Day 28

Today was water heater day.  I spent a couple hours in the morning removing the old water heater and specing out what we needed to get at the store to install the new one.  It turns out we could remove the water fittings on the old heater and use them on the new one.  The fittings also lined up exactly to the plumbing lines on the boat.  Score!!  Turns out the only things we needed were 6ft. of heater hose and an electrical clamp.  The heater has a heat exchanger that uses hot antifreeze from the engine when it is running to heat the water without using electricity.  The heater hose connects the two in a loop.  When I took the old one out and looked at the connection for the heat exchanger, it was completely clogged with a green goo.  No wonder I could never get hot water by using the engine.    I called my friend Gordon who came over and picked us up and took us to Ace Hardware.  Ace is the place.  Not only did they have the electrical clamp, they even had 5/8 inch heater hose.  One stop shopping.  Score 2!  We were back at the boat in no time and went to work.  Several hours later, and about three pounds lighter from losing water sweating my ass off, I was done.  Turn on the breaker, bleed the system….we had hot water.  After that I took a hot shower.  Score 3! 

While we were out, Gordon invited us over for dinner.  Baby back ribs, potato salad and baked beans.  Yes, Score 4!   Later in the afternoon Gordon picked us up yet again, and we went back to his house.  We visited for a while, watched a little football, drank a beer, life is good.  And let me tell you Gordon cooks some mean ribs.  They were delicious, everything was delicious.  After dinner we watched a little more of the New England game, but by halftime the game was essentially over so Gordon took us back to the boat.  So great to spend time with old friends and relax.  Thanks again Connie and Gordon!

If you have been following the news, storms were expected to hit the area through the evening and night, with high winds.  As we were watching the football games they kept showing tornado watch and warning areas.  The winds were building here and lightening was really lighting up the sky.  The boats in the marina were all bobbing up and down and moving side to side on their lines in the slip.  The wind was whipping 25, 30 mph easy.  Then the rain came.  It rained really hard for about a half hour then a light rain for a couple of hours and the wind actually died down.  It turned out to be a calm night and good sleeping after all.

Monday is supposed to bring more very strong winds which will make being on the water a challenge.  Not advisable to head out on Monday, which was the original plan.  I think we will stay put for another day.  Tuesday is supposed to be a great day to be on the water.  I think we will wait for that.

Until tomorrow….

Day 27

Today we left our anchorage outside of Daytona and continued southward.  We pulled the hook at about 8:00 and took off on calm placid waters with the sun shining and blue skies.  Just a picturesque morning.  We cruised along for several hours with a following tide, the engines were loafing along easily and we “sped” along at a brisk 9.6 knots.  At least that was the scenario until we passed Ponce de Leon inlet outside of New Smyrna Beach.  Then the current was against us.  We also had plenty of distance where you were restricted to “slow speed” and “minimum wake” through several manatee zones.  Well, alright already, how slow can I go, I’m only doing 8 Knots as it is.  So we slowed down to 7 knots to minimize our wake.  We did see plenty of dolphins playing in our “minimum wake” off the bow, and actually did see a couple of manatees.  It is Saturday, so there were plenty of boats and fishermen out, they were like mosquitos zipping around and lining the shoreline, all dipping a line or three.  We only saw a couple of fish caught all day, even with all those fishermen out there.  We came through one area called the “haulover canal” which had boats lining the banks and literally all over the place.  I wondered how we were going to get through.  It is literally a canal, probably no more than 50 feet wide.  As luck would have it, the local Sherriff’s boat was immediately in front of us, so people were getting out of his way and we just followed him through.  Just like following the ambulance to get through traffic.

