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| Shore of Haulover Canal |
Wednesday,
April 5th, we left Titusville by 7:30 AM as planned. As we headed north on the Indian River
towards Haulover Canal, we were hailed by SV
Runaway, a Catalina 400, requesting a starboard pass. When I heard the name, I thought I remembered
meeting a “SV Runaway” in 2011, when
we were in Sampson Key, Bahamas. At the
time, Runaway spend most of the year
cruising the Bahamas and return to their home port is Solomons, MD, for the
summer months. As they passed now, “Solomons,
MD” was on the transom. We hailed them again and sure enough, we had! We
visited a little via the radio.
The
Haulover Bridge is currently in the “up” position while work is being
done. All 4 sailboats and the one cabin
cruiser transited the canal without problems.
As we turned North in Mosquito Lagoon, we hoisted the main and motored
sailed for quite a while.
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| Migration north in Mosquito Lagoon |
At
the top of Mosquito Lagoon, are the fishing camps. As we were passing, we saw a number of
manatees as well as dolphins and their calves. We even encountered a couple of
larger pods of dolphins. While enjoying
the beautiful breezes, mild temps, sunshine and beautiful scenery, we passed
SV Walkabout, from Vermont. We traveled
south with him in the Hobucken, NC area last fall! He hailed us to let us know that we were
blowing black smoke! We immediately
checked things out. No explanation for
the black smoke could be found, BUT Pete found a cracked exhaust manifold.
Coolant water from the engine was pooling in the engine compartment. Walkabout hung with us to make sure we
could continue. Pete was able to remove
the water and monitor the engine and cracked manifold for the remaining 4 hours
of the trip to Dayrona. The black
smoke was probably a momentary burning of some buildup in the engine. Without it, we would not have found the
problem manifold! Thank you, Walkabout!
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Rockhouse Creek &
Ponce de Leon Light House |
Close to the Ponce De Leone Inlet, we were kept company by a very large
turtle. We really could not get a good look at his shell due to all the barnacles. I didn’t reach for the camera because I was
positive it would disappear before I could take the photo. Instead, we enjoyed the experience.
After a pump out, we were settled into our dock in Halifax Harbor Marina
by 4:30. Pete called Comanchee Marina
and was able to get a month dockage beginning Saturday. He was also able to extend out stay here for
the next 3 days. The clouds came in at
sunset and they were accompanied with a few sprinkles. The heavier stuff is due to come through in
the morning. This front has caused a lot of damage plus a number of tornados in
the south, but not yet in Florida. Glad
we are staying put.
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| Daytona Post Office |
Thursday, 4/6. Two strong bands
of storms came through this morning around 6. After Pete rode the bike to the
Post Office and back, he wanted to investigate the engine, so he spent the
better part of two hours checking things.
When he cleaned the manifold, the pin sized hole became larger. He used rescue tape and a hose clamp to
insure it remains in place. No leaks
when the engine was kicked up in idle for a while. Hopefully, this patch will hold until we can
have a mechanic replace the part in St. Augustine.
Thankfully, the skies cleared and I was able
to take a walk into the center of town.
Daytona Beach has put in a lot of strip malls. Merchandise stores are limited along the main
drag, Beech Street, but there are plenty of eateries! So many great smells, Bailey wanted to visit
each one! Once back, I joined Pete and
read for the rest of the afternoon.
Friday,
4/7, I planned to do laundry this morning, but the machines were taken.
Instead, I walked by myself into town. This time I was able to take photos of
the architecture of downtown and the surrounding areas. After lunch, I went up to do laundry. By dinner,
I checked my Fitbit and found I did 4.23 miles between my walk and two trips to
the laundry rooms!
Pete spent some time
trying to get the bike out of 8th gear. Apparently, the bike found a way to protest a month on the
deck, in all sorts of weather. Pete thinks he needs to stop in at a bicycle
shop for a new cable.
 |
Bailey keeping tabs on us
in the air conditioning |
While Pete and I sat in the cockpit reading, Bailey slept, wedged
against Pete’s leg with her feet hanging off the seat. It turns out we had a furry visitor. A very friendly, black and white cat came
onboard and into the cockpit. She even
smelled Bailey’s feet, while Bailey blissfully slept away. Pete got up and tried to shoo the cat off the
boat. Instead she went up to the bow and
was coming down the starboard side, when Bailey finally realized we had an
intruder. It didn’t faze the cat. She attempted to continue to the
cockpit. Pete had to do the “baby with a
dirty diaper” lift of the cat and put her off the boat.
