land we’re peering forward to see where we were (anyone notice that I used were, where and we’re properly in the same sentence???) going to penetrate the dark mass of mangroves and underbrush to find the channel that was shown at 8’ depth.
While still out in the Gulf we followed the Garmin/Game Boy thru a series of channels that reminded me of the paper mazes you find on the back of Denny’s placemats that kids try to conquer while their parents try to have a civil discussion, and it never failed us. It showed .2 feet ( ~ 3 inches ) below the keel so I decided to check the depth with a stainless steel rod that we had. And figured that the water was about 9 feet deep. The keel is 7 feet deep and the depth sounder is supposed to be calibrated to show 0 feet when the water is 8 feet deep or 1 foot below the keel, fortunately there is 1 foot error on the safe side.
Ponce de Leone Bay is located in the Everglades National Park which based on memory starts near Miami and covers a half a billion square miles of Florida extending to the west 2 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. inland
We chased dozens and dozens of white Egrets and a handful of Herons down the channel as we motored. We have seen these species before and they never run before, apparently these birds don’t often see people or boats.
After some investigation we decided to anchor off to the side of the main channel where 5 rivers joined in to flow to and from the sea. The charts showed 6-7 feet depth but we we’re sitting in 9 foot plus water with our big anchor and it’s recently added 3/8” chain holding us in place.
John and I dropped the dinghy off the davits and got Ziggy loaded up for his landfall that he so looks forward to after each of these trips. We looked around the mangroves for a suitable place to pull ashore and saw a small area that was not completely overgrown with the knee like roots of the mangrove trees.
Pulling ashore we realized the bank was a soft clay with crawfish holes every 8 inches. Ziggy jumped ashore and tried to walk into the “woods” which had a floor of broken branches and roots about 1 foot above the ground with weeds and other small plants and shoots everywhere. Ziggy had a very hard time walking around but finally found a place where he was stable enough to do his thing.
By the time this was all done we were being swarmed by no-see-ums which are tiny flying mites found near beaches and marshes throughout the south. These little creatures are almost invisible but bite like they have piranha teeth. We sped back to the boat and got below as soon as possible.
A little later the wind picked up and scared some of them away but it was still tough to stay outside for more than a few minutes to see the sunset and take some pictures.
Being in the middle of a National Park was a bit odd as we had no cell service or internet on any of our wireless cards but we still had XM which was part of our Garmin plotter weather service.
We snacked on smoked gouda, apple slices and crackers and later had some awesome homemade chili for dinner. We sat around talking, played cards with real cards instead of with a computer. I played a game of solitaire and wondered if I was violating some copyright law that Microsoft had. Good night don‘t let the bed bugs bite :)
.
















Birds in the Mangroves Ponce de Leon Bay













Sunset in the mangrove swamp Everglades National Forest

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Ft Lauderdale to Key Largo

We left our mooring in Fort Lauderdale at 7:15 in the morning motoring down the river towards the large draw bridge that once passed would allow us to make a quick left and head out to the ocean. The drawbridge, like many in busier areas opens twice an hour, on the hour and the half hour. We timed our arrival so we would be there a couple of minutes before the hour.
The 8:00 hour came and went and at 5 minutes after I called the bridge tender. I told him that I had read in the NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) Guide that the bridge should have opened at 8:00 and asked if there was a problem. The bridge tender replied quoting the book that the bridge would open on the hour and ½ hour if requested. I told him that I was new to the whole bridge thing and requested an opening at 8:30.
So a half hour later than we planned, we motored out of Ft Lauderdale and turned south towards Miami. The water was deep enough along here that we were able to stay fairly close to shore and see the sights. The shore was lined with numerous beautiful homes and mansions a couple of which were massive to the point of amazing.
As we got closer to Miami the homes were replaced by high rise condo buildings which lined up side by side down the coast for miles. I’m not sure of the exact numbers but I suspect that ½ of the population in the area must live in these oceanfront buildings based on the number of them.
The older buildings were more traditional but the newer ones where all different in their style and colors, I have never seen such a variety of buildings in my entire life. There were quite a few new ones in the process of being built which surprised us considering the state of the real estate market. Maybe it is still strong here or it just made sense to keep building them once they had started.
We turned west to head into Biscayne Bay, went past the large commercial docks, then headed south into the bay itself. Moving under motor only we followed the Garmin and the navigation signs thru the channel that was deep enough for our 7 foot draft.

















