GLORY DAYS ON THE GREAT LOOP: April 2012

Monday, April 23, 2012

NEW SMYRNA BEACH

DAY 275, 276 WED. THURS. APRIL 18-19, 2012

DEP. HARBORTOWN MARINA 08:00; ARR NEW SMYRNA BEACH MARINA (mm 846.5) 2:30.

D. 51.49sm / 4116.72

More of the same cruising on the Indian River. Except this time as we approach the more populated areas the houses are mostly mobile homes in large parks on the water. It is only as we get close to New Smyrna Beach that we start to see more substantial homes, and these are mostly modest. About 2 hrs. into the trip we get a request to overtake us and it just happens to be Wayne and Francine, fellow Loopers from Canada on My Way, and they are also headed for New Smyrna. They told us they passed fellows Loopers Last Chance a few miles back so we looked forward to seeing them as well. Our original objective was the “free dock” at New Smyrna, but unfortunately, when we got there we found it gone and lots of construction going on. Fortunately the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Marina was right around the bend and we stayed there. Wayne & Francine had guests aboard so we didn’t get together with them, but they did tell us the sad news that a fellow Looper and their cruising companions had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As I have been saying, “you never know!”
On Thurs. we visited the NSB Museum and then Pat’s college roommate, Sue Higgins came for lunch. After lunch she took us on a tour of the town and we drove not only to the beach, but ON the beach. The beaches here are very wide and the sand is very hard making it possible for ordinary cars to drive on them. The town actually has many entry points with guards to check for your permit. The cars are restricted to 2 driving lanes, one in each direction, and large areas to park. This beach is about 3 miles long and is a fun ride at 10 mph. When we returned to the boat we were surprised to see fellow Loopers Alliyson and Martyn aboard Last Chance in the slip next to us. They are also Canadians and they also had guests aboard.

DEFINITELY NOT FT LAUDERDALE

PONCE DE LEON INLET & LIGHT

A REAL BEACH WAGON

SUE & PAT IN THE "PARKING LOT"

SUE & PAT AT PONCE INLET

DOWNTOWN NEW SMYRNA BEACH

A FAMILY "VACATION(?)"

DAY 268 – 274, WED. APRIL 11 THRU TUES. APRIL 17, 2012

AT MERRITT I. & CAPE CANAVERAL, & DISNEYLAND

We spent Wed. and Thurs. getting ready for the arrival of Jon, Christie, Tyler & Grace. They arrived on time, about 6:00 and we had a great time seeing them all. We all slept on the Glory Days that night and woke up early for the start of our vacation together. We spent Fri. April 13^th, which just happens to be Joe's 70^th birthday, at the Kennedy Space Center and after dinner we all drove to a condo in Orlando that we rented for our trip to Disney World. We spent Sat. at Sea World, Sun. at the Animal Kingdom, and Mon. at Epcot. We left the family on Tues. morning and drove back to the boat just in time to collapse. It took us 2 full days to recover.

TAKING AN ICE CREAM BREAK

WHERE TO NEXT?

SEA WORLD WITH SHAMU

GRACE & TYLER WITH ASTRONOUT WENDY LAWRENCE

COCOA & MERRITT I.

DAY 267, TUES. APRIL 10, 2012

DEP. VERO BEACH MUNICIPAL MARINA (mm 958) 07:25; ARR. HARBORTOWN MARINA, MERRITT I., FL (mm894*). 2:30

D. 60.98sm / 4065.23

For most of this trip the Indian R. is easy to navigate as it is wide and the channels deep (6+’) and reasonably wide. We passed some scenic Islands, mostly sand bars, and many rookeries. The shore side homes are still pretty nice, but nowhere near as elaborate as in Ft. Lauderdale. At mm 897 we passed under the Cocoa Bridge and past Cocoa Village to port. At the next bridge, the City Point Bridge at mm 894, we made the turn east into the Canaveral Barge Canal. Harbor Town Marina is a 30 min. ride in the canal. We pulled into our assigned slip with the help of the marina staff, tied up the boat , then find out there is no 50 amp electric service at this slip. We specifically requested 50 amp so this is a problem as we had to untie, pull out, and back into another slip. When there is no wind, this is no problem, but this afternoon the wind is brisk making the docking difficult. I don’t like to do it any more than is necessary, however, I did manage to back in without any problems so I must be getting good because I’m getting plenty of practice. On a happy note, we met Carl & Glenda Wiese from Gold Leaf with whom we crossed the Gulf, and later met in Ft. Meyers Beach. The reunion was short lived as they were leaving the next day.