After
dinner, we watched some TV and read. Then headed to bed early as we hope to
leave by 7:30 in the morning.
Saturday, 4/8, we had left the dock and were passing the fuel dock at
7:30 AM. The dock hand was there with
the pool skimming net to collect the keys as we passed and we continued on our
way.
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| Mosacis under Daytona's Bridge |
We
barely left the marina when the engine temperature gage was pinned at 260
degrees. Way too hot to continue! While I maintained our heading in idle, Pete
checked the engine. No water; the rescue tape appears to be holding and dry;
the engine smelled normal. He then
checked the engine temperature with the thermal reader. Everything was perfect. When we were coming down, we had a couple of
trips with the engine temperature reading hot and other times it was reading
cool. The sender unit was replaced last spring. Pete replaced the engine thermometer,
but the problem still continued. He
thinks it might be the wire or the sender unit.
We will have to have that checked when the mechanic is replacing the
manifold next week. Just as a
precaution, we reduced the cruising RPMs by about 5000 and every 45-60 minutes,
he rechecked the engine and its temperature.
Thankfully, we made the trip with no engine problems.
There appears to be another “rock pile” in the Bon Terra area of the
ICW. There are shelves of rock that line
the shores, noticeable at low tide. As
we were traveling through this area, suddenly there was a very large, brown
“something”, about 2 feet off our starboard cockpit seats. Pete immediately thought it was a rock and
put the transmission into idle. The “something” was actually a head, that had
to be at least 4 inches across with a fierce hooked beak and a serving plate-sized shell, that belonged to a very large snapping turtle! After calming down, we continued on.
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| We appear to be on shore! |
 |
| The dredging on the Mantanzas |
 |
That's right! The buoy is about 10 feet
off the beach!!! |
As
mentioned in Active Captain, there is dredging near the Mantanzas Inlet. We passed a huge dredging barge and
associated work boats. There was only a few spots where the depth was only 9
feet. The scary part was looking at the
GPS and seeing our boat icon on land!
Apparently, the current has carved away more of the land on the western
shore. The buoys are only about 20 feet
off the shoreline, but the depth is 13+ feet.
Local power boats come through at full throttle while we cruising
sailors took it much more slowly!
 |
MATTHEW's damage
from last October |
It
has been 5 months since Hurricane Matthew hit St. Augustine with severe
flooding. All the docks that were
destroyed are still in the same sad shape.
With so many damaged docks, it will probably take a few years for the
few companies that build docks to make all the repairs. Like Isabel did to the
Chesapeake in 2003, Matthew seems to have carved some of the main channels in
the St. Augustine ICW area deeper due to the volume of water he brought in.
Even at low tide, in certain spots, we had 21 feet under the keel! After making the 4 PM opening of The Bridge
of Lyons, we continued pass the inlet. The current was very strong for the
incoming tide, but the seas were very calm.
 |
A very different
"Frank Geary designed" deck house |
 |
| Bridge of Lyons |
 |
| St. Augustine Lighthouse |
After a pump out, and a fuel refill, we settled into our “home” for the
next few weeks. We will wait here in Camanchee Harbor Marina until Betty and
John (SV Andiamo) can meet us
here. John and Pete will do the outside
jump to Charleston, while Betty and I take Bailey and drive up to Charleston.
It won’t be a hardship to remain here for a while. Besides meeting up with friends, I will be
able to continue my daily walks, the engine will be repaired and hopefully, I
will be using my DSLR instead of my little camera that has a phone attached!
