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DAYTONA BEACH TO THE SPACE COAST THE NEW STERN THRUSTER IS WORKING The dock hand threw the lines on to the boat, and serving in my new role as the stern thruster, with my trusty pole in hand, I pushed our rear off the wall. That’s my big job these days, stern thruster with a pole and pushing the rear of the boat off things that we get a bit close to. FROST It was another freezing windy day, boo hoo. We left the dock with temps reading not a degree higher than 36 and the boat was surprisingly covered in a crust of frost. As Zig and I moved around the boat we left footprints in the white flaky stuff. SPACE COAST We headed out the ICW again, I started my usual habit now of counting of red and green markers and checking them off the paper charts as we headed south for the Space Coast. It helps me to know where we are at a moment’s notice in case I need to look up the clearance of an upcoming bridge. Otherwise it's easy to get side tracked at the scenery and lose your place. GLITCH IN THE SCHEDULE Yep, the Space Coast is ahead and I sure like that name. I’d never heard it used before, but suddenly, it’s the word of choice in Larry’s vocabulary. We had hopes of being close enough to Cape Canaveral to see a space launch which originally was planned for the 14th of February. We thought we could hang around in a nearby marina for a few days, long enough to wait for that date, but now Larry heard that they have rescheduled it to the 18th due to weather I think. That was just going to be too much hanging around for us especially when we are freezing. Naw, we can’t do that, too bad though. So we’re going south. Again, this stretch is all new territory for us as like before we skipped it by going on the outside. I’m anxious to see what we missed. DANG DEPTH SOUNDER! Oh dang, the depth sounder is acting up again! This is very frustrating. Larry remembers how to re-set it from the conversation he had with the Raymarine tech when we left St. Augustine two days ago and so he begins punching the buttons and resetting menus. After a couple minutes it is RESET and we’ve got our fingers crossed.
LONELY Again, we see no one out during our journey today. Every once in awhile we pass another cruiser but we pretty much feel like we’re alone except for the locals fishing in little skiffs along the way. SHIVERING Ziggy was shivering from the cold after “helping” me put the lines away. I wrapped him up in my jacket and was rubbing him, trying to get him warm. He seemed to like it. I guess I should have brought him a knit sweater or some foul weather gear to wear on this trip but after all we’re in Florida and what kind of a sissy dog wears a sweater in Florida? He’d look kind of silly wouldn’t he? PEACE AND QUIET SOON TO CHANGE The ICW, as it passes through Daytona, cuts its way through a wide patch of water. It’s a long perspective of tall buildings on each side. We stick to the narrow dredged channel that runs right through the center of the upper reaches of Indian River North. Huge tall hotels light up and sparkle as the early morning sun hits them. Most of them are hotels soon to be filled with race spectators and all these areas that are now quiet, will soon be pierced with the sound of high speed engines. The peace and tranquility that we are now experiencing will soon to change.
BIRDS ACTING STRANGELY Maybe that’s why we saw thousands of birds seemingly stirred up. Maybe they know what’s to come and decide they need to head further south where it will be quieter. Ah, more likely they’re thinking of finding a warmer place and wondering what happened to global warming, as surely they miscalculated their migration route this year having not gone far enough south. That’s what we did, miscalculated getting south sooner. We pass little islands of exposed shoals that are briefly dry at low tide. They are crowded over with packs of cormorants all huddled close together, heads tucked under their wings, trying to stay warm. They look cold like Ziggy.
SLOW FOR THE MANATEE? OK, BUT WHERE ARE THEY? It’s not long before the tall buildings and some ugly, really ugly, tall condos disappear behind us. It seems just when we are starting to make ground with some decent speed, we have to come to a halt and proceed with a crawl speed because there are so many “SLOW FOR MANATEE” signs. It’s becoming a bit ridiculous because we all know they are south in Riviera Beach. Yep, there they are all huddled together, hundreds of them, warming their fat obese bodies by the local power plant. Nevertheless, we obey the rules and crawl along at a snail’s pace. The sharks are no dummies either as they too have headed south in mass, but they are off the coast of Palm Beach just south of the power plant or so we’ve heard.
I can’t believe we decided to go on the outside and miss this area before. It’s amazingly beautiful and full of wildlife, too many dolphin and birds to imagine, just hundreds of them. POOR MAN’S FLORIDA? I guess too you could call a few sections of this area, poor man’s Florida, as instead of the mega houses we see trailer parks and RV parks, several little towns of them. The people seem to be really enjoying themselves more so than the other areas we’ve traveled by. They are fishing off the shore and running about in little skiffs just having fun and enjoying nature. They aren’t letting the cold weather put a damper on their vacation plans. We passed several little protected islands, reserves so to speak, just filled with pelicans, one on each branch almost not enough branches to share. That’s not the only thing different we’ve noticed. We’ve passed another change in the landscape and that is the shoreline is thick now with mangroves and exotic birds perched on their branches. It's all beautiful and amazing.
