February 3-February 6, 2012

Made it to Titusville Marina today.  Our plan is to rent a car and drive to Kennedy Space Center tomorrow.  Walked to town to check it out.  We had  been here for one of the shuttle launches.  When we had come for the launch, we walked a good part of town including the marina so a lot looked familiar. 

Rented the car from Enterprise, got the weekend rate.  And a good deal it is, $20 for Saturday and Sunday, returning the car Monday morning.  We walked to the car rental just to get out early.  Were off by 9:15 and headed to the Space Center.  I read that they now offer tours of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) so wanted to get in on that.  We did the full blown tour.  It was worth the $$.  The orbiter Atlantis was in the VAB being prepared to go on display at the Space Center.  Construction was underway to build a new building to house Atlantis.

And we finally saw alligators.  We also saw bald eagles and gopher turtles.  One of the bald eagle nests, there may be about 20 nests on the reserve, is said to weigh approximately 800 pounds and has been there for over 30 years.  Amazing to see.  Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 as an overlay of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center. Consisting of 140,000 acres, the Refuge provides a wide variety of habitats: coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks provide habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals.  We got to see a small part of this incredible area.

Watched a 3D IMAX on the Hubble Telescope and toured the other parts of the center.

Sunday, we reprovisioned and watched the Superbowl.

Monday, we returned the car and walked back to the marina.  While we were fueling, we saw a manatee by the dock.  It is unbelievable the scars on the backs of these animals.  We are extra careful to watch for them.

Jacksonville is our next marina with a stop or 2 in-between.

We see dolphins along the way.  It is still very shallow on both sides of the channel, 1-2 ft deep. 

While driving the boat today, I had my iPAD in my hand just holding it down to my side.  Don't know what happened, but I dropped it just right and it cracked the screen on the side with the button.  Boohoo.  It still works but will need to see about replacing the screen.  What a pain.

The weather turned cloudy and dark before we reached our anchorage for the evening.  As we were deciding where to drop the anchor, it got shallow and we churned up mud or something, not good.

Our anchorage was by Memorial bridge close to Daytona Beach. 

January 31-February 2, 2012

Walked to West Marine this morning.  It was about 4 miles round trip.  On the way we stopped at the Manatee Center.  An older woman was waiting for the place to open.  She is a volunteer there.  She pointed out the manatee floating in the canal in front of the place.  He/she was hard to see as the water was dark.  Mostly see big lumps in the water.
Washed down the boat scrubbing off the salt.  The  anchors were gross with dried black mud.  Yuck.
Read most of the afternoon.  Felt good to just relax.

Wednesday morning we rode bikes to Publix to get a couple of things.  Stop at a diner for breakfast.  Back at the boat we fill the water tank in preparation for leaving.  As we're on deck, we see a couple of manatees hanging around the boat.  Just big lumps in the water hanging around.

We leave about 1pm today on our way to Vero Beach.  This was a must stop for us.  When we were looking for boats about 2 years ago, we stopped here and had lunch just down the waterfront from the marina.  As we're looking out we see these boats on the intercoastal and dream of the day it's us on that boat.

So at Vero Beach, we tie up to a mooring ball.  This is a first but is really easy, just ease up to the ball and grab the line and tie it to the boat.  The boat swings around as if it were on an anchor.  We dinghy in to the marina to get registered.  There is no power or water but the cost is about a third of a slip so still a good deal for the night. 

We dinghy to the Riverside Cafe for dinner.  The guest dock is covered in pelican poo.  One of the restaurant patrons comes out to help us get the dinghy tied off .  We have to climb up on hands and knees so a trip to the bathroom is in order before we touch anything.  The place is crowded so we have to wait for a table.  We get a beer from the bar and walk out to the outside deck.  There are only a few tables out there but we'll wait.  That's where we want to sit.  The couple that helped us offered us the other two chairs from their table so we moved them to the rail.  We ended up eating there which was just fine with us.  There is nothing really special about this place just holds special memories for us.