~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~
K & P
Our Stay in St. Augustine 4/9 -4/28
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| Canopied road with Spanish Moss |
 |
| Back lit Spanish Moss |
We enjoyed
our stay here in St Augustine. Over the
past few weeks, the boat has been cleaned; the stainless polished; the interior
of the boat is being cleaned and reorganized; the engine’s exhaust manifold has
been replaced; oil, belts and filters replaced; the engine temperature
gauge/sensor/sender unit were replaced. The bottom was scrapped again, by a
diver. (There can’t be any biocide remaining on the bottom. We will have the bottom cleaned, the small
blisters that were just found, repaired, and the bottom repainted once we are
back in our home port.) Finally (after 2
years!), we refilled the propane tank and I have been spending a lot of time
dealing with insurances (tons of health claims as well as renewal or new
policies for boat, car, etc.) The Acura finally has the problem with the air
conditioning identified and repaired. (We had an air bubble that couldn’t be
identified when pressure was measured for the Freon and initially the AC
worked, but it usually opted to not function after a while. Pete asked them to
run the car for an hour then check. Sure
enough, the car was hot and humid.
Removal of the Freon was weighed and was 8 oz. short; hence, the air
bubble! Three pounds of Freon was reinserted and Viola! No problems!!!)) We
took the boat over to the dock every 4-5 days for a pump out. Camanchee does not have a pump-out boat, so
we tried to do it early in the morning before the regular winds from the east
made leaving the dock a real challenge. I continue to take my walks 5 times a
week and used my handy small camera with a phone attached for some interesting
shots. Pete has backed off long walks due
to his knee, which really needs to be replaced, but he and Bailey still get
their twice daily exercise. And . . . Uncle Sam also received his taxes!
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| Clouds, Showers and Rainbows |
 |
| The tidal marsh next to the marina |
 |
| Beautiful home on one of my walks |
 |
| Flowers after rain |
 |
| Close up of the raindrops |
Photos from my walks taken with my the cell phone!
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| Scary tree |
 |
Some of the attractions
by the sightseeing train |
On
the fun side, we took a ride north on A1A through Vilano Beach. There are
limited areas where Pete might be able to use the drone, but the ride was
pretty. We stopped for dinner at a place
called The Reef. It is right on the beach, with delicious
food, great service and is reasonably priced. We also took a ride south on A1A. It took us really close to Jay and Pegg’s new
place, so we thought we would drive over and check it out. Both Pegg and Jay were outside and offered us
a tour of their new home. It is a great
place and 11 feet above sea level!
Important, as their other home experienced flooding during Matthew last
fall. We continued south to Flagler Beach, where Matthew stole part of
A1A. It is apparent that the relocation
about 50-foot inland was recently completed, but many saw their ocean view lots
reduced in size. Of course, we found a great place for ice cream prior to our
return trip.
 |
| Vilano Beach by THE REEF Restaurant |
Ann
and Howie came up one Sunday. We walked around old St. Augustine and enjoyed a
great dinner at the AIA Ale Works. It
also happened to be Easter, so the streets we lined with people, many of whom
wore pretty outrageous hats.
Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of the characters who line the
parade route or the parade itself.
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| Baby Manatee in the marina |
 |
| Spider's web |
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| Our daily keel cleaner |
Friday, 4/29, the last-minute food shopping was done and final cleaning
and laundry completed. Betty and John arrived.
The four of us met Pegg and Jay for dinner at The Reef. It was a great
evening of food conversation, ocean breezes, and friends. Betty, Bailey and I said our good-byes to our
men, and headed to the hotel. Pete and
John made it an early night as they leave at sunrise tomorrow.
The
weeks here went very fast!
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| Sunset over Camanchee Marina |
~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~ K & P
St. Augustine to Charleston 4/29-4/30
Pete and John were underway by 6:15 AM. No
problems exiting though the St. Augustine Inlet. Waters were calm and the depth was never
below 15 feet, even though the tide was almost low. The winds were favorable from the south east
at 10-15 so they motored sailed, averaging about 8.5 mph! We were only able to keep cell contact for
about 2 hours. During that time, Betty
and I received a few texts and she was able to track John though the Apple Friends
app.
Betty, Bailey and I left the hotel around 9:30 driving both cars north
to Charleston. There were a couple of stops to stretch our legs and once to
grab lunch at Subway. Traffic was good
and we made the trip in about 4.5 hours.
 |
| Bailey's adoring fans! |
Last night, Betty and I searched for a dog friendly restaurant that we
could meet up with Betty’s friend, Drew, once we got to Charleston. The best place between the marina and Drew’s
place was California Dreaming. As it
turned out, it was on the same street as our hotel AND it was only about
1000-foot walk! Drew is a great young
man, who Betty has known since Cub Scouts.