The bay averages several miles wide and is about 10 miles long but the deepest it gets is about 12 feet in a couple of spots. Much of the water is only 2 – 5 feet deep and from the surface it all looks the same. In open waters with waves it is easier to see where the shallows are by the waves. As the water get shallower the waves break and form white caps, this is a sure sign of a place to stay away from. The color of the water is also a good indication of depths but this only works if it is sunny and not to wavy.
We picked a spot in a harbor on the west side of Key Biscayne to anchor for the night near the Key Biscayne Yacht Club. The spot was sheltered and the yacht club would have docks that we could bring our dingy and dog ashore.
After anchoring and getting settled in John, Ziggy and I took the dinghy ashore. I took off to the store to get some groceries while John walked Ziggy. As I exited the property I noticed the guard who indicated that he was not going to let me back in thru the property when I returned. I hiked the 1 ½ miles to the grocery store thru quiet neighborhoods past neat old homes and newer large homes which were obviously replacements for the older homes that were torn down to make room for them.
Walking past a park with families gathering for a Little League game I thought of how strange my life had become. While living in Geneva, IL we were up the street from the park and often heard the noise from these types of gatherings. These days we were more likely to hear the sounds of freighter horns, gulls and crashing waves.
I did my shopping and bought 2 canvas (not paper or plastic) shopping bags and filled them with our groceries as I had forgotten a backpack. After a few blocks I took off my canvas belt and looped thru the handles of the bags so I could sling it over my shoulder. Switching shoulders every few blocks made the trip back relatively comfortable.
After leaving the yacht club earlier John had noticed that the house next door had all of it’s windows covered with hurricane shutters, a sign that no one was home. When I called to get brought back to the boat we rendezvoused there and all was well.
Dinner was tasty as always; we relaxed for a while afterwards and went to sleep.
The next morning we weighed anchor and with no wind at all we started motoring to Key Largo. We were on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) following the natural and sometimes dredged channel from marker to marker.
A few miles into our trip we saw what looked like boxes or sheds on stilts off in the distance. As we got closer we realized these were houses on stilts with docks at water level and stairs going up 10 feet or so to the main level. Most of them seemed deserted but a handful of them had boats tied to their docks. As we motored by one of them we read a sign warning unauthorized people away. There was also mention of use with a special permit that was available with information at the website www.stiltsville.org. We visited the site which has quite a bit of info about this unique area which in it’s heyday semi-lawless and communal.














