day by day

Boy howdy, but time do fly by!. I believe we were at Dowry Creek trying to peddle free "feesh" last time we posted. So, let's move on; April 21: Scooter and crew travelled to the Little Alligator river. No issues; passed thru the infamous Alligator-Pungo canal with ease; altho' sometimes that is not the case. When we arrived it was calm, cool and peaceful; and then..... What can I say; not so peaceful and quiet anymore. Amazing what you can sleep thru.

April 22: Up early to get across the Albemarle Sound before the winds picked up. Forecast was for 5-8kts; 1ft seas. Piece 'o cake for Scooter. 30 minutes after we left the anchorage, we were in 3-4' seas, 15-20 kt winds. 'Twas not a fun ride. Scooter  prevailed, and we got to Elizabeth City's municipal marina in good form. The city has a tradition of giving roses to visiting boat crews; gender specific, of course. Started in 1983, the tradition called for a wine and cheese party if there were 5 boats at the dock, plus roses for the female crew members. Continued to this day, but without the enthusiasm of earlier times. Nice town, friendly folks, good food.

April 23: Out of Elizabeth City, thru the Pasquotank River, by far one of the prettiest rivers of the whole trip; thru the South Mills lock , into the Dismal Swamp canal. Hardly wider than some of the local streams in PA, it actually handles an amazing amount, and type, of traffic. Fact is, possibly to Scooter's detriment, a large cruise boat apparently preceded us thru the canal. Since the controlling depth is only 6-7', large boats have a tendency to stir up "stuff" on the bottom. It hangs there before sinking; next boat thru has a good chance of catching a prop. Some thumps as we transited the canal, but no serious vibrations at this point.  We arrived at the Deep Creek Lock in time to clear the bridge and tie up at Elizabeth's dock for the night. Deep Creek is not a jumping burg; good thing, in our opinion, so it was really quiet and really starry. Up early on the 24th, into the lock to be lowered down to Deep Creek. Kind of an interesting experience.
Off Scooter and crew went ; thru the industrial environs of Norfolk, thru the might of the US Navy, past all the super toys used in big ship work. Tedious at times; one no wake zone after another, enforced by fast RIB's with M-60's; technologically enthralling at others.
Finally into Mobjack Bay, East River anchorage. From there, on the 25th Scooter wandered around into the Rappahanock River and the port/town of Urbanna, VA. for a visit with an acquaintance of ours from Mathews county. Honestly, the visit was like a leap back into the 40's. Model A Fords in plentiful supply, old style gasoline pumps; you know, the kind with the hand pump on the side and a glass cylinder at the top. Could that be where the term" fill 'er up" came from? Unfortunately, at the moment, technical difficulties are preventing me from posting the pics. Later, Chuckie. April  28: Scooter left Urbanna and crossed to the Corrotoman river for the night. Plan, based on the forecast was to cross the Bay to Crisfield,  Maryland. Ha! Blew out of the Corrotoman the 29th in good conditions, An hour later we were wishing that we had stayed put. Patience, determination, a good boat, and 6 hours later, found us tied to a dock in Crisfield. Short walk to Dollar general for the correct cat food  ( sorry, RCO's food) kept the fuzzy crew's  morale high. rest of the crew strolled to Bubby's for burgers and ice cream

Currently, Scooter and crew are in San Domingo Creek, just behind St. Michael's MD. Plan is/was to cross the Bay to Essex tomorrow, then traipse home Thursday. NOAA, however has just issued an advisory for high winds in the am. Soooo, I guess we'll do the old"wait and see" thing to see how it should be played. Be safe, catch you on the flip side

slacking off....again

So, after an afternoon and evening of entertainment provided by the USMC aviators driving Ospreys and various other rotorcraft at low altitudes over Mile Hammock Bay, we arose to a lovely morning and headed North  by way of Morehead City and Beaufort, NC. Also made a stop in Jarrett Bay for fuel. Seven hours and 51 NM later, we pulled into Cedar Creek; previously reported on, but most known for the "killer shrimp" that reside in these waters. January, 2010 was the date of that episode.

Peaceful night; up and on the way relatively early to New Bern, NC to visit with family friends, change engine oil and filters, tweak a few other things, etc. Visit was great. As you may recall, New Bern got clobbered by Florence last year. Like so many things that don't directly impact us personally, we tend to forget the disruption others are going thru.  The scene shown is really common here. Frankly, it is an amazing sight; jack up an entire house 8- 9', build some new walls/foundation etc, and you may be ready for the next blast from Mother Nature, or not!  'Taint cheap, but those who love it here seem willing to do what it may take to stick it out.

On the 17th, Scooter and crew, having said all the goodbye stuff, paid the slip fees, returned the adapter, and dealt, as usual, with the tanks, slid gently out of the slip and headed down the Neuse River, longest river contained within North Carolina's borders ( special, eh). Goal was to get to Slade Creek, just south of Belhaven, NC. Plan is to stage here while some bad weather blows thru Friday/Saturday, then hope things improve enough to get across Albemarle Sound. That part of the plan worked; 7.2 hours, 58 nm, found us anchored in Slade Creek, NC. Another repeat spot, as we had anchored here 10 years ago. Pleasantly enough, the place has not changed one iota . Not that we are anti establishment folks, but why does every inch of land have to be occupied by a building or an acre or more of asphalt. What's gonna happen when Nature is gone?