It's past dusk when we dinghy back to the boat.  Anchoring out has lighting limits.  When it gets dark, it gets really dark.  We have lights from the inverter but we try to limit their use.  We also have TV but only local, very basic channels. 

Thursday morning, we wake up and notice we aren't facing the same direction as the other boats.  Jerry goes to the stern and I hear him talking to someone.  When I go out on the sun deck, I see a 40' sailboat attached to our stern, sort of.  Somehow our dinghy had become caught under the ladder on the stern of their boat.  Jerry suspects that because we have more windage than sailboats, we had turned when they hadn't and the dinghy got hooked.  Fortunately, no damage to either. 

We head out this morning.  Finally see some American White Pelicans.  Much prettier than the Brown Pelicans we've seen throughout the Gulf Coast and through the Okeechobee.  They don't dive for their food like the Brown Pelicans, instead they surround fish in shallow water, scooping them into their pouches.  Interesting to watch. 

We found a very cool anchorage.  The narrow channel had houses on one side and a beautiful park on the other. 

We made our way around to where it was recommended we drop the anchor but it was too shallow for our liking.  We turned around and motored out across the ICW and dropped anchor closer to a bridge  in wide open spaces.  We were outside Melbourne, FL.

While we were around the park, Jerry made several attempts to capture a Brown Pelican diving into the water.  I think he finally did it.

 

Just funny to see.  Like a kid doing a cannonball.  The splash makes it.

January 27-January 30, 2012

Took the morning to take care of laundry and walk to Publix.  Jerry and I had lunch at First Watch, a taste from home.  We each carried about 15-20 pounds back to the boat in our backpacks, beer, milk and a few odds and ends. 

We want to get on down the river so head out in the afternoon.  Leaving Fort Myers on the Caloosahatchee River we make our way towards Lake Okeechobee.  See the map below.

Lake Okeechobee is basically at the center of  Florida.  It is the largest lake in Florida and the second largest freshwater lake in the United States.  The lake covers over 730 square miles and averages 10 feet in depth.  There are 5 locks, 3 going up and 2 going down.

Many signs along the canal warn boaters to beware of manatees and to go slow.  We pass a power plant where the water is about 10 degrees warmer than before or after this area.  Manatees are known to hang out here.  They prefer the warmer water temps.  We didn't see any but looked closely.

Papa driving the boat using the auto-pilot.  I really love this man.  We are having great fun!





Our anchorage tonight is an oxbow off the river.  There are houses on one side of the anchorage.  As we're dropping the anchor we see a huge feral pig rooting around on shore then moves into the nearby wooded area.

Quiet evening here.

We're off the next morning about 9am.  Our first stop is the Franklin Lock. 

This lock isn't nearly as large as the ones we went through on the Tennessee River.  No floating bollards, in fact the lockmaster tossed a couple of lines to Jerry to tie to the boat.  Andreu, the lockmaster, works for the Corp of Engineers.  Really friendly guy.

These locks only have a few feet drop so he cracked the upstream doors to let water into the lock. 

As we entered the lock, we see this lump in the water.  It's a manatee.  I sort of swerved the boat to miss it.  The lockmaster had radioed to let me know it was there. 

The scenery is different from what we've been experienced since we made it to Florida.  Still seeing big and small houses.  We see some citrus groves, not sure if it's oranges or something else. Also see bee hives along the way.  Lots of bee hives.

It appears these hives are just being stored along the shore.  Can't see any crops they might be pollinating, but maybe something beyond what we can see. 

We anchored today just south of the Moore Haven Lock on dolphins.  These are pilings on the side of the canal for barges or other commercial vessels.

There were several airboats blasting out of the swamps.  I guess they were fishing, not really sure.

