Preparing for the Crossing

We are going to miss you guys 

We are going to miss you guys

Full Moon at anchor

Riverside Cafe'

Monday March 25th

We heard from Martini and Indulgence and they made it through the night. They headed to Halafax to tie to the dock. We checked our safety equipment today to be sure everything was ready for our crossing. We were sure to check the spot batteries. If you remember the spot is a satellite signal from us to let our family know we are ok while we are traveling from anchorage to anchorage. So we have to remember to send it or our kids , especial Courtney will call in the troops. We also have a satellite text instrument to text a message in case of emergence and they can text us. We went to West Marine, by the way, the first stop for the bus is west marine, to order some replacement parts.

Tuesday March 26

Tuesday was also chilly in fact Melbourn set a record for the coldest day on record. We keep looking at the weather to be sure we don't miss a good weather window. It really looks like next Monday or Tuesday.

Wednesday March 27

We stayed on the boat all day and got a lot of things done.

Thursday March 28

Thursday we took the bus to go to the mall. We've got this bus thing figured out ! I got some make up and we ate again at the riverside cafe. They are beginning to recognize us!

Friday Mach 29

Good Friday ...I am really getting home sick for Easter! We are looking for a place to go for either sunrise services or for a church service. Last year we were in the Bahamas and it was our first church service at the Church where we plan to attend this year. There is a worship service at the Riverside Park and a dinner at 1:00 for the cruisers at the Marina. We decided we would would probably do both but it is not the same as with family. Easter is my favorite family Holiday. Nothing better for a mother than to be in church with all of her family sitting beside her on Easter Sunday!

We went to town to buy an ink cartridge for the printer. We asked at West Marine and they said it was a three mile walk to Staples. We did not want to believe it. Our iPhone confirmed the three mile walk. So off we went. George and I were talking about what a healthy life style a cruiser has, walking everywhere. However, after walking three miles to Staples we would have to walk three miles back. About half way there we saw a CVS . We needed some sunscreen so we walked in, and guess what they also sold ink for our printer ! yeah CVS!! We then bought groceries and rode the bus back home. Then the job we dread to do every year, At least George dreads it. Rebuilding the head!! For you sailors you know what I am talking about. For those non sailors you don' want to know what I am talking about. Jack we miss you!!!!

We looked at the weather again tonight and decided it would be better to leave and cross on Sunday. I hate to go on Easter but what better way to experience an Easter sunrise than on the ocean!

Saturday March e30

We have to do final preparations for the crossing today. Changing of filters, and final laundry. We plan to leave at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, Easter Sunday. We will go in the "ditch" ,the ICW until we get to Ft, Pierce then we will go outside and head south. We will make our turn about 5:00 pm to head Northeast . We should be on the banks about 5:00 a.m. And at our first anchorage at great sail at 3:00 p.m. Monday.

This will be the last blog until we reach Marsh Harbor, Bahamas. I hated to leave on Easter Sunday but what better way to spend Easter than to experience the beauty of God's creation first hand.  

50 knots of wind, blown out sail and a lost anchor

Vero Beach

Olive protecting the mooring 

Thursday March 21

We started talking about going to the Bahamas and not the Keys. Our friends on Makana, Coy and Charles were in Marathon and could not get a mooring ball. They had to anchor out on the ocean side. We have heard you have to make reservations a year in advance for a mooring ball in Marathon . Jack was wanting to go with us to the Bahamas. He had a doctor's appointment that was making it impossible to schedule going with us. George and I both wanted him to be on our boat or even to take Martini. It just wasn't in the stars! Now that Martini wasn't going and Indulgence was also having to go back I guess it will just be Celebration going alone. The first time I crossed the Gulf Stream it was just the two of us. No buddy boat.

Tonight everyone in the marina was to bring an hor d'oeuvre to share and your own drink. We meet Ann and Ray, John and Carolyn's friends. Had a good time and finished the evening with dinner at the Riverside cafe' . Ann offered to drive us the the outlet mall in Vero Beach! Man, were we excited! We were going to get to ride in a car!!

Friday March 22

Friday we went shopping with Ann, Carolyn's friend. The first stop STARBUCKS! Then on to Steinmart and then to the outlet malls. We had a great day! We had a late lunch, and as we were finishing up George called and said we have a weather window and we need to leave tomorrow! Holy Cow as Carolyn would say! I was not ready to go! There was a power squadron meeting and we were to be Ann's guest. George and I decided to stay back to put in some waypoints and prepare for the crossing. After putting in the way points we looked at the weather one more time. We were going to be hitting the weather window on the end . The sea would be getting up right as we were in the Gulf Stream. It would have been doable but not pleasant. I like pleasant! So we called Jack and John and told them we were not going.

Saturday March 23

Saturday we all got up and rode the bus to town and had breakfast at Southern Comfort Cafe. After we got back from town, George and I walked over to the bait and tackle shop to get a copy of our fishing license, since it looked like we would be in Florida for a least another week. Then we walked over to the boat show near the bait and tackle shop. The high light of the boat show was the pizza oven on wheels. Since George got his primo grill for Christmas he has been cooking pizza on the grill. The ladies were really nice and invited him back to see the oven and gave him some pointers on cooking pizza. Watch out Jerry we may have a pizza cook off!

