Hello Once Again
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| St Augustine Marine Centre |
I suppose many of you will have given up on ever hearing
from us again thinking we may have merged into the American society taking down
roots here – NO WAY - this adventure has
a way to go yet.
Five months on, with SHAMAL on the hard in the St Augustine
Marine Centre in northern Florida, seemed like a life time, even though we were
not living on board all that time. Once
out of the water we started on that GREAT list of boat jobs. It was February and still very cold. It took us the first ten days to get our
power sorted out. As you know the USA
system runs on 110 volts while our system is 220 volts. With our first step-up step-down transformer
blowing every five minutes, we had some cold nights. Alec managed to sort that by buying a larger
transformer which also meant he could run all his power tools from it as
well. The first main job was to have the
seals in the sail drive replaced. That
involved moving the engines forward to fit them in, but that job was completed
before Alec had to leave for Vietnam to do a yacht delivery with an American
couple.
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| Snow in Feb. CT |
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| Saigon River |
At the end of February Alec flew off to Vietnam and I flew
north to Connecticut to spend time with our daughter, her husband and the twins
who are now three and a half. The
American couple Alec was helping had purchased
a new Seawind 1160 and wanted help to sail it from the factory in Ho Chi
Minh City (Saigon) to Cairns in northern Queensland, Australia. A trip of around 4,000nm which ended up
taking 55days. It was quite an eventful trip, as with a lot of new boats it had
its teething problems. He had two fairly
new hands to sailing, who decided Alec
would be boat boy and not the Delivery Skipper they had asked for. He lost 7kg of weight, but eventually they
made it to Cairns. Alec then flew back
to New Zealand. I had flown in a few
weeks earlier. It was a short visit, but
we did have time to catch up with family and a few friends, do our usual round
of the New Zealand boat shops to stock up on spare parts before returning to
Connecticut towards the end of May.
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| Alec working behind engine |
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| New Anchor chain plate |
That visit was to have a quick catch-up with the
grandchildren again. We were back in St
Augustine by 31st May. Now it
was MUCH warmer. In fact we missed
spring as summer had arrived early in St Augustine. We were already having temperatures into the
30’s C. This took some adjusting to, but
again we worked through the long list of jobs.
Alec even worked through the list of jobs that “would be nice to get
done” as well. He installed new LED
lights, more fans, a fresh water deck wash – we now have both a salt and fresh
water deck wash on the back deck as well as the fresh water shower. He sealed off the compartments behind the
engines to make them pretty much water tight – that was hot hard work. The bottom had a touch up of copper coat anti
foul, and the props were cleaned etc etc. We have a stainless steel plate on
our anchor chain locker to prevent any chipping – I got that done. I cleaned and scrubbed and rearranged lockers
plus sent 40kg of old cruising guides and books up to our daughters place. I will work out how to get those home one day
as they are too precious to part with.
We made a great bunch of friends. Maas and Christina (Dutch/Aussie and
Mozambique/Portuguese) who are refitting out their catamaran. Maas is one of the true craftsmen left in the
boating industry and does work to perfection.
Their boat will be beautiful when complete which will be towards the end
of this year. They were so kind giving
us heaps of advice and ideas, and introduced us to the local markets and some
great restaurants - not expensive up
market ones, but the type where you get a great “local” meal.
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| The Odd Bunch |
Their neighbour Cyrus (Iranian/American) an ex lawyer from
New York who has swapped the stressful corporate life, for a life on the ocean
wave. He is also refitting out his boat
and hopes to be in the water soon. Then
Jean-Pierre (French/American) who has a beautiful 60ft mono hull he is
re-fitting. He is about 2 years away
from finishing his boat.
Then there was Daryl and Annie (English/Kiwi and
Maltese/Kiwi) who were doing work on their 52ft catamaran. They have a home in Kerikeri in the Bay of
Islands. They were kind and generous with their hostility. A BIG thank you to you all.
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| Roseate Spoonbill |
Well despite the heat we survived. We were the only ones in the group who did
not have air conditioning. But we had
one of the best positions in the yard as were had been placed right beside the
San Sebastian River which the Boatyard
sits on. This meant we caught any
breeze which blew up and down the river which was always most welcoming. It
also gave us a birds eye view of life on the river and its tidal marshes. At dawn and dusk as the tide was coming in,
or going out, we watched the water birds.
We had a resident white heron who fished the edges at low tide then
retreated into the lush grass mashes as the tide came in. He is the “bird version” of a giraffe – with
its long neck and long yellow legs. He
would stand so still in the shallows for ages waiting for that tasty morsel to
swim past close enough to become part of his next meal. As the sandbars appeared flocks of different
birds arrived to take up their position on the bars and very quickly they
became crowded. Then as the waters came
in again they would jostle for position to stay their till the water was
sometime up to the bellies before they left.
We had cranes, the roseate spoonbills, pelicans and a variety of gulls
all visiting the sandbars. The only
thing we did not see, was an alligator !!!!