Betty and John served as his host family during his studies at the Naval
Academy. He is now attending school prior to his assignment to a naval carrier
later this fall. We were able to visit
for over 4 hours. Food and service were great and we talked about everything. It
was such a wonderful time! Everyone who passed wanted to say “hi” to
Bailey. She was even surrounded by 4
girls dressed in their Holy Communion, white dresses. The triplets and their cousin
were joining family to celebrate. We
finally said good-by to Drew around 8 after walking past a large group of
patrons waiting to be seated. I don’t think people wanted to sit in our area,
because the other 3 tables were often empty for long periods of time.
Betty, Bailey and I returned to the hotel and continued talking. The three of us had a great “Ladies Weekend.”
Sunday morning, I took Bailey for a moderate walk, but it was quite
humid. After breakfast, the three of us
walked again just to keep up our “steps” on the Fitbits. Baily found a ball in one of the parking lots
and had a great time. Exhausted, she
carried the ball back to the hotel.
I
packed up my stuff and we loaded my car before heading over to Bed, Bath and Beyond over in Mt.
Pleasant. Betty needed to get a gift
that not all BB&B’s carried in
the store. This one had it in
stock. It turns out that the store was
located in a shopping center comprised of streets, strip malls and parking. As
we came in, Betty noticed Burton’s Bar
and Grille. She and John had eaten
in one closer to home and definitely wanted to go back. It would have been fun
to shop, but we couldn’t with Bailey in tow.
Instead, we grabbed an early lunch at Zoe’s, since they had a patio where we could sit with Bailey. While eating we received another Spot from Pekabu. They were entering Charleston
Harbor. Time to head back.
The guys made great time. They
were able to motor sail for the entire trip.
They didn’t see any other pleasure craft and stayed closer to shore to
avoid the shipping lanes. The night was
cool, but humid with sky was full of stars.
The ocean swells were abeam and made for a very rocky ride; being down
below was challenging. Neither of them
got more than a catnap or two during the trip. The only time they had to slow
down was to wait for the 1:30 PM opening of Wapoo Creek Bridge. We helped them get into the slip at St
John’s Yacht Marina. After a quick
catch-up, I tried to make dinner reservations at The Fat Hen, close to the marina. Unfortunately, they only serve
brunch on Sundays. Instead, I made
reservation at Burton’s since Betty
and John enjoyed it so much and we knew exactly where it was located. John and
Betty headed back to the hotel, we did a quick straighten then Pete (and John)
crashed for a few hours. We met at the hotel and headed to dinner. Our appetizers were outrageous. We had General Tso’s Cauliflower and thin strips
of zucchini stuffed with Alouette cheese and covered with marinara sauce and
graded cheese similar to parmesan…YUM!!! Pete enjoyed a burger while the three
of us had tile fish over risotto with carrots and string beans. We were too full to order dessert. Dinner was excellent and we agree with
Betty. We definitely need to come back.
Monday, 5/1, Betty and John made it home
before the storms came. I took advantage
of the $1/ load laundry with 4 washers and 4 dryers at the marina. Four loads of laundry were done while I
luxuriated with the showers. I had a good morning, but Pete had problems with
getting internet access for work. We receive a message from Verizon that we
only had 2 GB of our 16 GB available after 2 days into the billing cycle! His
MozyPro had changed their programming, ignoring the directive not to use the
jet pack and was trying to back up all Pete’s data…all 93 GB! Thankfully, Verizon’s programming throttled
back our usage so it could not continue.
Unfortunately, after spending lots of time on the phone with Verizon, he
found out that we need to use our phones as hot spots instead of the jet pack
for the remainder of the month. What a pain! When I returned to the boat, the
winds had kicked up to 25+ with even higher gusts. We were rocking like crazy in our dock. At one point, Pete attempted to readjust the
lines and couldn’t reattach the line. He
was calling for help. Thankfully,
Louise, our neighbor was home doing boat chores and came to assist as was our
neighbor across the dock. I came just in
time to help pull the boat over.
Thankfully, nothing was damaged and we were once again secure.
Tuesday, 5/2, I ran last minute errands in the morning and we left around 2 pm for Toler’s Cove Marina, which is located just below the Ben Sawyer Bridge. It is tricky to get into, but out of the currents. We wanted to make sure we could clear the bridge before the 7 am closing for 2 hours.
