From Sailboat to Trawler

From Sailboat to Trawler
M/V ENDEAVOR

Monday, March 16, 2015

MOVIN' NORTH

We are tied up in the Cocoa Village Marina in Cocoa, Florida.
As usual, our plans took a dramatic turn when a minor incident occurred that required us to head out of our anchorage in Lake Worth and head into a marina in North Palm Beach. (I won't go into the details here). As it turned out it was a very nice change in the plan. Instead of heading south to Ft Lauderdale, my cousin, Jane, with whom we had left our car in Ft Lauderdale, drove up to pick us up in N. Palm Beach at the North Palm Beach Marina. We all drove down to Ft Lauderdale and spent the afternoon at a restaurant/bar on the New River, took a short boat ride up the river and enjoyed the sights along the way. (The New River is a narrow river that runs west out of the waterway through downtown Ft Lauderdale. It is lined with condo's, bars, restaurants, marinas and a "river walk" area. Quite the place to see and be seen. It was a Friday afternoon so around 4:00 the river got quite crowded with boats of every type and size and people---lots of people. Our original thought had been to take our boat up the river to experience the experience but we are glad we didn't, The river was jammed with traffic--is quite narrow and many of the "boaters" have no idea what they're doing. Kind of a "Caddy Shack" experience) But it was FUN.
We went back to Jane's house; had dinner at a nearby Cuban restaurant and spent the night at her place. The next morning we left and headed down town to link up to highway A1A, the road that meanders along and through all the beach towns. We stopped in Ft Lauderdale By The Sea to meet up again with Jane and her daughter, Julie and Julie's fiancĂ©e, Brian (we'll be attending their wedding at Key Largo in April) for lunch at a beach side restaurant--Aruba--(very good). After saying our good-bye's Diane and I continued up the coast back to our marina in N Palm Beach (right around the corner from Jack Nicklaus's home on "Jack Nicklaus Drive" right down from PGA Drive (Think they play a little golf here?)
As it turned out this marina was fantastic. Floating docks, very accommodating staff and an excellent location. It was so nice we had decided to stay there rather than get into the crowded waterways around Ft Lauderdale. Plus, it kept us at least a day closer to our destination south of St. Augustine where we will meet up with Kris and family for a get-together toward the end of March (They are driving from CO. Springs to spend several days at Disney World with Paul's folks before heading over to the Hammock Beach Resort where we will be tied up in the marina there. It's supposedly a very nice resort with lots to do for the munchkins.
We left N Palm Beach on the 10th, spent one night on the hook in the Indian River and pulled into this (Cocoa Village Marina) marina on Tuesday evening. Wednesday we rented a car and took a road trip back down A1A to pick up our car at the last marina. Thursday we drove over to Orlando to pick up Diane's sister, Nancy, who was flying in to spend a few days with us and escape the bitter Chicago winter. (I don't know how people live up there!) That night we were fortunate to see a NASA launch of an Atlas V rocket from  the Kennedy Space Center, about 10 miles away, as the bird flies, from the comfort of our bridge deck right here in the marina (We will get to see an afternoon launch when the kids are here--planning to drive down for it and spend the day at the Space Center). It was spectacular. The timing of our arrival here was just perfect and I feel so fortunate to have been able to see the launch. It wasn't a shuttle launch but still pretty impressive.
Today we take Nan back to the airport in Orlando (when there last we spotted a Chuy's Restaurant---great Mexican food despite it's being a chain). This will be our first Mexican food fix since we left Houston---Love the green salsa!!!!!
Tomorrow we reprovision and then take off again on Wed to head north and our eventual rendezvous with "The Kids". Getting really excited about seeing the little ones.
Cocoa Village has been a nice stop-over. The marina is right on the edge of the village where the area is undergoing a renaissance with lots of neat restaurants, bars etc. -a very quaint little town. You cross the bridge over the Indian River to Merritt Island (where NASA is located) then over to Cocoa Beach where Diane and Nan have spent a couple of days lounging on the beach. Very touristy, and it is Spring Break--so very crowded--but what you would expect for a tourist destination. Met some nice people, again, at the marina, including a guy on a Nordic Tug Trawler who owns some slips in the Myrtle Beach area and invited us to park our boat there for a very reasonable rate when we need to leave it and head back to Houston. Don't know if it will work--whether we'll get that far or pass it by altogether, but it's a very tempting possibility.
The weather has been wonderful. Warm and sunny but not too hot. Perfect tanning weather.
So far we have traveled 300 miles in the boat, burned around 150 gallons of diesel (You do the math---we're starting a "Fuel Fund" to which you may contribute). We've spent way too much time in marinas and not enough time at anchor which is what we prefer but that will all change, I hope, once the visit with the kids is over and we start moving north again. Life is soooo good!!!
When in Cocoa Village you must! eat (or drink--or both) at Norman's Raw Bar---Outstanding and cheap. Also---breakfast at Muddies--3 people, huge breakfasts--21 bucks.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

