March 6, 2017
As I write this, we are at Florida anchor, aka hard aground,
waiting for the tide to come in and lift us off. We spent three nights at
Halifax Harbor Marina because the wind was strong right on the nose and we
weren’t having fun. I was below and
Reggie was at the helm in his sweat pants, coat and hat.
some days are less warm than others in Florida
Let me back up to our crossing. We knew we expected brisk
winds from the ESE. It was brisk and rocky rolly. I felt like an old tennis
shoe in the washing machine. Our plan was to go straight through to the St
John’s River which would take about 48 hours. After doing isometric exercises
for two hours at the helm followed by a two hour restless break before the next
round of isometrics, we opted for plan B. We altered course for Ft. Pierce, ETA
24 hours after leaving Ocean Reef. Once
we hit the Gulf Stream, we thought it might be an easier ride to go with it and
the waves. Back to Plan A. It was
smoother for a short time, then worse than ever. Plan C, Head for Cape
Canaveral.
As we worked our way up the coast of Florida on Wednesday
morning, a couple different turtles let us get closer than they ever have
before. They are very shy and usually dive before I get a good look at them.
These guys let us get within about 20 feet.
We also had a large group of dolphin escort us. There may have been as
many as twenty. They were smaller than usual, maybe 3 to 4 feet average length.
Most of them had spots on the backs. I have never seen ones that small or with
spots. Do you know if they are a different breed?
We arrived sometime on Wednesday. Cape Canaveral Inlet is
deep and wide, so we didn’t have to consider tide. However, it is about 8 miles
from the ICW with two bascule bridges and a lock. First bascule opened for us
and only a short wait for the lock to open. The next bridge closed and would
not open until 6 PM. We found a place to drop anchor which allowed boats to
navigate around us and ate dinner and relaxed. Once through the bridge, we
dropped anchor just off the ICW and slept.
Thursday morning we were back on the water highway.
approaching the drawbridge before passing out into Mosquito Lagoon
local rules posted on the bascule bridge
We made
good time and had a quiet night at anchor. Friday morning the cold front
arrived, but Reggie bundled up and headed north. We were going to need to fuel
up sometime in the near future. Halifax Harbor Marina was the place. Our stay here allowed us to hide from several days of brisk (20 knots, gusting up to 30) winds on the nose.
Daytona seemed like a nice place. We walked about 3 miles to
a grocery store on Saturday and lugged four sags of food back to the boat. I
think my arms are a couple inches longer.
On Sunday, we again walked about 3 miles to the bus terminal only to
find that it was closed. Reggie walked
most of the docks. I went with him for a couple of them. We searched for a good
sea food place, but didn’t find one.
The tide should be starting to rise pretty soon and we will
be on our way again. It should take us four days to get to our next, and last, marina for this
trip. That is our present Plan A.