Up this morning; leisurely like, no rush, 'taint but 10 NM to go, and wind isn't forecast to kick up 'til 1100-1200, and we know that forecast folks are never wrong. So, Capt'n is pulling the anchor, and here comes Bubba in an old outboard; pulls right up to Scooter. "Geez" thinks the Capt'n, "did I run over his crab pot"? Guy says "wansomfeesh" Well, long story short, he had some fish he was giving away; got an early morning gift of crabs, flounder, etc, Loaded the feesh into a bucket with ice and rumbled off to Dowry Creek Marina to hang out while the weather blows thru.

ARC (anti rodent officer),  Deck Boss, and Food Control Officer had a staff meeting to discuss upcoming itineraries and future activities in their respective departments. These are tough jobs to fill; perseverance, determination, and the ability to wear more than one hat are a given. As the driver/fixer/gopher, I can feel comforted knowing that things are safely under control; no rodents dare enter the boat; no errant dock person dare misplace a line, and no meal dare to be out of spec. Life is good; catch you on the flip side.















 

Catching up

Last posting found Scooter and crew in Charleston, SC. The Charleston Maritime Center, as a matter of fact. There are quite a few marinas in the Charleston area, but for some reason we gravitate to this one. Its ugly to get in and out of, due to rapidly moving tidal currents, and really rock and rolly due to ship wakes rolling into the basin, BIG advantage; right downtown! This time around we tried something new; rode all three free bus routes around the city in one day. kind of interesting in lots of ways. Parts of this city are gently beautiful, parts absolutely aren't. Same can be said for the ridership. All in all, it was a most enlightening way to spend part of a day. Pleasant as it was, we couldn't get all the stuff done by bus, so we walked, nibbled on ice cream, and, you know, looked at things. Weather settled down, tanks in their proper state of capacity; either full, or empty; laundry all done. Time to git'er done. Beautiful day for a boat ride, so off we went to Awendaw Creek, enroute to, and hopefully,thru the McClellanville  low spot. Sort of sad departing Charleston; it has always been a fun visit.


The low spot issue worked out well; early up, thru as the tide was rising, and a smooth ride up the Waccamaw river to Osprey Point Marina. We have been here before; like the laid back atmosphere, great fuel prices and really friendly staff. Of all the rivers  Scooter has travelled, I think that this is one of the prettiest. Deep, wooded, and NO housing developments popping up along the way. Refreshing!
Out of Osprey Point, thru the Socastee swing bridge up to Ocean Isle Marina. Again, staging for the passage thru Lockwood's Folly inlet. Unbeknownst to us, the dredge had just finished fixing the shallow issues at this particular trouble spot, so we could have transited the inlet without waiting for  tidal assistance. Oh, well; it was a nice enough stay and the passage the next morning was easier because of it. Now in NC, we stopped at Southport Marina for fuel, slip, etc. After juggling all the various weather guesser's predictions, we decided to spend Monday visiting Bald Head Island, an island about 2 miles off the Cape Fear river inlet. There is a ferry that runs from  Southport to the island, and a golf cart rental company that eagerly awaits your arrival at the island. So, off we went on the ferry, 'round and 'round we went on the golf cart, and lickety-split home again on the ferry. Reminded me of Nantucket with palm trees; shingled houses and all. An adventurous day, an educational day.

Today's forecast called for strong T-storms and strong winds, but turned out to be a reasonably nice day with an occasional sprinkle. We juggled the time frames around a bit and elected to stop, again, in Wrightsville Beach, NC. Actually dropped the lil'ol rubber boat in the water and putted into the town dinghy dock. Walked to Robert's grocery store (has the coldest beer in Wrightsville Beach) for some items we were short on; 'taint short any more! Putted back (hooyah) in good form. Tomorrow will hopefully find us in Mile Hammock Bay, part of the Camp Lejune complex. We'll keep you posted. Be safe

Update; 3/19-3/28

Wow, been slacking off big time lately; my apologies. Last posted, Scooter and crew were in St Augustine, on a mooring ball, waiting out a nasty wind event. That eventually downgraded from gale conditions to mere small craft advisory conditions; winds up to 30 kts or so. So, away we went, north up the Tolomato river and associated environs to Harrison Creek. No major events along the way, no spectacular scenery to be mindful of. Pulled in, dropped Bruce,  the ground connector device, dried out the bilge; little more than usual, and settled in for the evening. About 2 in the am, the captain, as is his wont at times, got up to check on things; see if Bruce was doing his job, etc. The night time scenery was absolutely mind boggling. The water was awesomely still, not a ripple to be seen anywhere, the full moon was reflected in all its minute detail, as were the surrounding myriads of stars. A glistening, sparkling carpet, both above and beside Scooter. And out of the night stillness  what should I hear, but the "whufff" of a hunting porpoise. Stunning!

So,up and at'em in the morning; we had a tide timetable to match if we wanted to get thru Jekyll Creek without running aground. Engine room check; "Whoa, whats with all the water?" Bottom line, the heat exchanger on the starboard engine had a hole in it on the raw water side. When the engine ran, so did the water. MacGyver time, as there isn't really any other way. One engine might get us there, but I'm not sure we'd have enough food. So, PC plumbers epoxy, a #10 sheet metal screw, two small flat washers; Mix the "stuff", put the screw thru the washers, then thru the ball of "stuff", squash over the hole, tighten screw, wait 30 minutes; drive on to Brunswick, GA. 1/2 hour engine checks became routine. Got to Brunswick in good form. Asked the yard folks if they could, perhaps, repair the exchanger unit; braze it, etc. Laughable question. OK. Shopped, walked about, washed salt off boat, etc, and moved on. Next stop involved tidal timing for Little Mud River and Hell Gate, so we stopped for the night in Walburg Creek. Easy, peasy, then on to Herb River, just below Thunderbolt, GA. Lots of wind, black clouds and rumbling noise, a quick blast of rain, over and done.