OLD MOSQUITO INLET We’re nearing Ponce de Leon Inlet and we can see the prominent dark red silhouette of their famous lighthouse ahead. Funny thing about this leg of the ICW is that it doesn’t cross the ocean’s inlet as others areas but goes inland to avoid it. Too bad as it looked like an interesting place, again kind of what we imagine old Florida to look like.
We laugh as we pass two guys bracing the cold in their skiffs with ski masks. PONCE DE LEON NEVER WAS HERE Geez, these Manatee signs are really something. The whole area of Ponce de Leon is a “NO WAKE” for the manatees. NO MOSQUITOES PLEASE Ponce de Leon Inlet wasn’t always called that. A developer during the 1920's changed the original name of Mosquito Inlet to Ponce de Leon Inlet. He thought it would be more appealing to the unsuspecting buyer of several lots of land he was selling. Funny thing, there is no record whatsoever of Ponce de Leon ever having come here. It’s all in the marketing I guess. But just down the ICW a short ways away, he forgot to name Mosquito Lagoon to Ponce de Leon Lagoon, guess the buyers missed that. It’s a beautiful area though, but hmm, mosquito inlet, mosquito lagoon? I don’t think I’m interested. I don’t like mosquitoes one bit. NEW SMYRNA BEACH Just south of Ponce de Leon Inlet is New Smyrna Beach. Can’t say I like the name as it sounds a little like “new smirk inlet”, but it looks like a great place to stop, with lots of little marinas clustered together like little villages. Too bad we didn’t plan a stop here on our fitinerary this trip. Larry said lots of cruisers seem to like the place and we can sure see why. Again it looks like what we imagine Old-Florida to be like.
CANAVERAL NATIONAL SEASHORE AREA We are closing in on our destination
today, Cocoa City. Directly east of us is Kennedy Space Center where
its shear tall buildings are a
stark contrast to the protected lands we are traveling through. It’s because we are passing through a protected
wildlife area, the Canaveral National
Seashore Area. It’s a fabulous area filled with thousands of birds and
hundreds of dolphins, many who have decided to swim towards our boat. The moment the
They certainly seem to know they are protected here.
INDIAN RIVER Cocoa City is further south and located off a wide stretch of inland water called Indian River that we will come to know for several miles and hours as we head further south. It’s still a beautiful area with lots of wildlife. The channel is a long straight narrowly dredged route that goes right through this wide swath of water called the Indian River. There is a mass of land to our left called Merritt Island and just beyond it to its east is Banana River, then another land bank that lies directly next to the Atlantic Ocean where Cape Canaveral is located and just north of that is the Kennedy Space Center. This is the first time for weeks that we’ve had so much land between us and the ocean.
GOOFY BOATERS As we approach the more settled area of Cocoa City we notice two boats coming out from what we thought was a marina channel on our portside. (We read later that it was the Canaveral Barge Canal, a dredged channel that is cut through Merritt Island to Banana River and now mostly used by pleasure boats.) Two boats were heading out the channel immediately on our portside and the first boat, a sailboat, just decided to keep coming though we had the right away. He just wouldn’t slow down and it was becoming somewhat of a standoff. We had to dramatically and quickly slow our speed to avoid hitting him. He was being followed by a big sports fisher that also looked like he intended to cut us but then reconsidered and decided to back down. WHO’S CHICKEN? We were surprised by their assumption that we would just stop while they cut in front of us (and in case you are wondering, the sailboat did not have sails up but was under power). The sailor never slowed one bit but just plodded across our path and cut us off. Once we were all in the ICW the sailboat continued at a snail’s pace so we had to pass him. Why did he risk an accident to get in front of us and then go so slow? We made the pass without waking him but sure gave him a look like “What gives with you?” He just ignored us. SPORTS FISHER ACTING CRAZY Then before you know it, the sports fisher raced up behind us with a huge wake spraying out on each side and was getting ready to overtake us. We slowed down to let him go by and hoped he was going to be as courteous and not wake us. He did, thankfully, but the odd thing was that once he passed us he never picked up his speed again but just proceeded at a crawl. Now what’s that all about? We were getting annoyed. If we were going farther south today we would’ve had to pass him again. There were no speed restrictions in this area so we just couldn’t figure the guy out. We had been going our normal speed of 15 knots and slowed down for him and now that he’s in front of us he decides to go practically idle speed. We didn’t want to act like idiots and start some sort of water rage out here so we crawled along behind him for quite a ways. The marina was up ahead so it wouldn’t be too long before we had to turn off anyway. Funny thing, it turned out that he was going to the same marina we were as he turned into the same marked channel. Larry had hailed the marina by now and they were giving Larry instructions on how to come in the channel because it was shallow on each side and a little tricky because you have to make a quick turn as you approach the shore side of the bulkhead and then weave your way to the back of the marina. The