64 miles to an anchorage in Lake Worth

I'll do a real blog tomorrow, complete with pictures we took today (and maybe tomorrow...).  This is just to catch you up - dad is doing well and went home from the hospital today.  We have arranged for someone to be with him for the next 24 hours or so just to help out and keep an eye on him.

More tomorrow but we left for Miami (about 20 hours) but cut the rougher-than-expected trip short by 9 hours and came into Lake Worth for the night or so.  I am a little seasick and definitely tired.  Time for a little relaxation and an early bed time.

Terrible blogger....

I'm so sorry - I've been a terrible blogger for the past few days.  I'm not sure why, but the days seemed to zip past. 

The unruly dinghy motor was picked up on Monday by a wonderful repair guy, repaired, rejuvenated, and returned to us the same day!  That's not an easy task, as it weighs over 100 pounds and is a pain to get on and off of the boat.  But it was successful and at a very reasonable price, I might add. The motor purrs like Smokey now.

Luke did get a great shot of evening at the mooring field.

Rental car on Tuesday so we could provision Latitudes with the rest of our groceries prior to setting sail for the Bahamas.  While we had the car, we decided to drive a bit into the state and what to our wondering eyes should appear but orchard after orchard after orchard of orange and grapefruit trees.  Never knew there were so many!  The picking process is interesting....some one leans up against the tree branches, shakes the heck out of them, the fruit falls, and is then loaded into huge open topped trucks.  Not a great picture, but it was taken at 60 mph...note all of the little orange dots!

Then, a nice evening with local friends Marina and Dave, along with Marina's cousin Laney.  We had great pizza and then a few hours at the Disney Resort, listening to buddy Bernie play and sing.   He's been working on the Disney Cruise Lines for the past two years and just now back to Vero for a while.

Today ---- the big news is the our chart plotter returned from the manufacturer's repair efforts. 

Happy Luke with the revamped chart plotter!

And, the chart plotter installed and WORKING!

 

 

Shortly after Luke finished programing the plotter, the rains came.  We are lucky that we have only rain, not the awful ice and snow that is paralyzing a lot of the nation, even in northern FL.  We will happily wait out the wind and rain in our dry, warm boat.

 

 

Received one of "those calls" this evening - my 94 year old dad fell today and is in the hospital in NC for observation.  No broken bones apparently, but very sore.  We will certainly need to be sure that dad is ok before we cross to the Bahamas.

 

 



shorts!

We finally wore shorts today; briefly, but we wore them!  80 tomorrow...mmmmm.....happy!

Long time friends Ange and Ray visited yesterday.  She is a wonderful cook and brought home-made soup and cake, along with cheeses, crackers, and beers. Ange, we finished the soup last night and the cake today!  thanks!

Again, no pictures...we are slipping.  I need to be more diligent about taking pictures.

Today, laundry and showers.  Clean linens and clothes and bodies are always nice.

Unfortunately, our ever faithful dinghy engine has been misbehaving lately.  It just doesn't want to start or run smoothly (or at all).  We've always managed to get back and forth to the boat, but there is definitely a problem. Today Luke changed the fuel filter and spark plugs to no avail.  Looks like a call to a service technician tomorrow is due.  Oh, well, I guess that will just have to happen while we are awaiting the return of our chart plotter.  Always something...

FL in January - and friends

SO, it's January in Florida...thought it would be warm by now... it's always warm in Vero;  we usually wear shorts...

But tomorrow promises to be 74 and  Sunday - 80!!!  whoooo hoo!!!

Yesterday boating friends Conny and Alvin drove over from Sarasota for the day. We met them un the Bahamas last winter, and visited them in British Colombia last summer when we were RV'ing.  They are spending this winter on land but plan to resume their cruising next fall.  It was great to see them.  I can't believe I forgot to take any pictures!

Today, neighbors from home drove over from western FL to visit for the day.  Ali and Charlie have a new winter home in the Sunshine State and are here for the winter.  We managed to get pictures this time!