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| St Augustine |
St Augustine is the nation’s oldest city. It was first visited by Ponce de Leon in 1513
– that is over one hundred years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth
(1620). It was first settled in 1565 by
the Spanish explorer Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles. Today the historic district with its
cobblestone streets and charming architecture make it a lovely place to
visit. Unfortunately it has become a
little too touristy with all those tacky trimmings that go with it. Still, we did enjoy our time here and visited
some of the sites. We got our bikes out
and would ride for miles hunting boat bits and doing our shopping, riding along
the water front and exploring some of the back streets with their lovely old
homes under the shade of the oak trees which drip with Spanish moss.
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| Alec Ann Lloyd |
In mid-June we had a visit from Lloyd for a few days off his
Seawind 1000 - “Deja-Vu”. He was making his way north to Chesapeake Bay for the
summer.
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| SHAMAL - St Augustine |
The 29th June sees SHAMAL go back into the
water. We move her down to the South
Dock where Alec runs through his check list to make sure everything is
working. Then we start another cleaning
session. This was to remove the grime
and dust of five months sitting in the yard.
The following morning we take SHAMAL for a test run down the river and
back towards the town to check the engines etc.
We were due to leave the following morning, but Jean-Pierre invites us
for breakfast along with others to a nice French Bakery. Who could not say no to that. So on 2nd July after our good-byes
to everyone the evening before, we slip off the South Dock, head down the river
and back into the ICW heading southbound.
It is hot and sunny, but we have thunderstorms building now
most days with them hitting about 1400.
We decided we will only go as far as we can and anchor before they
hit. Our first stop is Daytona
Beach. It is 1400 and we have
thunderstorms coming up behind us. I go
up front and prepare to anchor as Alec is finding a spot just off the water
ways when it hits. The rain is so
torrential we cannot see the bridge 100mts behind us we have just passed
under. He decides to drop anchor right
where we are till it has passed. We have
JUST done that when fork lightening hits the water about 25mts away from us
leaving a small column of black smoke, followed by a huge clap of thunder right
overhead. ***!! I don’t like this. That was a little too close for comfort. By 1600 it is all over, the sun is out again
and we have re-anchored. The next
morning we only go as far as New Smyrna Beach.
Here we need to return a power lead to friends whom we had visited here
last year. They were not home but we
dropped it off and enjoyed a tour around in the tender. That was till we got the outboard motor stuck
in the “shallow draft” position and still had a mile to return to SHAMAL. But a nice young couple saw our predicament
and gave us a tow.
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| After the Thunderstorm, Daytona |
The next day saw a lovely run down to Titusville. Here the ICW takes you through 25 miles of
marshlands, mangroves, past islands and down the shallow Mosquito Lagoon
heading towards Cape Canaveral. The ICW
does a sharp turn west to take you through Haulover Canal where we saw close up
Manatees ( dugong /sea cow ) frolicking with their babies. We are also seeing lots of dolphins along
with their babies as well. We then entered the Indian River for the run
to Titusville where we picked up a mooring buoy for three nights.
It was here in Titusville we caught up with a very good
friend and old work colleague of Alec’s.
Jooley and her partner Sam drove up to meet us and took us out to Cape
Canaveral for drinks, then back to their place for dinner. The following day they drove us back to Port
Canaveral as we had to check in with Customs and Border Control. Port Canaveral is the second busiest port in
the world for cruise liners with more than four million passengers coming
through here. The Kennedy Space Centre is
of course the big draw card.
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| Touching Moon Rock |
Our year’s cruising licence had expired in early May and we
had asked for an extension so we could complete our boat maintenance down in
Stuart. I had made a phone call and been
given a clearance to proceed to Port Canaveral.
Thank goodness I write everything down – times, dates and people whom I
speak to. The first guy we spoke to at
Canaveral told us we would have to sail out to the Bahamas, get a clearance
there and then we could return and get another cruising licence for a year –
Yeah Right !!! – Then he went away and got a senior officer who understood our
predicament. We had been given the
wrong information before leaving St Augustine.
He gave us an extension for a cost of $37 which means we could proceed
to Fort Pierce and then needed to check in with them to proceed further. We did so to find out that Stuart falls under
the Fort Pierce area which is great.
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| Kennedy Space Centre |
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| Kennedy Space Centre |
So while at the Cape we took the opportunity to visit NASA’s
Kennedy Space Centre. The sheer
magnitude of the whole place is incredible.
The facilities are really impressive and give one a real insight into
the amazing history and ever-evolving workings of the whole space programme.
You can’t help but be moved and impressed by those space adventures. There are sections devoted to each stage of the
programme with the latest all about the up and coming mission to Mars. I am quite happy here on planet Earth thanks.
Alec got to fly and land the space shuttle in the simulator and experience what
it is like in a shuttle launch. We
visited numerous 3D presentations covering different subjects of the space
programme. We also went on a bus trip to visit some of the launch pads. It was in one of the ponds on this trip that
we saw our very first alligator !!!!! Kennedy Space Centre is set on 140,000
acres of a National Wildlife Refuge where the wetland are protected with lots
of endangered species living here, and the area also acts as a security buffer
zone around the rocket sites.