sports fisher was still in front of us and now going even slower, at times coming to a complete stop. What the heck is this idiot doing? How or why would you come to a stop when we’re all trying to go down a narrow channel with shallows on each side? We’re doing our best to stay in the channel behind this idiot but its difficult to maintain steerage at this idle speed with the current on our side. The marina keeps calling us on the radio to “come on in”. Finally Larry answers back “I will, as soon as this sports fisher figures out where he is going!” The sports fisher comes back on the radio and says he has to go slow because it’s so shallow that he is rubbing bottom the whole way. Larry can’t understand that because we have 4.5 feet below us and we draw 4.5. He surely can draw 8 feet can he? We can barely keep our position with this guy going so slow and waddling all around. I go out on the bow to try to see what his problem is and it does look like he’s churning up some of the bottom or maybe it's just the force of his props stirring up sand, but regardless why would you bring your boat in a place like this if you don’t have enough depth? ANOTHER HAIRY DOCKING? The marina hails us again as the sports fisher finally gets inside the marina and heads towards his slip. They give us directions to come in. Larry asks about the current inside the marina and they said it wasn’t too bad. We both sigh as it sounds like another hairy docking. I suggest to Larry that maybe he shouldn’t tell the marinas that we might stay for 3 days as I think then they decide to put us way inside some snug place out of the way place that usually turns out to be difficult to get into and equally tough getting out of. We’re both getting nervous heading in. We have to go left and right and left, past all these boats that look uncomfortably close to us and finally we get into the innermost corner of the marina. Larry again does a beautiful job turning her and backing her into the slip. We’ve got three people on the dock to get the lines and thank God because again it’s these marinas with high docks and the dam posts. So far, we haven’t had problems this trip because someone has always been there to help that knows what they are doing. MARINA IS GREAT! The marina staff is really great, very helpful and friendly. We felt welcome and at home right away. They told us where everything was, such as the good restaurants, the things to see and do and how to catch the bus to the grocery store if we needed it. They have a beautiful lounge and a second story deck for cruisers to relax and stretch in and new clean bathrooms, showers and a sparkling laundry with several machines. This place was really a dream come true stop for cruisers that have been on the water for several weeks. The water in the marina was clean and we could see schools of fish by the boat too. COCOA CITY BY THE MARINA IS CHARMING AND CONVENIENT Just across the street is the little town of Cocoa City complete with lots of great restaurants, nice shops, and even a beautiful restored theater that puts on live plays. The place was crowded with tourists and we could see why it is a popular little place. STRANGE VIBES The only thing I didn’t like much was that the marina is backed up right to some tall condos and they blocked out the sun in the afternoon and since we were still cold we would’ve liked the sun a bit. The strange thing that we can’t explain too was that we felt a strange vibration much of the time we were at the marina. We don’t have a clue what it was but it was vibrating the whole boat for hours at a time. Maybe someone was working on something, or maybe it was the vibration coming from the nearby bridge or maybe the space center was up to something. SHEDDING SOME CLOTHES By the way the weather was starting to warm up. We were slowly shedding a few layers of clothes but not too fast as it has a tendency to change. We were tempted to stay here for a few more days because we liked it so much but we still wanted to get further south so planned to leave the following day. COCOA CITY TO FORT PIERCE DOCKS ARE DIFFICULT We left at slack tide so we would have an easy time getting out of the marina and slip. It seems everywhere we dock now it’s difficult to get in and out of the boat. The docks are so high off the water that it’s like climbing a jungle gym to get on and off the dock. As we left I was able to get all the lines off and thrown on the boat and still the boat had not moved so was able to climb down about 3 feet onto the side ledge of the boat without mishap. Larry took her out nice and easy and I had the pole in hand in case we needed a little help here and there. Larry’s really got the hang of the boat now and seems to be able to put her in and out of places that normally I would cringe at. It gives me more confidence to not get nervous too. Off we go again and again more beautiful scenery. We really like this area as its not flashy, a bit laid back and lots of nice old homes along the shore that remind me of the way Florida used to be. I know, I’m beginning to sound like a broken record on this subject but it’s true. LARRY WAS CELEBRATING Did I forget to mention that it was 57 degrees when we left the dock? Larry officially celebrated by swearing he was going to wear his shorts today! And he did. It is a lot warmer than we’ve been experiencing and though we’re really enjoying it I’m afraid to get too confident especially when I see the sky filled with a down comforter of clouds heading this way and the sun only poking through about 30% of the time today.