Near the bottom of Biscayne Bay we exited to the east into Hawks Channel which runs on the eastern side of the Keys all the way to Key West with a long reef several miles to the west. The reef on the east side breaks down the waves coming off of the Atlantic making it smooth sailing in all but the worst conditions.
We motored along uneventfully with John and I sanding the cabin and deck with orbital sanders until a US Customs and Border Patrol boat came up next to us. Seems it was a slow day and we were the only people in the area to harass. They requested permission to come aboard which they were granted and 2 younger agents came aboard leaving 4 agents on their boat that all tried really hard to look intimidating.
After introductions the lead agent asked our names, our business and for the boat registration. We told him that we did not have the boat registered as we bought it in North Carolina and were going to register it in Texas where we were going to be living. Texas, like many other states requires a physical inspection of a boat to register it so we were not registered but did have a bill of sale and the surrendered title from the previous owner. We were asked to give our ID’s to the agents on the other boats so they check us out.
I went below to find the paperwork and after a few minutes one of the agents came below and asked if we had anything down here that we should know about such as guns or drugs, I said no but was kind of weirded out by the way he had asked.
I still couldn’t find the paperwork so I called up to Julie to help me find it. The agent up top insisted that I had to come up while Julie went down for the safety of the other agent so I obliged.
Up top I started talking to the 2nd agent and found out he grew up in Wheaton, IL which is the town where I went to high school and lived for a while. After finding out that he was a DuPage County Sheriff, John mentioned the name of another sheriff that he went to school with that the officer knew and the ice was starting to melt.
Down below the 1st agent was nosing around in lockers and drawers while Julie was growing upset while trying to locate the paperwork. I remembered that we had a copy of the bill of sale and title e-mailed to us which we had saved to the laptop that we could show them. The 1st agent said that would help so Julie tried to retrieve the copies but the laptop crashed.
Just then they were told by the guys back on the patrol boat that our licenses had come back clean sot hey told us we were free to go.
I asked the 1st agent why they had stopped us and what they were looking for. He said that because we had no registration numbers the boat might be stolen. I laughed and said “If I wanted to steal a boat it wouldn’t be this one.”, he laughed too.
We traveled a few mile further and found a place to anchor for the night.

















