Vero Beach

So, we were in Vero Beach for a week. As mentioned previously, this place is sometimes called "Velcro Beach" because once you get here you don't want to leave. We were expecting something really nice, and were a bit surprised to see a run-down marina that was kind of isolated. This place specializes in mooring balls, and they have a policy that they will triple up boats on moorings to maximize the number of boats here. This makes for an economical place, not necessarily a really nice one. The one really good thing was that all the other boaters we met were friendly, this place did not have any snotty-yachtie types.

Just before arriving at Vero Beach we passed under a bridge that was being expanded. The old bridge is in front, the new one is being built behind. Looked like the crane was lifting the rainbow into place.

Early in the morning a work barge stopped by to make some kind of repair at the gas dock. Not easy to see what they were doing, but they repaired a couple of the pilings that supported the gas dock.

Our first order of business was a nasty job. We plan to go to the Bahamas, and need to have a functional macerator to do so. In Canada and the United States, your boat's toilet empties into a holding tank in the boat. When this tank is full, you pump out the contents at a marina - pumpout. The Bahamas generally does not have pumpout facilities, so you need a way to empty your holding tank overboard. The way to do this is with a macerator pump. This is a pump with a chopper blade that pumps the contents of your tank overboard.

Our boat was equipped with one, but it had never been used. We know this because the motor was a 24 volt model, that would not operate on our 12 volt system. I guess when the boat was built, they ran out of 12 volt motors, and substituted a 24 volt model figuring the new owner would not notice until it was too late. Since the previous owners, and us, operated the boat in the United States and Canada, the macerator was never used. Stuff that is not used on a boat corrodes and freezes up. This is what I found when I inspected the macerator. Not only was the voltage wrong, but the impeller was very stiff and "frozen". The shaft would turn, but with only 12 volts the pump would not operate. So, we ordered a new macerator and had it shipped to Naples, and now that it was on board it was time to change it.

We got fuel and had our black-water tank pumped out when we arrived in Vero Beach, so now was the time to change out the pump. The boat did not have a valve between the pump and the tank, so this operation was likely to be a messy one. In principle, it was an easy replacement, loosen the old pump, disconnect two hoses, then install the new one. I bought the exact same model of pump (12 volt version) so things would line up. This is pretty standard practice. Unless I have a special reason to do so, any time I replace something on the boat I get the same model thing so that all the bolts and connections will line up.

Getting the first hose off was easy and not too messy, but the second hose would not come off the pump barb. There was not enough room to get leverage, so I disassembled the pump to get better access to the hose barb. As you can imagine, a bit of effluvium escaped into the bilge. I needed three hands for this job, as anytime I let the end of the hose get too low, it would leak out, even though I had plugged the hose end with expendable rags. After fighting with the hose for about half and hour, I tore it a bit at the end by accident so now had to cut the hose. This leaked more fluid out, but now I had the old pump off and quickly got the new one connected. With this done, I used a roll of paper towels and some soap to wash down as much of the area as I could reach, then with Rich's help, finished the install. We left the windows open in the boat for the rest of the day to air-out the salon, and luckily the smell dissipated quickly - or maybe we just got nose blind. Needless to say, we had dinner over at Jewel's that night. 

When I installed the macerator, one of things I had to do was to re-connect the wiring. When I did so, I added a bit of fun that I have wanted to have on the boat for a while. When you have a macerator on a boat, there is a legal requirement that it is disabled when you are inside U.S. or Canadian waters. Normally this is done by placing some kind of locking device over the through-hull to prevent the valve from being easily opened. You also need to have some kind of fail-safe to make sure the pump does not operate accidentally or easily.

On our boat, the through hull valve is locked out with an eye strap that is used to secure the handle. I have placed a large zip-tie over the handle and through this eye so that you cannot open the valve without first cutting off the zip-tie. The circuit breaker for the macerator also has a lockout on it, so you cannot enable the motor by accident. In order to operate the breaker, you first have to open this lockout, so you cannot do so easily. However, the way it was set-up from the factory was kind of inconvenient, in that once ready to go, you operate the switch in one location while checking the operation in another - you cannot monitor the pump from the breaker panel. This is not good, as you need to be able to monitor things to shut down quickly if there is a blockage or a leak. To address this shortcoming, I decided to install a switch near the macerator. This would enable you to operate the pump while observing it to make sure there are no leaks or issues. I wanted to have some kind of lockout on this switch as well, and went for a red switch cover like they use for launching nuclear missiles. Oh Yeah.

The switch for the macerator. Now all we need is a two-key authentication system for full nuclear launch capability. I just need to install a knob that goes to 11 somewhere on the boat, and my nerd fantasies will be complete.

