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.