Stuart to Fort Myers, FL, January 25-28, 2012



Colleen's favorite bird.  He fished every day near our boat in Vero Beach

We've had an event filled four days as we traveled from Vero Beach to Stuart last Wednesday, then made our three-day trip across Florida.  Tonight we're comfortably settled in Fort Myers and plan to stay here for a month.

Our first leg of the journey to the west coast of Florida started with a trip south from Vero Beach to Stuart.  We started just after 7AM Wednesday and arrived in Stuart about 3PM after leaving the Intracoastal Waterway and entering the St. Lucie River that leads to Lake Okeechobee. We started out towing the dinghy but the winds were very strong and the water quite rough.  So we had to stop halfway  to raise the dinghy onto our swim platform on the lift system. 

Tug we met on the ICW

In Stuart we rented a mooring ball in the bay for one night - $15 + tax.  We dinghied into the Sunset Bay Marina and walked the shops of "old Stuart" for a couple hours.  After that we had dinner at the marina restaurant and were pleasantly surprised with great meals on the patio while watching the sunset.  We received a text from our friends, Barbara and Dave, who, upon our recommendation that they must see Fernandina,  were looking at the same sunset from the Fernandina waterfront.  We wanted to stay on the patio to hear the scheduled musical entertainment but we were both tired and headed back to the boat just minutes before rains came in.  We were glad that we left the patio.  Note:  this is the first rain we have had in seven plus weeks on the boat.

The sunset view from the patio of the Sailor's Return Restaurant in Stuart where we had a delicious meal.

On Thursday we left Stuart traveling south and then southwest on the St. Lucie River toward Lk. Okeechobee.   In order to reach the Lake you must travel through five locks that are used to control the lake water level and those of the rivers that feed into it.  It's 39 miles from Stuart to Port Mayaca at the entrance to Lk. Okeechobee.   We tied to the dolphins just before the Port Mayaca lock for Thursday night.  That was tricky and too hard to describe.  Dolphins (not mammals or fish) are sets of six creosoted telephone poles stuck into the river bottom like a tepee, cabled together, and sticking 12 feet above water level.  Sorry - no photo.  They are meant for tying up big barges for the night..  The next day Wayne got to clean creosote from the boat and the rubber fender that we put between us and the dolphins to cushion our tie-up.

This trip across the state was new for both of us.  While we lived in Florida, we boated on many of its rivers and lakes and made lots of trips on both the east and west coasts of the state.  We had never been across Lake Okeechobee.  This natural lake is the second largest in the entire US, 37 miles long and 30 miles wide.  It has been modified several times since 1939 with a 13 foot high dyke around its perimeter for hurricane and flood protection, not to mention agricultural production.   Its average depth is only ten feet, which makes for very rough water when the winds pick up as they often do in this area.  You cannot see across from one side to the other.  On the chart below, our route on the lake is the lower red line.

Info on the OWW

We enter the lock, the back gates close, we hold tight to ropes on the side and wait for the water to raise or lower us to the level of the river on the other side.  Then the front gates open and we can proceed.  The longest drop we had was thirteen feet.

Many of the locks have RV parks on the grounds.  Sometimes we provide spectator sport for the residents as we navigate the lock system.

This is the view of Lake Okeechobee as you first enter it from the St. Lucie River on the east.

We proceeded through the Port Mayaca lock just after 7 on Friday morning and entered the lake.  We had decided to travel via the southern rim route, 50 miles of well-marked waterway that promised great scenery that we had never before seen.  The direct route straight across the lake is only 39 miles.   

With bad storms predicted we were glad that we had already made our decision as the rim route is protected most of the way by marsh on the lake side and a 13 foot dyke on the shore side.  However, our first ten miles or so was in unprotected waters and we put the boat on plane to outrun the oncoming storm , increasing our speed to a rollicking 16-and-a-half miles an hour.  As it turned out, we just made the shelter of the marshes as the storm came overhead.  We stopped and anchored to ride out the storm but it went right over us and never blew any harder or dropped any rain. 

We braced for the worst weather of our travels. These black clouds sat over us for several hours. We could see them dropping rain all around but it never hit us.

The rest of the day was very windy as we pushed on to Moore Haven lock on the west side of the lake.


Saturday, we shoved off for Ft. Myers on Florida's west coast.  At Moore Haven we were now on the Caloosahatchee River and out of the lake.  We needed to go another 58 miles to reach Fort Myers.  The day became more windy as we travelled and we were wind worn upon arrival at the Fort Myers City Marina where we will stay for the next month.

We saw thousands of birds, vast fields of marshland, several alligators, numerous horses, orange groves, sugar cane fields, and cattle.   The towns along the way are few and far between and we both enjoyed seeing nature at its rawest.