The next morning, Rich and I did some chores on our respective boats. In our case, this involved installing a second drain in the lazarette hatch. This hatch has a gutter drain on the starboard side. Well, our boat has a small port list, and so water does not drain well from the gutter and instead it builds up in the port gutter then overflows into the lazarette. A long time ago, I installed some weather seal on the gutter, which worked well our first summer with the boat. But in preparation for doing the loop, our port list increased due to the amount of stuff stored on the boat - the weather strip is not enough. So, if you can't beat-em join-em. I decided to install a second drain on the port side of the hatch gutter. This went well except for one broken bolt on the hatch hinge (future repair) and now I hope we will have a drier lazarette. I finished up by dewatering the compartment, and cleaning things out.

A house across the road from the marina had this on their front lawn. There is a large dog walk area nearby, which is part of the municipal park complex the marina is in.

The marina was in a park that had lots of really large trees. These trees were covered in epiphytes, lots of iris moss, and several different types of flowers.

While I was working in the bilge, Louise, Melanie and Rich worked the phones and found dockage for us for the next little while. Given that the weather prevents us crossing to the Bahamas anytime soon, we have decided to go with Jewel to Jacksonville for a couple of weeks. There, Jewel will cross their wake, and we will hang out waiting for a Bahamas crossing. The group found a really good monthly rate at Jewel's home marina, and so we can stay there longer term while we wait for the Christmas winds to calm down. It took about an hour, but we managed to line up all our moorings through to the end of January.

One of the sidewalks here had a trail of squirrel footprints right down the middle. I guess they poured the concrete late in the day, and then one of the locals decided to take a stroll along the fresh surface. I wonder if some paleontologist will find these millions of years in the future?

Louise and Melanie then took the bus to do some looking around. One of the reasons why people like this place so much is that the transit is free. They spent a few hours riding around and sight-seeing. The bus routes go to the major shopping areas, and also to the beach area of the island. Coming back I learned a new word, BOGO. At one of the large supermarket chains, Publix, they have specials at the end of the aisles Buy One Get One. Louise and Melanie made this into a word, BOGO, that could be used as a noun or a verb. "We found a great BOGO" or "we are going to BOGO it".

Next morning Eevee was meowing to wake us up early in the morning. She wanted to go outside, so I went out with her while she walked around the boat. At the beginning of our loop, we could allow her outside on her own, since she never jumped up on anything, but now she likes to go on the gunnels at the front of the boat, so we have to go outside with her to make sure she doesn't go swimming. Being a cat, she goes out, then she goes in, then she wants out, then she wants in. Since we have been in salt water, she seems to like licking the decks. This water is fresh - it is from the dew - and most of the salt has been washed off - we hose down the boat with fresh water - but there must be a little bit of salt still there as she seems to like it so much.

During most of the trip, Eevee has not wanted to go outside. She went outside a few times when we were in the great lakes, then never asked again to go out through most of the river journey. Now that we are in Florida, she wants out multiple times a day, and multiple times throughout the night. Each time she goes out, she wants to walk on the boat gunnels. One of us has to go with her to make sure we don't end up with a cat in the water. Louise finally broke out the cat harness. Eevee hates it, but this way we can retrieve her if she has an incident.

Luckily for us, our slip is far enough from shore that we don't get lizards visiting. The area here is full lots of little lizards that run around on the pavement. Fun to watch them when you walk as they run from place to place and bob their heads. We are far enough from shore that Eevee has not discovered them. Its bad enough that she watches the fish jump......

I spent some time in the lazarette trying to change the air filter on the generator, with no luck. When they built the boat, the generator was installed before the deck was put on. As a result, you cannot access parts of the generator. It is surrounded by a sound shield, which is very close to the deck above it. So close in fact that I could not remove the sound shield panels to change the filter. I spent quite a bit of time trying to disassemble the sound shield, but there was not enough space to do so. If the deck was about an inch higher than it is, then this would be possible, but as is, it is impossible to access parts of the genny. I left it alone for now, and will try to see if I can get any info about tricks for doing this, but I am afraid that if push comes to shove and we need to access the top of the genny, we will have to cut away the sound shield. Stay tuned.

I also spent some time planning the Bahamas crossing. We have a guide book that shows different bearings from the various inlets to the towns in the Bahamas. When crossing the Gulf Stream, you have to plot a course that takes into account the speed and direction of the stream. Since we were considering several possible routes, I made an Excel spreadsheet so that I could plot bearings for us to follow. You cannot follow a bearing directly to your intended destination, you have to steer slightly south to account for the northerly Gulf Stream current. It has been a while since I did trigonometry, so I spent some time working out the formulas on paper, then built a spreadsheet so I could do the calculations for different departure points and destinations. Using this, we can choose our jump-off point to cross, as the spreadsheet also calculated estimated crossing times. This is another factor, we want to arrive around mid-day so that we can see any shoaling in the water, and so the customs offices will be open. This likely means another nighttime departure, with some boating in the dark, but it will only be a few hours.

The slip they moved us to was beside an old super-yacht that was being painted. It had gotten damaged in a storm and there was a big crew working on it. The boat was about 70 feet long and four decks tall. They spray painted it the day before we moved, and then when we were beside it they had lots of workers hand-sanding and polishing the surface. Strange to see this done in a slip, normally a boat would be hauled out and the work done in a yard. Doing it that way would give better controlled conditions, and you would think a better quality job. Perhaps cheaper to do it this way?

