Leaving Aunt Aggie in Daytona for a month.

We walked into New Smyrna Beach on Friday evening and ate pork nachos at Yellow Dog Eats.  That was an original dish, and we loved it.  The nachos were billed as an appetizer, but it was enough yumminess for dinner.

Here is the scene behind the boat this morning.  As dawn arrived, there were tons of pelicans and
cormorants splashing down behind Aunt Aggie.  Maybe fish had entered the marina with the wind?

We saw an open weather window and decided to motor 16 miles north to Daytona today, so we could see our friends, Judy Schwarz and Hugh Saxon.  It was a good plan.  We had smooth waters and no rain and an easy trip to Halifax Marina.  Hugh, Judy and their family, Tony and Beth, came to Aunt Aggie and took the tour.  It is always fun to show off the boat and answer questions about living aboard.  The rain started about an hour after we arrived.  We ate lunch at a pub and caught up on the news from Atlanta.  

Judy and Martha are buddies. 

This guy was sitting on the dock and never moved as I walked behind him.  His body is so squat and
perfectly formed:  the head fits right in between the folded wings.

Tomorrow morning we are driving to Atlanta with Judy and Hugh.  Yahoo!  That will be a fun trip.  We will be gone from Aunt Aggie for a month while we visit friends and family in Atlanta and also in San Francisco.  The blog will take a vacation too.  We'll be back on the move and writing at the end of March.  

Oh, no! We found winter.

Here is the quiet view from the bow.  Our burgee is not even waving.

Well, we knew it might happen.  We kept moving north on the ICW, and we ran right smack dab into winter.  We are in New Smyrna Beach, and it is 54 degrees outside.  The wind is from the NNE at 16 mph.  It feels cold.  We had planned to entertain our friends with cocktails on the fly bridge as we did in Key West.  But we will not be doing that.

In fact, Aunt Aggie had some engine issues this morning, so we did not go to Daytona as planned.  When George started the engine, she sounded rough. We stayed here and had diesel mechanics listen and look at her.  "Diesel Rick" showed us how to change the fuel filters.
     George asked, "How often should I change the fuel filter?"
     Diesel Rick replied, "Whenever it sounds like that."  So there you have it.  We are grateful for his expertise.  Now Aunt Aggie sounds smooth.

We plan to go to Daytona on Sunday due to the high winds now, and the rain that is coming tomorrow.  Our friends will come here for a visit tomorrow.  I keep wanting to just move on, but then I look out the back door.

The palm trees are taking the brunt of the wind in the marina.

Birds II + New Smyrna Beach

Here is the osprey across from us at Titusville yesterday.  He brought back a fish right
after I posted the blog.  He was quite the enthusiastic eater.

I am still enjoying, relishing really this time with shore birds.  The osprey above was fascinating to 

watch with binoculars as he tore bits of fish and ate.  

This morning I met a fisherman who was pulling in hand-sized silver fish for homeless cats downtown.  He said he needs about 15 to feed the cats.  Right behind him was the large wood stork from yesterday, watching and waiting.

Just south of Haulover Canal Bridge there were lots of white pelicans sitting on a beach.  The brown pelicans were resting in the trees on the same small island.  

Each of those white shapes is a white pelican.

The day began with three rain storms crossing us while we were still tied up in Titusville.  We were patient and didn't leave the dock until 10:30 am.  We traveled 32 miles through Mosquito Lagoon and past Oak Hill, FL, to get to New Smyrna Beach.  The weather was dry but cloudy.  Just as we got to New Smyrna Beach, the temperature dropped to about 60 degrees, and the wind picked up.  After we got into the marina, George and I went for a walk around town.  

I saw this sign and laughed.

We went into the Little Drug Co. and had a chocolate milk shake.

Delicious!  