Sunday, November 16, 2008

Ponce de Leon inlet to Fort Lauderdale














Megayacht Helios in Ft Lauderdale

Dolphins along the way



11/1/08 - 11/3/08
Having arrived late at the marina at Ponce de Leon inlet we docked in one of the few spots left that happened to be a little shallow so we stopped about 2 feet away from the dock in the mud. No big deal, we just spun the bow in so we could step on and off and planned on tightening things up when the tide came in. We had dinner at the marina restaurant and went to bed.
The next morning we were still stuck but the tide was rising and after a half hour we were able to shove off and motor around to fuel up. So with a full belly of fuel we motored out the channel and turned south towards Cape Canaveral.
I have been trying to calculate the fuel usage on the boat but it is a little hard to do. Speed under motor seems to vary considerably depending on wave and wind direction and also whether we are motor sailing. According to the manual, at about 2,000 RPM’s we should be going about 6 knots and burning about 3 gallons per hour which equates to about 2 miles per gallon. Based on my rough calculations we are getting closer to 3 miles per gallon in the worst conditions.
When we started this journey a couple weeks ago the winds were out of the south bringing warm air with them. Since then the winds have been mostly out of the north or northeast bringing cold Canadian air with them (damn Canadians). The winds are still out of the northeast but we are getting far enough south that the local warm air is diluting the northern air. So with the wind to our back we were able to wear jeans and T-shirts during the day for the first time in a while.
The motor sailing was pleasant enough for the full day trip so we settled in and enjoyed the sights, what there was of it 10 miles offshore. There is a very large reef extending out into the ocean to the north of the harbor mouth that we had to go around, combined with the curve of the shoreline that kept us this far out. We were able to see the launch platforms for the shuttle at Cape Canaveral but the launch was still over a week away when we passed by.
We motored into the channel at Port Canaveral just before dusk and found our slip at the marina just as the dockmaster had described it over the phone.
We try to plan whether we are going to stay at a marina or anchorage the night before or early in the day so we can call around to get the best deals etc… We have several tools with which to do this. The Garmin chart plotter has information icons on the maps for different marine facilities. If you move the cursor over the icon and hit ENTER a page opens up with details including phone number and address. Google Earth on our laptop using the Verizon card has the same kind of capabilities using the “find business” field but does not have the depth information that we need to get into some of the marinas. Google Earth does have the added benefit of helping us locate hardware and grocery stores that are within walking distance of some of these marinas.
Back at our dock we see a large Carnival Cruise ship about 150 yards away on the other side of a man made peninsula. There is a second dock for a cruise ship that is about ¼ mile away. Later that evening there was a loud horn blast so we went up on deck and watched the Carnival ship pull away, it was like watching a small city sail off.
After a meal of delivered pizza (they used sliced sausage links instead of chunks) we went to bed. The next morning there was another Carnival ship at dock where the other had been, a Norwegian cruise lines ship and a Disney "Big Red Boat", which by the way is blue with red stacks, at other docks. We shoved off and headed for Fort Lauderdale.
There were no obstructions to force us off shore so we were able to sail down the coast about ½ mile from the shoreline. The waters were much deeper than we had encountered anywhere else along our way so it was comfortable sailing.
By mid-morning the wind was such that we were able to fly our spinnaker (the big colorful sail that balloons out in front of the boat). We set the sail, turned off the engine and where able to move along at about 6 knots which was our typical target speed. On some days when we have greater distances to cover we try to make 7 knots but today was a 45 mile trip and at 6 knots we were looking at an 8 hour day on the water. One nice feature on the chart plotter is that after you plot your course it gives you an ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival).
We had the spinnaker up for about 3 hours as the winds slowly increased we were able hit almost 8 knots if we caught a wave just right and surfed. I joked that we had gone as fast as 9 knots surfing with the staysail and main but I didn’t want to see that kind of speed with this sail especially with only 3 people on board, one of whom had never been on a boat with a spinnaker up.