My super short hair has actually grown a lot in just a week - I may learn to like it.  It's certainly easy to care for!

Lined up on the beach below us, facing the wind, was this flock of Royal Terns.  A few seagulls had hidden in their midst.  The wind was blowing hard and these guys had no intentions of flying.

I think they are waiting for that warm, calmer weather tomorrow and Sunday.

We have finished a few of our projects while we are here waiting for our chart plotter to be repaired and returned.  Luke has replaced our dead microwave and a dead float switch in one of the shower sumps.  I've made a list of provisions yet to be bought.  Smokey has slept or watched the world from the safety of her little world.

Hurray for wonderful dentists!

The wonderful dentist that saw me to day was able to repair the tooth with a new filling.  well, a big fat new filling, a stem, and whatever, but the tooth is repaired without an extraction or the need for an implant.  I am a much happier and so is my tooth. 
No sightseeing today, just a long dental visit.  Overdue "housework" tomorrow.

Vero Beach at last

Vero Beach - "where the tropics begin"!  That is a horticultural fact based on latitude.  The climate allows tropical plants to grow here; plants that can't survive even a few miles north.  It's the place that WE know as where we can always finally wear shorts in winter!  Not today, but before we leave, I bet.  Today was nice - around 70 and sunny, and 48 tonight.

Vero Beach seems like a cute little FL town, but the reality of it is that more retired Fortune 500 CEO's live here than any other place in the world.  The town has the 4th highest concentration of wealthy households in the US.  That is amazing to us as we sit here in our little boat in the modest city marina.  But it's a busy marina!  These moorings often have 2 or 3 boats on each one of them.  Fortunately, we have a mooring to ourselves.

Smoke likes that - she is comfortable in her little world.  A bath after a long day of travel.

Here is Smokey demanding a noggin rub from the newest crew member, "Bob".  Yes, that used to be me, but after the scalping I got instead of a trim at a shop in St. Augustine, I look more like a Bob.  It's shorter than it looks in the picture.  That's a lot of wee little short wisps of hair.  Luke's hair is literally longer than mine.

We were excited to see an anhinga in the mooring field!  Never seen one here before and have actually seen only a very few in the wild.  This beautiful bird looks a lot like a cormorant, but their necks are longer and they appear more snake like. In fact, they are called "snake birds" because when they swim, only their necks and heads are above water. Like penguins, anhinga "fly" underwater to fish.  They pull their long wings in to their bodies, swimming at high speed with their shortened wings.  In an underwater pursuit, the anhinga darts it's long head forward and spears a fish, then bringing it to the surface to swallow. Like  cormorants, they spread their wings to dry in the sun.  Unfortunately, I couldn't catch this fellow drying his wings, but you can see the white feathers that spread like a cape when the wings are open.

The long neck and chest of the female anhinga are brown.

Wish I could have caught a picture like this one of a male anhinga!


Here is a link to read about the birds and see more pictures. (click on link)

We will be here a week or more.  There are a few packages coming in for us to pick up, we have friends here to visit, and, then, there is that dental work...

Catching up

Not very eventful days, but we ARE 120 miles further south!  and it's warmer down here!

We left St. Augustine at the crack of dawn on Friday, only to realize that another Hunter sailboat was out at the same time.  So, we met Carla and Daniel of C-Time, first time cruisers who are headed for Columbia, South America!  Talk about an ambitious first cruise!  Actually met them when we docked in New Smyrna Beach and had a great time getting to know each other. C-Time, under sail..

En route, we went under one of the many Daytona bridges.  Love the art work on this pilings on this one...

Today dawned bright and crisp (I hate "crisp" but not as much as I hate"frigid"").  Our goal was Cocoa, southward through the Haulover Canal.  One of the spoil islands just beyond the canal had several rosette spoonbill birds, but unfortunately, we didn't  get a picture of the bubblegum pink beauties.

