Lauderdale and No Name Harbor

Fri 1/29/16 & Sat. 1/30/16

Woohoo!  Its not raining.  It is cool, still in long pants and sweatshirts but we are dry!  We spent the day running errands on our bikes. One of those errands was to exchange American money to Canadian before we crossed to Cuba. Why? because the Cubans charge a 10-20% penalty to exchange American money to CUCs. They do not charge this penalty to any other country. This was a more difficult challenge than expected. We had to call three places before finding one that had enough to exchange then ride our bikes 2 miles to get it done. We stopped at a dollar store and liquor store on the way back. Of course I bought more than I should have making our trip back pretty miserable.  Vic and Kathy, who we are buddy boating with to Cuba have been in Lauderdale for almost two weeks. I was excited that we had finally caught up with them. They walked over from their boat ( about 2 miles away) with a friend of theirs and we had a really nice dinner at Downtowners on the river. The evening was comfortable and I had a great time watching the party boats with all their lights and music pass by us throughout the evening.  I really like this spot! Saturday morning we headed out for No Name Harbor in Biscayne Bay.  We were excited that the seas were down and we could run the ocean. After dealing with 20 bridges between Palm Beach and Lauderdale and weekend boat traffic we were looking forward to a calm stress free day. We used the   Port Everglades channel to go out and reentered the ICW at Biscayne Bay. Tom was actually in shorts today and I in capri's. Once back in and on the ICW we began our approach to the little pocket of water next to the state park called No name harbor. We quickly realized that the anchorage was going to be packed. so we back tracked to the anchorage outside of Hurricane hole. Even this  anchorage was busy. There were 24

 other boats including friends we are traveling with, Kathy and Vic.  After we anchored and were busy putting things away my phone rang. On the other end was Danielle. I was shocked. Deb and Danielle live on their catamaran, We met them over a year ago and really hit it off. Deb had seen my facebook posting about Miami as they were headed to an anchorage not far from here. They did an about turn and anchored next to us. It was great to see them. We had a great happy hour catching up. They are headed to the Bahamas in the morning. We are headed to Key Largo. This anchorage is popular with the locals so we were entertained with loud music until midnight.

                                  The little cobblestone street that runs along side the river
                                                                  

                                                              Our view at night

                                         Me standing in front of an interesting disc sculpture

   

                                                Laughter docked on the wall in front of the bridge

                                          A picture of Laughter from the top of the bridge

                                                More yachts, Which one do you want?

                                                  Cruise ships lined up at Port Everglades

                                      The view of the port and channel as we enter the ocean

more cruise ships

Wet ride to Lauderdale

Thur. 1/28/16

We were up at dawn watching the weather on Thursday. More rain was in store for us. Tom did a few jobs in the engine room and I kept a close eye on the radar.  About 10:am although still raining it appeared the worst of the storms that had continued to come ashore from the gulf were now out to sea.  Start your engines! We were moving again this time in rain gear.  It rained off and on throughout the day. Wet, tired and tired of wet we decided to get a slip on the New River in Lauderdale rather than anchor in Lake Sylvia. The New River is very narrow with two hair pin turns. There are water taxis, Mega Yachts, and tour boats that frequent the river. There are also several bridges that must be raised. Coming in we met a paddle boat near one of the turns. A good test of your maneuvering skills. The last time we stayed here we had a slip at Cooleys Landing. This time we were on the wall.  We pulled into our assigned spot,  tied up and hooked up to power and water. After a warming cocktail and a little walk(it had finally stopped raining)., we received a phone  message asking us to move to another spot! ARGGGG, we decided to stay the night and move in the morning. Funny thing, nobody has moved into the old spot. Although the river can pose its challenges it is a beautiful run. Beautiful homes and parks line the river. We are only two blocks walk from Las Olis boulevard. Anybody want to shop or try and catch a glimpse of someone famous? I love walking along the river and love the atmosphere that surrounds us.

                                                  Monks visiting Jupitor lighthouse

                                                               Jupitor lighthouse

                                                And the mansions start to appear

                                 Wouldn't you love to know who they are building this boat for?

                  Lake Worth anchorage, a popular waiting area for crossing to the Bahamas

One of the mega yacht only( your yacht must be at least 100 foot) marinas

When we left Lantana the seats were all wet and I put Peanuts towel over the chart to keep it dry while I drove and Tom pulled up the anchor. Peanut decided to lay on her dry towel up on the chart table rather than a wet seat. She's no dummy!

We need 19 feet - no problem 1 foot to spare!  Notice the Pelicans drying their wings after all the rain.

