On our way to Cuba. #1

On our way south

We are back "down south". It is nice and warm here but not hot. To get here we delivered a "drive away" car to Boca Raton, Florida to an unbelievable house that had its own indoor pool in a gated community. Wow! It's a good deal. They pay for all the gas, give us $300 for expenses and we got to drive in a Lexus to Florida. Our boat was in a boat yard on the hard at Reynolds Yacht Centre at Green Cove Springs, near Jacksonville.

Note the Lexus.  The screening covering the boat cools the boat in the hot summer weather.

We spent a couple of weeks getting the boat ready for launch (see below) and provisioning(we rented a car) and then we were off.  

I have to be careful because of the fall I had about 10 days before I left.   I went flying right in front of FRESHCO's entrance doors on a plastic coated sign that was lying upside down on the concrete. I badly bruised my entire right side and suffered what the doctor called a whiplash. I went to physiotherapy and massage all week and even had a cleaning lady in to clean the house before we left. So Roman is the one hauling everything and doing much of what I normally what I do.  My entire right side was very sore and it is only now, almost three months later, that I feel a little better.  I use a cane when we do longer walks.

We sailed to St. Augustine, one of our favourite places.  I wrote so much about it in my last two blogs.  But one thing that was different from other visits is that we found this sign on one of the side streets.  Imagine that!  A casa named for my granddaughter!

On the way down the intercoastal we had company.  Dolphins followed our boat for aboutfifteen minutes swimming under the boat and around it.  Then we still could see them for some time.  Look closely for the dolphin fin sticking out from the water to the left of the fishing boat.  From there was one front after another so we continued in the rain to Cocoa Beach where it was nice for one day and then in the rain off to Vero Beach where we got eaten alive by the no-seeums, literally a hundred bites.  The anchorage there is surrounded by mangrove swamps. No one is turned away.  We were three boats tied up to one mooring ball.

While waiting for 9 days at Vero Beach for a new Raymarine GPS receiver that died as soon as we left Green Cove Springs, head parts, a battery energy monitor, to name a few, we spent Thanksgiving there with over 100 boaters.   CLODS (cruisers living on land) a new term for us, baked the turkeys and hams with the boaters contributing the salads, appetizers and deserts.  It was a wonderful potluck with everyone in good spirits.

What a small world the boating world is!  Boaters are very friendly people and we spent time socializing as well as working on the boat while we waited.  We met several boaters that we have come to know in our travels and visited with Gerald who is now a CLOD living in Vero Beach in a very nice condo.  He took me around shopping in his gorgeous silver Miata convertible.  We had a lot of fun especially with a couple, Peter and Kathleen, on s/v Now or Never, with whom we had travelled for some time last year.   

After the Thanksgiving dinner

From Vero to Lake Worth was uneventful except for the vessel indicator on the GPS which Roman had just replaced crabbed 90 to 180 degrees making it quite difficult.  It does not matter on the intercoastal as you usually navigate visually by the markers but on the ocean you want the GPS working 100%. 

View of the Tiki Bar from our boat

At Harbortown Marina

From Lake Worth we went to Harbortown Marina, Fort Pierce where we met up again with Peter and Kathleen.  The marinas make their money on transient boaters that stay for only a few days.  The charge for a couple of days was just about a third of the monthly rate Peter and Kathleen were paying as they had to wait there for family.  It was too pricey for us to stay longer and as Roman had found a leak in the sea pump for the engine, wouldn't you know it, we had to wait for parts so we anchored just off the marina for another week.  We spent many happy days with Peter and Kathleen who were great company and we became even better friends.  Kathleen and I have many common interests and she has a great sense of humour.

While there we discovered a Byzantine Church which sold poppyseed rolls and verenyky.  Kathleen and І were there when they were making the varenyky and they were very welcoming and very proud of their church and their varied backgrounds and cultures but they all shared the same faith.  Everything was delicious.  Kathleen ended up taking orders for boaters when she went back again.

We were also there for their Christmas Parade.  It had a very small town feel and everyone knew each other and greeted participants in the floats by name.

 The many faces that watched the parade.  There was face painting in the park while they waited.

 Everyone got into the spirit of the parade! 

Even those watching it!

We also watched the boat parade but unfortunately it was very difficult to take moving pictures at night.

Underway Again #  26: The Crossing and St. Augustine

Roman and I had listened to Chris Parker, the weather guru of sailors, that there was a weather window to cross to the States for the next 4 days. We felt that this would be a good time to cross as we would have enough time to get to where we were going to put the boat "on the hard"(pulling it out of the water and keeping it on land) and also to prepare the boat for launch.  It was very difficult to say goodbye to Bill and Maureen after sharing so many different and interesting experiences.  We will certainly continue to keep in touch. 