Further, and the sun and water play optical tricks - is it a flying saucer? - a floating bridge? - a bridge too far?...

Our goal had been the Cocoa anchorage, but we made such good time that we continued another 18 miles to the southern end of the Indian River.  Tucked up in a narrow river, houses on both sides, Luke completes the setting of the anchor.  Our first anchorage of the season!

Dolphins are everywhere in this anchorage.  They blow, squeak, and call to each other.  It is wonderful. Smokey sat on the boat edge and listened curiously.

So, it is a quiet night at anchor.  Tomorrow we have only a few hours to get to Vero Beach.  We will be glad to get there for a variety of reasons.  Packages and parts are coming in, friends will see us there, and unfortunately - I get to see the dentist.  A chunk of back molar broke off this morning, leaving me with only the rough edges of what used to be a tooth.  Thanks to a reference from a good friend in Vero, I have an appointment with a dentist/oral surgeon on Tuesday.  As much as I dislike going to the dentist, I am definitely looking forward to this appointment!

The Magic Heron

We rode the trolley today and wandered around St. Augustine a bit more.  A very few pictures later - bed time now for an early departure tomorrow.  But first --- sometimes everything works just right and you get a happy picture.  I share with you....

The Magic Heron...

More tourist stuff in St. Augustine

We have been busy with "boat stuff" (like trying to find a replacement microwave over that fits our cut-out....) but did manage to get in some sight-seeing today.

I guess most know, but just in case --- St. Augustine is the oldest city in the USA.  So, what do you find in the oldest city in the USA?  The oldest catholic church in the USA.  The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine is advertised as America's first parish, founded on Sept. 8, 1565.  It is a small cathedral, rather plain and modest by many standards.  But there is a beauty about it.  The inside lighting made it challenging to get a good picture.

The alter is very lovely.

For an interesting article on the church, click on this link http://www.thefirstparish.org/History.html

The church is filled with beautiful artwork.  One of the paintings if featured on the parish weekly bulletin.

I do realize that it is expensive to maintain a church and contributions are important.  But having local ads on the last 2 pages of the bulletin brings just a bit of a jolt to my Southern Baptist upbringing!

 

Back at the docks, Luke found this white heron, glaring at him.  Love the picture.

 

 

Much to our surprise, as we sailed through the Bridge of Lions, we found 2 large sailing ships at dock here in St. Augustine. 

The larger one (on the right) is the El Galeon, a replica of the galleon ships that traveled the coasts of FL between the 16th and 18th centuries.  These galleons transported soldiers, colonists, goods, culture, and ideas between Europe and America.  The galleon was a large armed vessel used in the transoceanic trade.   It evolved from Spain's need for an ocean crossing cargo ship that was capable of fending off pirates.  Pedro Menendez, founder of St. Augustine, is credited with developing the galleon prototype.  The first galleon to arrive in St. Augustine was enormous.  She carried 77 crewmen, 18 gunners, 317 soldiers, 26 families, provisions, and cargo (including cattle).  This one is not that large, only 170 feet.  She has the large, beautiful stern light that was used to send signals back and forth to ships traveling together in fleets.



 Her bow and stern are really high, making the ship really roll in heavy seas (per one of her crew members....)

And here are two non-crew members!  We are definitely not interested in managing something this big!

The  smaller of the two ships is the replica of the Nao Victoria.  This amazing vessel was the first vessel to sail around the world!  But not without hardships. The expedition started with 5 naos and 243 crew members under Ferdinand Magellan to open a western route to the Spice Islands.   In 1522, only the Nao Victoria and her eighteen men finished the 3 year navigation. One of the other four ships turned back from Cape Horne, the other three were lost to grounding and other hazards.  Magellan died in the Philippines during the trip. The Nao Victoria is amazingly small and crude for such a voyage. Here is a link to her story (click the previous word "story")

I'm always amazing to find "exotic" flowers growing wild.  Silly, I know, but to find this beautiful Bird of Paradise in full bloom just made my day!