Pit Master eat your heart out

About 4:00 we gathered up again to walk to the beach for dinner. Had a great meal with a great view. This was our farewell dinner with John ,Carolyn, Jack, and Lynda as they were leaving to go back to Brunswick tomorrow.

The Babes of the ICW

a beautiful walk to the beach

One of the live Oaks on the walk to the beach

Sunday March 24

Sunday we got up early to wave goodbye to Indulgence as she passed by us. Hollowed goodbye to John and Carolyn and wished them fair winds. Martini had been tied to the dock the night before. We called to tell Martini goodbye as well. I had an eerie feeling as they left. I was really going to miss all of them. We had such a good time with Indulgence and Martini as our buddy boats all last season.  You may remember from last year, Indulgence crossed with us and we both stayed in Marsh Harbor for a month.  Martini crewed by Jack and Greg joined a few weeks after we arrived in Marsh Harbor.

George and I decided to have a lazy day. Now I know what you are thinking we always have a lazy day, but not really when you have to get in your dingy to go any where and have to walk most every where.

I kept looking at the clock to see what time it was, saying I think they should be there by now. The wind was picking up so George turned on the Sirius weather. There was a marine advisory for this area including north of Vero. We knew then that Martini and Indulgence were some where getting hammered. The advisory warned of 50 knot winds and thunderstorms. We called Jack and Linda answered. George said you could hear the sheer terror in her voice. She said they had lost their Jib and their anchor. George then called John and he did not answer. We sent up prayers but did not hear back for a while. I sent Carolyn a text and she called me back a little later. She said the boats had been laying over and the winds were to strong to go to a marina. They picked an anchorage and dropped the hook. Their anchor held but Martini's anchor line broke. Then Martini disappeared into the rain. The rain let up and they saw Martini approaching the power lines next to the bridge. Not only had Martini's anchor line broken but the engine had quit too!!!! Jack later said when he got the engine running again he could have touched the pilings for the power line. Martini with no anchor had no choice but to continue on. Indulgence weighed anchor and followed Martini. There was limited communication between the boats as Martini's radio mike at the helm had gotten wet and stopped working. Their cell phones were of marginal use as well. The boats reached another anchorage an hour later just as the storm cleared. Indulgence anchored and Martini rafted up. John loaned Jack an anchor and helped him cut down the shredded jib. Martini anchored for the night and the wine began to flow.

Monday March 18th

This was wash day! I put in the clothes in the washer and went to take a shower. I take a pretty quick shower. George had finished his shower and was in the room where the washers were when John came in and said hello and asked where I was. George told John, "Freida went to take a shower but she has been in there so long I am afraid something is wrong." Then a lady who had just walked in said, " Oh no we just got to talking and she is fine". She was from Rhode Island and she was a hoot! I love meeting new and interesting people even in the shower! Linda, Carolyn and John visited with some of John and Carolyn's friends. Jack had lunch with us on the boat. After that Jack and I ( mostly Jack) hoisted George up the mast to fix the deck light. We decided George needs to go on a diet! We had some great spaghetti on Martini. Regrettably, because of bad weather,  we had to leave Martini before the Bailey's was offered!

Tuesday March 19th

Larry the Mechanic was to fix the oil sending unit so I decided to go shopping with the girls. We went into a consignment furniture store. It was more like a very nice antique shop. I mean really nice furniture! Most of it looked brand new! Then we were into another consignment shop for clothes, No loft stuff in here, mostly Lilly Pulitzer, Gucci, and some names I have never heard. When we got back to the dingy docks we called George to come and pick us up.We have a dingy that is bigger than Olive ( that is martini's dingy). George was busy with Larry the mechanic, so he sent John in our dingy. Just as John came into sight, the dingy engine stopped !! Out of gas! So we had to call Jack. So guess what ....little olive to the rescue. Jack said she was in the Seatow fleet.

     We had planned to go to the beach and watch a rocket launch but Larry the mechanic said we were in the perfect place to watch the launch. So we decided to have sundowners and appetizers on Indulgence. We did see the launch, all 5 seconds of it. We then decided to take a dingy ride to the beach before returning to our boats. After I saw that beautiful ocean, kinda made me sad we were not going to the Bahamas this year. Still not sold on the Keys.

Wednesday March 20

Got up early to ride to bus into town for breakfast. By the way, there is a bus here that you can ride from the marina to town for free! We are not frugal we are cheap! This is a quote from another sailor friend of ours. Anyway, we rode the bus into town and had a great breakfast. George and I had left our Florida fishing license at home, so we ask the waitress if she knew of a bait and tackle. They will look up you license and give you a copy. She told us there was one near the marina, so we rode the bus back. We decided to go to the boat and wait for it to open. We started talking about the trip to the Keys . Yes! Sailing plans are written in the sand, and are sometimes washed away. We both wanted to go to the Bahamas again. John came over for lunch and we told him our plans. John and Carolyn daughter and grandchildren are coming to Brunswick for spring break and so they are leaving on Monday. Wish they could go too but understand they want to see their sweet daughter, her husband and their three sweet grandchildren. We then called Jack and told him to think about going with us. The Plans are in the making!!!! 