Later in the afternoon there was a get-together for the boaters here. We went over and visited with a few fellow travellers, including a Mark and Lisa, couple from Port Colborne, Ontario. The party organizers held a secret-Santa-type game where you could draw numbers to get prizes. The prizes were all dollar-store stuff that would be useful on a boat. I won a sponge, while Louise got some a soduku book.

The next day started out by us moving slips. To get us in for a week, they had to shuffle us around, so once our next slip was free, we untied the lines and trundled over to our new slip. Luckily we did this at slack tide (no current) so we had no issues wiggling out of the tight fairway they had put us in. After we moved to the new slip, I spent some time with my endoscope scouting out locations for a 12 volt outlet we want to add to the salon. The endoscope connects to my iPad, and has been pretty useful when inspecting things and running wires on the boat.

In the afternoon we went to a local art gallery. They had a special exhibit of blown glass that we went through, we even went on a small tour, but bailed out partway as it was a little too artsy for us. For dinner, we went to a restaurant on the beach. Nice to hear the surf breaking while you have your meal. We are looking forwards to hearing that when we get to the Bahamas.

We went for brunch at a dockside pub one day. They had a kid's menu that was written by someone who knows kids.

The next day a cold front came through so we were indoors a lot. Louise and Melanie went sightseeing on the free transit bus, while Rich changed his engine oil and I washed out our bilge. I noticed the previous evening that the boat smelled a bit "earthy" so I got a bucket and soap and washed out the mid bilge where I had installed the macerator a couple of days previously. I actually washed the area twice, just in case. After that we no longer had the strong manure smell in the boat. Hopefully the episode is now behind us.

We went for dinner at a surf-side restaurant on the ocean. To get there, we had to walk through the pool area of a local resort. Tough life, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Vintage Corvette cruising along the main beach drive with Santa - Freakin awesome!

The next task was to download some Bob423 tracks. The intracoastal waterway on the east coast is well-marked with buoys, and detailed charts are available. However, currents, storms and waves push the sand around creating uncharted or un-marked shoal areas. The sand moves faster than the army corps of engineers, so you need a way to keep up with what others have found in terms of shoaling or missing navigational markers. So, this guy, Bob423 maintains a website that collects information on shoaling and navigational markers in the ICW. From the website, you can download tracks, that you can then upload to your chartplotter, which show safe routes to follow along the ICW.

Bob423

Following a Bob423 track on the ICW. On the right zoomed-in panel, you can see a blue line that our "boat" is following. This is a downloaded Bob423 track that we can use to avoid shoaling areas.

Getting the tracks from the website was pretty easy. I then downloaded an editor program to set them up for our chartplotter, then the next step was to upload the modified files. This has to be done by loading the files on a micro SD card which can then be used to transfer the info to the chartplotter. Could not get it to upload, the chartplotter would not read the card. We tried a few more cards, some worked some did not. Finally, I figured out that the chartplotter would only recognize certain formats on the card (DOS), and because my laptop is a Mac, the format it set on the SD cards was incorrect for the plotter. After we found this out, it was easy to upload the safe BOB423 tracks for the upcoming ICW trip north.

Bye-bye super yacht.

Boat name of the day: Marine Sanctuary (owner is a former marine).

Plan B

Up at the crack of dawn, we were ready to backtrack north to cut across Florida. We had a bit of an issue getting off the mooring as Louise had some trouble getting the ropes off the mooring. We had used some old ropes that came with the boat. I don't like them as they are kind of "sticky", but I kept them for use as mooring bridals. Well, they "stuck" to each other on the mooring ball and Louise could not pull the ropes out of the ring. I managed to free the first rope, which meant Louise could easily remove the second, and so then we were good to go. 

Dinner in Naples.

Coming through Fort Meyers we saw some boats that had been blown onto the land. When we see wrecks here, they are almost always sailboats. We have seen lots of sunken or beached sailboats, but only the occasional powerboat seems to meet this fate. 

A word about tying to mooring balls. We used two ropes, one on each bow cleat. Each rope is tied to a cleat, then goes through the ring, then back to the same cleat. We do this with both bow cleats. Doing it this way prevents your rope from being abraded. Some boaters run a rope from one bow cleat, through the ring and then to the other bow cleat. However, this method can damage your line. As the boat wiggles back and forth the rope gets pulled back and forth through the ring, cutting it like a saw.

The trip north in the Gulf was nice and easy. The waves were larger than our previous trip south to Naples, but they were from a good direction on the bow and did not bother us. We passed a couple of go-fast looper boats headed south to the keys. They had the speed to make the crossing in one day during daylight, so were going for it. We were meeting another slow boat - Stulie - going north to avoid the worst of the winds. Stulie joined us around Fort Meyers Beach, and we entered into the inlet leading to Fort Meyers. We passed through some heavy boat traffic here - lots of boats heading out to enjoy the bay before the weather closes it. We arrived at a really nice anchorage at Halgrim Landing and rafted up with Jewel and Stulie. Since we had the most experience rafting, we set our anchor then rafted the other boats to us, one on each side. Jewel had been rafting a lot with us since Tennesee, but this was the first time the crew of Stulie had ever rafted overnight.