Next morning Scooter and crew moved on to SC and Port Royal Landing Marina, just above Parris Island of USMC fame and pain. Not sure what is with the wind this trip, but we are certainly getting enough to last a while. A pleasant visit to Port Royal and neighboring Beaufort, SC. Provisioned, another term for shopped; (wonder when the other states will require recyclable plastic shopping bags?) Serviced the boat and headed north for Charleston, SC.. Coosaw,  Dawhoo, and Ashepoo rivers all passed under Scooter's keel today. Tomorrow will find us leaving our North Edisto river anchorage and heading into Charleston Harbor for some Harris Teeter experiences, perhaps a walk around that lovely city, tweak some boat issues, and get ready for more northerly travel.

Be safe, be happy, be thankful that Spring has started, and, above all, be careful out there. Catch you on the flip side.

Titusville forward

Eased into Titusville, well, blew into Titusville on a cool afternoon breeze, slipped into the slip (sorry), and settled in for some more Florida time. First item of business was to get the outboard repair guy and the ailing Tohatsu together. Our man, Justin showed up in good time, climbed on the boat, grabbed the starter rope, pulled, and the lil' bugger fired right up. He laughed, I felt a little dumb; certainly puzzled. Shut 'er down, tried a restart; again, and again, and again. I chuckled, and felt a little less dumb, certainly relieved. Bottom line: intermittent kill switch. As a preventative maintenance thing,we decided to update the carburetor. This engine is 8 years old, and sits a lot. Turned out there were some dry rotted gaskets. Also some mods to the needle valve  system on the idle side. So, we wandered around, did some boat maintenance stuff; as in washed the salt off, lubed the upper station throttle cables, etc. Question was asked about maintenance problems on an older boat like Scooter. Knock on wood, other than the holding tank issue, Scooter has been a very well behaved vessel. Problems do arise in any complex piece of  equipment. If you look at it this way: you have 20,000# of plastic wrapped machinery, akin to a small village; sewer plant, power and light producing plants, communication abilities, etc, moving thru an extremely hostile environment; the lack of problems is really an  amazing thing.

In the course of our wandering, we walked by one of the local LEO's. As we passed, he called out "has it been scrubbed". "Whoa". thinks I, "is this some kind of local ordinance?" Turns out he was referring to the shuttle launch planned for that evening. So, we scurried thru the shopping spree, and got back to the marina just in time for a snapshot of the event. Sorry, it was a quick snap with the phone. Man does some amazing things at times.

Speaking of which, our man Justin showed up at 1600 Friday afternoon, put the parts back on the Tohatsu, pulled it a bunch of times; it started and ran smoothly each time, so I figured it was good. I gotta tell you, its hard to go thru life as a slow learner. Next morning, off to the north. Windy, some sun, more clouds than sun perhaps, but still pleasant enough. Got to Daytona Beach and parked behind the Seabreeze bridge. Speaking of man doing amazing things,  I want to know how they get those cranes up there.

Out of Daytona, bound for St Augustine; windy and gray enough to run from the lower helm station. Overall, a good run, some scattered rain showers, but nothing that caused any problems. On arrival in the St Augustine mooring field, I rediscovered one of the issues with running from the lower station; you cannot see the mooring ball at all. Ah, well, after some wind induced veering , and guided by the picker-upper's corrective commentary, we got'er done in reasonable fashion. Once moored, I chose to take the dink in and pay up, etc. Remember it is reallly windy and rough. Mounted the lil'ol Tohatsu on the transom of the lil'ol rubber boat; slid in (literally) squeezed the bulb, choked it, pulled it twice, OK, maybe three times, and off we went, Bear in mind I am now going into  20 kts of wind whilst sitting on the rear tube of the lil boat; the bow is up, and rising ( stay tuned). Engine seems to be  running a bit fast, but I get to the dinghy dock in fairly good form, cut back to idle; "whoa" way too fast. Out of gear, now I'm going backwards; into gear, too fast. As long as you don't hit anything sharp, a rubber boat will bounce. Got in the slot between the finger piers, bounced around 'til I could grab something solid and get shut down. Fun!Took a moment and adjusted the idle speed.  Paid up and headed back to Scooter; With  the wind for the moment, so it was a pretty cool ride. Now, Scooter is a fairly flat bottomed boat, so there is a lot of swinging side to side while at anchor or on a mooring. Plus, the mooring moves as well; plus , well, when I went to idle the wind was so strong that, once again, I was going backwards; powered up, nothing happened... then. wham, in comes the power, up goes the bow; seriously! Finally figured how Scooter was going to move, and stayed centered until I got close enough to grab the swim platform and throw Ginny a line. was kinda like a three stooges moment. Apparently there may have to be some more fine tuning done.

At the moment, we are sitting in the mooring field, listening, and watching as 30-40 mph winds whip everybody around. Hopefully, the forecasts will  prove true and this will slow down by ten tonight. Plan is to head for Jacksonville tomorrow, Then  Brunswick, GA  on Thursday.

Stay safe, look for Spring; Catch you on the flip side.

Northbound

Question has arisen as to who is doing the rowing described in previous posts. Easy, peasy; one sits down, facing the stern, deploys, as in extends,  both oars. Next grab the good arm oar and pull rapidly for three pulls, quickly, but carefully, whirl around on the butt pivot point we are all provided with, grab the other oar, now on the good arm side, and push rapidly 3 times. Repeat as needed to reach the destination. There are, of course, other options.