The sun is out, and we are inside the boat, so we are toasty warm.  Tomorrow we are going just 16 miles to Daytona to see Judy Schwarz and Hugh Saxon.  They are visiting family, Beth and Tony Saxon.  We want to get to Daytona with some good sunshine, so we can clean up the boat before company comes aboard.  

Birds!

Roseate Spoonbill (google image) flew over our boat on the Indian River approaching Titusville, starting
another appreciation of the water birds surrounding us.

I want to celebrate birds:  Water birds, shore birds, birds of prey.
Birds with particular colors and sounds and talents.
Roseate Spoonbill - the prettiest bird I have ever seen in the wild, flying over
Aunt Aggie on a grey day, pink against the sky.
A large grey beaked older gent standing at the end of our dock this morning.
I never could figure out who he is.  He let me get close, ignoring me, dignified.
Then white ibis in a flock near the pond as I walked to town.  White feathers, red beaks and legs.
Fancy ladies picking up bugs for brunch.
Brown pelicans dive bomb fish in the waters behind the boat.
How do they crash so loudly without getting hurt?
Show offs.
White pelicans mixed in on the river a few days ago, looking special.
Marveling at the richness of birds,
we return from an afternoon walk, and a pair of ospreys fly off
sailboat masts across the way.  They have a loud, peeping sound
that sounds oddly cheery for a bird of prey.
Rich with fowl.

A helpful reader, Archie McCain, identified this bird as a wood stork.


Here are the white ibis.
Here is a view of the marina, looking out toward the river.  The pelican on
the left had just crashed into his dinner and was resting.  We saw two manatees
right after this photo.

Here's a google image of an osprey.  Two flew off just across from Aunt Aggie.

Yesterday we had such a good time seeing Row and Gus again.  Row brought us banana bread and fresh strawberries that they had picked.  Both were delicious.  She also gave me some paperback books.  Thanks!  Last night we went out to dinner with Row, Gus, Diane and Henry (from De De)

and had a yummy meal and good conversation about the loop - special places and people. It was a real treat - riding in a car!  

Today George has worked with mechanics trying to fix our heat and change the oil.  He's asked lots of questions and figured out some things.  It's hard to stop with the repairs once you begin.  Oh, now we need to do this, and next week we'll check on that.  I say let's shut the engine room and move on up the river.  

Titusville, FL

Here is the reason we are traveling north instead of staying in Florida for March.  Addie and Zoe are our
granddaughters in Atlanta.  They visited Aunt Aggie in Chattanooga before we started the loop.

We came just 20 miles north to Titusville to see Row and Gus Ambler.  We met them this fall on the river and traveled together for a week or so.  They finished their loop on Summerland and returned home to Titusville at Christmas.  We are so glad to be here.  It's exciting to plan something and then have it happen a few months later.  Tonight we're going to dinner with them and Henry and Diane from DeDe, who are also looper friends with Row and Gus.

While we are here, George and a mechanic, Phil, are trying to figure out why our fuel tanks don't pull equally.  We get diesel from the starboard tank but not from the port. This is irritating.  We list to port unless both tanks are full.  We are driving around with 150 gallons of diesel we can't access.  So they are working but not making any discovery so far, 2:15 pm.

Here is Phil in the engine compartment of Aunt Aggie.

Today is a rare rainy one on the boat.  A quiet rain is falling, which is peaceful.  I have a couple of books to dig into, so I am content.

Cocoa Village

This morning as we went north on the Indian River past Melbourne, FL, the Good Year blimp passed us, going south.  We checked their schedule.  They were in Daytona for the Daytona 500 this past weekend and are now headed to Miami for a Heat game.  We had a good day on the river, cloudy but not too windy.  We saw lots of playful dolphins.  Four of them swam with us for a couple of miles. That always makes me feel chosen.

These pelicans were sitting on the bridge fenders as we went by.  They look like inspectors.

