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Barge traffic in Fernandina Beach under the setting full
moon.
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Dec 13th - Saturday. Fernandina Beach
Marina - Florida. Lisa's on her way today on Saturday the 13th. I'm
getting cross-eyed - been working on the computer since 6:30 am solid - and
it's now about 7:30 pm. Lisa should be here shortly. Spent all day today and
tomorrow on the 14th working on the computer and internet. Lisa went
shopping to resupply us.
OK - I can only take so many hours at a time on this
computer without my eyes getting buggy!
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Nice Florida Bay Coaster coming in to the marina.
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Saturday night was their Christmas boat parade. I was
in the saloon working on the computer about sunset, but having a difficult
time doing my computer recordings because a lot of noise started coming from
the PA up at the bar, and people started blowing their boat horns. Couldn't
work so got up to see what was going on and surprised to see we were in the
middle of a boat parade!
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Good News for Nature Lovers!
Lisa is back as photographer with her good camera.
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Flight Formation
Monday Dec 15th - we depart Fernandina Beach - headed toward St
Augustine today.
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Now that nature photographer Lisa's back on the boat,
we can start getting some photos of all these dolphins we keep seeing.
They're pretty much constant every day - LOTS of them.
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White Pelicans |
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Just some of the interesting boats we meet along the
IntraCoastal Waterway. |
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Our nature photographer - Lisa
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Pelican Flight 183, you are cleared for landing.
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TOUCHDOWN!
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Interesting little one man private helicopter buzzing around.
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More dolphins join us. |
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Dignified. Should have been our national bird.
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Cormorant drying it's wings on a daymark. - Looks like a
stand-up comic.
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Just getting ready to cross the St John's River into
Jacksonville FL
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U.S. Coast Guard - guarding a navigation buoy against
terrorist attack.
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Lisa & I finally found a fixer-upper Florida house on the
water we might be able to afford. :-) |
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Along this part of the ICW, people had some pretty elaborate
boat houses and dock shacks.
Here's a few Lisa liked - some decorated for Christmas.
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Dolphins.
This one is an interesting self portrait of Lisa. It has the dolphins just
below the surface, and the reflections of the boat, anchor, Lisa taking the
photo and sky above.
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Nature Sculpture.
Lisa thought this one looked like a Praying Mantis.
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One of the military airborne radar planes.
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We got a really nice airshow from this guy doing
aerobatics.
Inverted - Spins - Dutch wingovers - hammerheads -
dives - Really nice!
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Anchored in the Matanzas River for the night, about 20 miles
south of St Augustine, right beside the old Fort Matanzas. |
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FOG was pretty thick in the morning.
We ran on Radar and Electronic Charts with GPS.
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Tuesday Dec 16th. Leave the Matanzas River - headed for
New Smyrna (FL) Yacht Club
FOGBOWs - (Rainbow created by Fog - not rain)
You can see one or maybe two here, but there were three rainbow arches as we
left the anchorage. We'd never seen one of these before - formed from the
rising sun shining through the fog. It was ethereal - slowly puttering out
of the river - appearing as if we were gliding through a treo of brightly
colored arches. We had waiting until well after 7:30am (maybe 8) to get
going with the hopes that the fog would burn off some. |
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It was pretty hard to see down the river at times, but
between the electronic charts on the laptop, and the radar (at right), we
could visualize the waterway and markers, and watch out for any unseen
traffic coming through the fog.
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Pelican
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Osprey
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Eagle
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Overlooking the waterway.
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This is what happens when you anchor at high tide in shallow
water, and then the tide goes out. In another 6 hours he should be floating
again.
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A bridge in Daytona Beach - only the boaters get to
see these (but now, you too have seen them).
Every single one of the columns were painted this way.
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We finally make the Smyrna Yacht Club for the night.
Since we belong to the Marathon Yacht Club, every Yacht Club in the Florida
Council of Yacht Clubs provides us with one free night as we pass through.
Saves us money and gives us access to really nice facilities when we want
them.
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Lisa's catching up on her emails and messages, while dolphins
swim around us at the dock. |
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Weds Dec 17th Departing New Smyrna Beach for the
Melbourne area
It was still pretty foggy this morning.
AT RIGHT: This guy didn't look so lucky.
If you can see, both his deck AND portlights are under water. |
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Sunrise through the fog.
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More white Pelicans.
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Just North of Cape Canaveral the ICW goes through a wide
lake-like expanse of water called Mosquito Lagoon -
mostly shallow except for the ICW channel. This is a big area
for the local fishermen.
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At the South end of Mosquito Lagoon there is an abrupt turn
to the West - through a channel called the Haulover Canal - controlled by
NASA - that leads into the wide Indian River.