As an addendum to the whole engine repair journey; yesterday the 85 degree sun/heat, altho' accompanied by a soothing breeze, heated up the gas tank enough to pressurize the whole system. When I bounded off Scooter into the "dink"and tried to get it started: yup, nothing but dripping gas, locked cylinders, etc. So another afternoon of sweat'n cuss. No spark showing; exciter, coil; I dunno... End result is that the lil' ol Tohatsu is tied to the back of Scooter enroute to Titusville's Tohatsu guys for repair, I hope; certainly beyond my pay grade at this point.

So, up and at 'em this morning; refuel, fill tanks that need it, empty those that need to be empty, and head North up the Indian River. We are currently sitting 27 miles south of Titusville, hiding behind the Pineda causeway bridge to duck the NE winds associated with a cold front that is working down Florida.

We'll be in Titusville for a bit, depending on what the repair folks say, then continue north 'til we get there. Be there by Spring, any luck at all; you folks stay warm for now, be happy; be safe.

New plan...and other things

So here we are, still at Vero Beach. First thing that you have to grasp is that once you are attached to the mooring can/ball, you are on your own for transportation to and from shore. A dinghy is a must! Either that or you walk on water; swimming is not a wise choice here.  Well, thas' al'right wid us, bud, 'cause we do have a dink. Another official nautical, "sailor cool" term, Chuckie; dink; aka, rubber boat, dinghy. What doesn't show in the pic, is that the dink has an outboard motor attached to the transom ( the solid part of the boat running between the aft ends of the tubes); clear on that part? The motor, in this case is a Tohatsu 8hp, twin cylinder motor. It will usually drive the "dink" fast enough to scare the pants off you. What makes it even more fun is that the "dink" has an inflatable floor; any chop, or waves and the floor ripples. Kinda wild to experience. Anyway, the combo has been behaving fandamntastically for the whole trip. One of the perks that the city of Vero Beach offers is a free bus that serves the marina and important local entities; Walmart, Publix, etc. We had need to visit those places, so into the dink, PFD's on, pull the starter handle; nothing, after lots of pulls; nothing, not even a pop. Now, mind you, it is about 80, and not a lot of wind; its hot! Flooded? A common thing with these engines. Pull the plugs; can't, don't have a 16mm socket. Call NAPA, they'll send one out. Gotta row in to get it. Fortunately, a nice guy gave us a tow along the way. Got the socket, pulled and dried the plugs; nothing. Got another tow back to Scooter. Boy, we're having fun now! Seeing the flurry of activity around the boat, several experts, nice guys, and certainly well meaning, appeared and offered their services. Talked to some of my people; got more info; all educational. Les' see; plugs are wet, carb has fuel, fuel looks clean coming out of the carb; no spark! Go to "bubba" and the redneck repair guys on the internet. Bottom line step one; by pass kill switch. Did so; pulled cord; up and running! 'Course you can't shut it off; "MacGyvered" it for now.  OK, mobile again, off to town, laundry, etc. Let's do dinner at the local hot spot; we can dinghy over... Great idea.......I must digress a moment. When I was younger, so many moons ago, my father decided I was tolearn how to ride horses and such. Mind, I was still in the snow suit stage. So, Dad goes into the barn, puts me on the back of Pedro, the donkey, grabs the rope, says" here you go" swats Pedro on the Butt, and out the door we went. Good ol' Dad is standing there holding the rope  that is still firmly attached to the wall. Pedro and I quickly reached an agreement; I'd get off,  he wouldn't kick me. So, back to the story; the trip over went smoothly, dinner was adequate, and the trip back to the marina dock was great; twinkling anchor lights, wind in your hair, motor (still) purring. In and out of the dock, heading back to Scooter, crew says" I think I'm holding the wrong rope". " Say, what" says the whiz bang Capt'n. "I don't have the right rope" " I'm holding the side rope, not the front rope" " Ah....soooo" says the Capt'n, now suspecting that the night will not be ending quite according to his plans. Throttle to idle; too late, motor just thudded to a stop. Out with the oars. Stroke, stroke. Tie it up, out with a boat hook, clear line from prop, good to go. Gotta tell you, Chuckie, took a bit longer than the telling. Fun part was shining a light into the infested waters while you waved a shiny arm around hunting for the line. Bait did not used to be part of my personal experience.

All turned out to be well; motor runs fine, folks that now share can # 50 with us are quite good. As to the new plan; after some discussion. looking at weather and some other things, Scooter and crew will be turning North on Tuesday. Timing and the desire to see some things on the way back to the Chesapeake have led us to make the decision.

First half of the journey has been fun, different from the last time we did this, but in an interesting way. We're looking forward to seeing some new spots; maybe a quick revisit to some places we saw on the way down, but, perhaps shorted in the time we spent. Hope you'll stay with us. Catch you on the flip side!

Vero Beach

Also known as "Velcro Beach" in the cruising community, reason seems to be that cruisers that get here, tend to stay here. Easy to get around; free bus; lots to do and see, reasonable prices, warm air; what more could you want. Anyway, we'll be here 'til Sunday; gotta wait for the mail and some parts to catch up to us.


Last night, and this morning for that matter, the winds howled, the boat thumped, pitched, and banged; sleep was a bit scarce. But, life goes on anyway, so up and get'er done. Couldn't cook breakfast, 'cause the stove won't hold still in any wave action; we certainly had lots of that going on. Cold stuff works; cinnamon buns, fruit, cereal, did just fine. Yanked the anchor; down the ICW to Vero Beach. Easy trip. Into the Vero Beach City marina; mooring ball/can # 50. Deal here is that there are a limited number of buoys available and an unlimited number of cruising boats wandering in looking for a place to stay. More boats than balls leads to the nautical miracle known as "rafting up". That way you can get two or three boats on one ball. Interesting exercise to participate in. At this point, we are the sole occupant of ball #50. Should a boat of similar size and type arrive, we will have a very close neighbor. The raftee, should they be present, gets to watch, try to direct, and twitch, as the rafter; the boat tying to the already moored boat, makes its approach. Situational control can bounce back and forth like cloud to cloud lightening. Throw in clashing egos, inept, or hesitant crew, and the whole process can get frazzled pretty quick. All part of the adventure.