Today we head into the Lake Okeechobee.  It starts out very swampy.  Several fishing boats are out in this area.  We didn't really see very many boats out on the lake which is incredibly large and very shallow.  Keep it between the buoys for sure.  There are two routes, we took Route 1.  Route 2, the Rim Route, was too shallow for our draft.  It took the better part of the day to get across the lake.  The water got kind of choppy on our crossing.  Once across, we went through Port Mayaca lock.  After that we had to wait for an Amtrak train to pass on the Indiantown Railroad Bridge.

Anchored at the St. Lucie Lock for the night just across from a campground.  Used 2 anchors since we were close to shore and close to the channel. 

No wind when we get up this morning, but when we decide to get going, the wind has picked up   making pulling the anchors up quite a challenge.  Jerry really struggled trying to get both anchor up.  We have a pretty good system now, he gives me hand signals to direct the boat so he can raise the anchor.  With the wind, it's a challenge for us both.  Finally, the bow anchor breaks loose.   The stern anchor becomes a real problem now.  The bow is drifting and we can't position the boat to get the stern anchor up.  After about 30 minutes Jerry is able to get it back on board.  Whew!

We get into the lock and  the wind is a challenge again but get tied off and shut down the engines.  It doesn't take too long, only a 13 ft drop.  I start the starboard engine, no problem.  When I try to start the port engine, I get nothing. We've already untied from the lock.  The lock master realizes we have a problem and yells "get a line on it".  I run to the bow to catch the line he's thrown.  I can't get it around a cleat fast enough.  He throws another line, and fortunately, Jerry has come down from the bridge and gets the boat tied off so he can get the situation under control.  The battery is dead.  Jerry has to go into the engine room and jump start the battery.  This was crazy chaotic.

We are  finally underway.  There was a boat waiting to get into the lock.  Unfortunately, he had to fight the wind waiting for us to get out.  What a mess.

Another railroad bridge and another train.  Have to wait.  Finally past the bridge and decide to stop at the free dock in Stuart, FL.  Windy as hell.  There was a boat already tied to the dock and a couple of guys walking towards it.  I yelled at them asking if this was the free dock.  They said yes, but the outside was only for commercial vessels.  We could use the inside.  Maneuvering towards the inside, we realized there were large pieces of the dock structure sticking out from the dock.  There was no way we were going to dock there.  Moving on, which was easier said than done, windage, we headed to a cove to anchor and get our stuff together and have lunch.  I was too beat up to fix much so we had peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

Our next stop will be Fort Pierce Marina.  There is a West Marine close by and we need filters for the generator.  Waters were rough along with the wind, we just couldn't get away from it today.

We came across a couple of guys enjoying the wind.

Made it to the marina about 5pm.  Got settled and needed to walk since we hadn't been on land for a few days.  I wasn't cooking tonight so we decided on the Tiki Bar by the marina.  Ate Hog fish, a local fish.  It's a mild white fish, we thought it was kind of mushy. 

Back to the boat for a well deserved glass of wine and we are now on the east coast of Florida.  And what a disappointment.  The Okeechobee had been advertised as a very natural, wildlife aplenty cruise.  We saw lots of birds, no alligators, and only a bump of a manatee.  Maybe we'll see more as we go up the coast.  Probably just too cold, so we've been told.

January 26, 2012

Left Lemon Bay this morning on our way to Fort Myers.  Some shallow areas getting to the main channel.  Difference of opinion on the bridge as to where the channel is as opposed to what's on the GPS.  Shallow waters are definitely not a place to question. 

Houses and condos along our way, seems there is no end to the huge houses and tall condo buildings in Florida.

Jerry got some great shots of this Osprey and nest.

At Mile 39 on the GIWW a ferry is operated taking cars and trucks across to Palm Island.  The only access to Palm Island is by private boat or ferry service.  It appears that one leaves the island while the other leaves the mainland at the same time.  Then one pulls out of the way so the other can get to land.  It's kind of awkward because the channel isn't that wide.  Makes me wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to build a bridge.

We're traveling about 44 miles today on the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway.  Finally got a picture of a dolphin running along with the boat.