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The waters on the Indian River were so calm today it was like
glass.
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Here come more Dolphins! |
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Lisa watches them play in our bow wave.
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This dolphin photo I actually managed to get from my phone
camera.
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We had a bit of a problem with this bridge in the
Melbourne area. As we approached it and called for an opening we were
told that the bridge had just broken, a repair crew was on the way, and they
didn't know how long it might take. We anchored the boat, put up the solar
panel to keep the batteries charging, and just watched the Dolphins. It only
delayed us about an hour or so.
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This big ship in the Indian River is anchored, but is high
and dry. This photo was take about high tide too, so I can't figure how or
why they did this - either on purpose or accidentally. |
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Cape Canaveral - Giant NASA hangar for the space shuttle.
I know this looks a little hazy, but it was taken from miles away.
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Making our approach into the Eau Gallie Yacht Club for the
night. This is at the bottom of the Banana River (river that goes by the
NASA launch pads), as it merges with the larger Indian River at a place
called "Dragon Point".
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Dragon Point is so named because of concrete, hollow
"dragon" that someone erected in their yard on this point as an elaborate
playhouse for their kids. This is a 2001 photo we took when we brought our
old boat up from the Keys to the Great Lakes. |
2008 - All that's left of the dragon - after hurricanes
from the last several years.
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Eau Gallie Yacht Club in the Melbourne area.
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Lisa needs a nap.
We have friends coming over to meet us for dinner at the club later. |
Look at all the brown stain just above our waterline on the bow. It's called
the IntraCoastal waterway "smile". All the boats that make this annual
migration south on the waterway pick this up because of tannic acid (from
decomposing leaves and other debris) that makes some of the waterway a
brownish red in color. We'll have to scrub it off once we get to the Keys.
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Greg adjusting the satellite dish. Finally! I get to wear short sleeved
shirts!
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Lots of Dolphins & Pelicans playing and feeding around the
docks at the Club. |
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The Yacht Club was all lit up with Christmas Decorations.
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Thursday Dec 18th, leaving Eau Gallie Yacht Club for
the Port Saint Lucie area.
We stayed on the IntraCoastal all day - heading for an anchorage for
the night.
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We did duck into Vero Beach City Marina - right off the ICW -
for fuel.
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Nice schooner in the south anchorage of Vero Beach. |
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Great Name for a rowing dinghy! - YES DEAR
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Made it down to Port Saint Lucie by about Sunset and
anchored in Manatee Pocket off the St Lucie River.
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Friday Dec 19th, 2008. Departed Manatee
Pocket Anchorage for offshore and Ft Lauderdale.
We headed offshore from St Lucie Inlet at dawn. Thought we'd
give it a try offshore down to Fort Lauderdale. When we got offshore though
it was an uncomfortable 3-5 foot beam seas. It wouldn't have been as bad if
they were off our bow, but this just kept rocking and rolling us all the
way. It took a few hours before we had a safe inlet to come back inside to
the ICW. We did pass Jupiter Inlet but I understand that the channel is not
the safest for bigger boats with no local knowledge of the area. We passed
that and came in Lake Worth inlet later - finally came in by around noon or
maybe a little before - now we're in the "Ritzy" area of the ICW from Palm
Beach down to the Fort Lauderdale area. |
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Passing through the Palm Beach area.
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Nice classic Motoryacht.
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We lowered our Radar Mast, took off the satellite dish,
and lowered the flybridge bimini all the way so we'd have room to clear
some low bridges without having to wait for their scheduled openings. With
everything up we need about 17 feet of clearance and could have to wait 30
minutes or more for each bridge for an opening if we didn't get there at the
right time. This way we were able to clear a bunch of 15 foot clearance
bridges and even two at 13 feet, without the bridge being opened.
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We're getting far enough South now that the water is taking
on nice blues and greens, with sand bottoms. I even got sunburned today with
the bimini down all day. |
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Looks like we're in the high rent district.
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It's a lot slower going - with all the no wake zones and
bridges, but at least it's calm water and nice weather inside this
afternoon. These kinds of Yachts were typical through this area.
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Lisa got a nice shot of a moon jellyfish. They were all
over the place - it's the season for them.
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The iguanas are starting to come out now too. We saw a lot
of them today.
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Commercial Blvd Bridge in Ft Lauderdale.
Looking back you can see that we just barely clear with everything down.
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A Tropical Santa
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Coming down the IntraCoastal in South Florida, is
sometimes referred to as the "Condo Canyons".
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A unique look at some of the inner workings of these
drawbridge gears, that people never get to see unless you go by in boats.