Scooter will be here 'til the mail arrives, then on to Indiantown, FL to stage for the Lake O crossing. Until then, repairs, modifications(as in improvements), laundry, provisioning, etc will keep us busy for now.
In response to the request for a picture of Scooter; here ya go.
Thanks to all for following along; we've enjoyed having you aboard.
Catch you on the flip side.

Coconut point; 3/6/2019

Go to Green # 17 on the Indian River, turn left, drop the hook... and there you are; anchored off Coconut Point, FL. Actually near Palm Bay, FL. Did that help? How about just north of Sebastian Beach? Remember the pelican comments? Well,  today I watched two of them do the attack helicopter thing. Granted, we had 20 to 30 kt winds blowing, but they actually hovered over the water; dead stop, Chuckie, really! Then folded the wings, dropped straight down, and came up with dinner.

Sorry, trivia. Speaking of 20 kt winds; NOAA had posted a small craft advisory for today; essentially says " its gonna be rough and nasty, stay at the dock" In this particular case, it is cold 40's into the 50's; 20 kts, gusting on occasion to 30, but from the North. Tide was headed south as well. So, following seas and a fair wind. I know that you've all heard that expression, on at least one occasion or so. So I took it as gospel; came from the gov'mint, after all, gotta be right, eh. Even said the winds would die down by 1500 or so. I was concerned 'cause the only available anchorage is pretty, no, make that very, exposed to N/NW winds and waves.

Yup, here we sit bouncing around like the proverbial cork, tied to the ground with 120' of heavy chain, just waiting for the forecast wind reduction. Gonna be a long and noisy night. They got the cold part right, tho' so the lil' red Honda is purring away outside; so the little black box can do a hot hum away inside.

For dinner, well let me bring you up to speed on that story, Scooter is a 1984 vessel. Back in those days CNG was installed as a popular fuel for stoves/ovens, etc in lieu of propane. The difference being that CNG rises when it gets loose; propane sinks and forms pools in low spots; Boom,  goes the boat when the starter sparks. With the advent of all this modern tech, the hazards of using propane have been brought under control. The advantage of using CNG on the other hand, has faded away, particularly in boats. Interestingly enough, it has been gaining ground rapidly in vehicle use; it is relatively inexpensive and clean burning. Our problem was finding a source to fill our CNG tank(s). We hunted, unsuccessfully, until we got to Palatka; ah, ha; a source, and we had the adapter to use with the tank. However, when Bubba and Brett showed up to help us put it all together, we found that; 1.) the tank could no longer be certified; 2.) No tanks were available that would work with our system; and 3.) we were just plumb out of luck, and cooking fuel. Lest we look inept; I suppose I should be correct in that assessment; lest I look inept and guilty of poor planning, there has been a good deal of research done as to replacement units; even looked into getting something installed during the trip. For now, no luck; so, we are cooking with a single burner propane stove that requires  a non-bouncing boat to operate safely. We also grill, and do the salad thing. Advertised gourmet . meals pale in comparison to what pops forth from Scooter's galley.

Tomorrow will see us headed for Vero Beach, FL; hang for a day or two, pick up mail, provision the boat, etc then on to Lake O for the cross Florida adventure

                                                             
Stay safe, play hard; catch you on the flip side.

To be continued... continued

The Pelican. Have you ever watched a pelican fly? Truly a master of efficiency and ground effect aerodynamics. I've watched them drop/dive like a rock into the water and consistently come up with dinner. that in itself is fascinating to me, but their grace and smoothness in the air is equally enthralling. How many hours would it take human pilots to achieve a smooth formation like this one? They make it look soooo easy.


After wandering about and enjoying St. Augustine, Scooter's crew opted to head further down the waterway. Up and at'em, dinghy stowed, motor hoisted and locked on the mount, holding tank pumped, cooler iced down, and mooring pendant dropped, Scooter rumbled into the ICW channel; headed for...South. We plan a run of 40 to 50 miles per day, more if necessary, less if it works out that way. This leg was not as productive as we had hoped, 'cause the tidal flow was agin' us. Jamming the throttles up makes mostly noise; really doesn't do much for the headway, so we run along at a modest RPM setting; get there when we do. So, we ended up at Palm Coast marina in... Palm Coast FL. OK place, convenient for a fuel stop and stuff. It was handy 'cause we would not have been able to make any decent anchorage areas with the daylight that we had left. Travelling on the water in Florida on a nice weekend day is not  a wise move; lesson learned!

Out of Palm Coast fairly early; soon as the fog and drizzle cleared, and on down to New Smyrna Beach,  FL. Lotta boats and boatyards; pink, blue, and yellow houses jammed next to the water. Took some hunting and poking around, but we finally found a spot to drop the "hook" for the night. the "hook" in nautical parlance is other wise known as an anchor. there are lots of different style anchors; generally differentiated by the shape of the flukes, or parts of the anchor that actually dig into the sea bottom. Ours is a Bruce anchor, also known as a claw; looks kinda like a Manta Ray in flight with a long, straight nose; no tail. Truly nautical boaters refer to anchoring as"on the hook". Same folks refer to it as"  on the hard" when the boat is placed on land for repairs. Make whatever you want out of all that.

