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!