Miami and Biscayne Bay

Well, we've moved a bit further south and things are changing. The color of the water has evolved from the coffee colored brown of the intra coastal waterway to turquoise and emerald blue-green of south Florida, the days are warmer and the wildlife has altered considerably - to include the human wildlife on the beach.
We spent a week in Vero Beach to get back into the homeschooling groove, enjoy the facilities of the city marina and prepare for the move south some more knowing it will involve some ocean sailing. We had planned to go down to Ft Pierce and then go off shore to Ft Lauderdale. The main reason was the number of bridge openings increased a lot after Palm Beach. Well, departing off shore from Ft Pierce again we were met with south winds and south waves, which made it very uncomfortable. From experience, we decided to turn back and motor the intracoastal which was a wise decision (finally we made a good decision!). That day turned into the day of bridge pain as we had to work our way south through 14 bridge openings. Most were on a time schedule, so we never quite made it to the next one on time and had to wait 15-30 minutes for an opening.... which was painful as the day wore on. We surrendered at Boca Raton and anchored for the night in the middle of high rises and multi-million dollar home, all for free.

The next day turned out well as we only had 7 bridges to pass through to get to Ft Lauderdale. The bridge gods smiled upon us and blessed us with their bounty of opening for us on a schedule we could meet, including the last bridge of the day where the initial response over the radio from the bridge tender was to wait 30 minutes for the next opening, shortly followed by a "ahhh, come on ahead. I'll open up for ya" Thanks Mr. Bridge Tender, you made our day.

We spent a few days in Ft Lauderdale, enjoying the beach and the kids getting SCUBA certified as part of the their Christmas gift. They took the 3 day class in stride and did ocean dives with ease and are now fully certified jr. divers! As a side note, Ft Lauderdale is the the capitol of mega yachts. Seriously, you have never seen so many huge motor yacht to include some with helicopters on them. Money can't buy everything, but it can get you a mega yacht with a helicopter.

Mentioning that experience with the weather that we learned previously, we waited for the right weather window for a short hop to Miami and Biscayne Bay. Again, the weather was fine and we sailed and motored some down to the big city of Miami. Lots of shipping and the port is huge with quite a few cruise ships and loads of commercial ships with all those neat toys from China.
We are now sitting in Biscayne Bay preparing for our crossing to the Bahamas. We'll practice some sailing maneuvers, top off all the fuels and water and food before we head over to the Bahamas. The critical thing now is again a good weather window, which may be a few days or a week away. No problem mon, we need to slow down and get ready for island time. All the best and we'll check in soon.

Central Florida

Happy New Year all. The new year finds Quartet in southern Florida, the temperatures are climbing and hopes are rising on reaching the Bahamas. We had a nice quiet Christmas in St. Augustine complete with the lights of the city. It seems as if old man winter again found us after the 25th and the weather started to get colder. Which means time to move on. Before we left we found out our cousin was in town visiting, and he came by to see us and we stayed an extra day to visit... which totally made our weekend. Thanks so much cousin Ed!

Before New Years we moved on to Marineland, a neat old marine park that had dolphins and all the aquatic life you could imagine. Unfortunately, the dolphins were quarintined due to a virus. We did manage to do a kayak tour with a guide to the wetlands, which was very good and had lots to see that we normally would not have noticed. It also filled in all those questions we had as we moved south when we saw wildlife but didn't know what we were seeing.

We moved on for a few days to make it to Melbourne to see an old friend from college. We managed to snag a tour of Cape Canaveral Space Station, including the old launch pads from the apollo missions (one from the accident that killed three astronauts and one that John Glenn and others departed from on their historic missions). Totally cool. There were current space missions going on, but we missed a launch due to weather while still managing to get a a windshield tour right up to the rocket. Thanks guys for an awesome few days escape to see the sights of the area, and the wonderful hospitality.

We find ourselves in Vero Beach enjoying a good mooring at the city marina, visiting the beach while the rest of the country froze, and making plans to move on to Miami area soon. The water is changing color to a nice green and blue, the temps are in the 70's and low 80's some days and we can feel the island calling us. Soon we'll prep for the crossing to the Bahamas, which brings on a whole new chapter. More to follow!

Florida at last

We made it. Sort of. Crossing the state line last week to Florida was a biggie, for us that is. Running from cold weather, traveling day after day that wore on nerves and made for some small mutinies and insurrections that were quelled only with a long stopover in Beaufort, SC.

The new prop and all the work done has made moving along much better. We even managed to do an offshore passage one day... A bit too rough for our liking that day, but we made it nonetheless. No pain no gain, right? Load up on the Dramamine next time.

The time in Beaufort was excellent. What a nice small town atmosphere, truly friendly people, and all the free laundry you could do made for good times. We did holiday activities three nites in a row, including the street festival, parade with Santa on the fire truck, and the boat parade one nite. We had a local family that are members of a family cruising group act as our official hosts, which made it even better. Truly a big thanks to you, and to Beaufort for the great times.

Moving southward, we crossed into Georgia and had to watch ourselves as the tides and tricky shallow spots made it interesting. A stop over on Cumberland island to visit the Carnegie family's former estate of Dungeness was great and included wild horses.