We made it to the Titusville Marina around 2:30 p.m. and were assigned a slip.  Well, the boat has a 15ft. beam, and the slip we were assigned to is 15ft. 6in. wide.  It is a tight fit.  The boat is literally against a couple pilings, and you can’t get a fender in to cushion the two.  On top of that, the “gentleman” on the next boat over came back to his boat after we were all hooked up and took a mild fit.  There is literally two inches between his boat and my boat.  He had fenders out, and I put out a couple squeezing them in so the boats would not bang each other.  There is supposed to be quite a storm in the next day or so with winds up to 35 mph.  This could and probably will cause the boats to bob and move around a bit, which could cause them to collide, or touch.  He was more than a little perturbed that the marina put us here, and wanted them to move me.  The Marina is full and there are no other slips available.  He keeps talking about it and won’t let it drop.  Frankly it is getting a little old, and his boat isn’t that nice anyway.  It definitely needs some TLC.  What about my boat dude!

After we checked in the marina we picked up the new water heater.  YAY!  We met up with Connie and Gordon and had a beer on the boat before going to the local grocery store for some supplies and a stop by their house.  After that we headed to a restaurant called “Crackerjacks” for dinner.  Another couple that Connie and Gordon knew from Pa. who also moved here joined us.  We had a great dinner, lots of conversation and a great time.  Thanks Connie and Gordon!

   

Tomorrow is water heater day.  We need to disassemble/remove the old one and spec out exactly what we need to install the new one.  After we figure that out Connie and Gordon are going to take us to where we can get the part we need to finish the job.  Boy, I don’t know what we would have done without them.

All in all a pretty good day, hopefully we will be back in business with hot water tomorrow.  I don’t know what the weather will bring; they are predicting pretty strong wind Sunday night and Monday.  As of now we are scheduled to leave on Monday, but if the 25 to 35 mph wind materialize…. Well I’m no fan of being out in that kind of weather.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Today we traveled 47.2 mile for a total of approximately 1117 miles, taking 6hrs 22mins.

Until tomorrow boys and girls……

Day 26

Actually today was pretty boring.  We got underway a little earlier today trying to get close to Titusville so Saturday’s run would be fairly short.  My original goal was an anchorage around Daytona, which was about 50 miles.  Around 1:00 we were almost there, within about 10 miles, so we decided to go about another 15 and head for New Smyrna Beach.  That would cut our travel to Titusville on Saturday to about 35 miles.  If we got to Titusville early we might have a shot at getting the water heater installed and making a run to the food store.  So, with all good intentions we set our sights on New Smyrna Beach.  As we were making our way through Daytona we called the bridge tender for the Main St. Bridge.  He informed us that the ICW was closed by the Coast Guard due to debris lurking under the surface of the water near a bridge downstream they were dismantling.  He said we had to turn around and wait for the debris to be cleared.  Great!  Since it was already after 2:00, so much for getting to New Smyrna Beach by dusk.  So we turned around and anchored near a few other boats that were also waiting.  About an hour or so later a couple boats started moving toward the bridge, and listening to their conversation on the radio determined that the ICW was now reopened.  We pulled up anchor and started back down the ICW.  At this point we didn’t have much of a shot making New Smyrna Beach by dusk, so we headed for our originally intended anchorage.  By the time we got anchored and settled in it was about 4:30, still a little early, but not early enough to go the additional 15 miles or so to New Smyrna Beach.  That would have put us there at around 6:30, and I’m not one to try out a new anchorage in the dark.  So here we are, we enjoyed the sunset with a beer made a few phone calls and generally just kicked back and relaxed.  It was crab cakes and spinach for dinner.  And these were eastern shore crab cakes, brought from home, the real deal.  Yum, there were no leftovers.

So boys and girls, tomorrow we head for Titusville about a 50 mile day, pick up the new water heater, and meet up with some old friends I have known since college days.  It will be good to spend time with them.

Today we went 55.8 miles for approximately 1074 total miles.  It took 6hrs. 32min.

BTW, there was a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral tonight.  We caught a couple of glimpses through the clouds of the rocket as it soared into space.  Kind of neat.

Until tomorrow…. 

