Sunday, November 11, 2012

November 7, 2012 Coca, FL Anchorage

Fiu and Tempest traveled 67 miles together today.  We are at ICW mile marker 898!  Today's weather was windy and cold.  Even though we are in Florida the morning temps can be in the 40's.  That's okay, but being in the wind on the water, it can be very uncomfortable!

We quickly met up with Ken and Marie a short time later as they turned from their R44 anchorage and we followed Tempest  the rest of the day.  We were part of a 7 sailboat "congo line" of sailboats, sails up, keeping pace and passing through the Coronado Bridge (bascule) in New Smyrna Beach!

We are getting close to Vero Beach which is our first major milestone. Ken called ahead for reservations for tomorrow.  The plan is to share a mooring ball by rafting together.  What happens here is that Fiu puts a port and a starboard line through the ring at the top of the buoy and fastens them to the deck cleats.  Tempest then ties up to Fiu with docking fenders between the boats.  Then Tempest puts a port and a starboard line through the ring as well.  This way either boat can leave without disturbing the other boat's lines.  These buoys are constructed for as many as three boats to raft together!

Back to the day trip.  We had our sails up again today through Mosquito Lagoon.  The entire day we saw dolphins.  And as usual, there are no pics of the 'breathe-holding" creatures.  They are beautiful to watch and next to impossible to snap a pic of them (I have tons of pics of water with no dolphins to be seen)!  We made our cut through the Haulover Canal which takes us to the Indian River and away from Cape Canaveral.  The building used to house the space shuttle can be seen from miles and miles away!

Immediately after turning to port to stay in the channel we came up to the Jay Jay railroad bridge which has always been open every time we have passed by.  Today a railroad worker was sitting in his open-air rail car and waited for all of the sailboats to pass through then closed the bridge.  We watched him cross the bridge then reopen it once he moved to the other side.

We anchored just south of the Cocoa bridge in 10 feet of water!

Captain Sid






November 6, 2012 Daytona FL Halifax Marina

Our current location is mile marker 831 of the ICW.  The 54 miles traveled today was in cold AM winds and slightly warmer winds in the PM.We met IOLAR again today.  Walt and Bob are heading to Vero Beach where Walt and Lynn purchased a condo.  We first met in the Bahamas at Man of Cay where we were just two slips from them!  We met up again in Vero Beach last May and Walt kept IOLAR at Osprey Marina at the same dock as FIU.  We left Comachie Cove at about 6:30AM and made the 7 AM opening of the St Augustine Bridge of Lions, which has undergone recent improvements.  Since it connects the outer islands with the city of St Augustine it is restricted in the AM and PM rush hours and is closed to boat traffic for an extended time to assist workers getting to their jobs on time.

The trip past Matanzas inlet was better even with the recent shoaling!  The extra buoys made it clear where to go.  The other bridge to get clearance to pass was the Cresent Beach Bridge.  This bascule bridge opens at the center of the span with both sides lifting into the air to an almost vertical position.

Winds were steady at about10 knots with gusts up to 20kts.  We put up the jib, on roller reefing, to about one half.  This much extra sail gave us an additional  1/3 of a knot more speed!  It may not sound like much, but over 8 hours it adds up significantly.

We called Ed and Patty Ann, our Bahamas "buddy boat," at their Ormond Beach condo to let them know where we were.  Ed drove a short distance to the LB Knox bascule bridge near his home.  As we passed through the opening Ed was waving and talking to us from the shore!  We would later meet up with him and Patty Ann for dinner at DJ's for some seafood.

We made a reservation at the Halifax marina, Ed's home base for the Patty Ann sailboat he keeps there.  It was good to get together and be with sailing friends once again. Tempest would anchor a short distance south of Halifax Marina where we would meet up again in the AM.

Captain Sid