Julie was down below talking to the sail maker that was working on our replacement jib and the wind was steadily building. We were moving along at a steady 7 to 8 knots surfing to 9.2 when she finally came up. She took over the wheel while John and I put up the staysail and lowered the spinnaker.
I have seen and been part of numerous disasters while lowering spinnakers. I have seen brand new, up for the first time spinnakers end up tangled in the mast and torn to shreds. I have seen spinnakers end up in the water causing the boat to come to a dead stop from 18 knots and spin completely around. We got that one in but it was torn up but repairable, but “it was not a problem, it was an opportunity“.
Our spinnaker dousing came off perfectly and when it was safely stored in it’s bag I came back on deck where Julie told me that we were doing 10 knots after we set the staysail in preparation for the spinnaker douse. Not bad for a 40,000 lb pig dog cruiser.
A couple of hours later as we drew close to the harbor we were escorted by a pod of Dolphins. We had seen a few at a time in the past but with this group we saw as many as 8 out of the water at the same time with silouhettes of more in the water. They stayed with us for 15 minutes or so and amused us by riding our bow wake and jumping out of the water in groups.
We were arriving at Ft. Lauderdale the day after the big in water boat show and saw all types of power and sail boats heading north to their homes.
We pulled into the main channel behind a cruise ship and in front of a small container ship along with about 10 other pleasure craft going in and out of the main harbor. Things were pretty tight especially when the cruise ship stopped to back into it’s dock in front of this parade. After a 10 minute wait for the cruise ship we made the turn and had to wait a few minutes for the bridge to raise so we could pass under it.
We motored up the river to a mooring field where we could tie up to a city owned “anchorage” for the night. As we motored we passed the docks where the show had been and saw more mega yachts than we had seen on the entire trip. In Charleston we saw five 100 foot or so powerboats, here there where about 40 of them along with a half dozen sailboats of the same size or bigger including the 140' sailboat Helios that was across fromour mooring. For anyone who is interested we are starting a collection to rent Helios for a week. We have thrown $100 in, just looking for the remaining $174,900.
After we moored John took me via dinghy back towards the harbor mouth so I could pick up anchor chain for the big 55lb anchor. Along the way he got pulled over by a Ft. Lauderdale police boat and was given a warning ticket for going to fast. The manufacturer of our anchor recommended a 35 or 44 pound anchor for a in the 40 to 50 foot range. Since we were at the top end of the range and heavy for our size we chose to go heavier.
Anchors do a great job of keeping you in one place but they do a better job if you have a chain fastened to the anchor before the rope. Rope floats, chain sinks and helps keep the tips of the anchor down and engaged in the bottom. Chain also acts like a shock absorber in wind and waves, the boat has to lift the heavy chain off of the bottom before it becomes taught. Rope on the other hand is already tight in a straight line between the anchor and the boat and jerks on the boat with every wave.
I went to a place we had found online and paid $3.25 per foot instead of $12.00 per foot for the 70 foot of 3/8” chain that weighed 120lbs. The cab driver had sailed some and was amused and thankfully not upset when he had to back up to the side door and we loaded the chain.
Later that night it was more food and more sleep.
As a side note: marine toilets a.k.a. heads are similar to real toilets in appearance but that’s about it. The water used to flush comes from the ocean thru a fitting in the hull and is pumped into the toilet with a hand pump with the lever set to “wet“. Once you have enough water in the bowl you flip the lever to “dry” and continue pumping until the bowl is dry. Whatever was in the toilet is pumped out continually no matter which direction the lever is set. You must always flip the lever to the dry pump position when you are done as most heads are below the waterline and water will seep in and fill the bowl and overflow.
Last night I got up to go to the bathroom and instead of turning on the light and bothering others I sat down and instantly jumped up as someone had left the lever on “wet” and I had just dunked my dangly bits in chilly water.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