Last night the wind did calm, and I slept well in Sebastian Inlet anchorage.  So George gets another check in the correct column.  (Yes, we do keep score.)  We woke at 4:00 when both the wind  and the hull sounds picked up.  George went back to sleep, but I got up at 5:00 am and read.  I felt happy that I'd had a quiet night and enough sleep.  It is hard to anchor in Indian River because the river is shallow, so we can't pull in close to shore; the wind shifts; the river runs north and south in a pretty straight line, so there are not deep curves to scoot into.

Tonight the wind is clocking around, and after looking at anchorages and much discussion, we came to Cocoa Village Marina.  This is a super friendly and helpful spot.  We've had several conversations already with our neighbors.  We took a walk all around town.  One cool place is Travis Hardware, founded in 1885.  We had heard about it and were pleased and a bit surprised to find that it is a real working hardware.  It had crockery, cast iron pans, a bin of canes, and huge tools.

This is part of a wall of giant wrenches.  The largest sells for $1200.



This green heron is at our marina.  We spied him on our walk. See how his long beak blends with the water color?

Sebastian Inlet Anchorage

We had a relaxed morning on the dock at Ft. Pierce.  The sun was shining, and boaters were outside visiting.  We met two loopers from North Carolina.  One had completed the loop in 2008 - 2009.  The other, Pier Pressure, is now headed for the finish.  Pam from Pier Pressure gave us lots of useful information about traveling in Canada this summer.

We left Ft. Pierce around 11:00 am, headed north.  The weather is perfect:  sunny and cool, 74 degrees now.  Indian River was calm except for the many speed boats churning the water around us.  Everyone was out on the water, celebrating the beautiful day.  Around the channel marker Red 140, we saw a pod of dolphins playing.  We haven't seen dolphins in a while, so it was a treat to see them.

Later at Vero Beach there was a sandbar between islands with lots of boats and people having fun.  Here are pictures of the sandbar:

If you line these photos up end to end, you will see a long sand bar with boats and folks.

We cruised 30 miles and anchored at Sebastian Inlet off the ICW.  We were nervous about getting too shallow as we pulled in.  It's almost low tide now, and we are showing 6.3 feet below our boat.  The wind should be from the south and calming tonight.  

We are planning to read and chat with sister and friends and watch The Vicar of Dibley tonight.  I hate to miss the Academy Awards.  We can check out the introduction on youtube, but we can't watch the whole show.  The Vicar is a gentle British comedy that grows on you.  It took us a few episodes to get hooked, but now we are.  We thank Ken Bonnet for lending us the series.  He has lent us several shows, and that is our tv time on the boat.  Happy Sunday!

We are in Ft. Pierce, FL.

Humor:  This is a screen shot of our path (in green) last night at Peck Lake as we tried to set the anchor.  You can see the white ICW that we reentered a few times and then where we came around.  Finally, we were successful. A sense of humor is one of our most important possessions on Aunt Aggie.

This morning we left Peck Lake and came north through St. Lucie Sound and then the Indian River.
We saw interesting river activities:

Lots of gulls resting/nesting in the trees.

A paddle boarder in the ICW

A group of 15 kayakers in St. Lucie Sound.

We arrived at Ft. Pierce Municipal Marina around 12:30, got diesel fuel and settled onto the dock.  The dockhands were cheerful.  They reported that we had just missed a horse parade downtown.  There were still a few horses at the marina park.

I wish we'd arrived earlier.  We missed the parade and the Farmers Market.

We took a walk around town and had yummy fish for lunch.  We bought pastries for breakfast at the bakery. We checked out the General Store that is still operating mostly as a bottle shop. This is one of my favorite things about the trip:  walking into town and finding a welcoming town with shops and restaurants.

There is a refurbished movie theatre that has concerts and dance and theatre.

So we add Ft. Pierce to our list of interesting small towns we'd like to visit again.