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| Space Shuttle Atlantis |
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| Yes there it is !!!! |
The following day we were due to leave, but it turned into
one of those lazy relaxing days where we got to meet some lovely people in at
the local marina. We did our washing and
were given a huge tub of ice-cream which went down very well in this heat.
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| Mosquito Lagoon |
During the next leg down the Indian River we were able to
hoist the sails for a time. It was so
lovely to be able to cut the engines and be sailing again. I think we have really done our time on the
ICW and are ready to be back at sea again.
Our next stop is near the entrance to Crane Creek, Melbourne. We have only covered 30nm today, but again
the thunderstorms are heading our way.
The following day we arrive at Fort Pierce. We drop anchor in the Fort Pierce inlet after
crossing the clean water line. This was
quite amazing, as we motored from the ICW and into the inlet there is a
distinct line in the water where it turns from brackish brown to a lovely clean
clear blue. We dropped anchor off a
little Island and were able to have our first swim this year. The following day we took SHAMAL into a
marina for diesel and water (we are not making water on the ICW as it is so
dirty) and to pump out our holding tanks, then took a cab out to the airport to
check in with Boarder Control which all went smoothly. It was Sunday afternoon so we decided to go
back out to anchor so we could swim again and also take the kayak ashore to the
Island. It was so nice to be “playing”
again after months of work.
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| Fort Pierce |
The following day we headed south to Stuart and into Manatee
Pocket. Stuart sit inside the entrance
to the St. Lucie Inlet. We are now 192nm
south of St Augustine. Manatee Pocket is
a very sheltered inlet a little to the southwest of where the entrance to the
Indian River and St. Lucie River meet.
There are plenty of marinas in here along with a public dock, and two
good areas to drop the anchor. There are
always boats at anchor in here, unfortunately some have been left
abandoned. Now another round of jobs are
to be done here. The main ones are to
have our sails tuned and the sail bag adjusted by Mac Sails who made our new
sails last year, and secondly it is here we will replace our soft canvas bimini
for fiberglass hard tops. This will
enable us to place a couple more solar panels on the roof.
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| Thunderstorm Clouds Manatee Pocket |
A few nights after arriving in Stuart we noticed the
International Space Station flying overhead.
That was quite something to be able to pick that out after our recent
visit to the Kennedy Space Centre. We
also have our bird life here in the Pocket with two Osprey living on the boat
next door. I don’t think the owner will
be too pleased when he returns as you can imagine the mess they are creating.
They are very good at fishing and bring their catch back to the boat to devour
it, either sitting on the top of the mast or on the spreaders. This always brings around the crows out who sit
and screech away hoping for their share.
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| Ann ad Jooley |
As of the time of writing this we have now been in Stuart
just on three weeks. Work is still
ongoing with the sails and sail bag. Our
hard tops have been fitted and look very smart, but we have been left to do the
final touches here. Our outboard has
been serviced, the power-dive snorkel (hooker) has also been serviced. To have some of the jobs done we move SHAMAL
over to the Public Dock so the workmen can come aboard with their tools etc.
The notice says we can tie up for two hours, but if they take longer and
the tide drops, we sit on the bottom. One
evening around 2230 we had a visit from the “waterways sheriff” with his big
light shining on us. I was in bed, but
Alec was still up and he was informed that we could not stay on the dock all
night. Alec had to inform him we were on
the bottom!!
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| New Hard top Port Side |
We have fitted into the local community with everyone being
so friendly and helpful. We have made an
eclectic group of friends out here at anchor.
You could write a book about the different characters. Thunderstorms seem to build most days by
mid-morning, but to date we have been very fortunate to avoid having them right
on top of us. They seem to be out to sea
or inland more, but we are in Florida, the state known for “sparks and sharks”. It ranks as number one in the world for shark
attacks and death by lightning!!!!!
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| Our Folding Bikes |
Even though it is so very hot we ride our bikes everywhere.
Temperatures have reached well into the mid to late 30’s deg.c. but as long as
there is a breeze we manage. As you
know America is well in the throws with the lead up to the Presidential
elections. We have also noticed there
are local elections going on as there are signs on all the street corners
telling you to vote for someone to be Tax collector, or someone for the
Sheriff’s office. It seems a very complex society, but also very
interesting. Alec loves to chat with the
locals trying to understand their politics and system, but even they seem
daunted by it all at times.
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| Yes another fine haircut |
As we are well into summer we are so glad that we have the
insect screens for all our hatches. In
the early evening poor Alec seems to be attacked by the no-see-ums (tiny biting
buggers which you just don’t see), and mosquitoes who favour him over me. With the Zika virus now confirmed to be in
Florida we need to be more vigilant than before.
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| Alec at Supermarket !! |
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