SLOW DOWN Again, it’s SLOW DOWN FOR MANATEES.
I’m sorry but there are just too many miles of areas for these manatees.
It’s like they let some conservationist run wild with restrictions and no
one was supervising We don’t have a long day today and soon after a couple of hours we are near our next stop, Fort Pierce. We could have been here much sooner if not for all the NO WAKE ZONES for Manatees.
FORT PIERCE EASY DOCKAGE WAITING FOR US Larry hails the dock master as he was advised when making our docks reservations a few days ago. He was told to give them a call before we headed into the channel to the marina. There’s a fairly strong current in this area and the winds are blowing as usual when we dock. The dock master answers Larry back giving us clear and precise instructions on how to come in. He said he has an easy dockage for us with a side tie. Hooray! I loved hearing that come back over the radio. I got the lines ready for a starboard tie and by now Larry has made his way down the channel to what seems almost the shoreline and then makes a sharp turn by a big dark blue hauled boat and then just past the boat he makes another sharp 90 degree turn, without any hesitation, as recommended, right into the marina and there almost immediately was our new spot off to our starboard side with two dock hands waving us over. The dockhands were so nice and friendly, again another marina making us again feel very welcome as they tied our lines and explained the tide for the length of the lines. They noticed Ziggy and mentioned the restaurants where Ziggy could go with us too. We got directions to the dock office so we could get a key to the dock gate and sign in.
PELICAN POO, P U What I did notice and smelled right away was the enormous amount of pelican poop on our dock, the end T dock! PU, it stunk to high heaven. I tip toed the best I could around each pancake sized pile of it. I told Larry we weren’t going anywhere until I cleaned off this dock! He asked why and when I explained that Ziggy would get right in it he understood quickly and got the hose out. I hosed that whole T dock off and boy
it was a mess! The pelicans all flew off squawking mad that I disturbed
their perch. When I was finally done, just hosing off our lines that were
still setting in the poop, a big old pelican flew back on the dock and
landed nearby me. I squirted him with the hose to skedaddle as I wasn’t
going to let any of them all come back while we were here and poop up the
place again. He was not deterred one bit by the water I was spraying on
him and actually started running after me and flapping that big beak of
his. I screamed and yelled for Larry and continued to defend myself with
the hose. Ziggy came to the rescue and barked like mad but he couldn’t
get off the boat to help. I guess my persistence with the hose and
Ziggy’s loud barking was enough for the old codger to give up and he
reluctantly flew off. From that moment on Ziggy realized he had a job to
do and that was chasing those birds off our dock. He did a great job too
during our entire stay.
NO RUSH TO EXPLORE Well, we were settled and planned to sit here for a couple days. We were in no rush tonight to explore. We really like the dock space as we had a fantastic view out to the ICW and could see all the boats going by in the ICW at a distance and every boat that came and went from the harbor. The strong currents in this area were a constant delight to watch as birds glided by without having to paddle and little fishing skiffs the same. The water was beautiful too and tonight was especially beautiful as we watched a most magnificent sunset that we enjoyed from the back of the boat. The weather was warm and for the first time I think since we bought this wonderful little boat we were able to enjoy sitting on the back of the boat.