Day 25

Today was a day for exploration around St. Augustine.  St. Augustine has some great historical sites and is quite interesting.  It is the first European settlement in North America.  Ponce de Leon landed here, and this is also where the “fountain of youth” is located.  Yesterday we took a trolley ride around some of the town to help us decide what we wanted to go see in more detail.  Today we took the trolley ride around the rest of the town seeing some more of the historical section of town.  I must say there is a lot of tourist crap here, so you need to focus on what you really want to do.  Two of the things we wanted to see were the old fort, and Flagler College.  The fort was really neat with too many things to mention.  It was built out of coquina which is a mixture of sand, oyster shells, limestone, water, and maybe something else I can’t remember.  But it is impervious to cannon balls of the day.  Quite strong and durable.  You see it all around town and it used for walls quite a bit.  Flagler College is absolutely exquisite.  It started out as the Ponce de Leon hotel built by Henry Flagler.  It is quite ornate and no expense was spared to build it.  It was the grandest hotel around in its day.  I think it opened around 1888 or at least near that time.  Eventually the building and grounds were acquired by the college in 1968.  The college is a liberal arts college and received its accreditation in 1972. It is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country with about 2,500 students.  And get this.  It cost about $25,000 per year for tuition room and board activities etc.  Now, compare that to where I used to teach, Washington College, a liberal arts college in Chestertown Md., which costs $48,000 per year.  Almost twice as much for a similar education and a campus that is second to none.  Washington College, you need to sharpen your pencils.  I have some pictures that will describe these two sites much better than I ever could, so enjoy.

A view from outside the fort with the Spanish battle flag.

One of the ornate cannons used at the fort.

From the parapet looking out to the harbor entrance.

The moat around the fort used to graze cattle which was food for the fort.

Another outside view

Inside the fort looking at the chapel and the brig used at one time to house Indians they rounded up.

Steps leading up to the parapet

Ponce de Leon statue

Ponce de Leon statue

Marking the gate or entrance to the city

Gate to the city

Flagler College entrance foyer.  The gold is real 23k gold leaf.

Entrance foyer Flagler College

Great dome in the Entrance Foyer Flagler College

This is the dining hall at Flagler College.  The windows are Tiffany stained glass, irreplaceable and cannot be replicated.

Dining hall Flagler College.  Come on Washington College, you have to do better.

Fireplace in the "ladies parlor".  Note the original Edison clock.  Irreplaceable

Entrance courtyard.  The building houses freshman women.

Another view

Entrance archway with Henry Flagler keeping and eye on things.

Day 24

Today was back to normal cruising mode. We got up at 6:30 and was pulling anchor at 7:30.  It was a really pretty morning and quite comfortable, as long as you weren’t moving.  As we started moving the air had just a little bit of coolness to it so we put on lightweight jackets just to be comfortable.  By 10:00 the jackets were off and the temperature was rising into the 70’s.  I think the high today was 77 degrees, and quite warm when you were directly in the sun.

We didn’t have any fog this morning, but boy did we have heavy dew.  There was so much dew it was literally dripping off any vertical surface, just like a light rain.  Once we got underway, I started wiping down things on the bridge so we could have a place to sit.  Everything was just wet, and it didn’t dry very quickly either.  There was just a lot of humidity in the air.  Eventually we did sit down, even if the seat was still slightly damp.  It dried, and so did we.

So far the makeshift repair we did on our pressurized fresh water system is working just fine.  Still no hot water, but that will be corrected in a few days hopefully. I checked my e-mail this morning and saw there was a notice that the water heater had shipped.  I then clicked on the “track package” icon and saw that it was out for delivery today.  Today?  I only ordered it yesterday.  I didn’t expect it until maybe tomorrow.  I guess that means it will be there waiting for us when we get to Titusville.  Then the work begins.  If you have ever worked on a boat, nothing is easy and usually doesn’t go according to any plan.  There is usually some work around necessary to solve a problem.  I already know one that is just waiting to hit me up.  The plumbing on this boat is all copper tubing with flared fitting joints. (For all you plumbers or home improvement experts.)  The inlet and outlet fittings on the heater that is coming out match up.  From the picture I saw, the new one does not have flared fittings.  Looks more like a hose fitting.  So that means I have to build a transition from a flared copper fitting to a hose to a hose clamp fitting on the heater.  All without having access to a vehicle to run to the various stores for parts.  This should be interesting.  Who knows what else will happen.