That is an alligator.  He casually cruised along beside the boat as we waited for one of the locks to open.

The boat performed beautifully every day and Wayne and Colleen performed pretty well too. 

Some Travel Photos:

Orange groves on the river

Captain Colleen

Caloosahatchee River Bank

Sugar Cane - King of the Okeechobee crops

More of the charts that we use

Horse ranch on the Caloosahatchee River

Nice mansion in Stuart

Approaching a lock

Vero Beach, FL, January 17-24, 2012

A typical tree-shaded street in Vero Beach

Good-bye to Vero

This will be our last day in Vero Beach.  Tomorrow morning we'll cast off from our buoy and proceed down the Intracoastal to Fort Pierce and thence into the St. Lucie River and onto Lake Okeechobee.  It truly has been "Velcro Beach," a lovely community that is proving hard to leave but we're ready for more travel and adventures.  A few of our picture memories:

Watching the waves roll in on the ever changing Atlantic

 Vero not only has beautiful weather and beaches but access to entertainment and culture.  On Sunday Wayne and I went to the Art by the Sea Exhibition presented by the Vero Beach Art Club and featuring the work of over 200 local artists.  We found several pieces that appealed to us - of course they were the most expensive ones so we didn't make it home with any art works.  Later that day we went to  the Riverside Theater for a performance of The Full Monty.  So funny!!!

This banyan tree has grown around a palm tree to almost completely encase it

The dinghy dock at the marina.  The bird, we think an ibis,
is perched on someones dinghy and is ready to cast off.

There's just nuthin' to compare with Florida sand between your toes.

More Cooking Adventures on Cool Change

For anyone who thinks I've mastered the tricks of boat cooking, think again.  These are last week's chocolate chip brownies.  Don't try this at home!

Repair items

Wayne spent a good part of the past week refurbishing the vinyl canvas curtains that cover our back deck.  This involves tearing out zippers and stitching and removing the vinyl panels from the old one to get a pattern; then cutting vinyl and screen and making it all go back together again.  You've seen his sewing machine in earlier entries.  It's a tough old bird and usually does the job he needs done.  However, he's beginning to lust after a real boatman's sewing machine and I've caught him sneaking peeks at the Sailrite site on the internet lately.

Wayne's sewing companion

Ripping out zippers and vinyl - The ripping out seemed to take more time than the sewing.

The finished product looks great!

Good-bye, Vero Beach.  Thanks for a wonderful time.

Vero Beach, Jan. 10-16

VERO BEACH LIFE
We're wrapping up our first relaxing week here.  Our friend, Roger, picked Wayne up last Thursday and took him back to Cocoa so he could bring our car to Vero Beach.  We walked around here for a few days but, once the car arrived, we're not so eager to be pedestrians.  We need to get over that because there are some beautiful neighborhoods for walking around the marina.

Our resident heron.  He patiently fishes from the same spot near our mooring every day.

One of the many lovely buildings in Vero, this one with a climbing bougainvillea adorning the front

Our activities over the past week - dinghy tours of the area, several notable meals out  (especially good were the Ocean Grill and 2002 Restaurant), seeing the movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (be sure to take a brain with you; it's a very complicated plot), and the Vero Beach Saturday Farmer's Market. 

One of my favorite activities of the past week was a couple of visits to the Vero Beach Book Center (www.verobeachbookcenter.com)  This is a book store the likes of which you won't find in many places.  They have one building that houses any piece of current and classical adult literature you could hope to find.  Another large building nearby is devoted entirely to children's books on the ground floor and has an enormous well-organized selection of used & discounted books on the second floor.  Authors are regularly scheduled to come in and speak.  I could easily spend the day.  On the subject of bookstores, another exceptional one that we've encountered is Hattie's Bookstore, located in Brunswick, GA (www.hattiesbooks.com).  Hattie's has several different book clubs running and a resident dog, Mr. Wiggles, who can be counted on to join the customers on the comfortable couch.

Of course, lots of sewing has been going on in my cozy sewing center on the boat.  I wanted to share with you a quilt top I started last spring and finished today.  This is done with a technique called paper piecing and is sort of a sew-by-number sewing project.  The final quilt top is so big, about 6 feet by 5 feet, that I can't finish the quilting on the boat but will have to take it home to complete.  I'm pretty pleased with it.

Beach Cottages quilt

Repairs & Maintenance

This anode was easy to get to.

