Chapter 2.1 - Ft Pierce to Ponte Vedra
We arrived in Ft Pierce on April 1st to find Navigator safe and sound. That is not to say there were no surprises. We discovered that one our neighbors, Kathy, was in the hospital having suffered a heart issue. This I discovered within minutes of returning when I bumped into her husband Pete out walking their dog, and, of course he was distraught. The good news is they released Kathy the following day. She looked tired but was on her feet walking up and down the dock talking to her neighbors. She told me that it wasn't a heart attack and after adjusting medications, she stabilized and was released. They had been planning to depart Ft Pierce within a few days heading for their summer home port in Annapolis, MD. They told us they still hope to start moving the boat soon.
In talking to them they gave us their story of going back and forth to the Chesapeake each year along the Inter Coastal. Peter told me they make it in 30 - 45 days. That got Liz and I reassessing our options: So far we had been contemplating leaving the boat in the water in somewhere between Jacksonville, FL and Southport, NC; or Leaving the on the hard in Augusta, GA. The Norfolk, VA had been on our list but we had more or less discounted moving that far north because of time constraints - we need to be back in Boston for Jessica's baby shower Mid May. However having talked to Pete and Kathy they made us realize it was more than possible.
Hampton, VA, at the southern end of Chesapeake Bay across from Norfolk, is 920 miles from Ft Pierce. We now figure that if we do more than 30 a day, or about 4 hours a day, Hampton is within reach. That translates into 25 to 30 travel days. We want to make some stops & we don't want to be running ourselves ragged, but we have 40 days before we have to fly home. Suddenly it seems doable.
So we finished up our errands in Ft Pierce: Costco, Publix, West Marine etc. We dropped off our rental car and had dinner the last night at a restaurant called 12A Buoy. Good food, and better service, in no small part due to the fact that it was crowded and we chose to sit at the bar. Rachel made it fun getting us free samples of their chowder. Somehow losing count of how many glasses of wine she poured for Liz.
Up the next morning to some last minute chores before pulling away from our slip and heading to the fuel dock. Then we were on our way. We had changed our objective from just 22 miles the first day to 40 and moved up to a place near Melbourne Beach. We spent a windy but comfortable night at anchor tucked up along the barrier islands on the east side of the ICW.
Day 2 we knocked off another 40 which got us to an anchorage referred to as "NASA Launch Viewing", tucked in close to Merritt Island and the NASA Causeway Bridge. We were already in the spot I had planned to be in on Day 3! And luckily, SpaceX had scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 that night. At 11:07 PM on the nose, we saw a bright ball of light to the east that rose slowly and arced off over the Atlantic. Pretty amazing!
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This was a bucket list item for me. My Dad had an experiment on the Space Shuttle back in the 80's and we went down to watch the launch. I had taken time off from work, the launch got postponed and I missed seeing it. I had been pretty keen about the space program as a kid - I think I watched almost every Mercury, Gemini and even Apollo missions on TV. I remember being tuned into Walter Cronkite and listening to the Launch Director: "5, 4, 3, 2, 1….Mission Control we have liftoff!" And from my earliest memories, Dad had sparked my interest in science. Pretty cool to be with him as he prepared for the mission - that carried his own experiment into orbit!
In Day 3 we went through the Haulover Canal into Mosquito Bay. We had a nice ride up through Canaveral National Seashore and saw a Roseate Spoonbill, and Liz's favorite, a Bald Eagle. Spent the night at anchor in Callalisa Creek, in Smyrna Beach. Another 40 miles.
Day 4 brought us along past Daytona Beach and another 40 miles up to Flagler Beach anchoring in a side canal identified by the lable "Cement Plant" There is no Cement Plant - it was razed years ago - but there is a Boston Whaler manufacturing plant, and a curious marina/yacht club that is completely empty. Go figure! But for us it was a convenient anchorage - and half way to St Augustine.
We ended Day 4 with a new 'adventure'. Liz had noticed that the refrigerator was not as cold as it should be. So while she drove the boat, I did some diagnostics. Keep in mind, when driving the boat, electric power is 12 volt DC - from the alternator on the diesel engine. When you anchor (and shut down the diesel) that 12 volt DC comes from the batteries. All of which can be supplemented by running the generator which creates 120 volts AC.
First thing I noticed was that the refrigerator was not drawing any power. Hmm. If it is warm in the fridge and the breaker is "On", then shouldn't the fridge be drawing power to cool it down? From my experience installing a refrigerator on Taku I knew the fridge compressor has protective circuitry in it to shut down if the voltage is too low. Was it possible the voltage was too low and the fridge was shutting down? Then I remembered that that over the last few days I had other evidence of low voltage - mainly from the radar and chart plotter.
So, what to do to work around this? Remembering that our refrigerator can operate on either AC or DC power I leapt to the conclusion: why not run the generator for a while and let AC power run the refrigerator? Brilliant! Unfortunately, I hadn't figured out why the DC voltage had been low. So by running the generator, not only did send more power to the refrigerator, I also sent more power to 'charge' the battery. Next thing I know there is this smell of rotten eggs emanating from the battery compartment and upon opening up the battery case I was confronted by a battery that was hot and off gassing. Not sure if it was just old or had a rough life, but when a battery starts dying there is no saving it.
I went to bed that night wondering: what exactly is going on? Is it just the batteries that need replacing? Is the charger faulty? Is the refrigerator faulty? How much is this going to cost??? How long will it take to resolve this - and what does it do to our chances of making the Chesapeake?
That evening, after spending a couple hours talking to my friend Roger - a fellow boater, and FM retirie - I knew that at least I would have to replace the burned out battery - and it's twin.
Liz always seems to take these things in stride. "it is what it is and we will just have to deal with it" She slept soundly and I slept fitfully…
Day 5 we got off to a slow start after figuring out how to do things safely like making coffee, pulling the anchor while on low batteries. But fortunately our plan for the day was more modest: get to St Augustine - just 31 miles - where we had reservations at the Municipal Marina. On the way I made a call to the Marina and they referred me to First Mate Yacht Services. I called Tricia at First Mate who was positive they could get the batteries we needed and pretty sure they would be able to squeeze us in the following day! Fingers crossed. That afternoon we were able to relax a bit and explore St Augustine - a lovely city that to us is the nicest city in Florida. We visited the Spanish fort built in the late 1500's; found ice cream and walked around Flagler's University. Lovely town to explore!
The following day Jim, Justin & Matthew showed up with two 135 pound 8D 2X batteries and rolled them down the dock in the cart. In 2 hours it was a done deal. Old smelly batteries gone, two brand new batteries installed, alternator charging verified, inverter/charger verified and a wealth of information provided. Fingers crossed but these guys knew what they were doing. Liz and I shared a nice bottle of wine over dinner in celebration.
That left us with a free day to explore more of St Augustine. First we went to "The" Fountain of Youth - as discovered by Ponce de Leon
The following morning we fueled up and headed to Ponte Vedra our last stop in Florida where we plan to met up with my nephew Tom, his wife Christina and their two children Jackson and Cassidy.
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ReplyDeletethanks I am enjoying creating those adventures with you
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