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.