 This week we replaced the sacrificial anodes on the propulsion engines' heat exchangers.  The diesel engines have heat exchangers that cool the engine blocks and the transmissions.  Seawater enters the heat exchangers (radiators in car terminology) and removes the heat from the engine coolant and also the heat from the transmission oil.  The seawater then exits back to the river.  The heat exchangers are made of iron and brass and are very expensive to replace.  Both of these metals erode away electrolytically in salt water.  Actually they erode in any water.  In salt water that erosion is rapid. The anodes are plugs that screw into the heat exchanger assemblies and are made of zinc and other metals that are less noble than iron or brass.   In that way the anodes erode (disintegrate) rather than the actual parts of the heat exchangers.  The anodes are each about $10; while replacing the heat exchangers would be hundreds of dollars for each engine. 

A partially eroded anode

The anode is on the far end of the round heat exchanger.

Six of these sacrificial anodes are required and five of them were easily replaced.  However, the sixth and most difficult one to replace would not thread in.  With much careful coaching, that sixth one finally was installed and we are good for maybe another year.

Wing door catch.

We also replaced some cosmetic items.  The two chrome plated brass door stops on the aft deck wing doors were heavily corroded.  We found exact replacements at Marine Connection Liquidators in Ft. Pierce.  MCL is a favorite place to visit (for hours) for Wayne. Think of Colleen's reaction to the above mentioned book store.  We also replaced the door stop / latch in the forward cabin.

The anode to the right is new. The one on the left is totally eroded.

On to Vero Beach Jan 7 - Jan 9

On the road again.  Heading down the Canaveral Barge Canal toward the ICW

We left Merritt Island on Saturday morning for our continued trip south.  Our destination was Vero Beach,  a water distance of about 45 miles.  This would be a one day trip normally, but we wanted to stop several places along the way.  Our first stop was only 6 miles away at Cocoa Village.  So we only travelled for about an hour and a half counting some no wake manatee zones.  Manatee zones dictate idle speed for long distances at 2 to 3 mph.
Cocoa Village is the old city of Cocoa on the shore side of the ICW, also named the Indian River in this part of Florida.  The city dates to the early 1900s and has seen a rejuvenation that started in the 1960s.  The Village has seen its ups and downs over the last half century and we were happy to see that the area has grown stronger in recent years.  There seemed to be more stores, restaurants, and artsy shops than ever before.  The city of Cocoa has added a wonderful waterfront park and a boardwalk on the riverfront where we tied up our dinghy when we boated ashore for the afternoon.  To see more on Cocoa Village go to this site:
http://www.cocoavillage.com/history

Never had waters this calm last winter - EVER!

Cocoa Village waterfront from our anchorage

Moon rise over our anchorage at Cocoa Village

Sunday morning we picked up the anchor with Colleen at the wheel and headed toward our next stop, Captain Hiram's Resort, marina, and restaurant.  Our plan was to anchor off of the resort and dinghy in for dinner.   The weather was wonderfully warm, and the water was glassy smooth.  We traveled along at a slow 6 to 7 mph on just one engine and 950 rpms and sipping the $3.79 diesel fuel (if sipping can be applied here!).   With just one engine running at slow speed our trip on the water was quiet and smooth.  We saw many dolphins and some manatees along the way.   We started about 9AM and dropped anchor for a lunch stop along the way. 

Peaceful waterway scene

Five hours later we were at Captain Hiram's feeling our way into the 6 to 7 foot depths so as not to run aground.  We were reading 3 to 4 feet on our depth finder as it reads from the bottom of the hull which is 3.5 feet below the water surface.  When the depth sounder reads 3 feet we become concerned.  We anchored just off the marked channel into Cap'n Hirams.  



When we launched the dinghy, we ran into problems.  The 4-cycle outboard motor had again leaked oil out of the crankcase and fouled the carburetor and cylinder.  Yamaha customer service says that this should not occur, but this is the second happening.  After about 45 minutes of repairs, we had the engine running again and motored in for dinner.  We were looking forward to some good seafood but what we were served was mediocre at best.  While we were eating dinner, the full moon began to rise over the waterfront and was remarkably beautiful.  After dinner we motored the dew-soaked dinghy back to the boat for a very peaceful sleep on the calm waters.

Captain Hiram's

The next morning was as calm and beautiful as the day before.  Colleen piloted the boat out of our anchorage and back into the ICW and she took the first stint at the helm.  Thirty five miles ahead Vero Beach beckoned.  We had a short three hour ride and arrived at the Vero Beach mooring field about 11AM.  We're not sure if we told you this last year but Vero Beach is affectionately known by its residents and visitors as "Velcro Beach", because it's so hard to leave.  It is a beautiful small city with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Indian River on the other.