Triple-raft anchorage.

Conditions were great, and Louise went swimming to cool off. The rest of us ran generators and air-conditioning. We visited with Chris and Julie of Stulie and Rich and Melanie on Jewel for a while, then everyone turned in for the night.

Louise cooling off with a swim. We use this large knotted rope as a safety line when we swim from the stern. Helps in re-boarding the boat, and gives you something to hold onto if there is a current.

Eevee supervised when Louise went swimming. We like that she explores the boat, but we have to keep an eye on her so she doesn't go for a swim. 

Anytime we put something new on the deck Eevee sits on it - cat owners will understand. This time she picked a comfy jacket.

The next morning started out really nice. Took a bit to haul up our anchor, it was sucked into the mud pretty good and we had to use the boat to pull it out. This takes time, as you have to be careful not to strain the windlass. Basically you take the slack out of the chain, then wait for the tension to pull up the anchor a bit from the mud. After a few moments, you take some more slack, and wait again. Sometimes, we bump the engine forward a bit to put a bit more pull on the chain. This process is slow, but it puts the least strain on our ground tackle and pulpit, since you are using the boat's buoyancy to free the anchor, not the windlass. Louise had to hose off the chain quite a bit as everything was covered in thick black mud. Nice. I really like seeing this, as it tells us we were well-set and secure on our anchor. Louise doesn't like all the mud because it usually ends up on her and all over the front of the boat. She washes it down with the raw water hose we have up front.

Hurricane damage. Some places suffered lots of damage, while others looked fine. This place was damaged several years ago, but local politics have been preventing the re-build.

Any time the ride is a bit rocky I drive standing up. This gives a lot better control and is easier on your back. If the water is calm, I am usually sitting and letting Auto drive the boat, but any kind of following or beam sea and it is best to drive standing.

Eevee sharing some smoked salmon with Louise for breakfast.

Our first adventure of the day was a lockage. The lock was pretty large, and only had a lift of a couple of feet. They used a special way of filling the lock. After all the boats got tied up, they opened the front doors and bit and let the water spill in. Kind of turbulent, but it worked. We set off again for our next barrier, a swing bridge. Approaching the bridge, we heard them communicating with a couple of other boats. The bridge hydraulics were not operating so they had to manually open it and were having trouble. We ended up having to wait for about 45 minutes at the approach. Normally this would not be a big deal, but it was now really windy and hard to hold station. We solved the problem by running a race-track pattern while we were waiting. Finally they got the bridge fixed and we were able to continue.

Stulie needed fuel, so they scooted ahead to a marina that had diesel. This canal was not a good place to be low on fuel, as not many places were open, or had diesel. But, they found a place and went ahead to get filled up. Jewel and iFloat passed the marina as they were getting fuel. We went slow to let them catch us after they topped up.

We then had to pass through another lock. This lock chamber was much smaller than the last one, so the lock master told us to come in one at a time. Bit of a pain, as the wind made it hard to hold position. To make matters worse, a local boat was now with us and was crowding us, making maneuvering tricky. Once we got into the lock, and they opened the door to lift us, we saw a wall of water. It was a 6 foot lift, coming right through the doors! Lots of turbulence coupled with their crappy line system made it tough to hold the boats. Louise and I used our big lock trick of holding the lines on the outboard side of the boat. This reduced our workload, but we still had to pay close attention.

In this lockage was our group of three plus two local go-fast boats. When it was time to leave, Jewel got on the radio to ask the go fast boats to go first. One of them did, but the other guy wanted Jewel to go first. He then went followed by iFloat and Stulie. Coming out of the lock, we went through a no-wake zone near a marina. Well, the boat in front of us decided to pass Jewel here, blasting through the no-wake zone as he did so. Nice guy. If he was in that much of a hurry, why not go when Jewel asked him to?

As we got close to our destination for the day, we were passed by a couple of go-fast boats. Rich was a bit concerned that the dock would not have space for all of us, so Jewel went on plane to go ahead and grab some dock space. We could not reserve at this dock, it was a town dock and first-come-first-served. Luckily, the three go-fast boats passed through heading to another marina down the line. Jewel got set on the dock, then guided Stulie and iFloat in to get tied up.

iFloat arriving at the Moore Haven marina. Photo courtesy of Helen.

We had some special guests to help us catch our lines. Tom and Helen from RYC had driven down from Estero to meet us. Once we got set on the dock, we invited them onboard for a visit and a tour of the boat. Then we went with them and the crew of Jewel for pizza. Really nice to see Helen and Tom again, it has been several years since we last visited with them, back at RYC.

Helen and Tom stopped in for a visit. They spend winters at a place near Fort Meyers (Estero) , and drove to Moore Haven to meet with us. They helped us get tied up, spent some time on our boat, then we went for pizza with them and Rich and Melanie.