SLEEPY BUT WAKING UP This was another great little stop to jot down in our log. We drove up here a few years ago when the Nordhavn was in Stuart getting maintenance done. It was a sleepy little town then and still is, but since it was hit recently and pretty badly by a hurricane they have done a bang up job redoing the marina. That hurricane brought on a building boom for the surrounding downtown area as it looks very different from our last visit. It’s starting to look a bit like a less expensive version of West Palm Beach. I hope they manage to maintain their small town feel and don’t get too carried away with all these new multi-story stucco complexes. What they have now is still working. It’s a nice blend of the old and the new. ZIGGY PRESENTS SOME CHALLENGES Having to travel with Ziggy always presents its challenges and for a change it was nice to be able to take him with us to a few outdoor restaurants rather than receiving that look of distain when we have to leave him locked up in his crate on the boat. Funny thing is, there are a lot of dog owners around here and they all have the same idea, to take their best friends with them to their favorite watering hole. It was hilarious to go to a restaurant and discover that the dog and master ratio were about equal. The owner’s shuffle up to the outside bar with dogs in tow. Just as quickly as the drinks are served on the bar counter, the water dishes are laid out at ground level for the pooches. It a mix of people and breeds and they all seem to tolerate each other pretty well, sometimes the dogs seeming a bit more civilized than the humans. YUM We also enjoyed what I would call a
nearby Japanese restaurant though the name was, I think, A Taste of
Bangkok, so they must prefer to be described as a Thai restaurant. It
was packed every night. All the food was delicious and fresh with lots of
vegetables and salads which every boater longs for after weeks of
traveling. Don’t bring the dog though as it is an inside restaurant. You
can order some really fresh sushi if that’s your pleasure. The closest we
come to sushi is a California roll, which we like, but others were
enjoying it sushi and the kitchen was putting out a good amount which
makes me think it was very fresh. If sushi isn’t on your list of favorite
items you can order what we did and that was some curry dishes and
traditional fresh Japanese food, all with a healthy slant. It was really
delicious! JOB SECURITY...... tried a little breakfast joint across the street from the “Thai” restaurant one morning. We were enjoying the morning sun and our breakfast until what we like to call the “blow and go” guys came along. They are the gardeners with the loud blowers strapped over their shoulder making a hell of a racket and blowing all the dust, leaves, trash and cigarette butts all over the sidewalks and streets. They never pick it up but just blow it from one place to the next and this morning much of it blew right up in the air and back down on top of our breakfast. We both got up from our table in disbelief and chased the oblivious guy down explaining what he just did. Larry told him to go somewhere else so he went around the block and a few minutes later showed up coming from the opposite direction, still merrily blowing everything from one side of the street and back again. When he saw Larry and I get up again coming after him again, he waved in acknowledgement of his misdoing and moved across the street still blowing but in the other direction. The city really needs to get a handle
on this and reschedule these guys to an early morning schedule before
people are starting to eat at the outdoor restaurants or better yet, maybe
they could rake or broom something up and put it in the trash can for a
change? No, guess not, that would clean up the problem and then they
wouldn’t have a job to blow it all around again the next day. Larry
calls that job security.
PUBLIX? We rented a car and did some boat errands and some provisioning at Publix the local grocery store. I can never get over that name Publix. They are everywhere in Florida. How could a company with a name like that be successful? It always reminds me of something else which I won’t say. Larry had to order a new sea strainer which was another excuse he used to stay another day, well that, and also the fact that he wanted to see the huge nearby marine salvage store which happened to be closed the day we dropped by. NOT SQUEEZED IN We hated to leave Fort Pierce because of great our location at the end of the T dock even though we had to fight the pelicans for the location. I’m not sure we’d have been as happy if we’d been squeezed in between other boats deeper inside the marina. We were also across the harbor from all the noise and live music that emanated from the two restaurants that overlooked the harbor. We could hear it going most of the day and into the night but it was just far enough away as not to be too annoying. We also had a nice breeze, and beautiful views of sunrises and sunsets that were framed straight off the view from the back of the boat. We were in the perfect position also to see all the boats out on the Indian River and cruisers coming and going from the marina.
IDYLLTIME Speaking of that, some cruisers that we have been occasionally emailing over the last few years, but have never met, surprisingly showed up at the marina while we were there. It was Idylltime. What a surprise! They are the same folks whose mother gave us the warm welcome in St. Augustine! They have a beautiful new Krogen, and quite a few critters aboard, including two dogs, Sebastian and Daisy, two parrots, Nate and Homer, and two seaworthy hermit crabs! It was great to finally meet the whole bunch. They are on their way to Stuart to get their captains licenses, well not, Sebastian, Daisy, Nate, Homer and the hermit crabs, but the captain and first mate. They are also working on completing the “Loop” and their next leg this summer will be heading up the Hudson and the great waters beyond. It’s always fun to meet someone that reads the website even though it’s a bit nerve wracking when you realize they know so much about you and you don’t know much about them but it always seems to work out positively in the end as we all have the same interests, boating. Well, it was too short of a visit with Idylltime as they could only stay one night. They were on a schedule to get settled in