2023-11-26 Projects - success and failures

We spent all Sunday and Monday morning in Cocoa Beach.   Sunday we decided it was time to work on hooking up our Starlink system.   We had to pull a wire from the bimini top down into the boat.  All went well

Starlink dish mounted on top of bimini arch

Once the wires were inside the boat, then came the hard work of converting it over to a 12 volt system (to save power by not using inverter)

We put the components needed behind the TV cabinet.  Tight space to work in.

Dean trying to work inside the cabinet

Several wiring projects needed to be done, and all went well, until Kris started making up some RJ45 connectors.   End of day, frustration, and hunger all added together.   One small tantrum later, and we stopped the project until we could get some different connectors that would be easier to wire.

Kris, right before tantrum stopped work

Monday we headed to town, to get some supplies from the hardware store.  Plus we just like the hardware store in Cocoa.

We liked this sign outside a bar

Nice mural in Cocoa

The Travis hardware store in Cooca is a huge store, and some what a tourist stop as well.  Very old store,  With many additions over time, making wandering the store quite fun.

Dean on an outside bridge that goes from one part of the store to another part.

After our trip to the hardware store, we upped anchor and headed south for about 10 miles, as the winds were changing, and needed better protection for the next few days.  

Our anchorage at Dragon Point had good protection.  We went ashore and went for a nice walk and had lunch out at Wendy's.

Saw this Gopher Tortoise in the park on our walk

Saw a man out herding his chicken away from a busy road

After lunch, headed back to boat, and on our way we say a dinghy drifting along with no one in it.  So we grabbed it and tied it up behind ours at the boat.   Called a local marina that was upwind from us, and let them know.  Luckily the people who lost it called the marina later, and they let them know we had rescued it, so they motored over in their boat and got it.  They were a family of four with two young kids, and very happy to have their dingy back.

Our dink, and one we saved 

Our friends on Sojourn had been heading south steadily, and finally got close to us.  They were heading to Vero the next day, so we did as well.   We met up in Vero Beach, rafted together, and had a nice Thanksgiving meal a day early with them.  Karen did a wonderful meal.  Kris made apple pie, and also had Meriwether - a couple on a smaller monohull join us.  Nice night.   Sojourn headed out the next morning, as they were going to head south, and off to the Bahamas as they wanted to catch the brief weather window that looked like a decent opening for the trip.

Duane and Karen on Sojourn - casting off early morning.

Thanksgiving day, Kris decided that she would work on the Starboard Engine. She had put in new glow plugs and cleaned the injectors on the port engine - and it was working great, so since we needed to put in one more glow plug on starboard, she decided to remove and clean the injectors on that engine as well.    All went well, until a nut was quite sticky.  Called in Deans help, to use two wrenches, and unfortunately - we still broke a piece.   Its Thanksgiving weekend so nothing open, in person or via internet.  So pretty much decided to stay in Vero Beach, on the mooring until we can get a replacement part.

This is supposed to be one part, not three separate pieces.  

With it being Thanksgiving weekend, we would have to wait until Monday to order the part so it time to work on other projects.   We decided to head to town and ride the bus to Home Depot, to get a better wrench for when we install the new part.  Vero Beach has a great free bus system.    We get picked up right at the dinghy dock.    To get to Home Depot, we do have to take a transfer.  

Waiting for next bus at transfer station

We had a nice lunch out - and no - not burgers.  Went for Chipotle this time.

Waiting for bus back.

We had several packages on order to arrive in Vero Beach.  Quite a few came in on Friday, so we started projects.  

Kris got the wiring done for Starlink - much easier with correct parts, and it is up and running now off of 12 volts, versus the 120 volts that Starlink comes with.

We know it looks messy, but behind TV cabinet is our Starlink, two routers, VHF controls, and storage for miscellaneous electronic stuff.

Dean had rewired our old lights for LED, and they worked great, but the switches on the old lights lets a bit of stray current through, so the LED lights would sometimes glow faintly when power was off.

Old light with LED light strips.

