Rogue ICW Day 8

Well here we are anchored in Back River, amidst nothing but salt marshes everywhere. As far as the eye can see, salt marshes.  That has been the scenery this afternoon.

As I mentioned yesterday, we anchored just off the southern tip of Amelia Island in Nassau Sound Florida.  That part of Florida experiences 5 ft tidal changes, and the current flowing in and out can reach two knots. It flows so quickly, I could hear it running under the keel of the boat and watching it swirl behind the stern at anchor.  I was concerned that with a current that fast, that when the tide changed we would swing and the anchor would drag. There was a fixed bridge about 300 yards away, a series of docks off to the side, and shallow water also nearby.  I was so concerned that I set the anchor drag alarm on the lower station GPS Chart plotter I installed.  This was to wake me when we swung so I could check orientation.  Well, at 2:30a.m. It went off. I got up and checked where we were, and everything seemed ok.  Needless to say it was another night of restless sleep.

Today the adventures continued.  After a quick bite to eat we took our tea to the bridge and set off yet again for Fernandina Beach to top off the fuel tanks. As I mentioned above, there is absolutely nothing in Georgia for miles and miles, so I wanted to be sure I had plenty of fuel.  We motored into the marina and took on fuel for the hop into Ga. Fernandina is not as pretty from the water as it is from land.  Several docks with large ships and barges, and two plants of some type creating a smell that is hard to describe.  I have been to Fernandina once and it is a quaint town from land.  Maybe on another trip we can stop and explore.

We left Fernandina and entered the St. Mary’s River and into Ga.  We passed a naval facility with several ships including at least one submarine that was perhaps under repair, and one inside a shed building.  Also the Coast Guard was out and about there, as well as the harbor patrol.  Lots of military/police presence.  

We continued onward into St. Andrews sound which also had its challenges.  There were several shoals we had to dodge but made it across and to Jekyll Island without any problems. We entered Jekyll creek which connects St. Andrews sound to St. Simons Sound.  Well that was certainly a challenge getting through there.  It was dead low low tide.  Did I mention it was low tide?  A lot of exposed shoreline and very thin water.  We literally had to idle and pick our way through for several miles.  It was extremely tense at times.  The depth would drop from 6.5 ft. to 5 ft. in a matter of a couple yards. At times there was 4.5 ft. showing on my gauge.  The running gear under the boat is two feet under the keel, that leaves 2.5 ft. of clearance, and that can disappear in and instant.  There was another trawler following us, using me as the guinea pig I guess.  But, we made it without incident and continued onward winding through all the salt marshes.  We also had a couple brushes with the Coast Guard.  When we first saw them they had another boat pulled over and had boarded it.  We went by real slow, waved and smiled.  They waved back.  Good, we’re golden.  A little farther on, I saw them speeding toward us from behind.  Crap, they’re after us.  Just as they were a few hundred yards from us, another boat passed us going the other way.  The coasties pulled up and switched on their siren pulling the guy over that had just passed us.  So we just continued on our merry way.  About twenty minutes later here they come again, and again another boat passed us going the other way.  They again stopped that boat and boarded.   Wow we are good!  Another twenty minutes goes by and by this time we are several miles from where we originally saw the coasties, so I'm thinking they just turned and went back.  Not so. Shortly after here they come again getting closer, closer, they are alongside and what do they do?  Wave and keep on going.  After stopping three boats that we know of they just cruise on by us.  For a while I was starting to feel like Butch Cassidy being chased but could never get away.  Oh, the flies.  The flies here are terrible.  They attack in swarms, in your face, eyes back legs, you name it.  And they bite you.

Anyway we made it here to Back River at a reasonable time and getting ready to have dinner.

Statistics for today - 79 miles, 8hrs. 53mins. moving, 22mins. stopped, 9hrs 16mins. total.  Tomorrow we are in for a shorter day, only 50 miles planned because beyond that there is nothing for a while, and too far to the next marina or anchorage to cover in a day. As a result the plan is to split it into two days.