Canaveral Barge Canal provides an east-to-west link between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River Lagoon across northern Merritt Island, Florida, in two segments separated by the Banana River.^[1] It is located 15 miles south of Titusville, Florida. The canal is 12 feet deep and has entrances to other water systems including Syke's Creek and various marinas. The canal links Port Canaveral along the Atlantic Ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway running down the center of the Indian River Lagoon. The canal was constructed to allow the transport of crude oil by barge to the two power plants south of Titusville, Florida.

WASHED AGROUND DURING A STORM???

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT AN OLD CLASSIC WOOD BOAT

ONE OF MANY LITTLE ISLANDS ALONG THE ICW CHANNEL

THE COCOA BRIDGE (ACTUALLY 2 BRIDGES)

ENTERING THE CANAL

A LITTLE FIXER UPPER

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A MILESTONE AND OLD FRIENDS

DAY 266, MON APRIL 9, 2012

DEP. STUART 08:00 ARR. VERO BEACH MUNICIPAL MARINA (mm958) 1:30.

D. 42.95 sm / 4004.25

WE JUST PASSED THE 4000 MILE MARK! It’s hard to believe, but we have cruised in this boat over 4000 miles since leaving Cape Cod June 4, 2011. We knew we would would surpass this milestone, but to actually have done all this still boggles the mind. We have another 958 miles to Norfolk VA and roughly 600 miles to Cape Cod from there for approximately 1500 miles to go. We are almost there. WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

Yesterday we spotted fellow Loopers Bruce & Karen MacDonald on Ookpik, their 38’ Marine Trader. After getting re-acquainted we discovered their destination for today was the same as ours so we decided to cruise together. On the way out of the mooring field, we found out that old cruising friends Sharon & Ken Vogel on Dockers Inn were at the marina next to ours, and NOT in the Bahamas as we thought. We immediately called them on the phone and made arrangements for them to meet us at Vero Beach for Happy Hour. We cruised with them for over a month from Georgian Bay in Canada to Grand Harbor in Lake Michigan, and it was really great to see them again. Prior to our “finding” them we called Gerry Newman, an old friend from E. Islip. He and his wife Valerie joined us for Happy Hour as well as Karen & Bruce. It indeed was a Happy several Hours for us and we hope they enjoyed it as much as we did. We were rafted up with Ookpik on mooring #17 for the night. It was a perfect ending to an “almost perfect” day. The “almost” happened at the intersection of the St. Lucie R. and the ICW. In spite of planning routes and using a chart plotter I took a buoy on the wrong side and grounded. I called Tow Boat US and they responded immediately. When I went astern to check the water depth I discovered there was more than 4’ of water there. I immediately went back up to the bridge, put the boat in reverse, and easily backed off. Amen! There are a couple of saying about the ICW, “If you can back off you are not aground”, and, “If you haven’t been aground, you haven’t been around.” You can’t be too careful.

ROOSEVELT BRIDGE, LEAVING STUART

CONCHY JOE'S RESTAURANT, ONE OF OUR FAVORITE LAND SIDE HAPPY HOURS

FELLOW LOOPERS PEG & JIM HEALY OVERTAKING US

VERO BEACH MUNICIPAL MARINA

GERRY & VAL NEWMAN

PAT, SHARON VOGEL, & VAL NEWMAN

KEN VOGEL & BRUCE MAC DONALD

STUART, 5 DAYS REST, EASTER SUNDAY AND FRIENDS

DAY 261 WED. APRIL 4, to DAY 266, MON. APRIL 9, 2012

DEP. LAKE WORTH (mm1014) 08:40, ARR. STUART/SUNSET BAY MARINA (mm995*) 1:50

D. 36.9 sm / 3961.3

We made plans with Aunt Jane and Karen to pick them up at the N. Palm Marina at 09:00. They were there waiting for us when we got there and we made a quick departure for Stuart. The trip took us by some very expensive estates, by the Jupiter Inlet, through Hobe Sound, and the St. Lucie Inlet where we turned west into the St Lucie River. Stuart is about 7 miles west from the 995 mile marker and we arrived at the Sunset Bay Marina at 1:50. This marina is really first class (read $$$). There is a restaurant, Sailors Return ($$$). floating concrete docks, excellent security, a shuttle bus, and best of all, walking distance to downtown Stuart. We spent 5 days here, 3 in a slip, and the last 2 on a mooring. As nice as this marina is, “D” dock is very rocky from wind, wakes, and current. We went to dinner with Aunt Jane, Uncle Ralph, and Karen at the Bonefish, on Wed, at Conchy Joe’s on Fri, and we had dinner at their house on Thurs. and Easter Sunday. Thank you Aunt Jane & Uncle Ralph for your wonderful hospitality.
We stopped by to see Pat's mother's old neighbor, Meredith Russell. He just celebrated his 90th birthday and still runs 5K marathons.
On Sat night friends from Cape Cod, Marge & Bert Mc Connell invited us to their beautiful condo on Hutchinson Island for dinner. Not only did they serv a delicious dinner, they picked us up and delivered us too. THANKS MARGE & BERT.