The next morning, we got together with the crews of Stulie and Jewel to plan the next leg of the voyage. Things were not looking good. The weather on the east coast was terrible, and the forecast was for strong north and east winds for the next week. Our next leg would involve crossing lake Okeechobee, which is a large lake similar in shape to lake Simcoe. Given the wind strength and the fetch on the lake, we were looking at impossible conditions for crossing over. Indeed, the coast guard put out a small craft warning for the lake that afternoon. 

Lunch with Julie and Chris from Stulie, and Melanie and Rich from Jewel. The town dock was beside a park with lots of picnic areas. We are all in sweaters as it was super-windy. Lunch was super-cheap and super-tasty take-out from a Mexican grocery store.  Down here Mexican food is by far the best value for the money. It is always the least expensive and is very good.

There was an alternate route we could take which involved a small canal that went around the south edge of the lake called Rim Canal. Initially we thought that this could be our way out, but Rich talked to a local Sea Tow operator who told us that the canal had a lot of weed mats, and that with the north wind pushing everything south we might run the risk of getting stuck. So this route was out. Luckily, we were in a nice place, and inexpensive too, but the forecast for the next week was not looking good. So, we decided to just stay where we were for a few days to see if the winds would lay down.

The Santa express arriving in town. A working steam engine!

Louise tried to used the bathroom at the marina and found that the plumbing was not fully connected. Pumpout Blues!

Since we had some time, I decided to get caught up on some maintenance. I inspected the engine, and all looked OK, but when I inspected the generator, I noticed that the anode plug was green. These plugs are made of bronze, as can turn green when exposed to salt water, but how did it get exposed? Last time I checked it a month or so ago, it was not green. I decided to inspect the anode, and when I removed it I found that it was pretty depleted. As well, the bronze plug holding it in was cracked. This crack was the source of the green corrosion, there was a pinhole leak allowing salt water to cover and corrode the plug. I replaced both the anode and the plug, then decided to inspect the anodes on the engine just in case. Most of these were in good shape, but I ended up replacing a couple of those as well. Any time I find something that doesn't look right I check it out. A lot of times it is just dirt, but in this case a little green helped me find a small problem before it became a big one.

The scooters have really opened up our experience at the various places we stay. gives us a range of about 5 km from the boat, provided there are sidewalks. We do not use bike-lanes, with the drivers in Florida these are suicide-lanes.

That night, the town was hosting a Christmas festival in the nearby park, so the three boat crews went to check it out. Louise got some deep fried Oreos, and Rich and Melanie managed to find some BBQ ribs. The festival was being run by the local high-school, that was also using this as a fundraiser. We walked around and checked out the Christmas decorations.

Louise and Melanie got a picture with Santa and the Grinch, plus a couple of helpers.

The tree-lighting ceremony was pretty different from the last one we saw. At one point they just turned on the lights, no speeches no bands no Santa no nothing.

We have dry food for Eevee, but every once in a while we give her some tuna. She instantly knows when we do this, I don't know how she knows the difference between opening a tuna can and opening any other kind of can, but she does, and somehow is right under my feet when I open the can.

We set up some Christmas lights we got at a dollar store.

The next morning, the wind died out and the water on the canal was flat calm. We were watching all our weather apps, and found that the winds over the lake did not build until about 10 am, which could leave us a window to escape in the early morning. We got some more intel from a couple of go-fast boats that crossed from the other direction. They confirmed good conditions in the morning, changing to horrible in the afternoon. So, we decided to give it a try in the early morning the next day.

That night we went for dinner at the Fraternal Order of Eagles. This is a private club that was offering a special prime rib dinner for a low price. We went with the crews of Jewel, Stulie and Last Mango, a sailboat that was also heading east to get to the Bahamas. The dinner was really tasty, and everyone was nice, but as a private club there were some surprises. First, we had to sign in in order to get served alcohol. Second, they allowed smoking. None of us had been in a smoking establishment since the 1990's, so this was a kind of new experience for us. Pretty sure everyone changed clothes when we got back to our boats.

After supper, we walked to the local park with the crews of Jewel and Stulie to watch a rocket launch that was scheduled for that night. Unfortunately, the launch was scrubbed, but it was a nice walk. When the rocket did not appear on time, Rich checked his phone and discovered the scrub. Back on the boats, we went to bed early expecting an early morning start. 

At 6:00 am Rich, Chris and I got together to compare notes. Everyone had their favourite weather app, and each one showed a forecast identical to the previous day, lighter winds in the morning, building as the day went on. We each decided to go for it. We had to wait to get started however, since the nearby lock would not open until 7, but at 6:55 we all started engines and untied then made our way towards the lock. 

At the lock, it turned out that there was a tow waiting to come through westbound and he had priority. Luckily there was no wind, and we were able to hover in the approach way waiting for the lock. Once we had locked through, we were about 40 minutes behind schedule, not a big delay but enough given the expected winds to make us a bit nervous. 