Peck Lake Puzzle

Jupiter Island Lighthouse

We had a pretty calm day on the water around Palm Beach and Jupiter today.  As is now our pattern, the end of the day was full of drama.  We left Loggerhead Marina at 9:40 am, a carefully timed leave taking based on bridge openings.  We just had 11 bridges, but one of them, Flagler Memorial, only opens at 15 minutes past the hour.  So if you aren't there at 15 after, you will wait a long time.  George figured out that we needed to pass Southern Blvd. bridge at 10:45, and then we would hit Flagler at 11:15.  Bridges after Flagler were 21 feet or higher.

This boat is covered up for winter in North Palm Beach, a rare/odd sight.

We were in Lake Worth for 2 - 3 hours this morning, and it was bumpy with 2 foot waves.  The wind was 15 mph, and the wide lake gives waves a chance to build.  I get anxious watching.  It is hard for me to have nothing to do:  too early for lunch, not interested in cleaning, can't read underway.  Hmm.  I got out my knitting and found a scarf I had been knitting a year ago from scraps.  I sat on the floor in the "kitchen" and knitted for an hour. "Busy hands are happy hands" as Porter McCollister, my 7th grade boyfriend used to say.  My mother did not care for that quote, but he was wise beyond his years.  I knitted several rows as Lake Worths bumps passed beneath me.  

We were headed to an anchorage on the west side of the ICW, expecting to arrive early afternoon.  Sometime after lunch George noticed that the wind was shifting from NNW to NE.  He asked me, "What direction will the wind be tonight?"  I checked and saw that the wind will shift to the east around midnight.  Oh, no.  Our anchorage, well protected from the north, would not be as safe once the wind moved.  So we looked for other spots.  We found Peck Lake about an hour farther.

When we arrived at 3:15, we saw six sailboats in Peck Lake.  Good news!  They think this is a good spot.  Bad news!  Where can we anchor away from them and still have 6 -7 feet of water?  I do not exaggerate when I say that we dropped and picked up the anchor more than 4 times.  First, we were too close to the ICW.  Then we were too close to a sailboat.  Then we started lowering the anchor and our depth dropped to 4 feet. Argghh!  The wind was blowing, and we were losing patience.  (We also had checked with the closest marina, and they had no space, so we needed to make this work.)

This anchorage is strange.  We were quite frustrated trying to figure out the shape of the bottom.  A sailor on one of the settled boats hailed George and talked to him about the shape.  He advised us to come behind the row of sailboats and head for the beach.  We did and found 7 feet close to shore and away from other boats.  Thank you!  Boaters are helpful people, and I am grateful to him.

View from cockpit of the shore of Peck Lake.  Home sweet home.

Breezy? Windy!

Is this a Greek temple?  No, it is just one of the many beautiful homes lining the ICW north of Ft. Lauderdale.  

Not a lot of people were traveling north today on the ICW, but we were!  We looked at the wind forecast for 20 mph winds and decided that we would be well protected in the "ditch" so we would go north.  This plan worked well for almost the entire trip.  Our problem came at the end when it was time to anchor.

We drove from below, inside the cabin of our trawler today.  We were cozy as we motored under 15 bridges.  We had to ask 6 of them to open for us because they were lower than 17 feet, our height.  George had written out all the bridges and their heights, so we crossed them off as we passed.
We stopped at the Sands Harbor Marina for a pump out since the pump wasn't working at Las Olas this morning.  The dock master was so kind and helpful.  The wind was fierce, but he came out and pulled us close and also threw off our lines after the job.  Thank you!

This is the Ocean Avenue Bridge near Lantana.  It looks like an escapee from Disney.  Very pretty.

We also passed houses with Greek statuary and one that had a giraffe sculpture looking over the back fence.  Even the fanciest homes had chairs out, facing the ICW to watch the daily parade of boats.  We saw two different boats being towed today.  (Not a good sign.)  Here's the  second:

                                          See how small the tow boat is compared to the yacht?  Interesting. I wonder how they stop. There is a second boat behind the yacht too.  

