Month: April 2012

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St. Augustine 4/10- 4/12

We spent a few nights on a ball at St. Augustine waiting for the right weather to jump outside.  Captain Rusty Nail and Missy laid low this visit but you can check their exploits last spring.  Being anywhere for a few days almost always provides entertainment; and I mean that in the nicest most sympathetic way. No sooner than we’d settled on our mooring ball in the San Marco field, right in front of Castillo San Marco, Russ points to a boat facing the wrong way. Oops.

Be Haven the wrong way

The marina work boat had come along side and we could see the operator on his cell. This looked like a case of “overruns ball now caught on propus”.  The boat owner dives in to check things and after a while a dive boat shows up. The tide is coming in now; maybe that will help? We watch expectantly and next thing you know, out pops that ball from underneath the stern swim platform. Not very attractive –  all round with a stripe, no hair and the dive doc noted an 8 on the APGAR scale.

At least we can see the ball now

Shortly, with business concluded, the marina boat hip tows not-so-proud papa to another ball and nearly runs over that one. Couldn’t help but chuckle and shake our heads.

Wednesday dawned with a hazy smoky film in the air; the huge swamp fires burning near the FL/GA border made their presence felt. We smelled it yesterday morning, now today was a visual. That afternoon, while changing the engine oil, the soot and ash fluttered down, covering our once very clean boat with gray flakes.

Lunch was enjoyed at this fabulous restaurant, The Floridian, tucked away on Cordova St not even a block from a corner where we always turned left not right. One White Tree tipped us off to this great find where salads could be topped with shrimp, fresh catch or tempeh. Sandwiches, entrees, wraps are crafted using locally sourced ingredients and the iced tea was delicious. We opted to wait 10 mins for an outside table on the patio protected by shrubs and honeysuckle.

Lunch calories were burned during our walk to Auto Zone, about a mile out of the historic area on Rte 1.  Checked about an oil pressure sender- no luck with that, but we did score 3 gals of oil on sale which saved us $15 and with an easy to carry handle at the top- what could make a walkin’ cruiser couple happier?   How about chocolate? Yes, a walk past Whetstones for a dish of gelato and a rest in their air-conditioned sitting area.

Thursday we nibbled our way along St. George Street, ending up at The Gifted Cork for a wine tasting. On our trip south we discovered Stewarts Produce Market across the Bridge of Lions on Anastasia Island. Their produce selection is good as are the prices. You can also buy meats, cheese and many staples too along with unusual foods and ingredients. This time we saw a box of chick peas- in the shell- a new sight.

Another plus, and I use the word loosely, is the up close and personal view you have of the fort, the various tour boats- as they too have of you,

Wave to the nice people

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Manatee Zone, Lounging along the Lagoon

Joy! The camera-shy manatees were out in force the day we transited one of my top 5 fav sections of the ICW; the Mosquito Lagoon. This was made possible because we FINALLY ripped ourselves away from mooring ball #34 on Sunday, along with at least 15 other cruisers. This being Easter a parade was in order; bonnets optional.

Boat parade ICW north through Sebastian, FL

The Indian River- of grapefruit fame- is scenic, wide and mostly straight with a few bends here and there.  Another plus is no opening bridges- yes, we’re back to that again- and until the very end of our day. What would any self-respecting sailing vessel do on a day like this? You got it!! Sail. For once, every sailboat we saw, whether cruiser or local, had at least one sail up; we had two. Surprisingly, the wind blessed us just enough to sail along at 6kts once we came to our senses and switched out the jib for the screacher. The ICW, a calm and composed shimmer of tiny wavelets completed the near perfection of the day. And this was before we reached Mosquito Lagoon!

Dropped the hook just south of Titusville, to the east of the ICW channel in a section formerly known for being a good shuttle launch viewing area. No current, a light breeze and the nearest boat anchored ¼ mile away. Russ grilled up the lovely Fresh Market lamb chops while the sun set big and red off our stern. Indeed, a sailor’s delight.  A strange, rapid tapping noise along the hulls kept us guessing as to the sea creature source.  Crabs? Dueling barnacles? We may never know.

When the iPhone alarm sounded at 7a.m. Monday (a repeat of Sunday) we did indeed rise and got underway at 7:30, motoring on one engine to conserve fuel. Not a large white hanky day at all. The ICW continues north through the Indian River for 11 more miles until hanging a right over the north end of Merritt Island. Just before this, Russ noticed a recurrence of the fluctuating port engine’s oil pressure gauge so we switched to starboard while he rigged up a test unit.

Many stretches of Florida’s ICW contain Manatee Zone signs; some places you can’t exceed 25 mph in the ICW (oh, let’s try), others are idle speed while still some sections are date sensitive; Nov – April 1 being the time you will need to pay the most attention. We’ve seldom seen a manatee, but the Mosquito Lagoon always offers up at least one sorta sighting.

To get to the Mosquito Lagoon from the Indian River you go through a cut in the land and ask the bridge tender to open the bascule bridge for you. The approach to the cut is strewn with tiny spoil islands & sandbars; a fisherman’s heaven. Kayakers will find a small launching ramp so they can be up close and personal with an area perfect for exploration.  A slow, minimum wake manatee zone sign had us moving along at less than 5 kts. The bridge opened and as we passed through we could see a short ways ahead, a slight disturbance in the center of the channel. This could only mean one thing; a manatee. Well, it could be a dolphin, cormorant or large fish, but I do believe the signs talked about manatees! Sure enough, there he was lolly – gagging about- huge guy too. The photos I tried to get do not show how large he was.

Slowed down and built a nest.

Manatee in middle of channel

The Mosquito Lagoon is a stretch of the Indian River North and is oh about 10 miles long.   The near glass water enabled us to see every ripple and swirl; dolphins and manatee sightings left and right, although I still didn’t have good luck with a picture. More than once we moved aside to avoid a possible manatee- much of the Lagoon is “minimum wake.”

 

 

We traveled along with this guy for quite some time