Not much in the way of pictures, the scenery is much different than in Florida. Actually it’s pretty boring.  Here is what I got.

 This is what we saw most of the day.

 This is the view from our anchorage tonight.

 The sunset from the anchorage.  Going

 Going

Gone.

 

Rogue ICW Days 6 and 7

I have to write about two days in this entry since I never got a chance to do an entry for Day 6.  Day 6 was a very busy day with lots getting done to continue our adventure.

We left our anchorage at the NASA Launch Viewing site around 7:30 a.m.  The day was sunny, but pretty windy.  We were dealing with chop and following seas most of the day, making for another rolly ride full of constant helm corrections. The ride was also slower than originally anticipated because the entire time we were within the limits, or close to the limits of  New Smyrna Beach and Daytona were slow/no wake manatee zones.  This made the trip seem much longer.  It also seems that every bridge structure is a Manatee zone as well, and with all the water around and roads crossing these bodies of water, you are constantly changing speeds, not that ours changes all that much, but wake is an issue.  I had called ahead and made sure there was room for us at our destination, Palm Coast Marina in Palm Coast Fla.  They did have space so we were good. At close to 5:00 they called to know if we were still coming since they were ready to close the office.  With all the no wake zones, we were slowed down and were later arriving than originally thought.  We got there around 5:30 and one gentleman waited to give us a hand with our lines. By the time we got all tied up, electric and water hooked up it was close to 6:00.  Still plenty to do before bed.  We decided to take a shower and wash the day off our sweaty selves so we could get off the boat and eat dinner at a restaurant, which we did.  After dinner we had to call a taxi to take us to the grocery store nearby so we could restock the pantry. By the time we got to the store, it was 9:00, and the store closed at 10:00.  We arranged with the taxi driver to meet us back at the store at 10:00.  Come 10:00, he was there promptly.  We returned to the boat with our food, drink, and snack stash. We put all the provisions away and then it was time for laundry.  We got our stuff all together, went to the laundry area, started the wash load and sat down outside with some water and realized it was 11:00, and here we were waiting for our clothes to finish washing.  Where did the day go? By the time everything was dry and put away it was almost 12:30 a.m.  And I still had some school work to finish while I had good WIFI. By the time I hit the sheets it was after 1:00a.m. and I was beat.

Statistics for Day 6 – 83.4 miles 9hrs 34mins. moving, 9mins. stopped, total time 9hrs 43mins.  Total distance traveled 469 miles.

 

Day 7 started a little later than the other days. I just couldn’t get awake.  By the time I got up it was 7:30.  We made some tea, cooked up some sausage for breakfast and went to the office to check out.  When we got back to the boat, we disconnected the electric and water, and topped off the water tank. By the time we shed the dock lines and got under way it was 9:30.  Today was a little more overcast but the respite from the sun felt pretty good. It wasn’t quite as windy either. Not nearly the number or the duration of no wake zones as yesterday.  Our goal for today was the southern tip of Amelia Island in an area just to the north of Nassau Sound. We traveled through St. Augustine, and Jacksonville.  The area around St. Augustine is quite pretty, and it was quite busy with boat traffic.  In fact there was a lot of boat traffic all day.  There were many many people out on a nice Sunday afternoon.  The ride through the Jacksonville area was a little difficult with currents from several inlets and intersecting rivers.  It seemed we were fighting incoming or outgoing tides on either side of several intersections.  This slowed us down a couple knots fighting the opposing tides. We continue to see many gorgeous homes along the ICW, too many to continue taking pictures.  We were also passed by a very large ocean going yacht, that passed a little too close, cutting me off in the channel forcing to the fringe of the channel.  His wake then started sucking me back toward his boat, not 15 yards away.  Too close.  I had to cut throttle and roll through the wake.  After he was past, the captain got on the radio and apologized. At least he was not unaware of what he did. When we got to St. Augustine he headed out the inlet into open water. One can only guess where he is headed. We passed the USS Sullivans in dry dock in Jacksonville too.  We finally reached the Nassau sound anchorage around 5:30 p.m. It was threathening to storm and the NWS was issuing severe storm warning.  Wind was howling about 25 knots so I let out plenty of rode. So here we are, it appears the storm has passed us by, and we are getting ready for dinner. Might be leftover brats and some broccoli.  A little B&B, or maybe B&B&B, throw in a beer or two?