Some fishermen getting ready to head out in their airboats. This part of the lake was a giant swamp, about 2 feet deep and covered in weeds.

The first part of the journey was through a protected canal, so for the first hour we had easy going. But, once we entered the lake things changed. We were east-bound across a 30 km wide lake heading into a building wind from the east. The long fetch would give us big waves eventually, but these would take time to form, which was why we were able to cross. At the half-way point the waves were 2 feet high with the occasional 3 or 4 footer, but we were going directly into the waves so the ride was not too bad. Still, we had to be careful, walking around was not easy.

Arriving at the other end of the lake we first had to go through a lock. Luckily the drop was only about a foot and the lockage went quickly. When we exited the lock, our first plan was to tie to a set of dolphins at the lock approach. Dolphins are pilings that barges use to tie up to. These were big wooden piles with cleats on them. Jewel managed to tie to one, but the winds were so strong that the boat was swinging too much and they were in danger of getting damaged by hitting the dolphin. Time for plan C. There was an approach channel to the lock that we could anchor in. It was narrow, but aligned with the wind. Louise and I set our anchor, but had to re-set as we were too close to the channel. When we went to haul up the anchor, we had some difficulty as it was in thick mud. NICE! This would be a good anchoring spot! We got set again and then Jewel rafted onto us. We swung quite a bit in the wind, but held steady and never moved all afternoon.

Louise made some pizzas for dinner. She uses naan-bread for pizza shells, and cooks them in the air-fryer. Each one takes only a few minutes. Since the naan-bread is already cooked, she just has to melt the cheese and roast the pepperoni a bit. Toppings included: kalamata olives, pepperoni, chorizo sausage, can mushrooms. Cover with mozzarella to keep the toppings from blowing around in the air fryer.

It was really windy that afternoon and evening, Rich and I kept a close watch on the anchor and chart plotter. Eventually the winds calmed down to a more breeze-like state. Overnight it rained several times quite heavily. Each rain squall brought heavy winds, so I was up several times during the night to check on our status.

Leaving the anchorage we had to pass under a railroad bridge. Jewel got this shot of iFloat as we passed under. We had anchored in the wide area on the right, you can see a sailboat there that is hauling his anchor. Last Mango anchored behind us at the end of the day.

New interstate bridge under construction.

Next morning we travelled to Stuart Florida. This is a big boating area. The dealers for Fleming and Kadey-Krogen are here. When we passed the Fleming dealer, their harbour was chock-full of brand-new yachts. We made it to our destination for the day, the Stuart Corinthian Yacht club. This is a small club that offers owners slips to transients when the owners are away.

Approaching Stuart, we saw an eagle catch what looked like a snake or eel. Not a great photo, but you can see the long body trailing behind the bird.

We spent two days at this club. The place was recently renovated, and we had a nice visit with their commodore, who happened to be at the bar the same time we were. The club has over 100 members, but only 24 slips. We had to move slips the second day as the owner of the one we were in was returning that day. The slip we were sent too was too big for our boat, so it took a little wiggling to get the boat set. We first went in bow-first, as we felt this would be the easiest way to get off the boat, but the pilings were not spaced well for this. So, we turned around and backed in. We fit this way, but it took some clever rope work to get us set. To add to the fun, it was pretty windy when we came in. At one point I broke one of my cardinal rules, which is never to listen to the know-it-all-old-farts on the dock. One of the local spectators suggested I use one of the slip owners lines, which I should not have done but did. This held the boat, but we ended up pulling a cleat from the pile and damaging a wire to a small solar panel.

Fixing the cleat was easy, but it took a bit of acrobatics to fix the wire. I had to do it standing on the gunnel. The owner had glued the solar panel to the pile, so I could not bring the fixture in to fix, so Rich and I had to do it while it was on top of the pole. We got it fixed and working, but it was not pretty. The visit to Stuart was not very relaxing. We spent hours trying to find our next stop since so many marinas were full already.

In the morning, we set off at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the lighter winds. Travel to Vero Beach was pretty straightforward, except for a complete jackass-idiot who made a really dangerous pass. We were heading towards a bridge, with three boats on-coming in a narrow channel (about 75 feet wide). the three on-coming boats went to the left side of the channel, while Jewel and iFloat favoured the right side. As we were about to pass the first boat (with a bout 50 feet between us) this complete idiot in a large go-fast boat cut in-between trying to pass us. I did not see him until the last second, as he was coming from behind, and he did not make any radio call. I throttled down to idle to let the idiot pass, and he did so pretty fast making a huge wake and almost hitting the oncoming boat. One of the other boats got on the VHF to tell him he was an idiot, but the blue boat captain was probably too stupid to have his radio on. This was one of the dumbest and most dangerous maneuvers I have seen on the entire loop (which is saying something - lots of stupid out there).

Along the way to Vero beach we went in and out of lots of small squalls. You could see these small clouds everywhere, bringing short burst of rain followed by rainbows.