Hmmmm, can we make it or will we leave our radar behind?

Your next boat maybe?

                                                                        Front view

                                                 Pick one, can you decide?

                                                        Here's a nice one

Rain Rain Go Away!

Tues 1/26/16-Wed. 1/27/16

Fresh from a good nights rest we headed over to Harbor Springs Marina to fuel up.  With our Boat U.S. discount we paid $1.94 a gallon. We haven't seen prices like that in two years. That called for a happy dance for sure!  The ICW view makes a dramatic change South of Fort Pierce.  The houses become mansions, the boats become yachts and the fuel jumps up a dollar or more a gallon.  The number of bridges triples which adds another interesting element to navigation. Some we can squeak under but a number of them we cant. This adds a new challenge to our day. We have to try and time the bridges that we must have opened.  Some open every 20 minutes, some once on the hour or once on the half hour and others at 15 minutes after and 15 minutes before the hour. Only a few open upon request. Got it? Neither would we without lots of notes and discussion.  Oh yeah, you cant race from one bridge to the next to make the opening either because most of this section of the ICW is a No Wake Zone, which means you are traveling at minimum speed. Sound like fun?  Boat traffic tends to back up at the bridges which makes it even more interesting. Everyone trying to jockey around in the current while we wait. The one thing we have learned. When the bridge is scheduled to raise at 1:30 it raises at 1:30 not a minute early!  We always try to keep ahead of the game by having a copy of the bridge schedule on our chart. What we didn't realize until we arrived at the Palm Beach bridge is that because of construction the bridge was only opening once per hour at 15 minutes past instead of its usual twice per hour schedule. It also does not open during rush hour so when we arrived at 3:30 thinking we had 15 minutes until the 3:45 opening we found out the next opening would not be until 5:15!  Not happy boaters! Tom was to frustrated to deal with it so I took over the helm and drove us back and forth till 5:15. I looked on the positive side, it gave me extra practice spinning the boat around. Ha ha. By 5:15 we had quite the parade of boats both North and South Bound waiting.

 As the day came to an end the wind picked up. Because of the wait at the bridge we found ourselves entering the anchorage at Lantana at dusk. Now I'm not a happy boater! I don't like piloting in the dark. Why is it that someone who spent 38 years driving to work and back in the dark during the winter, drove to shopping centers, restaurant's, etc in the dark hates piloting her boat in the dark?  Don't really have the answer to that one. Anyway,  This anchorage is a nice one but makes me a little nervous even when it is light out. Add darkness and I find myself mumbling ugly words.  You see the charts and GPS indicate that the depth is only 5.9. but when you follow the correct path into this popular anchorage, you find depths of seven to eight feet.  Tom decided to head to the inside of the boats already anchored.  This would tuck us in with more wind protection. As he nosed her in the depths dropped dramatically and the alarm sounded. We were in four foot of water and need 3.8 to keep from grounding! Not good!  Slowly and successfully he  maneuvered back into deeper water then turned the helm over to me. Heading down to the bow to prepare to drop anchor I was now in charge.  Now I'm  driving the boat, fighting the wind, watching the depth finder and trying to keep a good distance from the other boats all IN THE DARK. Grrrrrr.  I choose my spot and signaled for Tom to drop the anchor. Anchor dropped, and checked for holding, I could now breath. My sigh of relief was short lived as the wind whipped up some white caps and I realized it could be a long night! We bounced and swung back and forth until nearly 2am  About the time the wind seems to slow down the rain started It rained and rained and rained some more.  Daylight brought no relief. In fact it rained harder. We don't travel in storms so we started working on our inside job lists.  About 10:30 am the weather alerts on our phones started. The alarm would sound  and the text would read tornado warning, take cover in the lowest part of your house, or inner room immediately.  OK, does that mean we climb in the engine room or squeeze into the bathtub in the aft head together?  Our choice, watch out the windows for water spouts or funnel clouds. After a full day of this the wind finally subsided just before dark and the rain stopped.  Unfortunately it started up again about 11pm and rained most of the night but at least there were no more warnings!

windy anchorage

Wind and rain, notice the white caps in the anchorage

                                                 

raining so hard you cant see down the ICW

                                                A group of monks walking up to the lighthouse

   Jupitor lighthouse. Passed it several times but never stopped. Will stop to climb on our way back North in the spring

                                                           The houses are getting bigger

                                         I wonder who they are building this yacht for?

