Colby's mantra: "Been there, sniffed that"

We left Stuart last Tuesday, April 13, with sad farewells to some good friends. On to Vero Beach, this time on a mooring. With a good breeze, we rolled out some jib and picked up about 1.5 miles per hour. We stayed there 2 nights, and enjoyed the peacefulness of this lovely anchorage, after 6 weeks at a dock. We walked to the beach, and watched some big waves crashing on the shore. No sails or other boats in sight that day!

Then on to Eau Gallie, where we had stayed before. Again, a good breeze and help from the jib. Just as Karen was falling asleep, after a long day, a furry creature landed on her head, entering through the hatch overhead!! It was a cat, off one of the other boats at the marina. A few screams were emitted when the cat landed!

Next stop Titusville. Our dinghy davits had arrived, so Dick had his next day planned. The installation went quite smoothly, and we are pleased with the quality of the davits. Now our dinghy rides out of the water, no longer available to barnacles looking for a home. With our enclosure and the davits, we are really looking like a true cruising boat now. Speaking of enclosure, we are already pleased with its effectivenss. It is very versatile, and we can have 1, 2, 3 or all 4 panels in place. We have had several rainy periods already, and it is wonderful to stay dry during a rainstorm. And Dick has found that he is much less fatigued at the end of a travel day, with the protection from the wind. It was a lot of work, but is already very useful.

While in Titusville, we visited Cliff and Judy again in their comfortable Florida home. Love that screen porch! We had a great dinner and enjoyed an evening with them. We won't tell who cooked the burgers, but they were excellent! Also while in Titusville, we spent an afternoon with Dawn and Rob Zimmerman. Dawn is the sister of Karen's best friend from high school, and it has been 43 years since they have seen each other!!! Dawn and Rob cruised and lived aboard a Tartan 34 for 9 years, spending time in the Bahamas and the Keys, so it was a lot of fun to chat with them.

In Titusville, we had our first manatee sighting! We saw several swimming in the marina, and one swam by and under the boat. We think it may have cleaned off the knotmeter, as it is now working again!

Then on to Daytona Beach. Tide was against us, and so was the wind, so we powered all the way. It was a long day. The engine was running a bit warm all day, so the morning after we arrived in Daytona, Dick cleaned the heat exchanger and replaced the anode. It was definitely time to do this. Our friends Linda and Ed invited us to their house for dinner. Again, another great meal and an enjoyable evening with friends.

Today the engine temperature was back in the "comfort zone" again, so Dick's work yesterday seems to have solved the overheating problem. Tonight we are at Palm Coast Marina. This is a new spot for us, but a good place to be. And there is free Wifi!! This is the first time we have had a good Wifi connection since leaving Stuart. Hopefully we'll be able to post more often now to the blog, as our experience moving south was that Wifi availability was better north of Florida.

Next stop: St. Augustine, then Jacksonville Beach, and we'll be saying farewell to Florida for this year!

Movin' on north!

We finished what we wanted to accomplish on our enclosure on Tuesday!!! What a wonderful improvement to our traveling comfort this will be. Just sitting at the dock, we have great protection from the wind and rain. Underway, on those nasty days, we will be so much more comfortable. At least two other couples around us have decided that "we too can do this" after seeing what we have accomplished! And many folks and dog lovers have commented on Colby's new "Super Dog" jacket....made of the almost white Sunbrella that matches our dodger, bimini, and new enclosure, this light colored jacket really helps keep a black dog cool in the bright sunlight! Colby continues to make new friends wherevever we go.

Since then it has been preparations to leave Stuart: provisioning, laundry, clean the decks and the dodger, open the coconuts we have been collecting, etc. We had planned to head to Key Biscayne before turning around to head back to Lake Champlain, but 2 major items have changed this plan. First, the weather: although we are now having beautiful, sunny, warm Florida weather, the wind is out of the East. To go south, it would be best to "go out" along the coast, rather than go through the 29 bridges between Palm Beach and Miami. With the wind direction and no centerboard, we decided that this would not be the best plan. And then yesterday, Dick pulled the dinghy out of the water, and the bottom was totally covered with barnacles!!!! We have talked about getting dinghy davits, but hadn't done that, because of our narrow stern and the expense. After a quick trip to the hardware store, and a muriatic acid bath (in an absolute downpour) for the dingy bottom, we researched dinghy davits and placed an order today!! The davits will be shipped to Titusville, to the DIY yard where we stayed a few weeks ago, and by the time we get there (3 days from here), the davits will also arrive. We will install them there, and then continue north. Cliff and Judy are still in Titusville, so we look forward to seeing them again.