 

Statistics for today – 74.1 miles, 8hrs 19mins moving, 1 min stopped, 8hrs 20min total.  Total distance 543 miles.

Here are some pics for the last couple days.

 

 

 

Find your own sandbar and have a picnic.

 View of Downtown Daytona

 Bubba Gump in Florida?

 For those of you from the Wilmington De. area. This is in Daytona

 Some great looking homes

 Notice the ocean on the other side of the bridge. We are only separated by the dune.

 Downtown St. Augustine

 Pirates of the....ICW? Note the large white vessel in the foreground.  That is the one that crowded me out of the channel.

Will they share their rum?

Rogue ICW Day 5

Last night was quite windy, which made for a difficult night’s sleep.  The boat was swinging from side to side and my fear was the anchor would pull out and we would drag anchor across the anchorage.  There were probably a half dozen other boats there as well.  I was a little nervous about it even though I felt we had plenty of scope on the rode. I ended up waking every few hours and looking out the ports to see if our orientation had changed relative to other fixed objects and boats. Turns out all was well, but I really didn’t sleep all that well, even after a long day yesterday.  I forgot to mention that we went through the St. Lucie lock which dropped our level 13 feet to enter the St. Lucie River.  On the west side of Lake Okeechobee we went up several times to get to lake level, then on the east side we went down. Getting to be old hands at this, it’s not such a big deal anymore once you know the drill.

Today we raised anchor by 7:30 and hit the channel. Everything went really well.  We motored from Ft. Pierce up to Vero Beach (which is where my original plan had us last night) where we picked up fuel and pumped out. Turns out my fuel burn numbers were overestimated so we didn’t take on as much fuel as I had anticipated. Still had quite a bit in the tanks, more than I thought we would. I originally had planned to get some groceries and do laundry in Vero, but scrapped that to move on. We are running low on a few things, actually maybe more than a few. Nonetheless we made it to our day 5 destination which is an anchorage called “NASA Launch Viewing Anchorage.”  I can see the rocket assembly building from here, just outside of Cape Canaveral. It is still quite windy, but this anchorage is a little more protected from the Southeast/East winds.  There are three other boats here but plenty of room between them. We arrived here early, at least earlier than any other day so far.  Had time to actually cook a decent dinner and watch the sunset.

Tomorrow I had planned to pull into the Palm Coast Marina, but am rethinking that due to the need for supplies.  Palm Coast is somewhat less expensive than some others, but they have no access to supplies.  I am pondering another marina nearby, but still have to do some further research to decide.

Today's statistics are 83 miles traveled, 9.17 hours moving, 42 min. stopped, total time 9hrs. 57 min.

Here are some pictures of the day.

Rick swabbing the deck after raising anchor.

 



 The houses lining the ICW around Melbourne

 

 One of many small "islands" with clear water and white sand beaches.  Very tropical looking.

 

 Rick was playing with the camera.  The captain was tired.

 

Tonight's sunset from Rogue's back porch

 

 

Until then......

