Category: Summer 2018 – ICW to Chesapeake

Lots of navigation challenges today. The Coast Guard has been working since Hurricane Irma to chart changes in the ICW and to mark them using “temporary” floating marks. The published charts — both electronic and, of course, paper — have yet to catch-up.  So based on yesterday’s warning from a fellow boater about some green markers that were moved, we closely followed the marks today even when they were a quite different from what we could see on our charts.

 

We ran into lots of shoaling at curves and even in some open water — much that is still not officially mapped.  Keeping an eye on water depth was critical.  And we found it hard to do in some spots because we had one eye on the channel markers and the other on the look-out for pesky flies! Our fellow Lake Michigan sailors will know exactly what I’m talking about. These were green and Lake Michigan’s are black, but they both have a very nasty bite. The Lake Michigan flies seem to appear out of nowhere in the middle of the lake, but the ICW flies appear to come from the marshes that line much of the ICW as you head north.

 

The landscape change from palms to live oaks to marshes is beautiful. The marshes in some ways are as striking as the Badlands. Only the creatures of the marsh are a lot more benevolent….I’ll take egrets, herons and osprey over rattlesnakes and scorpions any day!

 

This part of Florida is four-season territory, evident in the blooming magnolias and the proliferation of chimneys! And the folks up here take mooring their boats very seriously. Take a look at some of the boat houses in the photos below.

 

We moored safely and swiftly at the Amelia Island Marina where we will stay for two days. It feels quite luxurious to have a full day to relax. I should say “just relax” since a lot of the cruising so far has been very relaxing. But tomorrow will be a day without any tense moments of mooring or navigating.

We’ll eat aboard tonight — inside. It is, alas, raining.

It’s not about the actual rain (which we have plenty of) but our cruising and docking today.

I took the wheel when Cliff went down below just in time to reach a stretch of the ICW where the marks had been changed so recently that even our electronic charts were out-of-date. My first scare was when the depth suddenly registered a LOT lower than the channel had been showing. I slowed down (good for me…Cliff told me that’s the first step whenever you’re confused!) and spotted a red mark.

That’s when I got all confused. One of the first mnemonics a boater learns is “Red Right Return.” When you are headed north on the ICW it is considered “leaving” not “returning.” Because the green markers on the channel were moved, it looked like I was on the wrong side of the red. Fortunately, a boater behind us radioed with the info about the markers being moved, I made a quick change in direction and we were back in deep water. Sigh. Gasp. Gads. Shortly thereafter I handed over the navigation to Cliff:-)

Today’s journey was terrific (mostly…). We navigated past small, smart homes and some newer developments that had a tinge of Ft. Lauderdale about them. One of the areas we passed is called The Palm Coast. What an apt name. The homes bordering the ICW have forests of palms in their backyards. As we continued north, more and more live oak replaced the palms.

 

Hurricane Irma’s destruction is still visible even this far north. And there are lots of sad boats.

 

 

 

The other “rain” that we dealt with today was a horrible mooring experience. The marina had us in a slip that had a fierce current to start with. And the winds foretelling a rain storm were at work as well. Screech, crunch, ugh. We were blown and swept starboard right into another boat’s anchor. Fortunately, absolutely no damage to that boat. But some railing and gelcoat work is in store for DotCalm. We eventually moored in a different slip — in the rain, but with no current and gentler winds.

A sailboater who’d followed us into the marina stopped by and made both of us feel better with his comments about how crazy it was to schedule a boat of our size into a slip with no maneuvering room.  We later learned that the marina has a limited number of slips with electricity (due to Irma) and were trying to give us one with 50amps. Later, we watched a large yacht try to come into the gas dock — requiring several shots on a straight landing. So I gave us a little slack in evaluating our docking maneuver.  Cliff stopped by to talk to the “anchor guy” and he was lovely. He heard us hit and thought: “Lightning! Terorists! What’s happening?” It was just us.

We are now cozily moored and using our generator.

Today’s morning briefing started with chart notations of snags, stumps, spoils, stakes and foul areas. That got our attention! As we pre-planned our route, we learned that we would cruise through Mosquito Lagoon (quick! Get the bug spray) and an area called Thousand Islands (thank goodness for that magenta line on the electronic charts!)

It was nice to do a bit of navigating rather than move along a straight line. And this part of the ICW is far away — in every sense — from the mansions and mega-yachts we oohed and ahhhed over in the southern part of Florida.

 

Here you see economic distress with roofs and docks still unrepaired since Hurricane Irma. Ragged yards and storage sheds. Smaller houses, sadder boats, double-wides and RVs that look like they’ve been parked forever. Not all of it, of course, but these dominated a big chunk of this day’s 40 mile trip.

You might wonder what I mean by “sadder boats.” I think that every boat’s ownership begins with a dream — whether it’s a fixer-upper, new off the showroom floor or purchased use. The dream might be freedom, relaxation, escape from “_______” (fill-in the blank with your own **). Maybe it’s just the idea of warm sun and sparkling water or a cool, fresh breeze respite from hot, muggy weather. When you see boats looking untouched, unloved, unused, dirty and abandoned often and sometimes littered with parts and junk, sailboats without masts, powerboats listing, wood peeling, names fading — it is just sad.  I think a couple gallons of “Spray It And Forget It” might nudge some of the boat owners on the dock we were on in Titusville back to their dreams. But that would require ME to spray the boats and boat boxes.