Our next obstacle was a lift bridge. We were small enough to get under without an opening, but there were several sail boats waiting for a bridge opening when we arrived. Just as we approached the bridge, the operator got on the radio to say that the bridge was opening and that all boats should stay clear until the bridge was fully opened. I throttled to idle, but the tidal current was very strong and pushing us towards the bridge. It was impossible to stop in time, so we had no choice but to go under the bridge while it was opening. Not the best, but the safest option given the heavy current. 

We arrived at Vero Beach and got set in our slip. It was a really tight fit, and we had to abort our first approach and go out to re-set. We got in on our second try. The marina here was fully booked, and it turns out we will have to move to another slip in a couple of days, but this is the way.

The marina here is park of a city park. During the day, the parking lot is full of lizards sunbathing. Lots of shade trees complete with moss in the park itself. This oak tree is massive and very old.

Vero beach is known in the cruising community as "Velcro Beach" because once you get here it is hard to leave. We were expecting something really nice, but what we found was something cheap. The marina needs some work, and some of the boats on the dock here look pretty rough. Lots of DIY sailboats with plastic taped over the hatches and window-type air conditioners MacGyvered onto the hulls. They have a large mooring field here in which they double and triple-moor boats. If you go to a mooring ball, you can expect to raft up with a stranger, and hope they are nice. The anchorage is super-protected which is why they can do this. We decided to stay for a week here, since it is difficult to find dock space right now and this will give us time to find arrangements. We have to leave on Christmas Eve, and likely will head north again since there are no weather windows for a Bahamas crossing in the next two weeks.

Boat name of the day: Land Escaper

High-rent district

After a week in Clearwater the winds died down and we were now able to move on. Since we had been in the Clearwater area for a while, we decided on a longer leg for our first day. This was actually a bit of a screw-up, as our initial plans had us breaking the trip into two hops, but some mis-communication during the planning stage had us on a longer first voyage. So, we untied the lines and set off for Sarasota. The trip was through the ICW, which meant lots of no-wake or reduced-wake areas, which added some time to our trip. Along the way, Louise managed some more dolphin videos.

This trip also involved us traversing some low bridges, but as we were travelling at low tide, we had sufficient air clearance to get under all the bridges without needing an opening. We arrived at Sarasota late in the afternoon and got tied up to a mooring ball. We have been on moorings before, but this was our first time on such a thing with this boat. We have a fairly high freeboard, and so had to plan for alternate methods of grabbing the ball when we got there. Arriving at the field, which was maintained by the city, we found that bridals were available, and so we we did not have to do anything special to attach the boat. Louise grabbed the float at the bow using a boat hook, and we looped our lines through to secure us to the mooring. Once we got secured up, we launched the dingy and went into the nearby marina for dinner. It was still pretty cold, so we had dressed in layers, including windbreakers for the trip. We got back to the boats around sunset and got the dingy tied up and we were set for the night.

Since we were on a mooring ball we were secure, but it was a rolley experience. It had been windy on our approach, and the winds did not die out until after midnight. This of course generated waves, which rolled the boat quite a bit. As well, there was lots of wave-slapping noise on the hull. Eevee did not like this at all, and she was very restless on the boat this night. She kept wanting to go outside, but it was pitch black, there was a tidal current running, and neither of us wanted to go swimming to rescue a cat, so we kept her inside. She took revenge on us though by meowing - loudly - at several intervals during the night. 

The next morning the wind had died off, so we had a pretty smooth ride to Venice. However, we had to pass under three bridges to get there, all with low air clearance. As we approached the first bridge, we got on the VHF to ask about clearance. The bridge operator told us she was not allowed to tell us, but that we had to read the indicator at the bridge approach. When we got to the bridge, we found that we were able to clear it without an opening, so just went through at low speed.

We could not clear the second bridge, so had to wait for an opening (they open every 20 minutes). Luckily we did not have to wait long. The tidal currents were fairly strong at the approach, which made for a bit of a tricky time holding station. While we were hovering, Louise got to see some manatees feeding in the channel, a cow and calf.

The third bridge opened on demand, so we called ahead and he opened the bridge just as we got there. We cruised through the Venice area and got tied up at the Fisherman's Wharf marina. Booking here was kind of interesting. When Louise called to make a reservation, they asked us if we were liveaboards. We answered yes, but we were really loopers and were only staying one night. Many marinas here have no-liveabord policies, mostly aimed at keeping out the derelict boats. After consulting with her manager, she decided we were OK and booked us in.

Lots of wrecks in Florida. Some look recent, others have been here a looong time. The only other place we saw wrecks like this was in Indiana. Don't know why, but suspect that local laws allow owners to abandon the boat if it sinks. Boats are not registered as "tightly" as cars are, so maybe it is easier for owners to get away with abandoning their boats. This boat was a Nordic Tug, a fairly high-end brand. We figured it was grounded recently.