Another of the interesting things we did here was to visit the Stuart Museum. Many of the towns have made an effort to preserve their past and Stuart did a very god job of it. Of course, their past is very recent when compared to that of Cape Cod, but it is always interesting to see how the towns began.

KAREN ON DECK

NOTE THE CONCENTRATION

JUPITER LIGHT HOUSE

PAT WITH THE MUSEUM CURATOR BETTE HARDWICK

AN OLD ICE CREAM FOUNTAIN

ALL OUR ESTUARIES HAVE PROBLEMS

THE RIVER WALK

UNCLE RALPH, JOE, PAT, KAREN, AUNT JANE,

MEREDITH RUSSELL

BERT AND MARGE MC CONNELL

BRIDGE DAY!

DAY 260 TUES. APRIL 3, 4012

DEP. FT. LAUDERDALE (mm1065) 07:07, ARR. N. LAKE WORTH (mm 1014) 3:30

D. 53.82 sm / 3924.4

BRIDGE DAY!

Today is BRIDGE DAY! We are on our way to an anchorage in N. Lake Worth, but first we have to travel some 54 miles and go under eight low bridges. A low bridge to us is anything with less than 18’ clearance from the water to what’s called the “low steel”. Our “air draft” is 17’2”, and we can get to 15’7” by lowering the mast, but we don’t like to do that unless it is absolutely necessary. A few of the bridges open on request, but most of them open on a schedule such as every hour, or every half hour on the hr. & ½ hr. or ¼ hr & ¾ hr, and excluding rush hr. between 7am & 9am, or 5pm & 6pm, etc. It can get confusing and tiresome, but unless we want to travel outside (in the ocean) we have to do it. One of the tricks we use is to make the bridge a waypoint on the GPS, so we can tell our ETA at the bridge and adjust our speed so we don’t arrive too early or worse, too late, then have to cruise in circles for 30 minutes. In spite of the bridges it was a pleasant cruise and we arrived at our anchorage in N. Lake Worth at 3:30. We dropped the anchor in 8’ of water, set the anchor alarm, and settled down for a very pleasant afternoon and night. The holding was excellent and the wind was out of the ENE at 5k to 10k which lowered the anchor dragging anxiety level considerably.

NEW RIVER AT 06:30AM

SOME OF THE SPECTACULAR HOMES

EVERYWHERE A CANAL

ONE OF THE MANY BRIDGES WE ENCOUNTERED

SOME ARE UNIQUE

THE OLD TRUMPHY WE SAW IN STUART, AT ANCHOR IN LAKE WORTH

SUNSET IN N. LAKE WORTH

NEW RIVER DOWNTOWN

DAY 258; SUN. APRIL 1, 2012

DEP. HOLLYWOOD, FL (mm1072) 08:45 ARR. FT. LAUDERDALE/NEW R. DOWNTOWN MUN. MARINA (mm1065) 10:15

D. 8.33sm / 3870.6

We left Hollywood early to get to the Ft. Lauderdale/New R. Municipal Marina early so we could have the whole day to spend there. It turned out to be a good decision because shortly after we tied up, the parade began. This was no ordinary parade, nor was it an official parade. It was a boat parade! Literally hundreds of boats, from jet skis to 150’ mega yachts, out for a Sunday drive. There were ferry boats, tour boats, kayaks, sail boats, boats with cranked up amplifiers (some including girls dancing as if under the influence of adult beverages), dinghies, and even a gondola. You name it, and it went by. Fortunately, almost all of the boats went by so as not to leave a big wake. It was occasionally a bit rocky, but otherwise, not too bad. We tied up just before the SE Third Av. Bridge, just a short walk to Las Olas Blvd, the center of downtown Ft. Lauderdale, the prime shopping and eating area. We had a decent dinner at a Greek restaurant, and Pat got to do a lot of window shopping. While at the dock we had another encounter with a friendly fellow boater. His name was John Walsh, and he is from Attleboro, MA. He and his wife have a condo in Lauderdale, a 46’ Grand Banks East Bay, and an old Chris Craft cruiser they keep in Brewerton, NY. I just mentioned we had to get to West Marine, and next thing we knew we were driving there. People are great!