We left Great Guana Cay and spent the next night anchoring off Hawksbill Cay.  Then on to Great Sail Cay where we spent our last night in the Bahamas.

It was a beautiful evening and we went to bed with the sun. 

 

Our last night in the Bahamas.

 

It was a calm gorgeous night when we left Great Sail Cay at 3:00 in the morning and motored under a multitude of stars across the Bahama Bank where we saw the last of that beautiful turquoise water.  The different hues of blue never cease to amaze.





 

 

When we entered the Atlantic we encountered large rolling waves. The wind picked up and we first motor-sailed and then sailed as the winds gradually picked up especially when we entered the Gulf Stream. By 6:00 the next morning we started to pick up speed until we were doing a steady speed of 9.5 kn. In the picture on the left you can see the wind speed is 24.4 kn. Our boat speed is 9.6 kn. and the last recorded depth of 15.8 ft. was at Great Sail Cay.

 

 

Sunset over the Atlantic.

 

We had planned to go to Cape Canaveral but we were making such good time that we decided to go on to St. Augustine.   

 

It was great fun! I enjoyed the speed especially as it was my turn at the helm, 3 hours for me and 4 for Roman. We tried to sleep when it was our turn off but it was difficult to actually sleep. We just dozed. About 60 miles from St. Augustine, our engine failed. Fortunately the winds picked up again and I sailed while we waited for the engine to cool and then Roman bled the engine and it started like a charm. He certainly knows his boat!

 

 We got to St. Augustine at 2:00 in the morning.  We had been on this passage for 47 hours and we were tired.  We had never entered St. Augustine harbour from the ocean and it was scary in the dark.  Fortunately it was a full moon and I was at the front of the boat shining my high powered flashlight on all the markers. and pointing the way for Roman who was at the helm.   It was nerve-wrecking but we made it and anchored in the harbour in the first spot that we could.  The next morning we went to St. Augustine Municipal Marina where we spent the next few days relaxing.

 

St. Augustine was as beautiful a city as I had remembered it.

 

 It was exactly 500 years ago that Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain in 1513 and it is believed that it was at St. Augustine that he did so.  We were fortunate to be there for several enactments of historic events.   Below we see the initial landing of Ponce de Leon.

In 1565 Pedro Menendez, with 700 soldiers and colonists, landed here and founded St, Augustine, making it the oldest continually occupied European settlement in North America.  Pirates continually roamed the coast and settlers lived in constant fear.  In 1672 the fort of Castillo de San Marcos was begun and took 23 years to complete.

 St. Augustine has a rich history - pirates, the complete burning of St. Augustine in 1702 by the English, the Spanish expansion and in 1821 the Americans took over from the Spanish and in 1845 Florida became the 27th state of the Union.

 

Below is an re-enactment of Ponce de Leon taking the cross and planting it for Spain in Florida. 

First there was a mass at the cathedral attended by a cardinal, 5 bishops and a multitude of priests.  Then came the procession.

 This was a woman who would have been a soldier's wife.  Everyone was very relaxed and the weather co-operated beautifully.

 Ahoy! A pirate ship!  It came right by our boat when we were anchored in the bay.

 

Open the bridge!  Away to the pirate hideaway!

 The pirates almost captured us!

 

This is an awesome John Alden Yacht built in 1938. The present owner, an Austrian from Rhode Island and the Hamptons is very proud of his yacht. It took 3 years of full time restoration at a boatyard in Maine to make it look like it looks today.  It is worth several million dollars.

 

  

These stained glass windows came from Germany almost 200 years ago.  The deep indigo blues of the rectangular ones are spectacular.

 

 

 

 

The streets of St. Augustine are narrow with interesting shops and restaurants.

Under the present day wall, you can see history.

Had to find time to browse!

 

All good things come to an end and it was time for us to move on to Jacksonville.  Just on our way pass the inlet into the harbour we passed a boat that had gone aground.  We found out that this boat had attempted to come into the harbour at night and miscalculated as the lights and markers are confusing.  We were very lucky when we came in at night.

 

We don't know what the story is of the boat below.

 

As I write this, we have made it successfully up the St. John's River to Green Cove Springs where we will put the boat on the hard. The boat will spend the summer months here waiting for us to return and take it south again. You will have to tune in again next November to see where our travels will take us.

Till then...............................