Stuart to begin their month long stay to get their captain’s licenses. Hope our paths cross again somewhere out on the waters along the way. FORT PIERCE TO PALM BEACH The next stop is Palm Beach which of course is my choice. I always wanted to stay at the docks in Palm Beach. We hated leaving our nice sweet spot here as you never know where they are going to put at the next stop and slip. I was a bit nervous about heading out the channel today as we saw a few boaters struggling with the turn out the marina fighting the current and trying to stay clear of the big blue hulled boat docked nearby. Also, we’ve heard a few boaters call on the radio to make sure the marina was clear before coming in the channel which is a sure sign that people have had some incidents. I’m sure that’s why the dock master gave us such clear and precise instructions to come in and why he said to call first before coming in. It would be a bit intimidating encountering another boat as there’s no room to move and the current can be a factor. PUMP OUT, FUEL IN, AND THE LET’S GO We left the dock but not without another necessary docking just across the way to get a pump out and some fuel before we head on down the ICW. I watched the water while Larry attended to the pump out and fuel intake and was amazed how quickly it was turning from slack to a running current quickly picking up momentum. CLEAN WATER (Speaking of pumping the tank, I’m so happy to say that we’ve seen beautiful clean marinas and waters everywhere we’ve been the last few weeks and boaters seem very religious about getting their tanks pumped. Part of it is because the marinas make it very easy and very accessible to do the dirty deed. I wish the Pacific Northwest would do the same and, well really, all the other areas we’ve been cruising.) Florida really deserves some complements on the good job they are doing! RUBBER DUCKIES I was wishing Larry would hurry up so we could get out of here before the swift moving current pushes us tight to the fuel dock. No need to worry though as we pushed off the fuel dock with no problems even though the current was going strong as evidenced by the many birds floating swiftly by in the current like little rubber duckies. Larry powered her out the harbor and out the channel with no unwanted sidekicks from the current. TWO RED MARKERS CONFUSING There seems to be a bit of confusion about the red markers at the entrance to the channel from the ICW. Both Larry and Idylltime were discussing it and they both think we all went on the wrong side of the first red marker misunderstanding the dock masters directions. The dock master agreed that it’s a bit confusing out there as what they were trying to do was put in a V entrance to the channel so boats could come in from both directions without making a severe 90 degree turn. Instead it confuses people because there are two red markers instead of one. It’s hard to explain so just beware and ask questions if unsure. We still had enough depth even though we both think we may have come in on the wrong side of the red marker. ECONOMY HAVING ITS EFFECTS ON
BOATING? Its lovely cruising today, as the water is flat and calm. We pass a sailboat with its spinnaker up and it’s a beautiful sight. It was fun to talk with Idylltime and hear what they had to say about cruising Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. They said because of the economy it was a bit of a ghost town and prices were unusually inexpensive. They said they only paid $20 for a mooring in Nantucket. I guess this economy explains the lack of others cruisers we’ve seen. Okay, here come the Manatee signs again. It’s a slow approach to St. Lucie Inlet as a result. Now the signs are parallel to the ICW. We are struggling with the signs, trying to read them though placed sideways to the channel but soon realize they NOW are meant for boaters leaving the ICW and not us. They are informing those leaving the ICW of the regulations outside the channel and where ever else they may be going. Eee gad. Most of them say “NO WAKE BETWEEN BRIDGE” or “NO WAKE WEST OF ICW”, and etc., but you can never be sure as they change constantly so you have to keep reading the dang things. WATER IS WARMING UP The water is warming up to 66 degrees and that sure is an improvement from the cold waters we’ve been traveling over since we started. We saw 50 degree water temps in Savannah. No wonder those fat lard bucket manatees are headed way south in a hurry. FEAR OF ST. LUCIE We both remembered St. Lucie Inlet when we had the Nordhavn. We got caught in a rain squall, then fog and then struggled our way around an old heap of a boat that someone was towing right in the center of the channel all in crossing the inlet. It was nonstop stress. Today my stomach was in a knot just thinking of it and wondering what it would be like today. We had clear weather and calm water so if it’s marked clearly we should not have a problem, well that is until a huge barge headed our way through the area notorious for shoaling in and marked with those little red and green cans that they move around as the whim of the shoals movements. We squeeze by the barge nice and slow with some room to spare. MORE WARNINGS We make an uneventful safe easy crossing of St. Lucie. See, boating can be so variable. That’s what makes it so much fun. We made it right through the inlet clear and straight in stark contrast to the terrifying event the last time. I’m reading the chart and wondering
why we had so much trouble the last time and where it was that we had the
trouble. While I’m looking I notice a little itsy bitsy note that says
they DO NOT RECOMMEND TRANSIT OUT THE INLET WITHOUT LOCAL KNOWLEDGE!
And to BEWARE OF EXTREMELY FAST CURRENTS IN THIS AREA!.
CALM TO WILD DAY Did I say it was a calm day? Well, that didn’t last long as the winds picked up lickety split and soon salt spray covered the windows again making visibility a strain. The current has changed too and the wind against the current is driving up some pretty surprising tall waves in the protected ICW. It’s become a bit wild out here. HEY BURT, WHERE ARE YOU? We’re coming through Jupiter now. Isn’t that where Burt Reynolds lives? Its looks like a neat little area as you curve your way through it and past their inlet. The water changes to a turquoise color from the inflow of the inlet. We see lots of sea side restaurants and docks. It sure looks like a fun stop.
