Life Aboard: St. Augustine to Rodriquez Key

11-7-2012

We are all totally depressed. Not only did they elect him the first time, but they did it again. Bad Bunny is on the outside heading south, they said they might just make a left and head to the Bahamas…for good.

Up and moving at 6:08 this morning, yes it’s still darkish, but we have lots of lights around us and we have a long day ahead of us. We are headed to Rock House Creek and it’s about a 10 hour day, if we can go about 6.5 mph. It’s cool and breezy this morning. Rocking B stopped for fuel at the marina, but they will catch us soon.

We were at Fort Matanzas Inlet at low tide and had no problems. We had about 15 feet of water so no worries.

Sunrise as we leave

Fort Mantanzas

Rocking B

This looks like a pretty place to live.

Pretty Daytona

Lighthouse at Ponce de Leon Inlet

Our anchorage

We got here at 3:30. We are very close to the ocean, as a matter of face we can hear the waves. We had a long day. Margaret and Ken invited us over for steaks on the grill, baked potatoes with all the trimmings, a great salad and raspberry cheesecake for dessert. Were we stuffed? What do you think? Back to the boat to get ready for bed. We're all tired.

We got up and left in the dark again, 6:10 am. We have another long day ahead of us. It’s 49 degrees outside, so after we got the anchor up and got thru New Smyrna Beach, we went back inside. I fixed “egg McMuffins” for breakfast.

Bridge going up.....

...Rocking B going thru.

Pretty park along the ICW

...And this beautiful waterfront house could be yours for ??? there's no telling how much this place costs.

Different looking boat.

These same boats were setting in the same spot last year. Some things don't change.

Mosquito Lagoon

Well, I didn't see any "skeeters", but they may be hiding.

We are going thru Mosquito Lagoon today. Doesn’t that name make you want to spend lots of time there? Oh, and yes, they are listed as an anchorage in the Skipper Bob book and on Active Captain, our online information source.

Shay keeps seeing dolphin jump out of the water. Of course, by the time I get my camera out, they have stopped. We have also seen a lot of manatee. Margaret had never seen one until today. We decided they must have left Marathon before we started seeing so many last year.

Ken was excited, he got to sail today. He loves the windy weather that we don’t really like. We’d rather say put if it’s very windy. Today wasn’t too bad for us which means it’s so-so for sailing.

Hawks at Haulover Canal. We saw several of these in the trees. I guess they were fishing.

Do you think he's dressed for cold weather?

Sailing

The structures are part of NASA.

Turning into Haulover Canal.

We got to Cocoa at 2:30 and dropped anchor. The temperature is 62 degrees and a little breezy. We are going ashore with Rocking B. We stopped here with them last year for a night. We went ashore and went to S F Travis, “the east coasts best hardware store”. We went there last year and Margaret found some shot glasses she wanted. None of us had any money. So…no glasses. It was funny; the sign said 25cents each or 3 for $1.00. Does that make sense? I can’t wait to see if the sign has been changed or not. We told Margaret to remember her money.

Well, we went to shore and of course the first thing we did we did was go to the hardware store. Margaret remembered where the shot glasses were so we looked for them. They weren’t there. So we asked where they were and they had been moved around the corner, so we looked around the corner. And no shot glasses, so we asked someone else and he said they all had been sold. He remembered the sign and everything. Sorry Margaret. So Margaret and I walked around town looked at other stuff while the guys wandered thru the hardware. We finally met up and I asked them if they saw everything there was to see. Ken said he had hardware store overload. He compared it to spending hours and hours on the Internet and getting so much info that your head felt like it was going to explode. He felt that way about hardware now. Too much stuff.

We stopped at a pizza/sub restaurant to eat and then met Chris, the guy that helped Rocking B on the trip back from Bahamas. He visited them on the boat and we came back to ours. Watched some TV and then bed.

Up and ready to go 11-9-2012 at 6:15. The temperature is 59 degrees and windy. We are heading to Vero Beach. Another favorite place of ours. We like the free transportation. I washed a load of clothes and worked on dinner, we have invited Rocking B over. We had a good day even though it was windy. No "skinny" water and no bridge problems. There was a lot of traffic on the ICW. We were passed by a lot of boats. One sailboat went by and told me we were supposed to "wake" them. I told her we didn't have enough power to make a wake to bother them.