This was certainly an odd site.

The waters were kind of rough as we got closer to Fort Myers.  Jerry joked about calling the rental company saying, "we won't be returning the truck, it's in the bottom of the Charlotte Harbor".





We are at mile 0 of the Florida West Coast GIWW.  Up the Caloosahatchee River to the Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina.  We needed water and beer, the staples of life, and laundry was piling up so needed a washing machine or two. 



January 25, 2012

Jerry is up at 3:30am concerned about our battery situation.  It wasn't charging properly.  He started the generator about 5:15am which charges the batteries.
Big change in plans.  We are going to cross Florida through Lake Okeechobee instead of going through the Keys.  
This takes us through some very shallow waters.  Must be careful to stay in the channel.

The sign says "Danger beware of shallow waters".  The bird walking through the water is a dead giveaway.   

We passed Tampa, Sarasota, and Venice.  Couldn't believe the houses, condos and big boats. 

A couple of the many incredible houses along the shores.

We had several bridges to pass under today.  Some were swing bridges, some causeways, some lift bridges.  I'm amazed at the number of bridges and each has its own tender.  All Florida bridges are on channel 9.  Some open on a schedule but most open on demand.  Railroad bridges seem to be open unless there is a train coming.  A few of the bridges we've passed under.

This was a spectacular bridge, I wish I could have gotten a better picture

The Bridge Tender has to walk to the center of the bridge to operate the motor.  We had a couple of these bridges to pass under.

In spite of the fact that it's a Wednesday, the Intercoastal is hopping with boats, big and small.  We have to watch for the bigger fishing boats, they don't slow down and we always try to slow down for the smaller fishing boats so they aren't waked. 

 Havent' seen many Osprey up until now.  Jerry got a couple of shots of this nest.

Our anchorage this evening was planned for Venice close to the yacht club.  We checked it out and decided it was too shallow and too close to houses.  There is a free dock at a park just the other side of the yacht club so we make our way there to figure out our options.  It looks like our next opportunity for anchoring is 14 miles away.  We make our way to Lemon Bay.  The dolphins are following the bow of the boat, so cool to see.

Another pleasant evening on the sun deck.



January 24, 2012

Up anchor about 9 am heading towards St. Petersburg.  We have several anchorages picked out and will decide when we get closer.  Had many bridges to pass under today.  Some are close to our height.  The trick is if you can see the far bottom edge of the bridge from the highest point on the boat you will clear the bridge.  Jerry got out on the aft deck behind the bridge to watch our highest point which right now is a TV antenna.  We have 2 radio antennas on each side of the bridge that we lowered.  They would not have cleared most of these bridges.  The bridges lift but if you can clear it, you aren't supposed to call for an opening. 

I took this picture standing on the bow.  It was close.

Today's anchorage is much different from yesterday's.  Anclote Key is a small narrow island with the Gulf on the opposite shore.  Mostly birds inhabit it.  We are at Boca Ciega surrounded by high rise condos and big homes.  It must be a great place for watching dolphins.  We've seen two dolphin cruises come by.

These are the ones we captured.  There appeared to be 3 dolphins just playing, kicking up water and almost wrestling with each other.  We watched them for several minutes, then they were gone.

January 23, 2012

Rode to Panera for a morning bagel today.  Needed a prescription filled so found a Walgreens.  Jerry forgot his BCBS card so back to boat then back to Walgreens.  Not a big deal, more time on the bikes. 

We ordered fuel, it's trucked in.

Couldn't decide where to go so headed back out to Anclote Key to anchor for the night.  It was already 2pm so kind of late to go very far anyway. 

 Narrow channel going out to the main channel.  Passed very close to docks and other boats.  Shallow waters too.



A house along the main channel.  Lots of these along here.  Nice, for a winter home, don't you think?









Jerry fished  and actually caught something.  I'm not sure what it is, but it was thankfully released after a photo op.

Another beautiful sunset on the water.