Suddenly we feel the strong current from the inlet, at first it pushes us and then we struggle against it.
There’s two old guys puttsing along in their little dinghy, probably hard of hearing and don’t realize we’re right behind them with the current pushing us. I’m driving and give them a little toot. They moved over right away. I think I scared the bee jiggers out of them.
SCOOTING ON BY We have to pass under several bridges now and luckily this little boat scoots right under them with inches to spare. We no longer have to worry about timing the bridge openings. We no longer have to juggle around in the current if we arrive too early waiting for the next scheduled opening which could be as long as 15 to 30 minutes. We no longer have to go as slow as a snail for a mile or two trying to time an opening right. It sure saves us a lot of time waiting and coordinating with these bridges. Of course there is a bridge or too that we have to call for an opening or time it but nothing like before in the tall Nordhavn. CUTTING IT TOO CLOSE? Sometimes I think we are cutting it a bit close on the height clearance but it is so darn exciting when we make it. I usually drive the boat slowly centering it under the highest arch of the bridge while Larry goes out on back, climbs up on the transom to peek over the top of the boat making sure we have enough room as we go under. He tells me to be ready to put it in a quick reverse if he yells. A few times it’s been a bit nerve wracking as we only cleared by about 6 inches. We always yell a big hoot when we get through. I remember one bridge though the other day, just south of the Canaveral National Seashore, which I forgot to mention in the last log. We decided it was too close to call after talking to the bridge tender. The bridge tenders have been trained well and will not give you any other information or recommendations other than telling you the minimum clearance which is clearly bill boarded on the bridge. They are all very careful not to tell you what you should do in case you get in trouble. At time they sound a bit like well trained robots. They won’t explain it no matter how many different ways you ask them if it is the center measurement or the measurement at the sides, as they just keep repeating the words “the minimum clearance is so and so feet” and of course now thinking about it, they surely must meant the sides as they curve down to the support posts. Our boat is not that wide so that measurement is not really what we are concerned about. What we really want to know is the center measurement but they just will not tell you. SOMEONE WITH BALLS! So, in this instance Larry didn’t want to chance it and we couldn’t get the bridge tender to give more info so Larry had no resort except to say then “I’m requesting an opening”, which this bridge will open on command. But this bridge tender was different. He said “Captain,” and then hesitated for a moment, “you can make it through the side portal if you want to try it and I will come out and put a red flag where it is high enough for you”. Okay now here’s someone with some balls. We tell him OK. We watch him come out of the watch tower and walk over to the next portal and then he stops right over a certain spot and holds his red flag there. I head straight for that position and Larry goes out back to watch on all sides and the top. We did exactly as the bridge tender told us, squeezed through this narrow opening and cleared it by inches! That’s my kind of guy! Hooray! GREAT LITTLE BOAT Anyway, it’s been great with this little boat as we can just scoot right under 98% of the bridges. Though we’ve not seen many cruisers the last few weeks its fun when we can slip right by them and under the bridge. God knows we’ve waited for too many bridges in that Nordhavn. Something about it just gives you a thrill and a little chuckle to boot. I guess that’s not very nice to admit but it’s true. HELLO RUDE BOATERS AS WE SUDDENLY CROSSED THE LINE Well, once we hit Jupiter, I can say we officially crossed the line where boaters started being rude. Nothing against Jupiter and I guess actually we could say it all started near Cocoa City as now we are suddenly encountering more boats and they are not courteous. They just wake the heck out of you. We always remembered boaters being pretty considerate of others with the wakes in the ICW. I don’t remember this bad behavior before. Of course there were a few bad apples but now it’s like the whole bushel is rotten. For instance we’ll see a boat approaching ahead with a huge wake trailing off each side. We put off a pretty darn big visible one ourselves. We slow down to signal to the approaching boat that we’re not going to wake him and usually the other boat, seeing us would normally slow down for a pass. We then slowly pass each other without waking the other….but nope, not that courtesy now is few and far between as now we slow down and they just keep coming and wake the hell out of you. It’s the same with boats coming up suddenly behind you. If you see someone coming behind, the traditional courtesy is to slow down move over in the channel and let them pass. As they pass they should also slow and not wake you. A handful were courteous but most of the others were just plain incredibly rude. TURQOISE WATERS Ah, every so often we get a glimpse of turquoise waters now. Those turquoise waters are what draws me south. There’s nothing like that beautiful color of water. It transports you into another world, as everything starts to look different. Colors become more pastel and clear and everything is lighter and brighter and whites are pure and pristine. That’s why I love the Bahamas so much. LAKE WORTH ROUGH TODAY Before you know it we dump out into the