I love this water tank. So patriotic.

Our anchorage in Cocoa.

Yes, another beautiful sunrise as we leave Cocoa.

Up and ready to go 11-9-2012 at 6:20. We are heading to Vero Beach. We got to Vero about 2:00 pm. As soon as Rocking B got tied to the mooring, another boat rafted to them. That means they tied up beside them. Not crazy about that, but Vero tells you that's always a possibility Another favorite place of ours. We like the free transportation and all the places to see. They have great beach side parks with benches, picnic tables, and playgrounds.

Our mooring field in Vero.

Here we are at Vero.

This is Ken and Margaret getting ready to raft with another catamaran. I can just hear Ken saying, "OK, Margaret, hand him this line". Shay called this the "rafting B".

OK, let's take this very slowly.

Now let's tie off these lines and we'll be done.

Sunset

Sunrise

Margaret and I went on a girls outing. We took the bus to the beach and enjoyed the farmers market. We sampled sweet and savory dips and of course had to buy some. Then we samples oranges, orange juice, and breads. Of course, we were getting hungry, so we went to The Lemon Tree at the beach. We got there just in time for the last seating for breakfast and loved it. I had omelet and Margaret had French toast. Thank goodness we didn’t have to walk back to the boat.

Richard, from Sea Salt took Shay and Ken to Fort Pierce to a boat consignment store. We went there on our first trip and its a big building with lots and lots of boat stuff. They both came back with stuff. I guess they just couldn't resist.

Dinner on the boat then TV and computer time and then bed.

Shay got up early again to go ashore and talk to the "old guys". This is what he was looking for in Marathon at the "tree of knowledge" and never found. Guys talking about boat stuff.

We hope to see Richard and Connie today.

Next we girls went grocery shopping and the guys headed back to West Marine. We don’t understand it, but whenever there’s a West Marine close by they have to go inside. And this one is an express store, which means it’s small. Whatever.

Back to the boat to store groceries then check out the weather forecast. We’re undecided about our plans.

Shay went to Rocking B to help Ken replace something on his mast.

I went outside to get a sunset picture and was surrounded by dragonflies. We saw a lot in St Augustine and there was a lot here tonight.

We had a kind of lazy day today. Shay did lots of research on depth sounders again. Then we took the dinghy and explored an anchorage area near the mooring balls. That way, if we get here late one day, we can anchor for the night and then get a mooring ball the next morning.

We were invited to Rocking B for dinner and discussed plans for tomorrow. We will both be leaving in the morning and may or may not be together tomorrow night. Rocking B may go outside at Fort Pierce and go to Lake Worth. We will not be going outside, since the wind is up and the waves will be more than we like. We had a little shower this afternoon and had a beautiful rainbow, as you can see. We could see both ends. Wonder which side the "pot of gold" was on?

We got up and ready to drop mooring at 6:30. We and Rocking B went to the fuel dock. We got water and they got water and fuel. We washed off the boat while we were there, since this will be the last free water until we come back north.

We left the marina about 7:20. It’s a later day than usual and will be a long one.

Rocking B went outside at Fort Pierce and we stayed inside. The waves were a little too much for us.

Harbor Branch of Florida Atlantic University

It's been a long time since we've met a barge.

We have crossed our wake a second time. We started on the east coast of Florida where the Okeechobee Waterway meets the ICW. We passed this way last year on our way south and again this year.

When we brought the boat home, we came out at the lower left hand side at the St. Lucie River and entered the ICW.

We called Rocking B on the VHF to see where they were as we neared the St Lucie Inlet. They were crossing outside as we were crossing inside. The first part of the trip was about the same, but they will probably get to Lake Worth before we do.

Rocking passing by St. Lucie Inlet.

We are in a beautiful waterway. There are great houses on both sides and lots of money down here.

Wonder what happened to this boat?

Will this be a big boat when it grows up?