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| Charleston City Marina Dock (The 3-masted ship is 400 ft+!) |
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| Listening to the birds |
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| One of the fishing fleet |
 |
| Toler's Cove Marina Docks & Condos |
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| Ben Sawyer Bridge at sunrise |
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| Double sunrise! |
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| The Pink Island House is still pink! |
Wednesday 5/3, we actually cleared the Ben Sawyer Bridge by 6:35 AM. The
Coast Guard made an announcement at 6:58 that the Ben Sawyer Bridge would close
at 7 AM and open at 9 AM ON THURSDAY, 5/4 for electrical repairs. Thank heavens
we opted to stay at Toler’s and not Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina! We
were lucky that our timing allowed us to pass through McClellenville two hours
after low tide. A south bound boat kept reporting less than 4 feet, but we saw
no less than 8.5 feet. PEKABU takes 5.5 feet.
It seems as if some are not following Active Captain suggestions and
wandering into skinny water. We followed A.C. and had no problems with
depth. The rising tide gave us a push
and we were doing 7.5-8.5 MPH quite a while.
When we approached the Winyah Bay, I was actually doing 9.2!
 |
| Ecosystem in a single tree |
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| Succulent Hen among the flowers |
Thursday, 5/3, Georgetown to Myrtle Beach. We departed Georgetown Landing Marina around 8:30 after I had taken my walk. We had the outgoing tide, which made getting out of the inner side of the T-dock a bit easier. However, once we entered the Waccamaw River, the wind and the current were against us. This part of our journey is always beautiful. It is where the lowlands meet the river, the cypress trees are incredible and the occasional ancient trees still standing. I would love to know the history they have witnessed.
The brownish tint to the trees last fall have given way to the fresh, new spring greens and the empty nests are full of new osprey and a few new eagles. The slow journey added about 1.5 hours to our travels today. At times, we were down to 4.5 mph and that was with the 0.8 mph push with the mainsail. We didn't mind the extra time to enjoy one of our favorite sections of the ICW.
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| Canoeist enjoying the beauty of Nature |
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| Unbelievable...Still with new growth! |
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| One of the ancients has passed. |
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| The Wecca Marina |
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| My Happy Guy at the Helm |
We finally caught up with the current as we neared Socastee.
About 3 miles south of Barefoot Landing Marina, where we will spend the night, I passed a south bound Catalina. As they passed, I noticed a passenger sitting on the port side , but it was the person at the wheel who looked vaguely familiar. Then I saw ESCAPADE on the transom and it was Jon at the wheel! We quickly made radio contact. Dave, his friend, sitting in the cockpit with him and Gerry (SV RAGTIME) was down below. They, too, were tricked by Mother Nature, when then tried an outside jump. Thankfully, they are OK and continuing to Florida to have work done on the boat. We hope to catch up sometime this summer. If we hadn’t been slowed down, we would have already been secured at the marina and missed catching up with friends from our Chesapeake Catalina Yacht Club!
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| Lighthouse Marina, just south of Myrtle Beach |
The
intermittent rains started about 5:30 PM, but only for very brief and sporadic
periods. It wasn’t until about 4 AM, when the intense stuff came through. We
found that we still have leaking windows on our starboard. Pete has been working on them, but this last
leak is evasive. In the meantime, we are
spreading out plastic just in case.
~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~ K & P
Thursday, 5/3, Georgetown to Myrtle Beach. We departed Georgetown Landing Marina around 8:30 after I had taken my walk. We had the outgoing tide, which made getting out of the inner side of the T-dock a bit easier. However, once we entered the Waccamaw River, the wind and the current were against us. This part of our journey is always beautiful. It is where the lowlands meet the river, the cypress trees are incredible and the occasional ancient trees still standing. I would love to know the history they have witnessed.
The brownish tint to the trees last fall have given way to the fresh, new spring greens and the empty nests are full of new osprey and a few new eagles. The slow journey added about 1.5 hours to our travels today. At times, we were down to 4.5 mph and that was with the 0.8 mph push with the mainsail. We didn't mind the extra time to enjoy one of our favorite sections of the ICW. 
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