Fast Travel North

Another two weeks or so have passed since the last entry to this blog. During that time we managed to remain fairly active and got a bit of work done on the boat as well.

I'll begin with the boat issues. Boat work included getting the engine's fresh water pump replaced as was noted earlier. This was accomplished without any issues. The water pump for our use with the fresh water system on the boat seemed to have an air leak. Such a leak could come from so many places; I struggled to find the solution. I ended up talking to clerk at West Marine who suggested where the leak might originate. Upon checking, I found he was correct – fixed.

I knew the dinghy bottom needed its periodic cleaning after dealing with this task a few times during each winter in Marathon. I was surprised to find that in just three short weeks, barnacles covered the bottom – a very different situation from that in Marathon where I'd see few barnacles but lots of soft growth. After seeing the situation with the dinghy, I dove under the boat to check the prop. It too had lots of barnacles.  Barnacles on the prop can rob it of much of its power, so it's important to keep the blades clean.  Then it was on to the teak toe rails and grab rails. Since we've stopped varnishing them, the cleaning process goes quickly – about a day's work to get all of it looking good again.

I'd been having problems with my anchor windlass as noted in an earlier addition. It has been repaired, but I still find the chain getting jammed on occasion. I determined that the rust on the chain was the culprit, so I pulled it all out – all 200 feet of it – to find that some of it was really looking pretty bad. I determined that the first 100 feet was salvageable and cut the remainder off. I then bathed the better half in a solution of muriatic acid and water. Wow! What a great job in just a matter of 15 minutes. It doesn't look like new, but does look so much better, and most all of the rust is gone. I didn't like loosing the 2^nd 100 feet, but I came to the conclusion that I rarely use more than 100 feet when traveling the ICW or in the Keys. I still have 200 feet of nylon anchor line attached to the chain, so I'll be safe on the rare occasions when more anchor rode than 100 feet is needed.

Since we'd be leaving the boat for at least two months, we had to clean out most of the food. Those of you who know Sandra know that she always carries enough on board for emergencies … and perhaps a bit more. But with real effort, she has managed to use up most of what was stored away.

We also decided the safest solution for the boat while we were gone was to put it back on a mooring. Leaving it in a slip was not as desirable. If a hurricane came through, we'd have to have it moved to a mooring or I'd have to fly down to do the moving. Having it on a mooring already just means one less concern.  Mac and Pat Rice (who live in Vero Beach now) offered to watch it for us. That is a big help, since we know that they will recognize a problem with the boat if it arises.

Leaving the boat in south Florida for the summer means lots of moisture and likelihood of mold. Therefore we purchased packages crystals that are supposed to reduce the moisture build up. We know we'll have to deal with mold upon our return, but we're hoping this addition will reduce the extent of the problem. Time will tell. We also had to take down the bimini and secure the sails and anything left on deck for possible strong winds as well. Then, of course, we had to be prepared for a hurricane in another way. We had to be sure to take with us any important papers and insurance info in the event that a big hurricane came and sank the boat. We aren't expecting that outcome, but we still must prepare for it. If we're in NE when it comes, we won't be able to zip down to grab such items.

Finally, we had to deal with the fact that we'd be away from most of our stuff for the two plus months. During that time we'd be doing some camping, and we'd be spending time in Virginia and New England where the weather may vary a good deal. So clothes and camping equipment and anything else we think we might need that was on board had to be packed to take with us. Since we live in a small space, one might think that we shouldn't have much to deal with. Those who think that would probably be amazed by the quantity of personal belongings we have stored aboard.  Sandra worked through  that and got a lengthy list of items we had to bring with us as we went north by car.

So we addressed all these issues with time to continue enjoying our stay in Vero Beach. As we neared our departure date, Sandra celebrated a birthday, so I had a few plans to make her day a special one. However, our daughter Jennifer had a bigger surprise. She drove our car down to Vero and arrived on her mother's birthday! We were both surprised and pleased. We quickly changed our plans to stay a couple more days and share the local highlights with our daughter and her dog, Kaya. We went to the movies as I had already planned and went to one of the nicer restaurants along the beach for a special birthday dinner. We went swimming a few times and even took the dogs to a beach where they could play a bit. During one of those beach trips, we saw manatees swimming just out beyond the surf – a first for us.

Jenn with Kaya and Maddie in the surf

On Thursday of this week we finally did move the boat out to the mooring and began our drive north to Virginia. Since we had to move the boat and do the last minute securing that morning and then had to make a stop in St. Augustine to pick up mail that we were supposed to gather as we sailed up earlier in the month, we decided not to push the travel but take two days to complete the drive. We stopped the first night just outside of Savannah, and then finished the trek on Friday. It was a bit strange to note the signs along the highway for places we'd visited during our travels up and down the ICW. Of course, we'd travel in an hour what would normally take us a full day to do by boat. This “fast” travel made for a very different experience.

Savannah riverfront - and interesting place

Our evening stop in the Savannah area was memorable for a couple of reasons. The only other time we'd been there was in February. It was cool then with few tourists. This time it was not cool and there were lots of tourists. In fact the temperature hit 100 that afternoon. We did our tour of the river front and enjoyed a meal in the evening with the temp cooling down to 95. Even the pool at the motel was less than refreshing, but we enjoyed our time there in spite of the temperature. We would like to return for another visit – perhaps during the fall or spring if we travel that far north again by boat. (You see, given our experiences over the past few years, we are reluctant to be sure of any plans. Now that we've left the boat in Florida once, we might do it more often. We will address those future travel concerns when we are closer to a decision time.)

So now we are at Jennifer and Greg's home where we will remain for a couple of weeks before pushing further north to New England with our other daughter Samantha,our other son in law and 3 grandchildren in NH. Blog additions will be missing or infrequent till we are headed back to the boat late in the summer. So until that next addition, best wishes to one and all for a wonderful summer.

Carpe Diem

Captain Bob