Anyway, back to today’s leg of the journey. Actually it was pretty uneventful.  We saw many dolphins surfacing and diving ahead of the boat most of the day.  We also noticed the color of the water changing to that beautiful blue green you see in all the pictures of Florida.  Quite pretty and a welcome change from the various shades of brown that we have been seeing so far.

We are here in St. Augustine, and old town is quite nice and old looking as you might expect.  We took a mooring ball in the anchorage, put the dinghy in the water and headed out to see the dockmaster and settle up.  The dinghy started right up and ran us over to the office.  Afterward, I took the dinghy over to the dinghy dock so we could tie it up and see a little bit of the town.  On the way over the motor started to sputter and died.  All I could think of was here we go again.  Thought we had all this behind us.  I tried and tried to restart the motor with no success, so I rowed over to the dock where Rousby was waiting.  Just as I got to the dock I looked at the motor and said to myself “you moron”.  I forgot to open the breather on top of the gas cap creating a vacuum so no fuel could get to the motor.  I opened it up, gave the starter rope a yank and it fired right up. Duh!

After all that excitement we took a riding tour of the town to various sites so we could decide what we might want to see tomorrow.  We are staying here an extra day to do some sightseeing, and the old fort is first on our list.  Maybe that is second on the list.  First will be using the showers at the marina for a nice hot shower, then the fort.

Our trip today was 58.6 miles for a total of approximately 1018 miles.  Travel time was 6hrs 57mins.

I think that is enough excitement for one day boys and girls. So, Until tomorrow…

Beautiful sunset in St. Augustine.  Taken from the back deck of the boat.

Day 23

It’s Tuesday, departure day.  Jan is leaving to head for home, and Rousby and I are headed farther south.  For some reason we slept longer than we expected.  Jan wanted to get up at 6:00 and leave around 7:00, and Rousby and I planned to leave around 8:00 to let the tide rise so getting through Jekyll creek wouldn’t be an issue.  As it turned out, there was thick fog everywhere.  Jan wasn’t going to trek up I-95 in the fog, and we surely weren’t going anywhere.  Finally around 9:00 the fog had thinned enough on land that Jan could get on the road.  She said she had patchy fog all the way north to Savannah.  Here at the marina we still couldn’t see to the other side of the channel through the marina.  We ended up staying put until 11:15.  We had intended to go just north of Jacksonville but there was no way we could make it that far with as late a start as we had.  So our target became Piney Creek just past Fernandina Beach.  About 20 miles shy of our original goal.

Since we had time on our hands, I found a hot water heater on line through Amazon that I could have shipped… somewhere.  I decided that we would be in Titusville in a few days, maybe I could have it shipped there, and pick it up when we got there.  I called the marina to ask if it was ok to ship to them.  They eventually agreed to receive the package for me when they were able to find a slip for us to stay in with them.  So it looks like we will get hot water back after Titusville on the 21^st.  Of course nothing is ever as easy as it seems on a boat, so I’m sure we will need to procure necessary parts or bloody a couple of knuckles getting the old out and the new in.

When we finally left after 11:00, the going was smooth… for the first two miles.  Then we ran smack into a fog bank.  Couldn’t see a thing for a little while.  I followed the track on my chartplotter that we used to get into Brunswick.  It worked getting in, it will work getting us out.  Eventually the fog cleared and we were fine after that.  We made it through Jekyll Creek with no problem and worked our way southward to Fernandina Beach.  We are anchored in Piney Creek and all is calm.  Tomorrow we are headed for St. Augustine.  Since we didn’t make it to Jacksonville, tomorrows leg will be 20 miles longer than originally planned, so it will be a longer day, probably around 60 miles or so.