Anyway, this am found us easing into the ICW by green 45 in the rain, drizzle and fog that a passing cold front was burdening us with. it was sort of cool watching approaching boats ooze out of the mist like a foaming shadow. radar picked them up first, then .the eyeballs got it, and pretty soon, there it was. Three and a half hours, 28 miles, and we were in Titusville marina awaiting the cold temps and blustery winds forecast for tonight, With luck, tomorrow will see Scooter on the hook 35 miles short of Vero Beach, Florida.

Stay safe, warm and happy. Catch you on the flip side.

Catch up time.: part 1

Last we met, Scooter and crew were headed for the free city dock in Sisters Creek, Jacksonville, FL. Consistent readers of this blog will recognize that we must like free; we've been here before; may very well be here again. actually, it is a nice spot; floating dock, solid cleats to tie lines on, and nearby restrooms. Even running water to refill boat tanks.

Spent a peaceful night here; got up in the morning intending to get an early start for St Augustine, FL. Well, that just didn't work out real smoothly. Radar is great most of the time, but it doesn't work well with crab pots and sandbars, so we decided to hold for a bit. By 10:00 or so, things had improved to the point that the birds were out drip drying their wings. So, off we went, down Sisters Creek into the St. Johns river headed for Pablo Creek, turned the corner and; "holy, cow" These guys leave a monster wake and are really, really big!

An  arriving southbound boater is greeted by the sight of the famous Bridge of Lions. Started in 1925, finished in 1927, it is one of the greatest landmarks of the chaotic and expensive Florida land boom of the 20s. Due to the effort to make it a work of art, as well as a functioning drawbridge, it is said that it cost ten times more that a normal bridge. Ah, how politics have remained ever so steadfast. The bridge has long been known as a major part of the history of the nation's oldest city.  I gotta say, as a person partial to bridges, their grace, symmetry and strength as they arc across so much inaccessible space is sort of amazing to me.

OK, enough about the bridges, on with the journey. We picked up a mooring ball in the city's mooring field; ball # 7, to be exact. For clarification, in the case of Chuckie and the rest of you that have never played with a mooring ball, or, for that matter, on a mooring field, let me explain just a bit. A mooring ball may be shaped like; 1.) a ball, 2.) a can, 3.) a float, 4.) any daggone thing that will allow itself to be anchored to the bottom of the mooring field, and that some mooring field engineer has deemed suitable, or affordable. Attached to the bottom of the mooring ball is an anchor chain, or bridle, that attaches the mooring ball to the anchor that holds, hopefully, the ball, the chain, and any boat that elects to pick up the ball, firmly in place. Attached to the top of the mooring ball is the mooring pendant. This is sized to be able to handle the working loads that  boats of varying sizes impose on the assembly. Sometime the pendant will be supplied with a float that holds said pendant in such a fashion that it is visible to the picker upper. Often times not. As the boat approaches the mooring field; simply a generic term for the area in which all the mooring devices are placed, the crew will be assigned a mooring number, and given vague directions as to where to look; "in front of the white sloop, behind the blue trawler". Once spotted, the picker upper person goes to a position from whence the pendant can be grabbed with a boat hook and brought on board. Bear in mind that the boat steerer person generally cannot see the ball, or the pendant once the boat is close enough to actually accomplish something. It is sort of like blind man's polo with 20000# of boat. Ah, one more thing to add to the joy; grabbing an old pendant that has been hanging in the water for some time is akin to grabbing ten feet of lively slime. Then, when that dance is under control, the pendant is secured using a bridle off the bow of the boat; and, voila! You are moored!. Fortunately, Scooter has one of, if not the best, picker uppers in the business. One pass and done!

Boat and crew spent 3 days in St. Augustine, wandered a bit, laundered a bit, ate a lot, shopped  a bit, laundered a bit more after a surprise pop up T-storm caught us with the hatches open. A nice marina, a pleasant city with loads of history for those so inclined. All in all, a good visit.

To be continued........Catch you on the flip side! Stay warm and safe.

2/26/2019; Dr's Lake, Florida

Not really a lake, 'cause it is openly attached to the St Johns River; in today's PC speak it is an inlet. Heck of a conversation starter, eh? Anyway, Scooter and crew departed good  ol' Palatka again this morning and headed north. Kind of a grey and dreary day on the river. A bit of rain here and there, some wind generated chop ( not suey, Chuckie, waves), but all in all, not a bad ride. Plan is, weather permitting, to go thru the FEC RR bridge tomorrow between 1145 and 1300, then thru the Jacksonville harbor complex to Sisters Creek; hang a left and park for the night at the Jacksonville City dock. Forecast calls for T-storms and rain most of the day, so we'll have to see how it goes.

Before Scooter left for this voyage, the crew updated the electronic navigation equipment. Garmin was the stuff of choice at the time. After many miles of hair tugging, some impolite mumbling, and a lot of experimenting, we finally got the nav units to operate together; as in display the same thing at the same time. The upper station unit showed the boat on land, but with depth numbers, while the lower unit showed us in the water. Now, we're in the water on both units, but the upper unit still has some "what in the ..... is that all about" stuff going on. Talking to the support folks is a blast. We'll get'er done, somehow, sometime.

Thoughts on the St Johns River; big in the northern end, small in the beginning, Interesting and scenic after Palatka, not so much before that; Like everywhere else, some really nice folks here, and, some not so much. The hard hits that the hurricanes dealt out are  quite evident in a lot of places, as are the efforts to get it all put back together; most places.

By the end of the week Scooter should be in St Augustine or Daytona Beach... who knows for  sure at this point; South, anyway Catch you on the flip side.

North bound; down the river.

