Yes, the Intercoastal Waterway is saltwater

Imagine a dinghy....Imagine a dingy dock....now imagine me somewhere between the dinghy and the dinghy dock. A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Vero Beach Municipal Marina this morning. Yes, within a fraction of a second I was able to verify the water in the ICW is saltwater.  I neglected to anticipate the metal dinghy dock was slippery with morning dew and my one foot on the dock quickly turned into no feet on the dock and no feet in the dinghy. Ok, if you are going to embarrass yourself, at least do it on the way to take a shower and laundry.  Some hot water and laundry soap soon washed away all traces of my embarrassment.  The clothes dryer and hair dryer restored me and my clothes to operational status and Marlene and I headed into Vero Beach to explore shopping and the beach.  It was our first beautiful sunny day we spend on land during this trip.  The temperatures were warmer and the sun was out.  We enjoyed a nice lunch at a Mexican Restaurant and headed back to TIKA completing a great day in Vero Beach.

A new personal record

Thursday, December 27

Waking up shivering at dawn, we were anxious to find warmer temperatures, so we headed off south at sun up.  It was so cold, the windows were fogged up in the boat requiring wiping them down every ten minutes until the sun warmed up the windows.  The winds had dropped down and it turned out to be a great travelling day.  We made 72 miles and arrived in Vero Beach around 5:15pm.  We travelled about 20 miles beyond what we expected.  Vero Beach is a great stop for boaters, so we plan on spending Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and depart for Stuart on Sunday morning.

Riding the Storm Out

Wednesday, December 26

We sat out our trip south in Titusville for a day due to forecasted high winds and small craft advisories as a cold front moved through Florida.  The forecasters were correct.  High winds limited our dinghy trips to the marina and we decided to stay aboard TIKA for the day.  When the front moved through, the winds rapidly changed direction swinging us around rapidly.  The temperatures dropped about 20 degrees from 60 to 40 and we spent a chilly night on the boat.

Christmas Day with dolphins

Tuesday, December 25

Christmas morning sunrise in Daytona Beach was clear and calm, so we decided to bring in our lines and cruise towards Titusville.  The water was so flat on the ICW it looked strange in some places.  Along the waterway we saw more dolphins than we ever have in one day....well in excess of 50.  A couple of times Marlene when on the stern to watch dolphins chase along side.  Marlene said one was so close, it almost blew water on her when it took a breath of air.  We also saw a bald eagle sitting on a ICW marker sign in Mosquito Lagoon. We arrived in Titusville around 2:00pm and made Christmas dinner on the boat.  We even tried baking chocolate chip cookies in our oven, which apparently from the looks of the interior, had never been used.  The cookies turned out perfectly and we both concluded that today was the most unique Christmas we had ever experienced.  A storm front bringing high winds is expected to arrive on Wednesday, so we plan on staying on the mooring ball in Titusville on Wednesday.

Christmas Eve on the water

We debated whether to hang out in St. Augustine for a couple of days, but the cold temperatures continued and the warmer temperatures of southern Florida beckoned.  So, we cut loose from the mooring and pointed TIKA in the direction of Daytona Beach.  Tides were favorable and we made exceptional time averaging 8 mph. OK, remember, this is a trawler, not a speedboat.  Anything over 7 mph is fantastic. We decided to spend Christmas eve at a Marina, so we pulled into Halifax Harbor Marina around 2:00pm and took nice hot showers, ate dinner at an Italian restaurant, and walked around Daytona Beach.  All in all, another nice day and we are now officially in Central Florida. 

Dec 23rd....and were off !

Up at daybreak, it is time to begin this adventure.  Lows were in the high 20's overnight, so our electrical cord was a little stiff rolling up.  We left the dock at 7:30 am, just about sunrise for a beautiful ride down the St. Johns to the ICW.  The timing was almost perfect with the tide and we went through downtown with only a light current against us.  By the time we made downtown Jacksonville it was almost slack water, so the journey to the ICW was made in just about 2 and one half hours.  Then down the ICW to St. Augustine arriving around 4:00pm, averaging over 7 mph.  The day could not have been more perfect as the water was basically flat with winds under 5mph.  After securing a mooring ball for TIKA, we took our dinghy into St. Augustine for the Christmas festival of lights and some dinner.  The evening concluded with a 1/4 mile dinghy ride in the darkness back to TIKA who was resting peacefully on her mooring ball.  A perfect start to our latest adventure.