We have been looking for new ones, that are about the same dimensions, to hide the mounting holes in the ceiling.  Found some, and Dean hooked them up.

New LED light in bathroom

Dean  also put a water filter under the sink as we noticed some debris in our water after filling up from the dock

We made another bus ride to town - as Kris messed up and got the wrong size wrench - or maybe it was intentional so she could have lunch out again . 😁

We have a few more projects to work on while we wait on parts and packages. Then we will head south and make the Bahamas crossing.

2023-11-19 Further south - visiting family

We left Fernandina in a cloudy windy cool morning, and motored down to an anchorage close to the Marina we were going to on Monday.

Part of Fernandina waterfront is very industrial looking

Fernandina waterfront. Military ship with patrol boat out in front, making sure we don't get too close.

We anchored Sunday night, just off the ICW, and early Monday headed to the marina.  Needed to leave early, as did not want current against us, and worried about some bridges at high tide, and water is higher than normal, which makes bridge clearance tight sometimes.
We timed our trip with the currents well, and saw good speed on the trip.

Doing 9.7 knots with one engine motoring - that is 4 knots of current in our favor

Monday we spent a wonderful day with Deans cousin Linda  and her husband Phil.  We look forward to seeing them every year on our journey south, and had a good visit.  Linda also chauffeured us around town getting some thread for our salon cushion project, and a stop at Costco.   They were also kind enough to let us ship numerous packages to their house before our arrival - which is always great and much appreciated.   Linda  is a marvelous cook, so we both gained a few pounds during the visit 😁

Our stack of packages

Tuesday morning, we were up early, ran across the street from the Marina got some groceries, and then a quick two loads of laundry, at the very cheap marina laundry.  Only $1 per wash and $1 per dry, in excellent clean machines.  

We headed south, next stop would be St. Augustine, where we anchored for a night, then up early and motoring south again to Daytona Beach.   Cloudy days with some rain, but at least the lows are above 60 degrees, and the highs in the 70's.

Quite the varied scenery between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach

Quite a few large homes

After a while, they seem normal size, there are so many of them

Also some nice undeveloped land

And of the other side of the ICW from the undeveloped is packed with homes

Water level is high.  Some of the homes look close to flooding

Think this place may have water on the floor

As we motor along, you see many things.  We always see some sunken boats - which is sad.  This trip we also saw numerous boats aground.  We will stop and help if we can, but most times, you simply have to wait for high tide.    Always glad it isn't us that has gone aground.   Sometimes we wonder how it happend, like the below photo.   Clearly on the wrong side of the sign.  Maybe it was intentional?

Aground, but was off soon after we passed, as it was near high tide.

Looks like wind damaged his sign, thank goodness the fish survived

Homes getting bigger the further south we went

The ICW can be quite scenic, but you do have to deal with other boaters, most very courteous and will slow down when they pass you to not create a large wake.   Some don't.

This guy did not slow at all passing us.  Large wake

The trip takes us under several bridges.  We are lucky, we can clear 62'.  Many boats can not, and end up spending time just waiting for the water to go down so they can proceed.

This was the least clearance we saw on our trip.

We spent two days anchored at Daytona Beach.  Had over an inch of rain so just hung out inside, read books, played on computer and Kris made cookies.  

Friday we upped anchor and headed south along with 9 other boats who were waiting out weather in Daytona Beach.   Another cloudy day, with a few sun breaks.

Could see the Starlink launch ready on the launchpad at Canaveral.

Anchored at Cocoa, and finally off the boat for a walk in town.  No rain, and some sun.

Nice mural on the wall.   Wheres Dean?

Pretty open square in Cocoa

We had a nice walk, got some ice cream and watched people for a while before heading back to the boat.  Back at the boat, watched a guy come out and anchor a small mono hull.  He drug his anchor back at least 200' before he decided he was good, and then got in his dinghy and left.    Another cruiser came by and told us that that the same boat had drug into him the other day and warned us to be wary.  Since the dragging boat was behind us we did not worry too much.  Later in the day more boats came into the anchorage, and then the winds built so we jumped in our dink to warn the boats behind about the dragger.  They both moved, and sure enough, the little boat kept dragging, and would had hit them both given the chance.  