Rogue ICW Day 4

Well, you just knew you would have a day like this sooner or later. We had to hang out this morning until the office at Indiantown opened at 8:30 to settle up with them.  After that was taken care of we began loosening the lines and disconnecting shore power.  Went to start the engines. Port side fired up no problem.  Starboard. .. What you want me to turn over? Pushed the start button and nothing, nada, zero happened. Not a grunt, groan, click or sound or movement of any kind. Not a good sign. So Rick and I started troubleshooting. Nothing from the upper helm, nothing from the lower helm.  Jumped the solenoid, yep got power and the starter turned, so not the starter. After four hours of deductive reasoning and testing, rewiring the connectors to the starter relay we hit a brick wall. Just not getting power from the switch to the relay. There was something in the circuit we weren’t thinking of.  So I put in an emergency call to Freddie in St. Petersburg who had done some work on the boat to see if he had any ideas. He didn’t answer so I left what sounded like a panicked message most likely. Since we couldn’t get power to the relay using the existing circuit, we made our own circuit from the starter button to the relay.  Bingo. The engine turned over and we had liftoff.  As we pulled out of the marina Freddie called me back. The first thing he said was “was the transmission in neutral?” Yes the transmission was in neutral, nothing turning there. Then he said “did you check the neutral safety switch?”  Duh!! The missing link. If that switch is a little out of line with the shifter, or sometimes they do go bad, then you have no power pass through to the starter relay.  Well we were already underway, so that will be something we will check when we get a chance later. Essentially we bypassed the switch to get the engine started. Not critical, but need to be sure the trans is in neutral when you start the engine.

Well, we finally got under way about 1:30 after a quick sandwich. We completed the St. Lucie canal and entered the St. Lucie River. Man, there are beautiful homes along the river, and a lot of them have big, I mean big boats parked out front. We made it to the crossroads, where the ICW meets the end of the Okeechobee Water Way.  So we turned north and started the journey up the ICW. We had intended to reach Vero Beach today, but because of the late start, we had to call an audible. We are anchored outside of Ft. Pierce.  Darkness was decending and we anchored as the sunset ensued. Another long day. We had intended to fuel up, do some laundry and get some provisions in Vero Beach, but we will probably have to wait until we get to the Palm Coast area to try to do that. Still might pull over for fuel tomorrow on the way by and pump out.  The target for tomorrow is the NASA anchorage not far from Cape Canaveral, then on to the Palm Coast.  We may be living on peanut butter sandwiches by then.

Statistics for today, 53 miles traveled, 6hrs 17 min. of run time. Total distance traveled 291 miles.

Until then....

Rogue ICW Day 3

I keep hearing the Creedence Clearwater song saying "I hear the bullfrogs calling me yeah".  Well that is what we listened to most of the night last night.  Not a bad thing, just something new. If you've never been to the Rivers Edge Motel, not alot happening there. You meet some different characters along the way, and last night we met two. Both full time cruisers, Chris and Steve.  Chris is an older guy who spends winters in Cuba and returns to Labelle for two reasons.  It's cheap and it's quiet. Turns out he was from Baltimore.  Don't know what he was into last night, but he was definitely not "sober". Rick thinks he was smokin' something, but he was definitely drinking something, alot.

We left the dock this morning after breakfast and some engine room checks to make sure everything is ok.  Took off about 8:30 and started up the OWW.  After a bit we had to negotiate the Oronton lock. Since we are now old hands at it, all went well.   Had to wait about twenty minutes as there was westbound traffic coming through in the other direction, but all went well.  Continued on for quite a while until the Moore Haven lock.  This is the lock that raises you to the level of Lake Okeechobee.There were three other boats locking through with us so it was a little more crowded than yesterday. Had to wait again for westbound traffic to clear, but made it through no problem.  Entered the canal surrounding Lake Okeechobee, and as we made the turn onto the waterway, a call came over the radio from another trawler westbound. Turns out is was Trawler Beach House whose blog I have been reading for quite some time. They saw Rogue's hailing port was Chestertown Md. and raised us on the radio. Turns out the woman on the Trawler Beach House grew up in Chestertown and graduated from Kent County H.S. in 1977.  Small world.  We then continued on to Clewiston where we made a sharp left and entered Lake Okeechobee.  Boy, that is alot of water.  The wind was blowing pretty good across the lake so there was quite a chop and whitecaps everywhere. Made for quite a rolly ride. Followed route #1 across, took almost three hours to get to the other side.  We entered the St. Lucie canal.  The lock at Port Mayaca was open so there was no need to lock through.  The rest of the ride was pretty much more of the same down the canal to Indiantown Marina where we are tonight. Nice little place tucked away off the canal.  Used as a hurricane hole when there is a blow.