The Best Laid Plans.....

Marlene and I have been excited anticipating our departure from our home port at "'The Marina at Ortega Landing" for our first extended cruise to southern Florida.  All the preparations of TIKA and the provisioning of food and supplies were completed for an anticipated departure on December 20 or 21st, but mother nature had other plans.  The tail of the winter storm that hit the Midwest and eastern states managed to dip through Jacksonville dropping temperatures into the 30's with wind gusts in the high 20's. We decided to opt for staying at the marina with our electrical umbilical cord firmly attached to power our heater at night. While cruising, we plan to tie to mooring balls or anchor, limiting our options for cabin heat overnight to warming the cabin before going to bed by running our generator and waking to prevailing temperatures in the morning. With lows expected to get back into the 50's early next week, we figure the wise choice for marital bliss is to wait for the warm up.

Back in the water again!

After two weeks out of the water TIKA was launched today. Her hull is polished and waxed and she has a fresh coat of bottom paint. We moved her over to Ortega Landing Marina our new home port. The Admiral and I have been working on little improvements while TIKA was "on the hard". We are anxious to get to work with our upgrades and begin planning our next adventure.

Day 10: The Voyage Home

Up at the crack of dawn for the final leg to Jacksonville. We strategically planned to hit the mouth of the St. Johns River at 3pm low tide so as to have less current to fight on the 20 mile segment up to Jacksonville. The problem was the dropping tide caused us to make great time on the intracoastsl approaching the river. We arrived about 1 hour early and as we made the turn upstream our speed dropped to a crawl. The wind and waves were high on the river and the last

leg of our trip was the most challenging. Where the river tightens in a curve downtown the current is amplified and it felt like we were standing still. The final approach to Ortega, our new home port was the final challenge. A 2 mile stretch off the channel to the Ortega river entrance is shallow. And we find fisherman have peppered it with crab traps that make it like traversing a minefield When we finally tied up at the marina at 5:30, we were like balloons letting air out. We were amazed we actually accomplished this first voyage and relieved that we made it safely on such a capable boat. Tomorrow TIKA gets pulled out of the water for some TLC while we plan our next Voyage. Tomorrow night we sleep in our bed at home. I wonder if we will have to get land legs to sleep at night.

Day 8 and 9 St. Augustine ...15 miles or 8 hours from home

Day 8

We woke up on the hook in Daytona with the intention of spending the day, but the weather forecast called for a perfect day today and high winds tomorrow. Within 10 minutes the anchor was up and we were motoring the 52 miles to St. Augustine. Tides were favorable and we arrived in St. Augustine around 3 pm. A perfect trip with dolphins and beautiful scenery.

Day 9

We chose wisely. Winds were gusting over 20 mph, so yesterday was a better travel day. We bummed around St. Augustine with a new perspective. We always said this would be a great cruise ship port and to our amazement a small cruise ship actually pulled in the harbor. It was a river cruise ship that travels the intracoastal and St. Johns River. News to me!! We went to a marine supply store to pick up a lock washer for the alternator belt which always seems to be coming loose. A friendly boater butted in and told me I needed a new belt. He said the old one was slipping, getting hot and stretching. He said I needed to replace it before it failed and damaged the engine. The guy was right. I had plenty of new spare belts, so I changed all three. The old belts had stretched a lot.

Another successful repair complete and we were off to town for happy hour. The Admiral proclaimed she had consumed more beer on this voyage then her whole life prior. 2 for 1 happy hours are keeping the crew happy. Tomorrow we cruise to our new home port. On Friday TIKA gets pulled out of the water for some fresh bottom paint and polishing the hull. Some of the most interesting parts of the trip are still ahead of us as we cruise to Jacksonville.

