Stuart, Florida

It never ceases to amaze me, that I can go to a place that I had practically never heard of and be absolutely enthralled by the place. This place has everything any boater or tourist for that matter, would need. A Publix supermaket, 10 minutes walk from the marina, a nice park a couple of blocks away, a board walk around the bay to the old town of Stuart that has many small cafes and restaurants, and a great 2 mile jogging route for running over one bridge and back on another. The marina has great facilities including very clean bathrooms and a boaters lounge with books, fast internet, TV and even a popcorn machine. Needless to say it is very well patronized. I plan on hanging around a while.

North Palm Beach to Stuart, Florida

Today we said goodbye to our friends in North Palm Beach and headed north.

It was VERY windy for our trip north but fortunately, the tide was with us most of the way. Everywhere you go in Florida, wildlife are not far away, especially pelicans.

Even though it is Florida, it is COLD! Not as cold as the northeast mind you. Moshe is so happy he is not in his home town of Philadelphia, PA at the moment because they are experiencing a blizzard.

We are going to hang out at the Sunset Marina for a little while as they have a great reputation.

Jacksonville to Lake Worth

Lake Worth has shorts and T-shirts weather compared with the heavy jacket and gloves we had to wear when we were leaving Jacksonville.

We had a wonderful sail down on the outside. The first night we were treated to an Atlas rocket launch from Cape Canaveral which is absolutely spectacular from out on the water.

The wind did kick up yesterday so we came in the Lake Worth entrance late at night which happened to coincide with a submarine and a flotilla of BoatUS skiffs. Now the entrance is not very wide so even though we were in front of this armada, I learnt some sailor language that I had not heard before from ladies no less. We dropped the hook just after the entrance and then headed up to North Palm Beach Marina in the morning where we plan to stay a couple of days.

Still Stuck in Jacksonville

Well the Main Street Bridge here in downtown Jacksonville is still stuck in the down position so we made the most of the beautiful day and caught a train and then a bus out the to St John's mall, 9 miles east of downtown. There we found an REI where we picked up a nice warm sleeping bag and a pump to pump up all my Taylor made fenders that had deflated in the 6 months since I bought them.

Tonight, the bridge tender told us that they were going to open the bridge briefly and to line up in front of it. Needless to say, an hour and a half later, the bridge did not open and we returned to the dock. Hopefully we can get out of here tomorrow morning. There are worse places we could be stuck!

Green Cove Springs to Jacksonville

It is so nice to be back cruising on the water! We left at 10 am and motored into a stiff breeze but got held up at the Main Street bridge in Downtown Jacksonville. It has been broken down for a day now with electrical problems but hopefully it will be up and running tomorrow morning for us to get past and continue our journey south. If that is the case, we may not do another blog posting until later in the week when we get back within Verizon range. In the meantime wish both Moshe and myself fair winds and following seas!

Splash Day

Today was a beautiful day for putting the boat in the water.

The dinghy is all pumped up, the water tanks are full and the batteries are all charged up.

We are planning to leave first thing in the morning and head up to Jacksonville and anchor  there tomorrow night.

Painting the bottom

I had my friend Moshe who will be sailing with me for a couple of weeks help me paint the bottom today.

After spending all day painting, the boat looks really good now. We changed the oil as well and are all ready to splash tomorrow.

Survey and bottom preparation

Awake and up at the crack of dawn for the boat survey. (OK you have to understand that crack of dawn when you are retired means 7.30 am.) Captain Steve Danzig came for 2 hours, charged me $416 and did a great job. He said and I quote.

The vessel is in Above Average condition given she is 41 years old. All systems, electrical, fuel, etc. if tested operated without hesitation. The care and maintenance of this vessel has been above the average usually seen in the industry. 

The one thing that I have to do, is replace the electrical receptacle in the head with one that is GFIC Ground Fault Interrupted. So now i should be able to get liability insurance from Boat US.

The rest of the day, I scraped the bottom with a scraper and then a drywall screen using the hose.

It is pouring with rain here in north east Florida but tomorrow is meant to be sunny so it will be perfect for painting the bottom with an ablative paint.

Saturday is splash day!

Day 3 in the yard

Another productive day. I want to splash the boat on Saturday and all I have remaining, is to scrape the bottom and paint it. This morning I fired up the Yanmar and true to form, she burst into life in a fraction of a second. If I get a chance I am overdue on a oil and filter change. Ditto, I can report success on a propane leak down test producing an excellent cup of morning Joe. I moved forward onto the monitor wind-vane re-installation.

I managed to overcome the bent boomkin by adding some shims and the result is  that the windvane is now vertical. I went onto painting some of my topsides that were scratched up during a violent thunderstorm back when I was docked in New Bern, NC. I  then transferred all my tools into a Husky tool bag that fits perfectly under the bottom step above the bilge.

Time for exercise, dinner and meditation.

Day 2 in the work yard

Got a lot of little housekeeping things done today. I arranged for a pump out here at Green Cove Springs Marina. They have a mobile pump on a trailer that pulls up beside your boat to pump it out.

I also set 4 bug traps. Even though I have seen just 3 cockroaches in the time I have had the boat, they were scary events and 3 too many. I have seen these sticky Tom Cat traps work and they are very effective so I buried 4 of them deep in the bilges where no man dares to go.

I cleaned the bilge and  filled up the water tanks.

I also arranged for a survey of the boat to be done on Thursday. Currently I carry no insurance but  want to get liability insurance just in case I run into a gin palace or 2 on my travels. BoatUS wanted a survey of the boat first, which is a good thing, in my mind. It will run $416, about the same as the yearly insurance itself. Tomorrow I plan on starting the engine, firing up the propane stove, installing covers over the house batteries, re-installing the windvane and getting started on sanding the keel.

Back at Green Cove Springs Marina again after a wonderful Holiday

I arrived back at the boat last night and fortunately the boat was absent any sign of water inside despite all the rain. It was rainy off and on all day and I have been running the heater to help remove that clammy feeling. Firstly I tidied up the insides and removed the shade cloth.

I ordered new bottom ablative paint, an Interlux Micron 66 that I had success with last year at keeping the barnacles at bay.

I also have to re-install my monitor wind-vane. When I was in Southport, NC,  I bent the gears on the paddle so when I drove out to California in November, I visited Scanmar in San Francisco, and they fixed it for me. Robert is holding the bent piece that was replaced.

The boomkin in the next photo is bent slightly, so that when I reinstall the windvane, I need to work out how to make it vertical.

Finally, I also have to fix my genoa port track, the front part of which which snapped back outside Savannah.

Garbanzo beans, avocado, veggies with blueberries, yogurt and Chamomile tea for dinner.