St. Mary’s, GA to Ponce de Leon Inlet FL















Ziggy showing off the latest in canine wear



Leaving St Augustine
10/28 We spent an entire day in St. Mary’s resting up from our overnight trip from Charleston. Even though we were across the river from the Florida border it was dropping into the upper 30’s at night, so John and I ventured off to get jackets gloves and food for the next few days. We had been talking to a retired man who was trying to net shrimp for bait and asked him for directions. After 10 minutes of talking he suggested that we hop in his truck and he would give us a ride into shopping district which was a mile or so down the road. He dropped us off at a clothing store about 3 miles away.
We got our clothing needs plus a fleece blanket and walked a few blocks to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Our intention was to buy a few items but we ended up with about 40 lbs of provisions and decided to catch cab back to the marina.
When we got back we found out that Rick had a change of plans. Instead of accepting a ride to Jacksonville from the 2 guys who were mooring next to us, one of which had a car, he was going to have to rent a car and drive to Raleigh for a business meeting. The closest car rental place was a few miles up river, down a channel running south in the town of Fernandina, FL. He had to leave early, as did we for our trek to St. Augustine, so we motored over mid afternoon.
As seems to becoming our standard, the wind started picking up just as we came in to dock. Fortunately, the wind was pushing us towards the dock so I just came to a stop a couple of feet away from the dock and we drifted in. Unfortunately, the wind was whipping up some decent size waves and really pushing and bouncing us against the dock.
With the help of the dock master we found a local marine store a few blocks away. John and I went to find another fender while Rick and Julie went off to find someplace to have a drink. The store was small and cramped with all sort of odds and ends for boats but they did have 1 large fender. The proprietor of the store appeared to be in his mid 60’s and sported a toupee that had to look just great in the 70’s when he bought it judging by the cut style. We succeeded to get the fender and the obligatory “couple of other things” we just had to have without bursting out laughing and headed back to the boat to mount the fender and catch up with Rick and Julie.
We had a drink at a couple of bars, one was too expensive, the second was too smoky, the 3rd was an Irish place which worked out great as we had couple pints and headed back to the boat for dinner and a private showing of Blazing Saddles. Soon after we all retired for the evening. As we get more acclimated to life aboard the clock becomes less important and the sun and moon rule our schedules.
The only time that time really matters is when we are going into a shallow inlet or harbor and we have to watch the tide. Tides in the Carolinas had varied up to 5 feet from low to high. Along with the change in water height at low and high tide comes the tidal current between these extremes. As the tide is rising the water from the ocean flows thru the narrow inlets to fill the bay, harbor and rivers that are beyond it. Some of these currents run at speeds up to 5 knots which can be extreme with a boat that only goes 7 knots under full throttle.
10/29 The next morning Rick took off after hugs and handshakes, his experience, knowledge and bullheaded determination to figure something out will be missed. As difficult as this first leg had been it would have been a lot worse without his help.
We shoved off and set sail towards St. Augustine Florida which happens to be the oldest city in the US. The sail down was uneventful, winds mostly behind us, some waves and the motor droning as always.
We arrived and set anchor in the harbor after flipping the dinghy off of the deck, lowering the Johnson and mounting it we ran Ziggy ashore for a little relief and play. We cooked dinner aboard, relaxed and talked for awhile about what to do the following day as we had decided to take a day off to sightsee and to celebrate Julie’s 37th birthday.
10/30 We awoke in the morning, took Ziggy in to do his thing, brought him back to the boat and headed out for a day on the town. We saw some sights, went to a hardware store and got more pieces and parts to fix/improve the boat and wandered some more. We were going to another section of town and decided to head down to the waterfront so we could look at the boat and make sure all was well. Ziggy does not like being left alone and back home he had the devious habit of finding a piece of paper, tearing it up and leaving it by the front door. We were not sure what he might do aboard the boat, scuttle it, sail off with it or just pull up the anchor and set the boat adrift J .
It turns out he chose the latter, as the boat had moved a few hundred feet down the channel being pushed by the wind and tidal current towards a handful of anchored boats and the bridge.. John and I ran back to the marina where the dinghy was docked and sped off to grab the boat. We moved to a new spot and decided to drop a second anchor, which we did off of the stern of the boat using the dinghy to carry it far enough away to get some slope to the anchor line to counter the current when it reversed. Instead of going to shore for dinner we cooked on board and decided to reschedule Julie’s birthday for sometime when we were on dock.
We set the drift alarm on the GPS and it went off at about 2:00 am. The front anchor had dragged with the incoming tidal current as we had spun closer to shore and run aground. The bad news was that we were stuck, the good news was that we were at low tide and we would float free. The bad news was that we didn’t know when we would be free so we took turns on deck for the rest of the night. Just before dawn the boat was free, we pulled the second anchor and were under way.
10/31 This day was fairly nondescript as we motor sailed down towards Ponce de Leon, it was a fairly long trip and we arrived right about dusk with the wind picking up again. The only real thing of note was the fact it was Halloween and John was sea sick, he looked like he was in costume as a zombie, looking grey as hell and half dead.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Charleston to St. Mary's GA

With new batteries and alternator we felt confident leaving for the next overnight trip of 120 miles from Charleston, SC to St. Mary’s GA. The forecast was 15-20 knots (1 Knot = 1.1 mph) of wind out of the North East with 5 - 7 foot waves, this sounded a little rough but doable.. We motored out of the channel about 7 miles to where we were out of the shallows and reefs that surround this and many other harbor/river entrances. As we were motoring the waves started growing higher and where quite steep and irregular. In the deeper ocean the waves were spread way out cresting every 7 seconds or so and 5-7 foot waves are nothing to speak of. In the shallower area that we were in these wave grew taller and closer together with crests coming every 2 seconds. We were wallowing fore and aft and side to side in a very uncomfortable motion. We decided to carry on a little further into deeper water hoping that he wave pattern would improve. About 10 miles out we found no relief and decided to come back into the harbor. Motoring back almost directly into the wind and waves was even more uncomfortable and rough than when we were coming out. About 15 minutes into our return trip a loop of the roller furling headsail flipped open about ½ way up. After a few seconds it tugged enough sail back to flip again it did that 2 more times and now we had about 2 foot of sail pulled out over a length of about 10 feet. This was very odd as the roller furler did not actually unroll, the material simply pulled out enough in the wind to unfurl and it snow balled. I tried to unroll the furler but a line was fouled and before I was able to do anything the headsail tore in several different directions and places. After a while of trying to motor in the wind and waves with this huge flag pulling the boat off course repeatedly we figured out how to wind the sail up enough to get the shreds out of the wind.