The fog bank as we were leaving the harbor.  Notice the highway bridge superstructure poking above the fog.

Today we traveled 46.1 miles in 6hrs. 10mins. Total distance is approximately 960 miles.

Until tomorrow…

So what do I call this, day 21 and 22?

I am back on the boat in Brunswick Georgia after being home with family for the last month.  It was nice to be home, but let’s face it, the weather is better here. When we left home on Saturday morning, it was getting ready to do the dreaded “wintery mix.”  We boogied out of town at 4:30 a.m. to be south of the winter belt that was headed our way by 6:30 or 7:00.  As we were just south of Washington D.C., you could hear some sleet pellets hitting the windshield and see a little snow on the windshield as well.  That lasted all of about 20 minutes and we were out of it.  The temps hovered around 35 degrees for a while, but the further south we went the temps started to rise.  By the time we got to Brunswick it was in the mid 70’s.  Yes!!

The next day, Sunday, was spent cleaning the boat. After a month sitting in a marina with birds doing their “thing” it really needed scrubbing.  We also went to the grocery store and provisioned the boat, and procured some small maintenance items for the boat as well.  All in all it was a nice day, working a little in the sunshine and fresh air, and running a few errands as well.

Being back on the boat full time you start to listen to sounds, making sure there is nothing new happening.  One thing we began to notice was the fresh water pump cycling every so often.  Not a lot, but more than it should.  We checked a few things, nothing seemed amiss, so just kept it in mind to monitor the activity.

Monday was Jan’s birthday, and our anniversary, 29 years.  The day started out great, had breakfast and relaxed a little bit.  All the while, the pump kept cycling a little more frequently.  Time to get serious and check this out.  We looked at every water connection on the boat and found nothing, nada.  But, while I was looking at the sink connections on the aft deck sink, I noticed some water on the floor of the storage compartment under the sink, even though all the sink connections were dry.  Inside that compartment is also a water filter assembly for the ice maker.  I felt the canister and it was wet and I could see a few drops here and there.  Since we no longer use the ice maker and this filter assembly is obsolete and probably doesn’t work anyway, we decided to take it out and create a bypass loop connecting the two sides together, thereby eliminating the filter all together.  After a trip to Lowes to get some flex tube and connectors, we cobbled together something that would work.  We put it all in place and turned on the water pump.  It pressurized and turned off just like it should.  Then within a few minutes it started to cycle again, and again, and again, then it just stayed on.  Obviously our fix was not THE fix.  As it turned out, the hot water heater took a crap.  Just like what can happen in a home, the hot water heater started to leak so the system couldn’t maintain pressure.  We planned to leave the next morning so what do we do.  It was 9:00 at night, an online check showed no one locally had the size heater I wanted, but it was available on line.  So there would not be a replacement today.  In the meantime we had to bypass the water heater which would leave us with only cold water. Well we could probably live with that for a little while.  So, I drained the water heater and put on the bypass that I use to winterize the water system so no antifreeze gets into the hot water heater, but the bypass connector was just not up to the task of taking all the pressure, and leaked profusely.  We needed to fashion a gasket to seal the two threaded couplings.  Remember, it was now 10:00 p.m. and we had no running water on the boat at this point, and we were leaving in the morning.  Rousby and I noodled on it for a while, then Rousby remembered what an old friend had done to repair a water pump on a boat.  He used a paper bag to create a gasket.  It worked great, and they got the boat home just fine.  So we took an old tissue box and cut circles the size of the fitting, and put three in each fitting, tightened it down, and voila, no more leaks.  The pump hasn’t cycled on its own since.  Of course we have no hot water either.  So what are we going to do?  I’ll explain everything in tomorrow’s blog.

Until tomorrow…