With an "urnk, urnk" here and a "urnk, urnk" there, we spent the night tied to the ground in Morrison's Creek. Also lots of moaning and groaning(easy, Chuckie) from the Ibis roosting trees next to the creek. One of the more interesting audio take aways from last night, was the peeper band.  Sounded a  lot like a drunken banjo group. Actually, at times, had a pretty good beat. The "urnk"s came when the Ibis's decided to aviate; even if it was just to change branches. With all that exotic noise going on, I half expected Tarzan to come blasting by.

Given the weather forecast, Scooter's crew decide to do an early up and at'em to avoid the winds that were going to hit the lake. Decision was wise, as the winds jumped in a bit early. Scooter does not like, or tolerate, lots of wind or wave action on the stern (backside, Chuckie). Compared to Chesapeake Bay seas, thus was mild, but certainly annoying. The angle was such that there was a good bit of induced roll involved as well; uncomfortable at best.

Anyway,  across Lake George, quick stop for fuel and ice at Renegades on the River, one of two marinas on the St Johns with available diesel fuel. Between Bubba and the wind it was a memorable experience! Moving downriver again, thru the Buffalo Bluff bascule RR bridge, into Dunns Creek. The intent was to find a protected anchorage in the untamed wilds of Florida; get shelter from the T-storms bearing down on us, observe some wildlife, and hope for some cool air. So ,around the bend we go, and whoa, looky here! Buses, airstream camper, and for your lifting pleasure, a small crane. "Noble Phoenix" is the name. I tried looking it up and got a variety of answers; some interesting, some believable. Lots of strange stuff like this in the Florida waters we been thru. This ship is occupied, as were some of the other boats we've seen derelicting their way to oblivion. Interesting phenomenon. Costly for the state and local governments, but it seems hard to stop.

Tomorrow, we'll keep heading North. Weather is to turn wet, and, blessedly, cooler. Jacksonville, turn right twice and head for St Augustine. we'll keep you posted. Stay happy. Catch you on the flip side.

Annnnd here we go again......

Palatka, Florida; put together in the 1800s as a trading center; often referred to as the "gem city of the St Johns River". A raging fire in 1884 put an end to a lot of that prosperity. Its kind of a cool town; friendly folks, Florida's oldest diner; Angels; fantastic breakfasts. The town has encouraged mural paintings on some 30 buildings; different subjects, some relating to parts of Palatka's  history, others to more recent events. The marina, as did so many others along the rivers here, suffered  a pretty heavy hit from the recent hurricanes. Rates were inexpensive, facilities were working. It was good. We rented a vehicle from good ol' Enterprise; gave us a bit of mobility that proved quite useful; Family visits, chasing mail & parts. As Enterprise is sometimes inclined to do, they gave us a free upgrade. From a Hyundai sedan to a brand new F-150. Yo; what a treat; thing had so many bells and whistles on it that it was hard to focus on steering. We managed.

We were due to leave Palatka on the 21st, but weather; in the way of wind, and an escaped gremlin in the starboard engine's (Frick, as opposed to Frack) cooling system caused us to back that to the 22nd. Issue turned out to be solvable by the captain; as did the associated issues that, of course, arose at the same time. Now, it is painful for me to go into this factor, given the domiciles of many of you, but I gotta confess that trying to work in a hot engine room when the temps are over 85, is an excruciatingly slow process; ya know what I mean, right. I honestly don't think age really has anything to do with it; I can, after all, still bend.

So, goodbyes all being said, Scooter full where needed, empty where advised, and the cooler iced down, we were ready to roll; oops; Mother nature say "whoa, bubby, be a bit" So, we waited. I don't mind radar and GPS navigation when I have some idea where I'm going. But, not here. Didn't take long before things opened up a bit. Up the river, south in this case we went to Bear's Creek, just north of Lake George .

Up this morning and on up the river, across the Lake: biiig lake, to
Morrison's Creek, which, surprisingly enough is just by Morrison's Island. Critters abound here; Ibis, egrets, herons, turtles, and for the more adventurous; "Alli", as in gator. Sorry, you'll have to click on that one to see it better. Tomorrow will find us heading north again; down the river towards Murphy's Island and or Palatka. We hoping we don't get tagged by the mass of rain and "stuff" moving across parts of the south to our west. Given that the lake is shallow any wind will create a mass of ugly. Stay safe, stay happy, stay warm! Catch you on the flip side.

St. Johns River

Up at a comfortable time for our departure to the St. John's River. The port of Jacksonville is extremely busy; tugs, tankers,  warships, recreational boats, all compete for the same waterway space. gets kinda interesting at times. Some rules to remember; "green right going", "red right returning",  "triangles on the land side", "weight is right", "one whistle pass', or "two whistle pass"; sometimes expressed as"see you on one, cap'n". All this while watching the depth finder, the chart, and the plotter. Anyway, off Scooter went; down Sisters Creek, took a right into the St. Johns River and into the maelstrom of boating traffic. Hard to believe you can get a tingle at 8 kts; but, trust me, it can happen. Finally thru the commercial docks into the city proper, we found that the FEC RR bridge, normally open, was having a problem and was closed to marine traffic. So we milled around for 45 minutes in the current. " FEC bridge, MV Scooter, got any idea when you might open?"" We're working on it, Cap'n; be a few minutes" Funny, that's what he said 30 minutes ago. All of a sudden; up it goes; Great big ol' rusty hunk of iron and gears acting like a jack-in-the-box. Hope whatever the problem is has nothing to do with the mechanism that keeps it open. Past that issue. on down to Dr's Lake Marina for diesel/ice, etc. Out of there, past the Navy Air Base ( under a navy C-130 doing touch and goes):kinda cool. Oh, forgot; we are now stuck in this river until they fix that bridge. Altho' I see in today's CG notams that they may have changed the maintenance dates. Ah, well; press on. On down the river to Black Creek.