Day 6 and 7 Trip to Daytona Beach

Day 6
From my iPhone so it will be brief. Sunday was to be laid back, with a dinghy ride to a restaurant for lunch. We did laundry at the marina... and other dull stuff. However, about six we discovered loose alternator belts, a broken ground wire on a thru hull bronze fitting and about 3 gallons of water in our lazarette. So, it was back to the marina for repair parts. About 8 pm repairs were complete, but the Admiral wanted a long hot shower, so we motored the half mile back to the marina in the dinghy in the dark. And I mean dark!

Day 7
The next morning it was up at dawn for the 50 mile cruise to Daytona Beach. The trip was beautiful as we saw many dolphins and Manatees. We dinghied into the marina to a West Marine store to pick up a couple of plastic plumbing fittings to fix the water leak in the lazarette. Day 7 ended with all repairs complete and a perfect evening.

Day 5: Titusville is a sleepy little town

In the shadow of the giant NASA space complex is little Titusville. It has a quaint little downtown, but it looks like it has been hard hit with the recession and the cutbacks in the space program. A lot of stores were empty. With TIKA resting on a mooring ball, we motored into the marina with our main lifeline to the marina, our dinghy. The municipal marina has a small store for essentials, a screened in lounge area and clean restrooms with showers. Marlene and I walked downtown and found the Chocolat Cafe and tried their raspberry white chocolate scone which was itself worth the journey downtown. We checked out a few stores, saw several manatees grazing in the shallow waters and checked out the restaurant on the waterfront for happy hour and dinner prospects.
We ended up staying on TIKA for dinner as the waves were kicking up and the dinghy ride to the restaurant would have been a little damp. Life on a boat is pretty simple....we played a couple of games of scrabble, watched a little TV, and made tacos for dinner. After a beautiful sunset it was another attempt at learning how to sleep peacefully on a boat with movement and noise of water lapping up against the side of the boat.

Day 4: Visiting the Space Coast

After a windy night in Cocoa we woke up to water that looked like glass. It was a semi-sleepless night, but better than we initially thought. Even though Cocoa looked like a great place to visit, the Admiral was ready to get on to Titusville to tie up to a mooring ball for a good nights sleep. We pulled anchor to find the bottom of the ICW has really stinky mud. Our boat has a raw water wash down, which was helpful in cleaning up the mess as we raised the anchor chain and anchor.

OK, after 3 days the stress level as we travel is getting lower. The Admiral and I have gotten better at staying in the ICW channel. There were no close calls with grounding and we enjoyed the 2 1/2 hour cruise past the NASA space center to Titusville. On the way we ran into a pod of dolphins which chose to chase our boat for a short distance. The assembly building at NASA is visible for 20 miles, so we could see the space center and launch pads.

On arrival, we pulled into the Municipal Marina to take care of necessities....pump out and fill up. This was our first diesel fill up and after 2 and 1/2 days of running the boat we were wondering how much TIKA was drinking. A pleasant surprise was we had only used 20.8 gallons of diesel which included running our electric generator for an hour. Our fuel burn had been less than 1.5 gallons per hour a 7 miles per hour.

We had a coupon for buy 2 get one day free mooring so we decided to sit out the weekend ICW traffic in Titusville. We will sleep better tonight after long hot showers and a meal onshore.

Day 3: The Admiral wants to go home

The day started out perfect as we left Vero Beach and motored north to Cocoa where we planned to anchor for the first time. As the day went on, the east winds picked up to 20 plus miles per hour. By the time we reached Cocoa, the flags were flying straight out on the boats and flagpoles in the area. We have never stayed out overnight on anchor on this boat and we had to deal with wind and tide. We pulled in to the anchorage with about 50 other boats and tried to pick an appropriate spot amongst the other boats and leave plenty of swing room. We dropped anchor for the first time and when it set we were probably too close to the boat behind us. We sat on the bow of the boat trying to determine if we were dragging anchor or firmly in place. After an hour or so of stressful discussion between the Captain and the Admiral, higher authority ruled and we pulled up anchor and repositioned the boat....twice! Finally set, we prepared for a sleepless night of worry. About 10:30 pm the Admiral proclaimed...."I want to go home". Two Tylenol PM's put the Admiral to sleep and we woke up in the morning without incident and calm seas. The Captain was relieved, but the Admiral declared we were heading to Titusville, where they had mooring balls to tie to. Life is good again.

