Back in the USA

Back in the USA

April 3, 2013

We left West End, Bahamas at 0630 and to say I was nervous about the crossing to Florida, is putting it mildly.

Time & Tide lead a flotilla of 7 boats across the Gulf.  We were originally going to go to Fort Pierce but the weather was supposed to deteriorate later in the day, so we opted for the faster, straight-across run to Lake Worth, figuring it would take us around 8-9 hours.

With seas on our stern we made good time and sure enough, about 25 miles from the Florida coast the wind and waves were all over the place (we boaters call it “confused seas”) . It was, indeed, uncomfortable but nothing as bad as we had experienced before and I was very happy when we arrived at Lake Park Marina.

After tying up and getting our land legs back, we called into US customs to check back into the States.  After a long phone call we were informed we had to go to the Port of Palm Beach in person, to clear customs. It was too late so we had to do that the next day.

On Thursday we set off early to check into customs, only to find out that we didn’t have to right documentation. Actually, no one had the right papers and after getting that all sorted out we still have to call in and report at every major port as we make our way up to Canada. It is a PAIN but we have to do what we have to do.

On Friday we were visited by Terry and Kathy off MV Green Door, friends we had met and last saw in Marsh.

16 April 2013

Because of high winds and storms the previous few days we had stayed at Lake Park longer than we had planned.

We set off on the ICW and for the first time in months we were pointing our bow NORTH!!  We dropped the anchor in Peck Lake and took the dingy to shore for a lovely walk on the beach on the Atlantic Ocean side. I picked up some great shells that I hope to turn into jewelry.

Lighthouse at Jupiter Inlet

Afterwards we visited with Terry and Kathy on their boat MV Green Door and Terry bbq-ed wonderful steaks for dinner (my favourite!!) They are such a lovely couple and we can’t wait to meet up with them again later this year or in the spring of 2014.

17 April 2013

Continuing north we passed through the St Lucie inlet to the Indian river past Fort Pierce to Vero Beach.

Vero Beach is nicknamed Velcro beach by boaters. The free bus service, lovely beach and very nice and inexpensive marina make it all too difficult to leave.

We have been having problems with our camera so Gary and I got on the free shuttle to the mall and went to Best Buy where a Geek- Squad guy helped us and fixed our camera with no problems.  Marilyn and Bob from SV 9 Lives joined us for a walk along the boardwalk in Vero Beach and we all enjoyed a nice lunch at a beach-side restaurant. On our walk back we found 2 rare hamburger-sea beans on the beach!! Marilyn found a nice big sea bean too.

Vero Beach

Under the boardwalk Vero Beach

When we arrived back at the marina we were surprised by our good friends Bob and Monique, SV Last Waltz, who we had last seen in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, back in February. They had to pick up the car they are driving back to Toronto and stopped by to say hi. They were just about the leave when we pulled up in the bus, we couldn’t believe our eyes, and it was great to see them again.

Old friends and new ones
Bob, Marilyn, Gary, me, Monique and Bob

April 10 2013

We set off early and headed up the Indian River towards Dragon Point to anchor for the night. We were travelling at a good speed of 7.4mph and we had sailboats passing us!!! There were a whole bunch of us travelling together, heading north and with the wind from the SE it was perfect for the sailors to hoist the sails and get going. We saw many dolphins (porpoises) and pelicans in this area which is a protected wildlife reserve.

April 11 2013

We met our friends, Jim and Ann from MV Wild Goose in their homeport of Cocoa, Florida. They took us shopping and sightseeing and we went to Fishlips for dinner and watched the big Cruise ships leave.

Ann from Wild Goose

Gary shopping at Travis hardware store that was built in 1880

Travis built 1880

Ann and Jim - Gold Loopers -Wild Goose

Disney cruise ship leaving Port Canaveral

April 12, 2013

Another windy day but we made our way to Titusville where Gary immediately contacted the welding guys to start work on the support for the dingy seat.

My new dingy seat - Titusville

Manatee Titusville

Gary listening to JFK at the Astronaut's walk of fame - Titusville

Apollo  Astronauts Walk of Fame - Titusville

We saw plenty of Manatees in the marina and walked down the Astronauts walk of fame.

April 13 2013

We took the Titusville marina’s courtesy van to the Kennedy Space Centre.

Control room

Saturn 5  Rocket

Weightless

Man on the moon

Launch

Finally we had a farewell dinner with SV 9 Lives. They leave they boat in Titusville and it is time for us to move on.

Gerry, Joan, Marilyn, Bob, Christelle and Gary

April 14. 2013

We continued north on the Indian River and through the Haulover canal to New Smyrna. We were going to tie off to the free wall but saw a nice little anchorage and decided to drop the hook instead.

Gary was watching TV when he saw the first reports of tornadoes in the area. We already had, had a terrible thunder and lightning storm and sure enough now there were tornado warnings for all around. It was dark by this time and we decided to stay put rather than try to move in the dark, through crab pots, to the free wall. So we let out some more chain and started getting our survival gear ready. It kept raining and storming and the TV was sending out more warnings. I kept hoping and praying things would miss us and at last at 11pm the warnings were lifted. The skies cleared but not before I was crying in Gary’s arms that I didn’t want to do the boating thing anymore. He just smiled and told me we would be ok and we were. Still it was scary.

April 15, 2013

Cool flag

We left early knowing it would be a long day to our next anchorage at Fort Matanzas.

Fort Matanzas was built in 1740 to protect St Augustine from attack from the South. It was built near the site of the Spanish massacre of French forces in 1565 which began 235 years of Spanish control Matanzas is Spanish for “massacre”

Fort

Sentry duty?

She was a huge one

I wouldn't make a good soldier

Pelican in flight

Even with its sad history it is a beautiful spot and we enjoyed the natural beach beauty and guided tour of the Fort.

……………to be continued.