This am decided to take a quick side trip, and run up said creek; just to explore a bit, ya know; sort of gives us bragging rights. We did it in fairly good form; came back down the creek, under the bridge, back into the main river. A word about bridges; Most, but not all, bridges over navigable waterways have height boards attached to the bridge fenders ( part you can hit, Chuckie, but not hurt the bridge). the chart will say Horiz cl x# of ft; vert cl x# of ft. Thinking captain will know his/her clearance limits. What sometimes happens is that the board gets so crudded up that it is illegible; Combine that with an unusual tide situation, a non-thinking captain, and .... I gotta tell you, it makes a terrible noise. What is really fun, is when a bull-headed bridge tender tells you that there is x number of ft of clearance, and you can go thru; sometimes they lie; Same horrible noise!

That all said and done, Scooter rumbled down the river to Clarks Creek, our current anchorage for the night. Tomorrow we will move on down to Palatka, FL, docking there 'til the 21st or so. We'd like to explore the river further south, but since there is no fuel available may have to adjust the plan a bit

Hope all is well in your worlds. catch you on the flip side.

Saint Marys to JAX

Happy Valentine's Day. May all you sweethearts rejoice, no matter the gender, it is your day!. Ah, and what a beautiful day it was; one made for romance; perhaps a luncheon, perhaps a dinner at that special place, for sure  a special card, you know one of those that almost drips with sentiment when you open it. Well, if none of that applies to your case, I suspect a long upcoming year may be in your future. Well, yeah, Chuckie, flowers count.

Some quick comments re Saint Marys; main draw is the Cumberland Island  National Park, Visitors run about 300 per day in season. Absolutely worth the trip. Town itself got hammered by the last round of hurricanes; Irma and the group. They are rebuilding. Pretty spot, birds of all sorts inhabit the marshes; themselves a wonderland of scenery and wildlife activity

They say that time and tide wait for no man, but, boy, does man wait for tide. The concept of a rising, or falling, tide running your time schedule is humbling at best. Trick is to time your trip; speed, departure, etc so that the tide will be high enough to get the boat through the low spot you need to pass 30 miles down the river. Can become a challenging enterprise on a windy day. Anyway, we rode the falling tide down the Saint Marys river to Florida. Oozed around the shallows at Fernandina Beach, down the Amelia River into Sisters Creek. As Scooter passed by various ocean inlets, our speed over the ground would vary by as much as 3 knots. Sometimes the incoming tide would turn left and end up on our nose, sometimes to the right and give us a boost. Pretty much on schedule, Scooter and hard working crew arrived in Jacksonville, FL. The city

has installed some nifty floating docks just north of the main harbor. Use is free; no power or water hookups, but, hey, the operative word is free. So, how can you complain?

Tomorrow will find Scooter following the St. Johns River thru the commercial port of Jacksonville itself . This river actually runs north, so we will be headed south while going up the river. Interesting concept, eh. What will make this part of the trip so different is that we will be unable to get back out of the river for at least a week. USCG has decided to close a RR bridge in Jacksonville for repairs during the coming week. To further enhance the tingle of adventure Scooter will experience is the fact that there is no diesel fuel available on the river once we leave Jacksonville. Better stay tuned for this one!

Hope all is well with y'all (sorry, couldn't help it); that you are staying warm, happy, and safe.

711 and counting

Monday, February 11; from mile 711; what was supposed to be a pretty day with sunshine, gentle ocean breezes, and perfect temps turned out to be a bit different. Sweatshirt weather, lousy visibility, no sun. Well, could have been snow & ice, so I guess complaints at this point are useless. Out of Brunswick, GA., headed for Cumberland Island, GA. Once one of our favorite spots to stop and wander amongst the live oaks and Spanish moss, we were looking forward to the visit. So, thru Brunswick River to Jekyll Creek; notorious for its shallows and strong currents.

Caused a bit of a stir, squawk actually, at the local pelican bridge gathering. Out into St Andrews sound; closest we'll be to the Atlantic Ocean on this leg of the trip. Past Brickhill River, past the missile sub base at King's Bay, into the anchorage at Cumberland National Park. For the first time this season , we off loaded the little rubber boat, attached the 80# lump of iron to the back, gave it three pulls and it fired up. A major relief for this one armed puller; up and running, we blasted off to the park. Wandered out to the beach, looked for the memories; found some. Ever notice how they aren't quite the same? Back to the dock, into the little rubber boat and off we went, back to Scooter. Enroute, however,  I noticed steam coming from the cooling port. Ah, well; something for Tuesday's project list. Happy hour was fairly peaceful, dinner was fantastic. nighttime scenery was spectacular as well. A wall of sea fog rolled in, so you could see the stars, but not much else.

Up and at things in the am. Hopefully the discovery that one of the outboard lift harness straps was blocking the cooling outflow will solve the problem. Couple of other items tweaked or repaired. Crew decided to head up to St Marys, GA. No particular reason; never been there, so why not. 'Cides, T-storms were in the forecast. Rather be tied down than anchored. Up anchor, and up the St. Marys River. 8+ miles; hour and a half later we were there. Unfortunately, so were the squall lines with 20+ kt winds. Wasn't that a blast. Scooter is tucked into what is left of the Lang marina after Irma finished with it. Lots of current, lots of wind, and another line of storms headed our way.

Tomorrow will, hopefully, see us in Florida; Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, and Jacksonville on on the target list. Have a great evening, a wonderful day, and stay safe. Catch you on the flip side.