This has been a great place to work on our enclosure, and we have made some wonderful new friends here. We had planned to be here a month, and it will be six weeks ago tomorrow that we arrived here. Although we will really miss our friends here, we do look forward to getting underway again. And while it would have been fun to go farther south, there are some spots along the route north that we look forward to visiting and re-visiting. So the plan is to leave here Monday, stop and visit our friends Neil and Deanne from Newfoundland, who have moved their boat to a different location nearby, and then head for Vero Beach.

Almost finished!

We hope none of our good friends and readers have been holding their breath waiting for this enclosure to be finished! This is very different from all of the other boat projects we have done, and it has not been easy. But barring any earthquakes, natural disasters or major health problems, we may actually be finished tomorrow. The last panel should be in place tomorrow. There is still one more panel, the one to go across the aft end of the cockpit, but we will do that at a later date.

Folks are starting to leave; people who have been here several weeks or even several months are leaving to move their boats to storage, north for the summer, or across to the Bahamas. We are still not sure what our next move will be, whether we will go further south or start heading back north from here.

We had a lovely Easter yesterday; Dick sang in the choir at First Presbyterian Church in Port St. Lucie, and Karen and friend Claudia attended the 10:00 service. Our friend David spent some time with us, sorting out some computer problems, and then 8 of us went out to dinner! We had a great time, and enjoyed the company of some fine new friends.

We have been enjoying some beautiful weather, finally. Temps in the high 70's, occasionally 80, and 60's at night. Sunny skies, and light breezes. It feels like Florida!

Sewcializing in Stuart!

Progress on our enclosure is slow (does that come as a surprise to anyone?). Getting used to the new machine, which certainly has its idiosyncrasies, weather (two days of heavy rain since the materials arrived), inexperience with this type of project (story of our boat restoration: just when we learn a new process, it is time to move on to the next project!). However, some zippers have been installed on the existing canvas, and as soon as the bimini dries out from last night's rain, we are ready to move on! It is helpful that David and Linda on Off Islander, the Catalina 34 next door, made their own enclosure and are willing to answer questions.

Of course, there is some time for fun as well! Saturday we went to the Stuart Arts Festival; many, many booths of local artists displaying their work, and a great Reggae band, and some very talented performers who danced on stilts! A very impressive show, and a beautiful day to be out. Last Sunday we went to the Farmer's Market, and had lunch out with our friends Kathy and Denny. Stuart has a very attractive downtown area with lots of shops and restaurants. And it is only a short dingy ride away!

The weather has definitely improved; most days are high 60's to mid 70's and sunny (except for the two days of monsoons mentioned above!). Quite a lot of wind, mostly from the west, often 15 - 25 knots. As nice as it is here in Stuart, we look forward to finishing our project and moving on.

Ready, set, sew!

It is hard to believe we have been here in Stuart for over 2 weeks! We just received our order from Sailrite with all of the materials we need to build our enclosure. It was actually very time consuming to make all of the measurements, figure out where we wanted to put the zippers, how we would fasten it to the dodger, etc. Then once we placed the order, it took several days for the materials to arrive. In the meantime, we have tried out the new sewing machine, and it works!

We have also been doing some other boat tasks, and doing some major cleaning. After all of the traveling we have done since September, with lots of humidity, there were some areas of mildew that needed to be attacked!! Also, Dick has installed bow and stern lights to our dingy, for those evening cruises!

Having the use of a vehicle has been wonderful. Stuart has every store imaginable, but very little is within walking distance of the marina, so it has been a real asset that Claudia and Peter loaned us their car.

The biggest problem we have had is internet access via wifi. The marina does offer "free Wifi", but it is often difficult to get on and stay on, as there are so many users here. And now we are into "spring Break" time of year, so some folks have their college age kids visiting, so now there are more people trying to get online. We have had great luck all the way down the East Coast using wifi to connect to the internet. Once we got to Florida, it has been much more difficult. We did go to Best Buy yesterday to investigate purchasing a prepaid aircard, but decided it wasn't worth the expense for the time we have left. In conversation with the salesperson at Best Buy, we did learn that, in general, Wifi reception is not good in Florida. Broadband, yes, but Wifi, not so good. Today hopefully we'll be able to post this addition to the blog!

So now we need to get sewing, and get this enclosure built! So long for now.