 

You may know the “trick” of putting a plastic owl in your yard to repell pests like mice. Boat owners use them to scare away other birds. It doesn’t work. On the boat next to us, a dangling plastic owl was joined at the driving station by pigeons galore. They looked like they’d been roosting there for quite a while. Oh….and the lady in the boat across from us had a rabbit hutch in her cockpit. Don’t think she’s cruising much.

 

 

We arrived at Halifax Marina in early afternoon. The marina is huge and crowded with boats that I am happy to say looked tended to….crowding out my thoughts of sad boats and lost dreams.

Cruise to Titusville was short and easy and best of all SUNNY! The distances between marinas up here start to stretch out the journey. We only went 40 miles today (we generally aim for 50), because the next stop is another 40+ miles away. Wide open water, tall bridges and plenty of depth made the trip a breeze.

 

it was nice to get in early and relax a bit. Of course, distinguishing today’s “relax a bit” from all other days requires a keen eye:-). At any rate, our early arrival and close proximity to a grocery got us to do a little walking and replenishing. Burgers on the grill tonight with freshly made guacamole, compliments if Chef Cliff!

 

 

 

Anyone reading this blog who was born after 1960 gets extra credit for identifying the emblem on Cliff’s tee-shirt.

A drippy day for our 35th wedding anniversary. Can you believe it (the years, not the drips)?? It was a bit rainy on our wedding day. The ladies at the hair salon that day told me it was lucky to marry on a rainy day. I think they were right!!

 

When we reviewed the charts for today’s journey this morning, the route looked pencil straight. All the bridges were tall enough for us to get under, so even the opportunity to interact with a grumpy bridge tender was off the table. The word that popped into my head was “boring.”  How can you be bored on a cruising adventure!? I should have learned the answer to that question long ago: you can’t!  Torrential rain, thunder and lightning made the trip anything but boring. Visibility was so poor at some points that Cliff said navigating was like playing a computer game where the goal was to keep the boat icon on the magenta  line and not hit any of the day marks.

 

If any of you wins the lottery, please consider a manse on Johns Island. Oh my. I imagine it’s residents are retired CEOs or scientists with lucrative patents. Definitely not rock stars, Kardashians, sheiks or sports heroes. See the photos below.

 

Off to the Chart House to splurge for our anniversary dinner!

A damp and dark start to the day. The cruise was easy — mostly straight and mostly high bridges. We made the best time so far, averaging nearly 10 knots compared to 6 or 7 on previous days.

We moved from the land of “MANSIONS” to a land of “mansions” and then to regular (albeit pretty wonderful) houses arranged ever so much closer together as we moved north.

I turned my attention to nature. Spotted an osprey and several pelicans and a small green heron (they are all small). Just as I mentioned that we hadn’t seen a dolphin, one surfaced a few feet from our port side. “Cue the dolphin!”

Drippy dinner. But a wonderful day.

And on another note…if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want to follow the journey, Cliff has set up a site that tracks us every 30 minutes (pretty boring I think — but for the geeks among us….go for it!) Here is the URL you need to copy into your browser:

Https:\\share.findmespot.com/.shared/faces/viewspots.nap?glld=0NeBx1yVER2U6DEbgcLRD2GPFUQgTaN53

I told you this was for geeks:-)

And multiples of Mile Marker numbers too. The Riviera Beach Marina has a terrific policy of texting slip numbers and directions into their marina on the morning of your arrival day. Wonderful….turn left at red MM 42. Slight hitch is that there is a MM 42 about 15 miles south of them. Turn left and you would disturb the sand in front of a lovely home. Arghhhh! We figured their was a typo in the text message, so dug out a book with a chart showing the marina location which definitely showed red MM 42. We finally turned to Google Earth and got directions 🙂

Let’s forget about those u-turns at MM42 and turn to the journey itself. The grandeur of many of the homes along the way is stunning in every sense of the word. Styles range from Spanish haciendas that could house a small village to modern structures that would make fine conference centers. Sprinkled amongst them are tiny homes awaiting the bulldozer I think. A mega-yacht was moored behind one of the more modest homes and we wondered if the owners lived aboard.

 

We’ve managed to get Cubs games via Apple TV. So you know how we spent this evening.  Go Cubs.

All week long the weatherman has been predicting rain for our departure day. Happily, he was wrong! We left Deering Bay under brilliant blue skies with a few puffy clouds and sparkling water across Biscayne Bay. Our early start gave us the entire bay to ourselves, or so it seemed until we neared the Port of Miami.  Worthy of a champagne toast, of course!

 

Cliff planned an easy day for us on Day 1. Fifty miles to Fort Lauderdale. Lots of bridges (most we could pass under) and mostly friendly bridge tenders at the ones where we couldn’t.  We’re moored at Pier 66 — a luxury marina — surrounded by gorgeous mega-yachts.

As part of our trip planning, Cliff wanted to make sure we’d pass any Coast Guard inspections with flying colors — past inspections on various boats, alas, did not go so well.  The only thing lacking on DotCalm was a bell, which Cliff duly installed on the bridge. Unfortunately, it dinged constantly at any speed above idle. See photo below for my Rube Goldberg solution! Not elegant (to say the least) but it did the job!