Vero Beach- our last voyage for a while

Well, we are traveling our last day on Escape for a while. Once we get to Vero Beach, we will be stationary until we head to the Bahamas. Or that’s how we usually do it.

We had discussed our plans with Tide Hiker and decided we’d be ready to “drop the hook” at 6:00am. Well, we were both ready, but decided we needed to wait a while later for enough light. We didn’t need full light since the anchorage was going to be easy to leave from this year.

We had checked around and didn’t see any crab pots like we usually do. Usually there are more boats here, both permanent and transient. The last two hurricanes that came thru here damaged, sunk, or grounded a lot of boats, which was good and bad. Good that it got rid of some derelict boats, but bad because it made others. We watched as they took a huge crane out on a barge and got at least ten boats up while we were there and there were more to get.  They took them to another huge barge and then moved them onshore to dispose of. There were at least two masts sticking up from sunken sailboats near Escape. Who knows what else was under the water.  The dingy docks and walkway were also destroyed, so we had to tie up to a gazebo and climb over and under 3 fences to have a place to land. Not the usual SOP, but we made it.

Now back to our departure.  We left the anchorage at 6:15 and headed out, with Tide Hiker behind us. We didn’t travel very far until we were surrounded by fog. We couldn’t see the banks on either side, Tide Hiker behind us, or what we were heading toward.  We did have AIS to let us know where other boats with AIS were and our radar that showed us the land, boats, and even some markers. Thank goodness, it didn’t last long.

Yes, Tide Hiker is behind us.

 

We’ve been seeing dolphins ever since left we our marina, but they’d come toward the boat and then leave. But not today. They came up to us and swam alongside our sundeck. We actually heard them splashing and jumping in the water. Of course, I grabbed my camera and ran down, expecting them to be gone but they were still there. I sent pictures to show that we really did see them. They came back several more time and I got a video. Hope to post it soon.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We did slow down a little to meet a tugboat and it's cargo. We were heading toward a bridge and wanted to make sure we had plenty of room to meet him. This was a very sad boat. Hope someone makes it happy and usable again. It’s bad when the tugboat looks better than it's cargo.

We got to Vero or as some call it Velcro, because lots of boaters say they get stuck here. It is a great cruiser location. Free bus service to everywhere, lots of other boaters to talk too, and a beautiful beach.

We got here at about 1:00pm, after traveling almost 7 hours at 6.4kts and moving about 47nm. Tide Hiker is close by. We both put our dinghy down and jumped on the bus. They needed to get some provisions and we tagged along to help them navigate the bus system for the first time. Back to Escape for dinner, TV and reading.

We’ll spend time with SeaSalt, since they live here and FFF will be back in early December.  I’m sure we know people that are here now and others will be coming and going thru the winter.  We’ll be busy celebrating birthdays, meeting old friends and greeting new ones. It’s a very social place.

We plan to be here until after Christmas and then we’ll look for a weather window for Green Turtle Cay.

New Symrna to Cocoa

We left New Symrna at 7am. We could have left earlier, but forgot the time turned back last night so we missed first light. Well, our day is not too long so we’re ok. We fell in line with the others heading south, passing some and being passed by others, as usual.

Sunrise at New Symrna

We had a long drive thru Mosquito or “Mozzie” Lagoon, as FFF calls it. It’s a long stretch of the ICW that goes on for about 10 miles. We’ve never had a problem there, but boaters that anchor here say its name is appropriate.

This is what it looks like for 10 miles

We saw damaged dock all along the ICW

We’ve had the sun in our faces most of the day but as we turned into Haulover Canal we got out of it for awhile. We saw about 20 manatees just in the canal. We kept seeing noses sticking out of the water, backs gliding thru, and the circles in the water they make when they go under. It’s hard to get a good picture. We also saw fishermen in boats and on bank, dolphins and birds. It’s a very busy place. But, we didn’t see any kayaks this time. Thank goodness since they get in the middle of the channel and are slow to move. I guess they think we have brakes and a park so we can wait for them to move. Not so.