This morning we walked a mile to The Lemon Tree, a good breakfast restaurant across the street from the beach.  We can take a bus that runs every hour from our marina and goes to shopping on the mainland and the beach but today it was just too beautiful not to walk. 
Here are a few of the sights we saw:

A hibiscus flower, one of many flowers blooming
 here in the middle of winter

Vero Beach, FL  Temperature of 70 degrees
January 10, 2012

These beautiful gnarly oak trees are all over town

Dec 30th - Jan 5th, 2012 Getting ready to leave Merritt Island

Can you believe that there are 9 batteries down here?  Maybe this is a Chevy Volt.

Repairs and Maintenance

One important task that I wanted to accomplish during our stay at Harbortown Marina was to correct the wiring to allow the bow thruster battery to charge while traveling.  A bow thruster, for those who aren't familiar with things nautical, is a separate electric motor driven propeller that moves the bow to port or to starboard with the push of a button. It is mounted in an 8 inch tunnel in the front portion of the boat.   This thing has a really big motor - 7HP at 12 volts.  It drains a very big battery in about 90 seconds of operation.  I don't push the on button for more than 5 to 10 seconds at a time to swing the bow around.  The bow thruster battery is situated in the bow, obviously next to the thruster motor as you wouldn't want that much juice flowing through long wires and overheating the wiring.  However you want heavy wiring leading from the engines and/or one of the battery banks forward to the bow to keep the battery charging while the boat is motoring along  and to add supplemental voltage when the thruster is activated. These wires are 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in diameter and expensive.  When I bought the boat there was existing wiring in place for this task but it is disconnected.  I have been tracing this circuit off and on for some time and thought that I had figured it out.  Not so.  When I connected the wiring in the manner of my plan and tested the voltages everything looked good.  But when it was attempted to start the starboard engine there was not enough current to start.  Back to 1st base again.  I say again because the first time that I worked on this circuit, a 25 foot 8 gauge wire leading forward turned red hot and melted all of its insulation causing quite a stir among the crew.  I will keep you informed of future attempts to correct this problem.

Remember the barnacle encrusted props in a previous post? 

Well that half inch layer of barnacles on each side of the two props that we took off needed to be removed and the props stored in the locker on the swim platform.  Knowing that two days of cold weather were approaching tomorrow, the props would need to be cleaned this very afternoon in preparation for departure from Merritt Island on Saturday.  Glad that you asked....props are cleaned with "Acid Magic" and a lot of putty knife action.  After 2 hours of brushing on acid and continuous scraping the props finally were devoid of barnacles.

Must get this done as tomorrow it will be too cold. Hang on daylight.

Further Preparations for Departure:

We have taken down all of the Christmas lights, stored Wayne's sewing machine after re-stitching the binding on four of the aft side curtains.  The thread disintegrates in the sun while the canvas itself is still good to  go for years more.   The on board water tank has been pumped empty and refilled with fresh water and water purifier added.  The spare props have been stored and loose gear has been put away.

Also our chart plotter, which is a must for travel, quits working after 25 minutes when the radar is turned on.  This condition has existed from the day we took delivery of the boat.  One of those hidden maladies that you find after you hand over your $$.  After searching the web some months ago, I found a number of similar circumstances on other boats.  The solution seems to be to move the GPS antenna closer to the radar dome and thus below the angle at which the radar beam projects.  This change required crawling onto the aft hardtop and removing the small GPS antenna from the aluminum radar arch.  The GPS antenna was temporarilly positioned and then tested for five hours with the radar operarting.  Problem solved!  But there is no way to reattach the GPS antenna to the radar arch without removing the cable and rerouting it again.  For now I just stuck the antenna in place with a lot of silicome caulk as the glue.  Later a permanent mount will be accomplished.

Manatees
On New Year's Eve Wayne and his friend, Roger, were fishing off of Roger's dock.  One manatee came up to and under the dock many times over a 45 minute period.  We could have reached down and petted her.  I know it was a "her" because she would do barrel rolls right before us.  She even did a double roll to show off.   Here she is:

You can see her flipper as she rolls onto her back.

Happy 2012!!!  We stayed awake until 11:20 and then figured the New Year could welcome itself in.  We went to bed.

Our traditional New Year's seafood feast with Roger and Marcy

What Was Colleen Doing While Wayne Did All This Hard Work?

Well, she had a good time visiting with friends John and Peggy from Orlando, she finished several sewing projects and, super fun, she and another Orlando friend, Sandra, spent a day at Universal's Islands of Adventure.  We're both big Harry Potter fans and have been planning this trip since last summer so we could visit the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  It was stupendous.  Hogwarts School is faithfully represented and the streets of the town nearby are just as I imagined them.  We tried Butter Beer which is a delicious blend of a shortbread flavor soft drink with a butterscotch foam on top and we rode the roller coaster Flight of the Hippogriff and a thrill ride called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  That last one simulates a wild broomstick ride following Harry himself and Ron and Hermione.

"Snow" on the roof of the buildings of Hogsmeade