We will stay another day here, and then move further south.

2023-11-12 Offshore hop - Fernandina Beach - boat projects

We did make an offshore overnight hop from Charleston to Fernandina Beach.  The weather forecast called for stronger winds, so we left with a reef in our main, but the winds were lighter, so took it out, an hour later had to start the motor, and two hours later where back with a reefed main, and sailing nicely for the remaining 20 hours of the trip.  Averaged 6.7 knots - so were quite happy to have an uneventful nice offshore passage.   Two other sailboats, a couple of 55' monohulls were within 5 miles of us for the entire trip, and the only other boats were the cluster of cargo ships outside of Savannah Georgia - waiting to load or unload.

Lots of stationary cargo ships on AIS that we sailed through.

What the cargo ships look like at night.

We sailed to Fernandina beach - and finally warmth.  Still not hot during the day - but at least we don't need our electric heater all day - just a bit in the morning to take the chill off until the sun comes out.

We had a week to kill before heading further south, as we arranged to meet up with Deans cousin and husband the following Monday - so time to do some projects, and some relaxation as well.

First order was to get off the boat, and see the town, so a nice walk with lunch out was in order.

We did go to town, and it is a cute town.  Had a nice lunch out, and wandered the streets.

Lots of pirates in Fernandina Beach

Dean and this fellow had a nice conversation

Very touristy stores in downtown Fernandina

And more pirates

Nice lunch out at local burger joint

You know it is a touristy place when you see something like this drive by, with a phone number to call for tours

Beautiful old Live Oak trees

Stopped at an old hardware store

The inside of the hardware store was a bit disappointing in how messy it was

Residential street in Fernandina, nice area to walk

Saw lots of flowers - enjoy the photos family who are already having snow

Winter is not cold and dark in Florida

You would think it is summer time.

Enjoyed all the birdhouses in the tree

A few days of warm temperatures and virtually no wind made it excellent for Dean to clean the hulls from the "moustache" of brown the boat gets while traversing the ICW from the tannins in the water.   Kris worked on the engine and finished sewing the shoe and life jacket bags for the dinghy.  

Our port engine had an issue with hard starting and lots of white smoke - so Kris checked the glow plugs and found them all bad.  We were able to find two out of three needed in town, so picked those up and Kris worked on installing.  Since she had to shut fuel off, she decided to check the injectors and give them a brief clean as well.   An all day project

Engine torn apart a bit, with tips of gloves cut and covering injector ports

We took a break after a couple days of work, and headed to town again.  This time a 5 mile walk into the grocery store and back.  Stopped and got Dean a haircut as well.

Time for a trim.  His next cut will be on the boat with Kris wielding the scissors.

On our way back we saw a lot of people working to set up some kind of partitions in a parking lot area so we stopped to chat.  Found out the largest tournament in the US for Petanque was happening this coming weekend.  So Friday we headed in to watch Petanque, and of course stop for some ice cream as well.

Petanque is like Bocce Ball

Dean got the hulls clean, and Kris got the engine work and sewing done before the weather turned bad.  

Made some new friends, as another Manta owner asked to visit to talk electrical upgrades.  They were in the area, so drove up, and Dean picked them up from the dinghy dock and brought them to the boat.   Jandals - a Manta 42 owned by Dave and Carey, along with good friend and fellow sailor Toby came out to the boat.  Unfortunately the wind had picked up and the day was cloudy, and they all arrived wet and salty from the ride.  Like true sailors, they were undaunted, and even kept the wonderful delicious pastries they had picked up dry, which we all enjoyed with a cup of tea (except Dean - Mt. Dew was his drink of choice).   Had a wonderful visit - but forgot to take any photos.

Windy cloudy day for Jandals visit.   Sorry about the wet dink ride 

We will head further south today, and have a Marina booked for Monday for visiting with Deans cousin.