Day 2 Relaxing in Vero Beach....almost

Vero Beach is the ideal place for a novice boater to stay overnight. The municipal marina is in a secluded cove and they have mooring balls to tie to.....and they have hot showers, clean restrooms, laundry, and internet.....all things normal people take for granted. Being a boater is the ultimate in managing the ecology. You manage electrical consumption, water usage, waste disposal (human and other), propane, and diesel fuel. When there is an opportunity to take a long hot shower, or use a restroom that doesn't fill your holding tank, it is like heaven. Vero Beach has free bus service to take you to the beach or to shopping and restaurants. We even went to two restaurants on the water by dinghy. We decided to stay an extra night. Waking up to dolphins swimming around your boat or passing you like a car when you are in your dinghy is a real treat.

Novice Boater Lesson: Dinghy's with small outboards with integral gas tanks have very small capacity. We learned this as we approached the dinghy dock and the motor sputtered to a stop. Now we carry a spare can with us in the dinghy. We were fortunate that we ran out of fuel within yards of the marina....it could have been a much harsher lesson.

Day 1 The Adventure Begins

On March 13, Marlene and I woke up on TIKA and decided today was the day to begin the adventure. We had been living on TIKA for 5 days at the private dock where it had been moored since we bought it. Our adventures to this point had been 1) To the fuel dock for its initial fill-up and 2) back the the fuel dock to pump-out our holding tank.

New Boater Lesson: If you discover at 10 pm that your water tanks are empty and decide to fill them in the dark, take a flashlight. I made the mistake of seeing WA...on the hull fitting and added water only to discover it wasn't the WATER fill, it was the WASTE fitting.....hence the need to head the the fuel dock the next morning to pump our holding tank.

So, Marlene and I release the the lines, and begin to weave our way out of the St. Lucie River to Intracoastal Waterway. Being Great Lakes boaters, we have never experienced the intracoastal waterway, otherwise known as the ICW or the "big ditch". While it appears to be a huge waterway, the actual channel is maintained by man and is very narrow. Within two hours of entering the waterway, I decided to go to the upper helm of TIKA to see if I could get the depth finder, which was working intermittently, to work. Marlene took the helm and shut off the depth finder while I went on top to play with the one on the upper bridge. Within seconds, even though we were within a hundred feet of a channel marker, the boat suddenly came to a stop as it dragged bottom. I couldn't believe it....two hours into the adventure and we might have to call Tow BoatUS!!!!. Luckily it was just past low tide and within 15 minutes we floated off and we headed back to the channel marker. From that point on we learned that you study the charts constantly to see how far the channel is from the markers. When the Army Corps of Engineers dredges the channel, the deposit the soil on either side of the channel, so you may only be dealing with a highway that is a hundred feet across. With markers often so far apart you need binoculars to see them, it is easy to stray out of the channel into the shallow area. Modern electronic chartplotters are a big help, but electronics can fail at any time. You need to have a partner watching the charts and the upcoming markers. Marlene, (the Admiral) is getting very proficient at this as we travel. After traveling the rest of the day uneventfully, we settled in on a mooring ball at the Vero Beach Municiple Marina. We were ready for drinks and time to unwind.

The beginning

Every story needs a beginning. Two years ago we left the security of a 33 year corporate career to explore a new phase of our life with a dream of year round boating. We sold our home in Michigan, put our belongings in storage and traveled the country for a year looking for the ideal spot to settle. After a 8000 mile journey that took us from the mid west, Wyoming, California, the South, Key West, and up to Hilton Head, South Carolina we chose Northeast Florida to build a new life. We built a home in St. Johns, Fl, about half way between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Jacksonville is a center for boating with the St. Johns River, the intracoastal waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. We spent a year building our home and the next six month looking for the ideal boat. We found TIKA in Stuart, Florida. This blog is for those who want to follow our experiences as new cruisers. You will read about the joys, the comedy of errors, and great learning experiences we have as we bring TIKA home and the journey that follow.