At about 3:00 pm we approached our anchorage, just south of the Lantana Bridge.  After a fine day on the water, the wind and waves had picked up in Lake Worth.  There was too much space, and the waves were building due to the fetch available.  We were surprised to be fighting waves at the end of the day.  Usually anchorages are quiet and woodsy.  Lantana Anchorage was a small almost urban area with lots of docked boats and a restaurant. We puttered in, hoping the wind would die down.  No luck.  

I called Loggerhead Marina, which is just on the other side of Lantana Bridge.  Yes, they had a slip available.  Yahoo!  We motored in and had a heck of a time getting tied up.  Two guys grabbed our lines and pulled.  Then we went in too far, and our anchor scraped the front of the slip.  Arghh!  Two other guys pushed us off.  Guys kept asking for lines, and I kept running around, finding lines and throwing them.  Finally, we were tied to the dock.  Even after we were set, we needed two lines off the stern to keep our boat from going forward.  So George got out the dinghy. (We added air to it.) He paddled over to two different pilings and looped lines around them, and then I tied these to the boat.  I could tell he was having fun with this problem solving exercise. Now we are safe and secure for a big wind.  

Of course, we are tired too and ready for the much deserved g + t.  The sun is shining.  The cabin is warm.  We are safe and happy.  Another day on the trip north is complete.

 

The day began with rain.

This sweetie, Asa Seki Alexander, is the reason we are moving north.  We are going to San Francisco to
meet  our newest grandson, Asa, at the end of March, flying out of Atlanta.  I can't wait to hold him.  E. B. White said in Stuart Little:  "...the way the back of a baby's neck smells if its mother keeps it tidy..." is one of the most important things in the world. I agree with Stuart, and I want to get that smell.

We woke to a grey and rainy day in Ft. Lauderdale.  We have not had many of those on this trip.  So we took it easy, reading the paper, having grits for breakfast, and working on the grocery list.  After lunch the rain gave out, and we took the trolley to Publix with Mark and Vicki Hill from Blue Willow.  We were all glad to get outside.  The trolley is just $1.00 and goes all around the beach community.  For $3.00 you can buy an all day pass.  What a great idea for a tourist community!

Now we are back on Aunt Aggie, the sun is out, and I have put together beef stroganoff in the crock pot.  We like to use the crock pot when we are at a marina.  It's a quiet day in Lake Wobegone.
Tomorrow we will move north to Lantana and anchor out.

Here is the view from our cockpit.  Boats continually parade past, going under the Las Olas Bridge.
The bridge opens twice an hour.

Here is one of many boats that drove up the ICW today near our marina.

The bridge is open to let the boat pictured above go through.  Boats needing more than 24 feet of clearance wait for the opening.  

Five great things about Las Olas.

We are staying at Las Olas, and we can walk two blocks to Ft. Lauderdale's famous beach.

We slept fine last night.  The bridge openings stopped with nightfall, and the wakes from passing boats came to an end also.  It was a quiet night here at Las Olas Marina under the bridge.  This morning I did three loads of laundry and enjoyed talking to Judy Schwarz and Anne Murff.  After lunch we went to the beach.

I washed all our caps and dried them out here.

We spent all afternoon at the beach.  It was great fun.  I am reading I Know this much is True by Wally Lamb.  It has finally gotten to a compelling point in the story.  I found the first half rough and depressing, but now I'm reading it with relish.  What a pleasure to look up every half hour and see the blue sky and the beach full of people! Which brings me to a question:  Where are all these 

beachcombers coming from?  There are tons of young people and retirees and some kids too here today.  Is it winter break?  Have people evacuated Boston?  I would not blame them.  

We sat in the shade of a palm tree.

We took a good walk and ate ice cream cones and read more.  Then we came home to the marina and found Blue Willow with Mark and Vicki Hill had arrived.  We have neighbors!  So glad to see them here.  I am now a Las Olas fan.  Here are five great things about Las Olas Marina:

1.  There is a clean and well maintained laundry room with six washers and dryers.

2.  They recycle here.  We had saved a bag of recyclables, and we were able to dispose of it.

3.  The people, both dockhand and boaters, were helpful yesterday when we docked in a high wind.  They grabbed our lines and helped us get into the slip.

