Total Miles Traveled 2612 since departing Green Turtle Bay, KY
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Well, the wind has continued to blow through the winter season and into spring, so we decided to leave Marathon April 6th and travel to Miami, Fl to wait for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas. We traveled 54 miles on the Atlantic Ocean to an anchorage behind Rodriguez Key, then another 58 miles to an anchorage at Miami. Arriving on Sunday was not smart, and it didn’t get much better the next few days, but the view of the city was awesome.
All of the extended weather forecasts indicated at least
another week or so before conditions would change in our favor, so after 3 days
on the hook, we decided to cancel our Bahamas trip this year. We were already going to shorten our stay in
the Bahamas due to boat insurance requirements and didn’t want to be on a tight
schedule on the return trip. As it turns
out, a boating club we belong to in the Bahamas, posted an article indicating
the locals saying it was the worst winter in 30 years. We plan to spend this spring and summer on
the east coast, exploring the Chesapeake Bay area.
We departed Miami on April 10th and traveled 51 miles to an anchorage near Delray Beach. We had to wait for 9 bridge openings before arriving and anchored here for 5 days. The first two days were because of high winds, we had 22 mph sustained winds with 40 mph gusts. We found a great protected anchorage and it turned out we stayed in the same place when we were on the Great Loop in 2016. Since our 3rd day was Friday before a weekend, we opted to stay through the weekend to avoid the weekend boat traffic on the narrow 30 mile stretch of waterway ahead of us.
Fire Alarm! The last thing you want to hear on a boat is a fire alarm. While cruising up to Delray Beach from Miami a fire alarm sounded in the engine room. It turned out to be a synchronizer cable had broken inside its housing and before breaking it heated up enough to set off the alarm. No fire, just a melted rubber casing.
On April 15th we traveled 51 miles to an
anchorage at Peck Lake, then on the 16th traveled 83 miles to an
anchorage behind the Pineda Causeway Bridge.
We had reservations at Cocoa Village Marina for a few days so we could
visit Moni’s family and wanted to get into the marina early the following morning. I also had two new synchronizer cables
shipped to the marina so I could replace them before leaving. I figured if one engine cable failed, the other
cable wasn’t far behind.
When we arrived at Moni’s mothers house, we noticed a snake by the garage door, it slowly moved down the sidewalk toward the front door. It was a colorful snake, and I knew there was a saying to determine if it was poisonous or not but couldn’t remember it. Turns out it was a poisonous Coral Snake, “Yellow on Red, Fred is Dead”. Moni’s brother, sister, or Mother have never seen one in their neighborhood. It moved off into the grass and disappeared.
We had a great visit with family and were able to see two rocket launches.
We departed Cocoa on April 19th traveling 51 miles and anchored near New Smyrna Beach. We passed through the NASA Railroad Bridge, used to deliver large or bulk materials, solid rocket boosters, and chemicals such as helium and oxygen for rocket fuel to support the Kennedy Space Center.
On April 20th, we traveled 56 miles to an
anchorage at Matanzas Fort, built in 1740 by the Spanish to guard the inlet to
St Augustine. I thought I took a picture
of it but can’t seem to find it. On April 21st we traveled 86 miles to an anchorage on the Saint Johns River near
Jacksonville, Florida. We stayed at this
anchorage at Doctors Lake for two days allowing a storm to pass through.
We departed our anchorage and traveled 13 miles on April 23rd to the city dock at Green Cove Springs, Florida. We met up with a couple that used to live in Indiana, next door to my parents. They too live on their boat, what a small world. We had a great visit and went to diner that evening.
We traveled 31 miles on April 24 to Crystal Cove Marina near Palatka, Florida. We have good friends that moved here from Indiana, and we had a great time visiting with them.
During our travels to Jacksonville, we developed a high-pressure
fuel leak on one of the engine injectors.
After a few emails and phone calls, turns out a John Deere parts store
at Palatka, FL had one on the shelf, 2 blocks from where we are staying.
All of the bends are factory made, I guess that’s why they were so proud of it $$$$. I found a small crack inside the tube at the injector.
We took an afternoon trip with our friends Ralph and Judy to Daytona Racing’s North Turn Restaurant and Racing Museum. The restaurant sits on the exact location where racing history began in Daytona Beach. The Races took place here starting in 1936 until World War II and then continued with the first Grand National Race in 1948. The races continued here until 1958 when NASCAR relocated to the brand-new Super Speedway.
On April 29th, we traveled 45 miles to a
different anchorage on Doctors Lake near a local restaurant, Whitey’s Fish Camp,
a family-owned restaurant open since 1963.
We met our boating friends at the anchorage, Charlie and Robin on m/v
The Lower Place. We had a great visit anchoring
with them.
Signs posted at Whitey's
On April 30th, we traveled 46 miles to an anchorage at Gunnison Crossing. We had planned to stop at a public dock at Sisters Creek, but the dock appeared to be full, so we continued to an anchorage. It was nice be away from the ship channel and the commercial activity of Jacksonville.
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