SPOT

If you are following us on SPOT (see left hand columns on this page--just click on the SPOT link) you will see a "cluster" in Lake Worth. This happened because DIANE forgot to turn off the SPOT sending device and it recorded us bouncing around on the anchor all night long. (You just can't get good help anymore).

THE OKEECHOBEE WATERWAY TO FLORIDA'S EAST COAST


                                    The St. Lucie Lock (14 foot drop)


 

We departed as scheduled—at around 7:30 AM on Sunday, Mar 1, and headed up-stream up the Caloosahatchee River and into the Okeechobee Waterway across Florida. The weather was perfect—warm and very little wind. We managed about 58 miles without incident, passing through several bridges, only a couple of which needed to open for us (we are 17 ft in the air and most of the bridges here are at least 21 feet high with a little wiggle room). We arrived at Moorehaven, Fla on the west side of the lake at around 4 and tied up to the city docks that are right on the waterway—electricity and water supplied, all at very little cost. As it was Sunday, no-one was in the City Hall bldg directly across the street but we placed our fee in a baggy and dropped it with our boat card through the pay slot for the first arriving clerk to use for what would probably be a pretty good lunch in Moorehaven the next day.

Monday was more of the same but included a very peaceful and relaxing crossing of Lake Okeechobee from around 9:30 to around 12:30; then more “ditch” travel as we made our way down the St Lucie canal to the east side of Florida, eventually turning south in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW –but I prefer “ICW”) and winding up at a lovely anchorage in the north end of Lake Worth, just north of Palm beach. There are lots of sail boats here and they appear to be awaiting the coming weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. I’d love to join them but will have to pass this time as our plans keep us pretty well tied to the east coast.

Once we turned into the ICW the traffic increased considerably, especially when we enter into the various towns along the way. It’s interesting seeing al the different boats and people but can be a bit annoying when you encounter the inevitable A-hole. The homes and yachts here are amazing. This is a very interesting way to see Florida.

We’ll spend a couple nights here on the hook and then depart for the Ft Lauderdale area where we’ll meet up with my cousin, Jane, and her family and do some exploring of the area before turning North to head up the coast to Palm Coast, just south of St Augustine to meet Kris and family at the Hammock Beach resort for a few days. They will have spent several days at Disneyworld with Paul’s parents before joining us at Hammock Beach. We’re also hopeful that Scott will be able to join us (currently in San Fran)

The boat is doing beautifully (except for brief scare the second day out when one of the raw water alarms went off on the port engine indicating the engine would overheat without sufficient cooling water to keep it cool. Investigation however showed the engine running at normal temps despite the alarm and it went off several minutes later and we haven’t heard it since. Talked to my engine guy and we think it was a short in the alarm sending unit—ie something electrical as opposed to mechanical) But, no other problems and we are really getting to know and enjoy this boat.