4.  The bathroom/shower room is clean and private.

5.  The BEACH is just two blocks away.  Yahoo!

Do you remember belting out, "Where the boys are?"  That was an iconic song from my early adolescence.  Today I learned that Leslie Gore has died.  "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to..."  These women were strong singers .
I remember singing their songs with the hairbrush microphone and fantasizing about being older.

This is a terrific piece of art at the beach entrance.

                               

Miami

We are approaching Miami.

What a beautiful city full of boats!  We came through Miami today at a slow pace.  There were at least 10 bridges to go under.  We had to wait for two to open, which added about 40 minutes to our travel.  We need 18 feet to clear a bridge, so we could get under most of them.  There were boats all around us all day:  fishermen, cruisers, water taxis, tours, speed boats - all of them were out enjoying the sun.  We passed the government cut and saw about 7 - 9 cruise ships tied to the wall.

We passed the cut where the cruise ships were docked.  Other boats cannot come through the cut if two or more cruise ships are there.  We heard lots of people being hailed and told to go back out.

As we began our day we heard the Coast Guard responding to a boat that was sinking at the end of the government cut.  We figured it was right where the cut meets the coastal waters.  They rescued two men, and the boat sank.  That was a sobering start.


We followed Hammerhead most of the day.  They are bigger than we, so we passed them late while they waited for a bridge.  Pier Pressure was a trawler behind us.  Even though the bridges have set openings, one bridge didn't open for Hammerhead because he didn't call them.

See the rainbow colored building?  That was our favorite in downtown.

As we got north of Miami, every house had a swimming pool.  Some had hot tubs too.  All had chairs out, facing the ICW.  Wouldn't it be fun to sit in the hot tub and watch the boats go by?  Boat watching is right up there with people watching for us.  I didn't take any photos of the fancy houses.  There were too many, cheek to jowl, to choose one. You can just imagine every type of architecture + every pool design, and you get the idea.

We are now tied up at Las Olas Marina in Ft. Lauderdale.  It's not what we expected, but we will be fine here.  Here are the surprises so far:
1.  They don't have 50 amp power.  I checked the Active Captain description, and it does say there is 30, 50, and 100 available.  However, they only have 30.  So we can only use one side of our power grid at a time.  We will adjust.
2.  We are before and almost under the Las Olas Bridge.  It is noisy here.
3.  It is also bouncy and windy.  We are well tied, but we will be having noisy nights.  The reason we came to a marina is for protection from the predicted rain and wind.

We are headed off for a walk on the beach, and we will explore the area.  I'll report more tomorrow.

No Name Harbor

The view in No Name Harbor from Aunt Aggie

We are anchored in No Name Harbor.  We had an easy ride here from Long Arsenicker Anchorage, where we were last night.  The water was a little bumpy but not too bad.  We mostly got a bunch or waves and wakes from other boats as we approached Miami.  We were happy to tuck in here.  Luckily, we arrived around 12:30 and got a spot.  Today is Sunday, and it's a holiday weekend, so there are lots of people here on their boats.  It is also a beautiful day.  We dinghied over to the wall and took a walk around Baggs Cape Florida State Park.  

This is the lighthouse at the end of Key Biscayne.

This iguana hopped across the road in front of us.

After a good hour walk, we stood in line for a table at the Boaters Grill back at the harbor.  It was worth the wait.  I had grilled snapper, and George enjoyed seafood paella.  Delicious!  The whole place has a party atmosphere.  We are now back on Aunt Aggie, enjoying the end of the day.  Sunset is on the way, and the day visitors are leaving now.  So it will be quiet soon.  Tomorrow we are going through Miami.  More adventure!