Remains of headsail
We got back in the marina and did a decent job of docking quite unlike our first arrival where we tried to back into a narrow channel against the tidal current and ended it up spinning out with people scrambling to help us 2 times. This lovely boat is great for straight line cruising on the open sea but not so good in tight quarters, especially at low speeds.
Going below we found the laptop on the cabin floor along with the microwave which had fallen off of it’s low shelf and was hanging by it’s power cord. We found out that Corel dishes do in fact break and that Ziggy really, really hates this kind of sailing.
We cleaned up fixed up and decided to wait for better weather which finally came 3 days later on October 26th.
Our buddy John showed up about 2:00 pm and we shoved off with a full compliment consisting of Rick Moeller, John Hoshaw, the lovely Julie Lambert, Ziggy and your’s truly, Capt. Mark (Bligh) Lambert. The weather was chilly but pleasant, there wasn’t much wind so we motored most of the way with the main sail up to lend a hand.
We came into St. Mary’s, GA mid afternoon looking for a marina to stay at and finally raised the harbor master on the radio who told us to go to the far docks and cautioned us to look out for the boats on the dock. We motored over to the dock with our fenders (great big rubber baby buggy bumpers for the side of the boat) and lines out ready to dock. We docked fairly well this time and noticed that just 10 feet ahead of us there were ¾” diameter bolts sticking out of the side of the dock up to 2 feet. The dockmaster wasn’t warning us about boats, he was warning us about the bolts but in his southern drawl something was lost in the translation.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

There are many traditions and ceremonies of sailors and the sea. Some pertain to crossing the equator other navigation based feats, there are also major ceremonies associated with the renaming of a boat which we chose to ignore. While writing this and thinking of our choice to ignore the renaming ceremony, I am reminded of a line in one of the Indiana Jones movies where they were looking for the Holy Grail. They were in a cave with a ghost warrior that guarded the grail, he allowed each member of the group the opportunity to select the holy grail from the dozen or so chalices on display. Another explorer (the bad guy) picked a chalice made of gold and encrusted with jewels. He lifted it up, filled it with holy water, drank from it and died a miserable death, and turned to dust. The ghost guardian calmly said, “He chose poorly.”, I suspect we did too. By now our friend John had left and another good friend Rick Moeller joined us for a week to help with our final preparations and sail with us from Southport to Jacksonville Florida. On Thursday October 16th the 3 of us (plus our trusted boat dog Ziggy) left the dock in Southport for the overnight sail to Charleston SC. We would rather have started with a shorter daytime cruise but there were no harbors deep enough for us to go into between these 2 ports. We left mid day so we could sail the 120 miles and arrive in the morning after dawn. What we didn’t take into account was the very rough conditions at the Cape Fear inlet caused by the winds and waves out of the south and the tidal current out the north. After 20 minutes or so of bouncing up and down thru the inlet the waves settled down enough to go below and asses the damage. There was gear, clothing and other debris strewn all over the cabin sole (floor for you land lubbers) but no serious damage. I decided to check some of the major things one checks while on a boat such as the bilge to make sure we were not sinking we weren’t. Unfortunately the battery voltage was down to 10 volts when it should have been at about 13 ½ volts since we were motoring and the alternator should have us at full charge. I thought of this as a minor issue that could be remedied by installing the 4 nuts that I had just purchased for the water pump on the diesel generator that the boat has. With the generator going we could charge off of it’s alternator as well as off of the charger on board with the 120 Volts AC provided by the generator. The water pump was leaking so I pulled it off to replace a shaft seal and would have been installed already except the original nuts had been lost in a clean up. I measured the bolt size and bought the replacement 5/16” nuts I thought would work but they only went on about 1 turn. I looked at the thread of the nut and the bolt and realized the bolt had a finer thread. I ran out the morning we left to a hardware store and managed to find some fine pitch 5/16” nuts. I hunted down the bag of nuts put the first one on which went 2 turns before seizing. I tried another one just in case and had the same results. Obviously these were not the right nuts. I next broke down and did what no male should ever do, I read the manual. The generator is made by a company called Westerbeke located in Avon, Massachusetts and I must say they have a wonderful manual. As I paged thru the parts list I noticed all of the hardware was standard ¼” or 5/16” but when I located the hardware for the water pump it said 8M, which is a metric designation. Realizing that we had no way to power up our batteries I went up top to tell Julie and Rick that we should head back in but I was too late. They had been up top facing the stiff south wind and waves that was directly ahead of us and came to the same conclusion without me. We turned around and headed back thru the inlet which was sort of like the agitation cycle on a washing machine one more time. We debated going to another marina as we had said our farewells to the regulars on the dock and didn’t want to look foolish running back with our tail tucked between our legs. We decided to go back to the same marina because of it’s convenience, that and the other marinas were too shallow for us. The next day, Friday we got the generator running and tried to locate a new alternator for the main engine but had no luck. The weather was crappy on Saturday so we hung out and did some more cleanup and work on the boat. We left Sunday October 20th, mid day for Charleston in light wind under motor. The sail was uneventful and we took turns on watch thru the night with 2 people on deck at all times, life vests are always mandatory after dark. We used the generator to charge the batteries which worked just fine but after a couple of charges we realized that we were having to charge them way too often. Late that night the bilge pump died, we had a replacement but I spent ½ hour lying face down in the bilge wiring it in. Aside from that it was an uneventful evening and we motored into Charleston harbor passing Fort Sumter with the sun rising behind us.