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Ft Lauderdale - MegaYacht Capital of the World.
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Made it to the Lauderdale Yacht Club where we spent the
night. Got the radar mast back up and got the boat hosed down to get off
all the salt that's been accumulating. My starboard windshield wiper stopped
working earlier today so that's even more of a problem trying to steer from
below when we're taking spray over the bow.
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Saturday Dec 20th - depart Fort Lauderdale.
Going back out into the Ocean today - winds and seas are supposed to
be down. Might shoot to make it all the way to Marathon (but didn't work
that way).
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Departing out of Port Everglades for offshore.
This is where all the big Cruise boats go out. As a matter of fact, my
brother Mike and cousin John are out on a cruise right now from here, and
should be back Tuesday. |
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Picture of Lisa taking Pictures of all the Cruise boats.
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Heading out to sea again from the Port Everglades inlet at
Ft Lauderdale.
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Ft Lauderdale beachfront skyline.
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Starting to cross the shipping channels now.
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Just offshore of Miami and the Port of Miami.
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We're now finally entering the Keys!
Key Biscayne is in the distance, and the water turns turquoise.
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Cape Florida Lighthouse at the south end of Key Biscayne.
Even though the seas were calm at less than 2 feet today, we
decided to cut through Biscayne Bay and put the boat up on plane to go fast
today.
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Stiltsville. In Key Biscayne Channel we pass through this
collection of many "houses" up on stilts in the shoal waters in the middle
of the Bay (almost). They've been here for years - originally put up as
"fishing camp" shacks, a handful of them still remain in the Bay.
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Roaring down Biscayne Bay at over 18 knots! (20+ mph), with
Miami in the background. |
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WOW - we're sucking down fuel, but really going fast on
this LAST LEG!
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UH-OH! Running fast was
great - but after an hour or so up on plane - and down toward the south end
of Biscayne Bay. WE BLEW UP OUR STARBOARD V-DRIVE. BUMMER!
I pushed it too hard and overheated the drive. We anchored to check it
out but it's shot. After 2400 miles since Lake Erie we do this on our last
leg. Now we have to hobble in on one engine. The going will be slow, and
can't make Marathon tonight. |
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We cut through Angelfish Creek to go out east of the Keys -
into Hawk's Channel oceanside.
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The water is now clear with lots of color.
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We MADE IT to the Keys! - Maybe on one Engine - but we
made it.
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Approaching our anchorage off Rodriguez Key - Key Largo
FL. |
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Sunset at Anchor.
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Underway early the next day in Hawk's Channel - Sunday
Dec 21, 2008.
Maybe THIS will be our last day to Marathon.
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Passing under Channel 5 Bridge from Oceanside to Gulfside.
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The new bridge (higher) replaced the old "original" Henry
Flagler bridge from the early 1900's.
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Many more Dolphins show up Gulfside to escort us in, while
Lisa watches from the Flybridge.
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The trap floats are the nemesis of ALL the Keys boaters!
THOUSANDS of them all over - as far as you can see.
The Key is to avoid getting them tangled in your propeller and shafts.
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Some of the channel passes on the Gulfside are REALLY
TIGHT! - with shallow water all the way around.
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More Dolphins. |
Lisa moves to the bow of the boat to watch the dolphins
play.
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Back here Gulfside the water is usually only 6-10' deep
all over - and you can see the bottom, sponges and sea life well as you
glide over.
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The approach to Keys Boat Works in Marathon.
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Final Approach to a trip of over 2500 miles and 4 months -
going an average of 9 miles per hour!
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The cormorants are line up to greet us as we enter the
channel.
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On the dock at Keys Boat Works. Arrive Sunday, December 21,
2008.
We'll replace the V-drive here, and some other work before moving to the
Yacht Club.
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Monday Dec 22, 2008. Boat being lifted from the water.
We'll clean and repaint the bottom from the long trip down, and get some
other routine maintenance done before we move to the Yacht Club.
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We took this photo for Jessica. It's her style of boat
dinghy.
Barbie Pink.
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Boat Yard Dog. This is our preferred kind of place. Sure
beats resorts. (most of the time) |
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My friend Mike Bossert owns this yard along with his wife
Sharon.
We talk about getting the bottom painted right before Lisa & I leave back
for Ohio for Christmas.
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I've been at sea now (at least on the boat) for over one
month solid. It's time for Lisa and I to leave in a rental car - pick up her
car in Jacksonville FL - then drive that up to the Chesapeake Bay in
Chestertown MD to pick up the van - and both of us drive from there back to
Ohio - through freezing rain and ice as it turns out. Ended up back in
Columbus in the afternoon Christmas Eve Dec 24th! |