wide swath of Lake Worth just north of Palm Beach. The winds are incredible and the chop significant! I think to myself that it’s not going to be an easy docking in this wind but Larry says once we get up near the protection of the buildings in Palm Beach we won’t have to deal with the wind. I’m always thinking and worrying about those docking situations. Though knock on wood we’ve not had anything bad happen yet. SEA TOW We can hear Sea Tow on the radio several times. They’ve got something going on that we can’t quite sort out. There’s a lot of discussion on the radio as we hear another vessel hailing them and asking about something they are towing. We don’t pay much attention as it doesn’t relate to us but I have to admit, my ears always perk up a bit whenever I hear someone hailing Sea Tow as it usually means shallow water somewhere nearby. As we begin to make our way around Peanut Island we can see something unusual going on ahead of us. We get the binoculars out and its two Sea Tow boats right in the middle of the channel. They seem to be struggling with something but we can’t quite figure it out. Larry decides to hail them and see what they are up to as it looks like it might be a bit dangerous trying to get by them as they are wobbling left and right trying to tow something in the water. They answer back immediately. Larry says we’d like to pass them port to port if they are OK with that. They answer back to come ahead. As we slowly go by we see they are struggling with something we can’t quite identify. It actually looks like the top of a submarine. There is a tall massive thing that looks like an antenna sticking up from the water that is mounted on a massive black stealth tubular shape which is being dragged along floating just below the surface. We are literally dumbstruck with the site of this thing as we pass them and yell out “What is that?” They answer back that they don’t have a clue but they were told to retrieve it as was a dangerous navigational hazard. MEGA YACHTS AND MANSIONS It becomes pretty evident that we are nearing the Palm Beach area because we are passing mega yachts and mega mansions. It’s quite impressive. I try to snap some shots but it’s pretty blustery and hard to get anything to express the magnitude of some of these grand yachts. We soon have the two bridges we must go under that connect the mainland of West Palm Beach to the island of the elite, Palm Beach. The marina and our destination today are located just inside the second bridge to our port. Larry hails the marina and we get instructions to come inside past all the (mega yachts) boats to the second slip away from the wall and grassed area.
WINDY DOCKING It’s blowing a good 20 knots as we head to our assigned slip. We’re going to have to go in to the slip with the wind behind us which is always a precarious way to head into a slip. We much prefer heading into the wind so we have more control. Nevertheless, that’s where they wanted us so I had the lines ready. Again, the docks were about 3 feet off our transom height so there was no way I would be able to get on the dock to help this guy with the lines. I threw him a spring to keep the boat from heading into the head of the slip and then the stern line to keep the hind quarters from swinging out and away from the side dock when the wind surely will catch it. He had his hands full trying to get those two lines around those notorious posts. Larry’s job was to take care of the rest with the bow thruster and forward and reverse gear. The poor dock guy managed to get a hold of her and fought the pull of the wind and soon had us secure and tight. Larry rewarded him with a well deserved tip. SETTLED IN It was a bit expensive to dock here compared to other places I think. Larry says its $4 a foot plus electricity and there are no bathrooms, showers or laundry in case anyone wants to know, but it should be an interesting stop for a few days. Guess we’ll find out…..
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dolphin
see the boat they swim towards you to follow along and play momentarily in
your bow wake and then just as quickly they disappear and you wonder did
you
just imagine it. It was worth coming this way to see this beautiful
natural landscape and all the unhindered wildlife. 
as these signs and restricted areas were created. There are too many
signs and too many varying restrictions and they lack just plain common
sense. They need to make them easy to read in a glance, period, and
really, do we need to protect so many areas? (Especially when they are
warming their blubber nicely in Riviera Beach?) Some of the signs do have
seasonal dates on them but they still don’t apply to the conditions that
we are experiencing. They all seem to say something different and in
small writing so you have to get out the binoculars and read each one and
interpret it differently. One will say slow speed of 25 knots or 30
knots in the channel (SLOW speed? Since when is 25-30 knots, slow
speed?), some are “no wake” and then, some say idle speed, and some say on
one side within a 1000 feet no wake, and other 500 feet, and some say only
a 15” wake permitted and so on. Geez, wonder if we did a 16” wake? Who
has time while driving a boat and watching for shallow waters and markers,
to read all the fine print on these dumb Manatee signs? Don’t get us
wrong, we like saving the animals but this is ridiculous.
Well,
that’s the inlet we went out that fateful day when we got caught in the
squall of all squalls off the coast. If I had read that note beforehand I
probably would not have let Larry take us out, but you know, we got out
just fine so go figure. See, it’s best for me not to read these warnings
as they sure can give me some undue stress. 