Rick Moeller at the Helm
A Freighter coming into Charleston Harbor with us
Our plan had been to spend the night and take off for our next overniter to St. Mary’s GA which is on the border with Florida. We decided to take an extra day to replace the batteries and try to hunt down and alternator.
The main batteries on the boat are deep cycle type which are designed to drain slowly over a long period of time, unlike car batteries which are designed to drain quickly over a few seconds to start your car. It is relatively easy to make a deep cycle battery, you just add more lead. We had 2 of these batteries which are about 3 times larger that a car battery weighing in at 180 lbs each.
Doing some research on line I found that golf cart batteries are a great substitute for marine batteries, maybe even better at less than half the price. I found a golf cart shop about 2 miles from the marina that had batteries in stock, called a cab and picked them up. To remove the old batteries we used a halyard (usually used to raise sails) and a winch to hoist them out of the bilge and swung them on dock using the boom.
I called around to marine dealers to find a replacement alternator but all of them had to order one and it would take about a week. I Googled the part number and only had 10 or so hits but found a place on line that had them in stock. I decide to call to see if they can have it shipped to one of the ports we would be visiting in the next few days. To my surprise the area code was for Charleston and when I mapped the address I realized they were only 8 miles from the harbor. 3 hours later I had a brand new alternator pulled off of a motor going into a Coast Guard boat that was upgraded to 24 Volts for a mere $299 vs. the typical $750 from a dealer.
Did I mention it was raining? Not your typical, I need an umbrella rain, more like rain of biblical proportions. OK so it didn’t rain 40 days and 40 nights but Charleston got hammered with 8 inches in less than 24 hours, streets were flooded and the boat was leaking everywhere.
We had spent quite a bit of time fixing leaks and thought we had most of them but this torrential rain pointed out numerous new ones. We decided to stay another day in Charleston to dry out and see some of the sites with plans to leave the next morning Thursday 10/23.
By now we were pretty sure that we had made our amends to Poseidon for ignoring our renaming ceremony.
More later......