We passed by a beautiful golf course on Jupiter Island on the way down. How’s that for entertainment? Chase golf balls and watch boats go by on the ICW.

This is the first "gingerbread house" dock house we've seen.

Pretty place

Another pretty place

My dad would say the perfect caption for this picture is, "Cut down these trees so you can see the water." He has talked everyone at the lake he lives on to cut down their trees, so he can see the water.

Another beautiful place

Lighthouse at Jupiter Inlet

And another....beautiful house.

We passed under the 24’ tall, PGA Bridge and were very lucky that we could. We had been hearing stuff on the radio, that they were working on in and not able to open it. As we passed by, I asked as guy on a sailboat how long he had been waiting for an opening. He said two hours and the workers had no idea how much longer it would be. We are glad that Rocking B is not with us, its mast is about 64’.

West Palm Beach skyline.

Unusual colorful building.

Shay said this gives the term house boat a whole other meaning.

Margaret said another caption could be, "Your check bounced and the house stays here until we get our money."

Bahama Celebration

Bahama Celebration is a cruise boat that makes 2 and 4 day trips to Bahamas. We checked the rates and it’s about $100.00 per person for 2 days. Not too bad.

We had to slow down for this boat to go out the inlet. Remember the big boat right-of-way? The bigger the boat, the slower it is to maneuver and stop, so we waited for him.

The orange boat on the back is an emergency escape boat. If they have to evacuate, the crew gets in the boat and releases it and it gets into the water in a big hurry.

Black Diamond is a cruising casino that goes out the inlet and lets people gamble then brings them back broke. We’ve passed these near other inlets.

We passed by “The World”, a cruise ship that people buy a condo on and travel all the time if they want too. How cool would that be?

Our anchorage in Palm Beach

We got to our anchorage at Lake Worth at 5 pm. Rocking B has been there for about an hour. We are all tired from our long day and are ready to relax. Margaret did say they were going to rent a car and look for a keyboard for Ken. Remember he amazed us all in Marathon last year with his playing? Margaret has been after him since then to get a keyboard so he can play whenever he wants to. We will probably go with them, just to get off the boat.

My next boat, ha-ha.

The helicopter on my next boat, again ha-ha.

Next morning we let to rent car and go shopping. It ended up being a one stop shopping trip, but it was a long one. Ken wanted a keyboard that would sound good and hold up well on the boat. So he spent hours trying out different keyboards, speakers, seats, and stands. We enjoyed listening to him and he found just what he wanted.

After shopping, we ate at Chilies’, and then headed back to the boat stuffed as usual.

The next morning, they took the car back and then picked us up for a dinghy ride around the harbor. Shay worked on our routes for the next few days. He said we should be on the outside heading for No Name Harbor south of Miami. The weather is perfect. Our plan is to go to No Name Harbor tomorrow, then Rodriquez Key the next day and get to Marathon Sunday. That’s if the weather stays good….and that’s a big if.

Anyway, we enjoyed the tour. There are some humongous boats here. Some are so big that they make our boat look like a dinghy.

Rocking B at anchor in Lake Worth also known as Palm Beach.

See how clear the water is? That's our anchor chain under the water.

Very unusual cloud.

So we left Lake Worth and headed to No Name Harbor at 5:20 on November 16. Yes, it was dark. Thank goodness the inlet is lit up like a runway. The water is ok. The waves are 2-3 feet and the swell in about 6 feet every 10 seconds. For all that complicated stuff it was ok. Well, I say it was ok but I had taken a Bonine and I was so sleepy that I slept most of the morning.

It is amazing at the different buildings we passed. There were tall ones, short ones, big ones, small ones, square ones, triangular ones, building with holes in them.

Rocking B sailing the ocean.

Miama buildings

Ken's happy, he's sailing.

Dark clouds out over the ocean.

Ship leaving Miami

We got to No Name Harbor at 3:45. Yes, a long day. We like this place.

Cape Florida Lighthouse

Rocking B at anchor at No Name Harbor.

Stilt houses in Biscayne Bay.

We got up and ready to leave about 6 but there was a storm and we waited until it passed by to make sure it wouldn’t head our way. We left about 7 and the water wasn’t bad.