Settled in Stuart

We arrived here at the Harborage Yacht Club and Marina in Stuart, Florida last Sunday, and checked in on Monday, March 1. We are staying here for a month. Our primary reason for staying in one place is to sew a full enclosure for our cockpit. After all of the cold and rain we have experienced during the 1775 miles we have traveled since leaving Port Henry, we decided that we really need to have protection from the elements for our trip back north.

While in Titusville, Cliff and Judy took us to Walmart, where we bought a sewing machine for $79! We have examined the enclosures on some of the boats around us, and tomorrow we will make a pattern, then order materials. By the end of next week, we should be sewing merrily away on the enclosure! With that and the tillerpilot installed, the trip home will be very different from the trip down.

The facilities here at the Harborage are very nice; two swimming pools, a hot tub, great showers (that is always an important factor!), access to the Yacht Club, a restaurant on the premises, a courtesy van, and very friendly staff. All for only $10 per foot per month. It is a rather long walk off the dock to shore, but exercise is a good thing.

The other boaters here are very friendly. A couple of days ago, we noticed "Plattsburgh, NY" on the stern of a Mariner 28 at the dock. We of course introduced ourselves; the next day we spent some time chatting over a glass of wine, and learned that Claudia and Peter were leaving today to go to the Keys. This morning, they asked if we would mind "taking care of" their car while they are gone for the month. Would we mind?! Wow, what an offer! It will be great to be able to run errands, get supplies (more dog food!), and explore the area a bit.

This evening we enjoyed dessert with Linda and David from Ohio on their Catalina 34and Kathy and Denny from Michigan, who have a Tartan 37. It is fun to meet new people who have have had similar experiences.

Everyone we meet says this is the coldest winter anyone in Florida can remember. Nights are still in the 30's, and while many days have been 40's and 50's, this week has been mostly in the 60's and sunny. Very windy, so it really feels cold. The sun, however, makes all the difference. And next week the forecast is for 70's!!!!

Three is not a crowd!

Not on a cold, blustery day in the ICW, anyway! After a couple of days at Westland Marine in Titusville, where we enjoyed spending time with Cliff and Judy, and appreciated them taking us to Winn Dixie and Walmart, we invited Cliff to join us for the next leg of the journey. We were glad he decided to join us (Judy said, "Are you sure you want to go today? It is 39 degrees!). We rolled out some jib, and made quick progress, 8 mph much of the way. But it was cold! And winds gusted to 25 mph, making for a rather bone-chilling day. It was nice to have the extra set of experienced hands on the boat that day. Cliff's son Russell picked him up at Eau Gallie, just north of Melbourne. This was a very nice overnight stop, in a well-protectd basin.

Colby had been experiencing some digestive difficulties for a couple of days, so upon arrival at Eau Gallie, we called our vet in Queensbury. He phoned in a prescription to a nearby Walgreen's, which we picked up that evening. We were very happy to get some help for our good friend.

The next day, we traveled on to Vero Beach. It was a very nice day, warmer, and a bit less wind. We motor sailed again, and still made good time. Vero Beach is well known for its "friendly to cruisers" services. Many people pick up a mooring ball here, but Dick was coming down with a cold, and temps were forecast to be in the 30's overnight. As our diesel heater still isn't cooperating fully, we decided to go for dock space so we could plug in the electric heater. The Municipal Marina is a great spot, with excellent facilities. Also, the free city bus stops right at the marina, making trips to the grocery store, West Marine, etc. very easy. We learned the Vero Beach is also called "Velcro Beach" for good reason!

Our friends Ed and Linda on "Seasmoke" had traveled down to Vero Beach a few days ago. (We had visited them at their home in Daytona Beach last week.) They are on a mooring, and with no heat on their boat, they were cold, so we invited them over for dinner the night we arrived. We were happy to offer them a hot dinner and a warm place to relax for a while!

The next morning, we called our friends Bill and Ellie Meyer, friends from our church in Northville. They have a condo on Hutchinson Island, just a short ways from Vero Beach. (Bill and Ellie were the high bidders on the two day cruise on Trefoil at our church auction last summer!) After a short conversation, and agreeing to call them when we reached Stuart, Karen took the bus into town to get some cold medecine for Dick and a few groceries. When I returned, Bill and Ellie were conversing on the boat with Dick! They invited us to go to their house for dinner that evening. We enjoyed our time with them in their comfortable home, right across the street from the ocean. We certainly are eating well these days!