We had dark clouds follow us around and several light showers. But all in all, we had a good day. The water was calm and so were we.

One of the huge buildings at NASA

A captain's view of the railway bridge. It's usually in the up position so boats can get thru.

We got to our anchorage in Cocoa at 1:45pm. A shorter day than we’ve been doing. We went farther than originally planned yesterday and that made today shorter. We traveled about 45nm, at 6.5kts for 6.75hrs. There are several sunken sailboats in the anchorage. A guy on a sailboat hailed us as we got to Cocoa and asked what our plans were. We told him anchor here and spend two nights. He told us he had talked to a nearby marina and found out that the dingy dock was destroyed and there weren’t any places to go ashore. He also said the marina charged $2.50 per foot for a night dockage, plus power and water.  We don’t need power or water, but we’re not paying $122.50 to stay here either! So we anchor and stay aboard. Our original plan was spend two nights here and then we have reservations at Vero on a mooring ball. Right now, not sure what we’ll do. I will miss my walks.

We had a great view of the sailboats racing up and down the ICW.

Cocoa dock. You can see damage.

Sunken sailboat in the middle of the anchorage

No, that's not how the sailboats are usually docked.

This is some intense steering, both crew are at the helms.

Kokomo at anchor

 
Tide Hiker at anchor

We’ve invited Kokomo and Tide Hiker to Escape for drinks and appetizers tonight. Everybody brings their own drink and an app to share. We’ll have fun eating, talking, and telling more boat lies.

Jim and Meryl from Kokomo. You can see their boat in the background

Beth and Kurt from Tide Hiker to be renamed Petry's Pet.

And Shay and I from Escape

Shay and Kurt found a place for us to tie our dingy so we went to shore for a 5 mile walk. It felt good but we then went to share a  burger so I guess I walked it off. Or that's what I'm gonnna tell myself. We took some pictures of us and Tide Hiker while on shore.

We're heading to Vero tomorrow. Hope to leave at first light so we can beat the crowd getting there. Wish us luck!

St. Augustine to New Smyrna

Izzy R with the setting moon

We left the mooring field at 7:30 this morning. We had a big full moon set as we were leaving the field. Richard had told us he had a great push and we were expecting to get one too. And we did. We should have been going maybe 6.3 and at times we were getting 9.0kts. That’s free push all the way to the North end of Daytona. We had some current against us until we got to downtown Daytona and then the push was back until we got to Ponce Inlet. Sometimes we get pushed and sometimes we have to push against the current.

Well, this reminder me of the old men getting together at a fast food place for breakfast.

Fort Matanzas

Out getting their Saturday morning exercise

"Stinky Bird Island"

We saw several resident and commercial docks that had been demolished by the hurricane.  There were several boats that had been grounded.

Ponce De Leon Lighthouse

We started noticing some very dark clouds near Ponce Inlet. We checked the weather and it looked like it might miss us, but our luck ran out. Just as we got past the George Musson Bridge it started sprinkling and then we had a hard rain as we headed toward our anchorage.

This sunk sailboat is right along the ICW at New Symrna. See how close it is to the marker?

Our luck ran out

We got here at 4:00pm in the rain. We had traveled for 7.5hrs at 7.2 kts for a total distance of almost 61nm. By the time we got the anchor set and started carrying things downstairs the rain had stopped and the sun came back out. We had a beautiful day except for the shower at the end. Well, we had a beautiful moon set, a great push, and found a new to us anchorage. You can’t have everything. But would it have hurt for the rain to have held off 30 minutes?

Our trip

The docks to the left of Escape are the yacht club. They have great Wi-Fi.

In this picture you can see Escape and near the top you can see Ponce Inlet and where the inlet joins the ICW (at the white boxy looking area) you see Rockhouse Creek, a favorite anchorage of ours. If we'd stopped at that anchorage, we would have been inside when it rained. Lesson? Don't keep pushing.