We have tickets to use tomorrow for one of the trollies that run all over town.  Our plan is to stop at each of the places that interests us - we get to see more of St. Augustine than we can by foot.  Then, unless the weather changes our plans, we shall leave Friday for an anchorage about 60-70 miles further south.

31 hours, but we've made it to Florida!

Overnight runs are loooong.  but they are so worthwhile.  We covered 220 miles in  31 hours.  If we were to have continued down the ICW, that 220 miles would have taken us 4 days with constant attention to avoid running aground in relatively narrow channels. On this run, Bruce (our auto pilot) did all the work. Glad to be in sunny FL!

Up bright and early, we left our marina in Charleston with the sun shinning on the Ravenel Bridge.

A beautiful sunset 11 hours later.  We are sailing toward the sunset -- west? no, southwest this time of the year, and from Charleston, our course is actually more west than south!

Then, another 12 hours with a clear moonlit sky, calm conditions, three hour shifts and the promise of a new day, the sun barely begins to light the south eastern sky over the ocean.

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We saw very few other boats during the night, but the shrimpers/fishers were out early.  This one, along with others, was busily at work by the time day broke. Looks like an outer space vehicle, doesn't it!

Ah, St. Augustine!  Makes you believe you really ARE in Florida!

This is the entrance to the Bridge of Lions, the bascule bridge that allows boats to enter the St. Augustine harbor.  You can play "caption that picture".... I'd love to hear your ideas!!!!

Here is the bridge in action.  The opening sections are raised, allowing a fishing boat to pass through, south to north.  We had to request an opening from the bridge in order to reach our mooring field for Latitudes. WE, of course, are headed north to south - hurray!!!

We took the marina launch (the marina's courtesy shuttle boat) to town for a couple of hours, just to walk around a bit.  It wasn't very crowded.  Here is a bit of the usually busy main walking street, full of shops for tourists.

One of the business streets; this one with an art shop.

And a residential street.  All are within the Old Town district.

Rain is forecast for tomorrow, but we plan to take the launch back into town and "tourist" about for a while.  I look forward to it. But for tonight, bed is calling.  Those 3 hour shifts work ok, but we are both usually pretty tired the day after an overnight run.  Smokey is waiting for us!

Charleston, SC

A couple of pictures from yesterday, first...

Luke caught this nice one of the marina. Shows just how small it is - and that is fine with us!  Latitudes is the second mast on the right side.

You think you are a reasonable size, and then a Carnival Cruise liner backs up in preparation for some exotic (I'm sure...) trip... 

SO.... Charleston!  You know you're in Charleston when you see --

Narrow houses, long, with sides always facing the street

Those same narrow houses with front doors that open almost ON the street

Beautiful old homes in the historic area

Narrow alleys, filled with flowers

Row houses - small, almost identical, but beautiful.  and very expensive.

Many of these homes have front door lights that are still gas.  It creates a real sense of the old historic area.

Cemeteries are tucked in little spots and around the churches, usually behind wrought iron fences.

Some are open for walking through - this one was quite nice and picturesque in the gray day.

We ran into a young man here who was wearing a pair of the Google Glasses. He was excited about them - they are amazing!  No, we didn't ask if we could take a picture of him!

When these beautiful homes were first built in Charleston, there was no free fire department.  If you wanted help when your house caught on fire, you'd better pay the fire department's dues.  One of these plaques was then posted on your house to let the fire department know whether or not to bother saving your house.  No plaque, no fire department.

We got a good overview of historic Charleston, but there is a lot more here.  Museums, art, an aircraft carrier to explore -  lots and lots.  We would like to come back again and spend more time.

But ----- the weather and sea calls us for a quick trip to FL.  Settled weather and quiet winds are forecast for the next few days.  We plan to leave Charleston early tomorrow, sail until Monday afternoon, and be in St. Augustine by around 3 PM -- if the weather still agrees tomorrow morning!