                              One of several marinas that have a minimum 100 foot requirement

                                 peanut watching the fishing pole for movement while keeping dry

         

The calm before the next storm

Monday, 1/25/16

Today was just a nice day on the ICW.  It was cold in the anchorage here at Cocoa Village but not like the last few mornings. Once the sun came up it warmed up nicely. We rode the afternoon without our sweatshirts! The winds were calm and the dolphins entertained us the entire day. At Green Cove Springs we had to have our generator repaired. When we pulled away from their dock it was purring like a kitten.  The next few nights we stayed at docks with electric so had no need to use it. Our first night at anchorage it was time to fire it up and nothing happened. I flipped the switch and nothing. Tom spent the entire evening trouble shooting in the engine room with no luck. Thank goodness we have the inverter. With intermittent use I could keep my frig cold. Today Tom called two friends with boats to trouble shoot. After gaining a new list of ideas he was ready to tackle it again when we reached Fort Pierce. We arrived at the anchorage early afternoon and Tom took his list of suggestions and crawled down into the engine room. The last idea was to jump start the generator with the engine starting batteries. Good news, they started!! Bad news we have two bad generator batteries! UGH.  Thank goodness we had two extra batteries that we had brought with us this time. We spent the next hour switching out the batteries and now have a working generator!!
Although we get our fuel in Fort Pierce on our trips up and down the ICW because fuel jumps up a dollar or more a gallon about 15 miles South of here and like to anchor here we have never spent time exploring Fort Pierce. We decided that is a must on our return trip in the spring.

Knew I should have brought more warm clothes!

Sunday 1/24/16

We pulled away from the dock at New Smyrna on Sunday morning heading South still dressed in hooded sweatshirts and long pants! Dressing in layers and being cold in Florida is beginning to ware on my attitude. I know, I know, no sympathy from friends and family back home dealing with below zero and snow.   I'm not asking for hot just short sleeves and Capri's would make me happy.             Mid morning the sun warmed the fly bridge and made traveling much more enjoyable. It was a pretty day, sunny, calm winds and clear sky's. Our next stop was one of my favorites. The city dock at Cocoa Village. Cocoa Village is a cute little town with a beautiful waterfront park. The town is only a few blocks away from the dock.  When we arrived we found that the dock, which has room for two boats had two boats tied to it.  This meant we would have to anchor and would not get to visit the park or town. this trip. It was a little disappointing but we made the best of it. Up early enough to catch a sunrise photo we headed for Fort Pierce.

                        We see some of the most interesting boats on the water. This is an old paddle boat minus the paddle that he renovated and is living on.

Evidently we are stirring up breakfast for the seagulls

                                                     Sunrise at Cocoa Village anchorage

New Smyrna Beach stopover

On Wednesday, January 20th we stopped at the free dock in New Smyrna Beach because our frig was misbehaving. We had blown a fuse that morning at Marineland. Once replaced everything seemed fined but as we were traveling I realized the frig was not keeping its temperature as it should. Tom made a couple of phone calls trying to reach a repairman and we headed for the free dock. Once tied up and anxiously awaiting a call from a repairman we decided to ease the frig out and check the back for obstructions and excessive dust. All was fine. Out of desperation I unplugged the frig, shut off the breaker and after pushing it back in position plugged it back in, flipped the breaker and turned the dial to the coldest inside the frig. Shortly thereafter the frig kicked on and has been working fine. Yahoo!  Friends of ours live in a beautiful condo complex on the ICW here so we gave them a call. Soon we found ourselves moving to a dock in front of their place for the night. One night turned into four after I checked the weather!  Storms, high winds and freezing temps were heading our way. Lets see, tied to a floating dock with electricity for heat or anchored swaying in the wind with the geni running all night to keep warm.  Obviously a no brainer decision! We had a great visit. Merks for oysters(Tom eats them, yuk!), long walks to the beach and shops, and a trip with our friend Bob to watch a Lacrosse game in Winter Park.  Bob and Patti's grandson John Michael, is a senior at Trinity High School in Winter Park. He is a very good Lacrosse player and had secured a scholarship to Mercer College. on Monday Dec. 14th after two great games over the weekend, John Michael text his mom from class and said I need help. I am dizzy and don't feel right. His parents picked him up and took him to the hospital. His condition worsened and he was taken to a larger hospital. After three days of running every test imaginable with no results a full body cat scan was done. They found that John Michael had had a brain stem stroke resulting in LIS. Locked in Syndrome. A condition in which your brain is fully functional, you can hear, see and blink your eyes but cannot move or talk!  Everyone is asking themselves how this happens to a 17 year old athlete it top condition.  John Michael is one of the youngest known persons in the nation to have this happen. It evidently is fairly common in people in their 80's.  He is now in a rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta and has a long hard road to recovery before him.  I am in awe of the way the community has rallied around him.  There have been community wide fundraisers to help defray the nearly million dollar medical bill he will have.  "Yesterday the college team he was to play on arranged a fundraising game to be held at his high school, which we attended. There were more than 1000 people there. The grandson of Harry Carry was the announcer and channel two showed highlights on the 6:00 news.  High school parents had a huge bake sale and all concession foods, bake sale items, and raffle items were donated to his recovery fund. The opposing team signed a 24 jersey and gave it to John Michael's younger brother Ben and a Mercer alumni wore a 24 jersey while playing. The grandparent of one of the high school students is friends someone who knows the lead player from the band AC DC. It is one of their songs that John Michael played before every game as his warm up. The singer(I forgot his name) sent john Michael a video of his song and a personal message. He also sent him a personal copy of the message, a t-shirt and book!  Why am I going on about this?  It brings a warm feeling to my heart to know what good people can really accomplish when they take the time to care! Oh what we could accomplish in this world if more people were like this!
It is now Sunday morning. It is cold, ice on the docks and 30 degrees. We are waiting for the sun to warm up the fly bridge a little then will head further South.

