Captains Log 01/22/07

Located in Stuart, FL

While waiting for parts, I took the time to patch up the big genoa, and do some other small sewing projects. I added the slides on the Mainsail luff so its easier to hoist and fold down. I took a look at the watermaker, which had some problems. There was a pin hole leak in one of the high pressure fittings. Fluid at 1000PSI is not as bad as gas at 1000PSI. Small cracks produce a small trickle of water and are not devastating like high pressure gas leaks. This is the reason why all the air should be purged out of the system before watermaker is pressurized. Membranes were in good condition but I still got some alkaline cleaner and will do the cleaning before we leave. I still have to figure out why was the salinity so high? At 700ppm we cannot dring the water. We can wash up and use it for everyting else but drinking. Unfortunately, water here is very dirty and I cannot run the watermaker. So we have to wait for testing until we are outside or at the mouth of the St. Lucie inlet.
I spoke to few more experienced Abacos cruisers and looks like we’ll have some adventurous times getting around Abacos. With our 7+ foot draft we are unlikely to visit any marinas. But we don’t need them since our dinghy is very fast and we can make water and electricity on our own. Getting through the sea of Abaco will require waiting on tide and taking advantage of weather. There is plenty of anchorages but we will most likely be the one lonely boat anchored 2-3 miles off due to the draft. That’s ok. After Abacos, we are heading for Exumas which are much deeper. So if we don’t enjoy the Abacos we’ll just continue on to Exumas. I ordered Reeds Almanac 2007 for Caribbean. Reeds almanac is worth its weight in gold. It list in detail many formalities for all the Caribbean countries, tides, currents, weather patterns, and all the information we absolutely need.

Captains Log 01/09/07

Departure Point / Start Time Ft. Pierce, FL 10AM
Arrival Point / End Time Stuart, FL 4PM
Distance Traveled 25NM

This was a quick ICW ride under power alone to the next anchorage in Stuart FL. Coming in around St. Lucie inlet we ran aground for a bit, but in the middle of the channel. Luckily, it was a sandy bottom and strong northern winds floated us off by way of heeling the boat. But our draft is a problem here. Coming down the ICW, we were doing fine. Unfortunately, the Okeechobee River is shallower. Stuart is about 5 NM west on that river. Motoring deep in the river made me nervous. Will we ever get out of this hole? We were constantly reading under 8 feet of water. The channel is not guaranteed for any depth and at any moment we could have gotten into a shallow patch and stuck in the mud. Charts were indicating that some areas are 6 feet deep. Luckily the bottom is muddy and there were no hard groundings all the way in. Getting out of here will depend on the tide, which is only about a foot. Also, if we load up on water, gas and supplies we might sit couple of inches deeper in the water and have a more serious problem getting out of here. But that remains to be seen. In Stuart, we cleared a draw bridge and the anchorage was just behind it. There was plenty of water 10-15 feet in the anchorage. We had to wait couple of days for the mooring to free up. Stuart has plenty of stores and supplies. South Point Anchorage is a nice marina with showers, WIFI, laundry and many friendly cruisers planning their own Bahamas voyage. We ordered some parts and have to wait for them to come in. Then we’ll make our next move which is further down the ICW to LakeWorth/West Palm Beach. That is a commercial inlet and the best place to leave for Bahamas. It also gives us a shortest distance (55NM) and easterly heading for West End/Settlement Point in Bahamas.

Captains Log 01/06/07

Departure Point / Start Time Cape Canaveral, FL 8AM
Arrival Point / End Time Ft. Pierce, FL 2AM
Distance Traveled 71 NM

What was supposed to be a one-day event, turned out to be a lot more. Because the wind was on the nose it took us a lot more to get to Ft. Pierce. Ft. Pierce is a commercial inlet and coming in at night under clear sky, full moon and 10-15kts out of SE was not a big deal. Unfortunately we ripped the big genoa again! Luckily at the end, 3 miles before the inlet. Other that this, and the fact that we were beating all day, the day was great. There was only a 2-3 foot chop and the boat was sailing fast in SE 10-15knot breeze. Actually my wind instrument is not reliable. This is because the knot meter paddlewheel was suck due to all the weed and algae growth form St. Augustine. So the entire time we were showing apparent wind, and not the true wind. But one great thing we discovered was the white sandy beaches long the coast, and the localized effect it has on the prevailing winds in FL. In the winter FL has SE prevailing winds. Florida coast, north of West Palm Beach is actually extending slightly to the south-east. So more like S-SE. With the winds coming from SE our course is head into the wind. Unless we get closer to the shoreline. Local effect of the sun warming the white sands creates a windshift. Enough to make the wind blow onshore near the beach. Few places without the shoals we actually verified this. It was great. Crystal liked checking out all the condos, houses, and people on the beach. The morale was up and I liked making fast progress towards our destination, Ft. Pierce inlet. But then we ran into some shoally area and we had to tack. On Starboard tack we were heading due East and into the gulf stream which was now only about 15 miles from the coast. So we stayed about 5-10 miles from the coast. After the sun went down the sea breeze effect died and we were back to motorsailing. I used the engine time to fill up water tanks. Unfortunately because the waves picked up a bit in the evening, I wasn’t paying close attention to the salinity meter and filled the tanks with a bit salty water. Barely noticeable but after we arrived I verified that the salinity of our water in the tanks was about 700PPM. Not as much as salt water but not as low as necessary to be pure drinking water, less than 200PPM. But we are using the water for showers. So it was ok.

Captains Log 01/02/07

Departure Point / Start Time St. Augustine, FL 2PM 01/02/07
Arrival Point / End Time Cape Canaveral, FL 6PM 01/03/07
Distance Traveled 110NM

Finally we are on our way again. Being in St. Augustine for so long was nice. Christmas was great. New years eve was not so great. We are sad to leave such a great place but eager to head further south and eventually to Bahamas. We waited out the worst of the cold front and wanted to leave on New Years Day. Unfortunately we had an incident with anchors. After 4 weeks, the slime has build up about 3 inches around both anchor lines. So we stayed another day and left on Jan. 2. The winds were out of the north and we sailed riding the south flowing eddy of the gulf stream. The gulf stream flows closer and closer to the coast as we sail further south in Florida. Although we were not in it, the waves were making the boat roll a bit and Crystal was sick since she decided to not take the sickness pill. I guess sucking on sliced ginger didn’t work this time. The eddy current was carrying us very well. We were doing 4.5kts over ground in 5 knots of Northerly wind. After the wind died that evening, we motorsailed passed Ponce De Leon inlet and by sun light we were just north of Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately, this is when eddy current vanished and wind turned on the nose or close to it, around S, SE. It took us the entire day, from 8am to 4pm to round the dam Cape Canaveral. The waves changed to small chop and the roll was gone. We motorsailed and fished along the way. After several tacks we got east enough to get on a beam reach and round the extending shoals. The wind decided to die down on the way in. Canaveral inlet is a nice choice. There are no rollers at all. There is not current due to a lock 2 miles inside the inlet that separates ICW from the ocean side of the inlet. We motored passed all the cruise ships, fishing charter boats, and got the draw bride. We were the only boat and it was getting dark. The bridge and the lock were next to each other and were synchronized. After the lock there was a quiet anchorage with lots of fish in the water. It’s been over 24 hours of traveling and we were tired. Unfortunately I realized that the smell of decaying algae in the V birth was more like a decaying flesh. It was horrible. I had to take most of the chain out and pour buckets of seawater to try to wash the stink. The second anchor rode was even worse, being rope. But exhaustion made us fall asleep with no problem. The next day we spent cleaning the stink and catching up on sleep.