Statistics for today are 73.8 miles, a total of 10:20 on the water, 9 hours moving, 1:20 stopped waiting for locks etc.

Tomorrow we move onward with the goal of making Vero Beach on the east coast.

Here are some pictures for today's adventure.

This is what we saw alot of on the OWW.  No, not Rick, the waterway.

 Approaching the Oronton Lock

Inside the lock while they raise the water level 

Looking astern while the lock closes 

Rick pretending to be Captain

View from the canal bordering Lake Okeechobee looking toward the lake.  Notice the burned out trees. Vegetation control I suppose.

Until next time....

Rogue ICW Day 2

Well today was a pretty long day.  Much longer than I had originally anticipated.  We were on the water from about 8 a.m. until almost 8 p.m.  We reached my planned destination of Labelle Fl. on the Okeechobee waterway, but it was a 90 mile day, longer than the 75 I thought it would be. We had to negotiate a couple of bridge openings which held us up some, we also went through our first lock. Another first for me. I put Rick to work today pulling up and stowing the anchor, rigging fenders and lines in the lock, and docking tonight in tight quarters.  I had to parallel park this baby between two other boats at the dock. Another first.

Our route today took us from Lemon bay in the GICW down through Pine Island Sound, Gasparilla Bay, Charlotte Harbor, into the Caloosahache River past Fort Myers and Cape Coral and into the Okeechobee Waterway.  Tomorrow will be a big day, several more bridges to negotiate, and four, yes count em, four locks to also negotiate.  Then it will be across Lake Okeechobee.  I think tomorrow may be the most challenging day of the entire trip.  A lot going on.  So far so good.

View looking aft in the Gulf yesterday

View looking fore going through Pine Island Sound 

This is downtown Ft. Myers as we went by today.

Until tomorrow....Stay tuned.

Rogue ICW Day 1

Yesterday was a busy day getting many last minute items taken care of before we “set sail”.  It was also a day of mixed emotions.  Anticipation to travel north in “Rogue” but also some angst leaving several people that we have come to know in our time spent in St. Petersburg. The people there have been wonderful to us, keeping an eye on Rogue while we were a thousand miles away for months at a time. People we have met at the marina and people who have helped us get Rogue ship shape for the journey.  Freddie who helped repair several items stopped by with his wife to offer a toast to our adventure, and Gayle, who has been busy keeping Rogue looking great, also stopped to offer a couple of toasts to our adventure.

Last night my crew arrived around 9:30 just in time to unpack, relax a little and hit the sack.  We were up and started right away finalizing what needed to be done.  Filling the water tank, shedding all the power and water lines, finally casting off and moving her 30 yard to get the holding tanks pumped out. To you non sailors, that is where all your personal “business” goes temporarily. Freddie knows all about them right Fred?  Then it was another 10 yards to the filling station to take on fuel. 250 gallons give or take.  OUCH! 

Finally we shed all attachments to land and cruised off into the morning sun, across Boca Ciega bay and out into the Gulf of Mexico for an outside run.  The sun was bright, the air temperature delightful.  The waters were a clear blue green.  There was a bit of a breeze blowing and some two foot swells out of the north.  We were headed south so we rode the swells like a surfer. It was a little rolly, but not unbearable. The wind continued to build throughout the day and by midafternoon there were whitecaps everywhere and the swells were coming faster making it a little more challenging. Finally we made to Venice inlet and jumped inside where it was much calmer. We motored for several hours and finally stopped at an anchorage in Lemon Bay. 70 plus miles the first day. Not bad.   We anchored using all the chain rode we had, 100 feet or so because the wind was quite strong and needed plenty of scope so we hopefully won’t drag anchor during the night. It’s 9p.m. and the wind I think may be lessening somewhat, however, it is still quite gusty. Needless to say Rick and I are a little beat, being out in the sun all day.  We should sleep well tonight.

Rogue's hailing port before...

Rogue's hailing port after.  It's official.

The crew.  Doing what he does best. I think he was sleeping.

 

 

Until next time.