                                           New Smyrna Beach - yep cars are allowed

                                                                    Waves were up

                                           Cute little cars you can rent to go up and down the beach

                      Our friends Bob and Patti live in the building on the right. Laughter is to the left of the
                                                      big boat at the end of the dock.

                                                        Sunset view from their condo

                                            John Michael's dad and younger brother thanking everyone for coming

                                                                      John Michael

                              Close up of the two teams, dad and younger brother posing for photo
                                                Young brother Ben got to do the coin toss

                                                             Combined team photo

We are on the water!

Monday, Jan. 18, 2016

Its Monday morning and its not foggy, not raining, just windy and cold. We had a hard freeze last night and at 9 a.m. it was 40 degrees.  We completed a  few more jobs including picking up another round of meds for Peanut. This is her third round of antibiotics for a bacterial UTI, poor little girl. The decision was made, lets go!! Just bundle up and go. Now, would our new fishing boat/dinghy actually handle being pulled up on top with the crane?  You betcha! Tom did a great job of figuring out how to attach the lifting chain to the boat and found the balance point for the clip that attaches to the crane cable. Dinghy up, bikes on board, Ken and Rick, friends we made in the yard from Vancover, Canada came down to help us push off . The North winds were blowing straight at the marina keeping Laughter tight against the dock.  As we pulled away we were surprised and thrilled with the sounds of bagpipes. Rick was playing for us as we left! It was awesome.
The fly bridge was surprisingly warm as the midday heat of the sun warmed us through the plastics. In fact the it was warmer on the fly bridge than in the salon.  Our first day on the water was a short run to Ortega Landing Marina. The prediction of another cold night with freezing temperatures lured us to the convenience of electricity to run the boat furnace.  Tucked in warm and toasty we were happy! We are on the water. 
The alarm went off at 7am, but the frost on the windows prompted another 1/2 hour under the covers!  Dressed in an undershirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, coat and leggings under my jeans I headed down the dock with Peanut.  We were both anxious to take care of business and get back on the warm boat.  Our goal today was St. Augustine.  Again the warmth of the sun through the plastics made our journey comfortable, although I would still prefer to be in shorts and a t shirt in Florida.
Our first dolphin siting of the New Year, happened today, Whoot Whoot! Love watching them swim towards us then dive under the boat at the very last minute.  My favorite bird was also out in abundance today. Have you ever really watched a large, awkward looking pelican on land dive straight down like a torpedo into the water? Pretty cool! 
Our approach to St. Augustine took place about 3:20p.m. Decision needed, do we stop or press on to Marineland.  Marineland it is. As luck would have it Marineland had one slip available, which was good news since we didn't call until 4:00p.m. The alternative would be to find a spot to anchor and run the generator all night to stay warm on another hard freeze predicted night. Not near as comfortable. We were tied up, hooked up to electric with heat on by dusk!  Snug as a bug in a rug! Night all.

                                    Rick playing the bagpipes as we pulled away from the dock

                                                               Downtown Jacksonville

                                                  Another shot of Jacksonville

                                                                   Jaguars stadium

                              We saw a few really large barges as we passed through the industrial section of
                               Jacksonville.

How many semi trailers do you think will fit on a freighter?

                   This is what it looks like when 18.5 ft Laughter passes under a 23 foot bridge

                                         The beach across the street from Marineland Marina