Onward to Florida, where we are now in St Augustine enjoying the warm weather, holiday cheer and lots of cruisers meeting up and discussing plans to move south. Happy holidays, we'll tune in after the new year from somewhere further south.

How to have fun on a boat

Homeschooling on a warm day in December

Sunset over Charleston, SC

By Anne

When we were in Masonboro marina, there wasn't a lot to do. So we asked the dock master what a fun activity would be and he said we should motor to the islands in our dinghy. So, we did. At first, my mom and I went. I thought it was going to be boring but then I found a whelk. I picked it up and found a small animal inside. We thought it was a clam but then, we looked at it more closely and realized a mollusk was inside. I wanted to keep it but the mollusk would die so I left it there.

After ten minutes passed, my mom and I motored back to the boat and picked Alex up. Then, we went to the other island. When we got there I jumped into the cold water and pulled the dinghy to shore. Once five minutes past a small dog came running over. Then, two people came. My mom talked to them for a while and then the owner found a stick and showed us how high the dog could jump. The dog was able to jump at least four feet high.

While my mom was talking to the same people, Alex and I walked around. Alex also found a whelk but it had a mollusk in it too. The mollusk was angry when we picked him up so it spat water at us. After Alex put the shell down, we raced to the end of the beach. Alex won. I almost stepped on a HUGE jelly fish. I was disgusted but Alex didn't care. We kept on walking and then turned around. My feet were sore from walking on the sharp shells. Even though I thought it was going to be boring I had a lot of fun looking for shells.

Thanksgivikkah?

See the two blade prop?

Happy Thanksgivikkah... The melting of Thanksgiving and the start of Hanukkah. Look it up, it's even a trademarked term now.
We've been holding at Carolina beach for a few weeks to have...wait for it...boat work done. Yes, better to get it done now before it got worse or we were in a remote place.
Seem the point where the propeller enters the boat, the stuffing box, was becoming more and more leaky. We knew this from the last survey but it was on the "eventually" list. Which is now. The mechanic we are using is excellent, and noted other areas that could be done that would save headaches later, such as a prop shaft( the original is pitted and worn), coupling and 3 bladed prop. Seems we weren't getting good use of our current two bladed prop and it was not the proper size for our engine output and transmission. Which could do harm down the road and uses extra fuel. Plus, we've noticed that we never had a lot of get up and go, which is more important now with getting through bridge openings, battling currents and tides.
We have not been suffering, as the off season rates are very reasonable for the beach condos. And after being on a boat, even a one bedroom condo is huge. And it has hot water. And laundry. A a 40 inch flat screen. I could go on. We've gotten soft, but are launching the boat tomorrow we hope, to check rpm's and alignment and get on the road.
South Carolina is next! Sounds good, it has the word south in it and the promise of warmer temps. The trip from Beaufort to here was good, with 3 bridge openings on the second day that was a bit of a mad dash but worked well. We saw first hand our get up and go prop issue as we tried to keep up with other boats and not get run over by ones behind us. Loads of dolphins as we moved south, a few playing in our wake and others coming near the boat to see what we were up to. We did hunker down in a marina the last day we got here for a few days with a strong cold front blowing up to 40 knots. Again we met great folks and had a good time. Big thanks to David at Masonboro marina for all the help, and to Charlie and Barbara for loaning us a spare heater during the cold spell which they insisted we keep! We are hooked on the heater now and any cold front will soon see its appearance. Thanks all!

Beaufort, NC

A short trip to Beaufort with nice weather started our weekend. We're adjusting to tides and currents now that we're next to the ocean. We visited a kite festival last week while work was being done on the engine, and there were some really cool kites that were huge (a full size whale!). This weekend we did the local scene in Beaufort, including a visit to the island that has wild horses, a visit to the maritime museum to view Blackbeard's pirate artifacts, and the usual window shopping. Tomorrow it's off south, with a cold front coming mid-week that will,test our entire wardrobe to stay warm.

Engine for dinner?

The work is done. The folks at Sailcraft Service in Oriental get an A+ in my book. New aluminum stringers, clean painted bilge, lots of side projects done while the engine was out. Oh, did I mention the engine that lived in our main salon for a day or so. We vacated the boat while they did the initial work of removing the engine and old stringers, but still had about a day of overlap till the engine went back in. So we are all in top physical shape after the advanced gymnastics of climbing over, around and by the engine.
We did the bilge cleaning and painting as well as hooking up the engine once it was back in which saved a fair amount of dough. That's one great thing about this boatyard is they let you do as much as you feel able, will loan you tools, provide solid advice and lend a hand when you need it. The bilge cleaning was especially a treat. 30 years of crud in the bilge, and we found another area beneath the water tank that had 15 gallons of water and diesel mixture from who knows where and when that had to be hand pumped out. Nobody said this was a pleasure cruise and I've yet to have a fruity drink with an umbrella in it.
We're waiting on a part for the engine which is an easy fix and we'll be off to Beaufort in a day or so. Ready to on the road (water) again!
The photos show old and new (can you guess which is which) as well as our attempt to cook the engine in the oven which failed.