From Fernandina to Vero Beach

I love having the bridge tender to open the bridges.  

St. Augustine 

Tuesday,March 12

We left Fernandina at first light. We had a great night sleep on the mooring ball. John and Carolyn said it got a little bumpy, but we never knew it! It rained on us until about 2:00. We docked at St Augustine at 4:00. Jack and Linda waited in St. Augustine for us. Coy and Charles had continued South due to scheduling demands. As customary, we ate at the Columbia Restaurant.

Bridges bridges and more bridges

Martini going under a bascule bridge

Wednesday, March 13

Got up early in hopes of seeing the electronics man who was to work on our auto pilot . Surprisingly he was pretty much on time. He was a very nice man named Pat. He, George and Jack took Celebration out to spin the compass, and to the fix auto pilot. It was an easy fix after reprogramming the system with no improvement, they found a loose connection. That evening we had hamburgers on Indulgence .

Thursday, March 14

Another early day!! We left again at first light! Dang this first light stuff has got to stop!! It was 43 degrees and only warmed to 57. In a sail boat with winds between 15-20 knots ..... It was cold! I had on insulated underwear, a sweater, patagonia jacket, and foul weather gear.. No we did not take pictures! After a long cold day , we docked at Daytona Beach. We met Josh Meeks, one of Scott's buddies, who is now in the Coast Guard and had dinner with him at the Chart House ! We really enjoyed our visit. We tried to talk him into boarding Martini tomorrow for an inspection. Maybe that was not such a good idea!

Friday, March 15th

Left at first light AGAIN! It was cold and I was at the helm thinking how nice It was that my blog was going to be boring this year. Not so much. Our oil pressure gauge indicated no pressure, at about the same time George noticed we were taken on water in our bilge , oh yea I was at the helm with 6 . 2 depth indicated and we have a 6 foot draft. Martini rafted up with us but we could not find the leak. Remember we have one auto bilge pump not working, in fact I asked George if that could be the trouble. We turned on our secondary bilge pump and dried all the water out. We checked the oil and it was fine. We determined it may be the sending unit that is not working. It was just a scare but we did entertain Martini and Indulgence for a few minutes! We scheduled a mechanic to put on an oil pressure sending unit in Vero!

I just want to make it clear.... Most men may have a women in every port...,,George has a mechanic in every Port!!

Saturday, March 16th,

Left again at first light. We have a ten hour trip to Vero Beach. This is where the refrigeration man meet us last year. Will heck George may have more than one mechanic in some ports! Anyway, we were about two hours into our trip and we started taking on water in our bilge again. Martini rafted up with celebration. Jack got on Celebration, while Indulgence dropped the hook and waited. Jack and George rechecked every though hull. Then George called Wayne Horn who is a mechanic in Brunswick that knows Celebration pretty well. When George told him we had worked on one of the bilge pumps, he said he felt that may be suspect. We closed the though hull and we were off again. Just before we arrived at the inlet going into Vero Beach Marina, Indulgence ran aground in the middle of the channel. She got off before we could come back to help. When we got to the mooring ball, some water was in our bilge but not a lot. We hope we have solved the problem. Had a great dinner at the Riverside Restaurant !

No that is not green cool aid 

Sunday, March 18

Slept late yea!!! Walked 2 1/2 miles to a the pub where we had lunch. Bought some groceries so we took a taxi home. We enjoyed corn beef and cabbage on Indulgence to celebrate St Patrick"s Day. It was a lot warmer today. This may be the last day for Blue jeans! 

  Monday March 11.2013      
       January and February were packed full of life, both good and bad. So we did not have the prep time for this trip as we have had in the past. We left Brunswick a little raddled and unorganized. Drew Orr worked on our anemometer until about 10:00. Got it fix but we were to tired to clean up. We decided I would organize while George was at the helm on our way to Fernandina. As we started out the inlet we realized our auto pilot was not working. We looked at each other and realized our hearts just were not into this trip. Maybe it was that we hadn't had enough prep time, or that we had not had enough time to think and get excited about the trip with all that had happened in the past few months, or maybe we were not excited about the Keys !  We have heard some horror stories about $14.00 a foot dockage, waiting days for mooring balls and very shallow waters. We were also tired from working so hard to get ready to leave, we were ready to sell our boat at A VERY REASONABLE price. Jack and Linda were on Martini, Coy and Charles were on Makana, they had left on Saturday. John and Carolyn, our buddy boat from last year waited for us to leave on Monday. At one time we had told them they needed to go with or without us on Monday. As the day went on we were felling better about the trip. We needed a filter screen for our bilge pump so we were picking it up in St Augustine. George called and scheduled someone to look at our auto pilot also in St Augustine.

Got to the mooring ball in Fernandina at 5:00. Popped a cold one, stayed on the boat, and had left over pizza. NOW we were starting having some fun!