We went for a ride around Venice on our scooters, taking a bike path that followed the ICW. Really enjoyable ride, although we were a bit sore after. Although the scooters are electric, your legs get sore from balancing - especially if you are old like us. Not the first time something like this has happened on this trip. We have found that we are using lots of muscles that we have not used in a while. For example, when we started out, we were sore from climbing on and off the boat. However, after doing it a few times, we are in better shape. Well, this day we got to exercise our calf and ankle, back, thigh and buttocks muscles.

The next morning, Louise got some video of some dolphins feeding behind our boat early in the morning. If you watch close at the end, you can see the tail of a fish that the dolphin has in its mouth.

Louise also got a video of some manatees. These things are not much to see unless you are really close. They make only a small disturbance on the surface when they come up to breathe. We are hoping to get some better footage of these things at some point, but for now this was the closest she could get video of.

Lots of mansions here. The real-estate is spectacular. As we passed this house, we could see someone in the round room getting a haircut. I guess the rich and famous have their stylist come to them.

We then set off for another nice cruise down the ICW. Conditions were amazing and there was zero wind, and not a cloud in the sky. As we got close to our destination in Boca Grande, we called the marina on VHF. The dockmaster told us that we were too early, that check-in was normally around 14:00 (this was at 11:30), but he would check and see if it was OK. After a few minutes he got back on the radio to say it was OK to come in. Many marinas post check-out times and check-in times, but this is the first time we have ever seen these enforced.

When we got to the marina, we found a place that catered to the rich-and-famous. It was REALLY nice and in a really expensive area. The docks were completely empty - we were the only two boats there, so don't know why they were worried about an early check-in. Rich later figured that the whole check-in thing on the VHF was some kind of ploy to get a better tip, since this was that kind of high-roller place - tip to get a better table etc. 

Jewel on the dock at Boca Grande.

Louise got some laundry done while I hosed the salt off the boat. Being in salt water, we develop a coating of salt every time we move the boat. This coating is sticky, and gets all over our clothes - like road salt on your coat. So, we have gotten into the habit of hosing off the boat with fresh water at marinas. The outside of the boat is now nice and clean. One bonus of being in salt water is that the spiders have disappeared. We still have a couple inside the boat - we are never completely spider free - but we no longer have them outside. Without their poop, or webs to trap dirt, the boat is much cleaner and also much easier to clean. No scrubbing, we just hose it off!

Once we were set in place, we then we took our scooters out to ride around the area. We saw lots of construction going on. Some of it was hurricane damage, but most seemed to be new construction. This is a high-end area, lots of McMansions and gated communities. We thought that the gated thing was a bit over-the-top, since the island was isolated, and about as far from the unwashed masses as you could get, but I guess rich people like gated stuff.

The beach was actually not that bad, and would be totally fine by Ontario standards, but in Boca Grande everything must be immaculate or it is not good enough!

Finally some truth in advertising.

We passed this gopher tortoise munching grass on the side of the road on our way to the beach. We passed him on the way back, he had only moved about 10 feet.

Back on the boats, we launched our dinghies and went for a ride around the canals. WOW! Every house was big, new, and modern. Every house had a private dock, each with a high-end speedboat (think 4 outboards each with 400 horsepower). Money money money. We saw some dolphins and some manatees at water level.

Florida 'snow' drift. Sand piled up after hurricane Milton.

One thing that was not nice here were the no-see-ums. These things were really small and had a really nasty bite. Within pretty short order of arriving, we were brushing these things off. Louise and I both took some Claritin to reduce the welts - our legs and arms were covered!

Dingy ride with Jewel. We saw lots of amazing houses, and even some manatees.

Boca Grande golf course right on the ocean.

Back on the boat, I rigged some tie-downs in the engine room so we can store things here for long-term storage.

We only had a short run the next morning, so took our time having coffee to let the tide come up before leaving. Again, the ocean was like glass, and we had a really smooth ride. While we were underway, Louise decided to do dishes. She got a bit of a shock when some dolphins jumped beside the boat and splashed us.

This was Louise's view outside the window. Both of us could hear the splashing (I was on the flybridge during this) but Louise got a front-row seat (and even some splash on the window). The dolphins have a speed they like, and when you are going that speed they will ride in your wake for a long while. We saw them following other boats and it looks like a torpedo behind the boat. This group seemed to be having fun jumping and twisting in the wake.

Louise went outside and got this from the stern - she even got splashed!

Sanibel was another high-end destination. The channel was partly silted-in, but we made it through OK and got tied up, then set off on another  scooter ride around the island. The houses were all high-end places, and everything seemed to be under construction. There was a traffic jam of contractor trucks down the main street. Mix of renovation/repair and new construction, with emphasis on new. Later we spoke with some locals, who told us that these uber-rich areas get hammered when hurricanes come through - they are all on low islands on the ocean. But that these areas are the first to get rebuilt after a storm comes through, kind of like a remodelling plan. Money talks.

Louise shows off our land-transport. These things have been really great for getting around and have really expanded our in-harbour activity list.

Louise getting a selfie with her ice cream.

Our view in Sanibel.

Lots of no-see-um bites. The welts take a looong time to go away, although they stop itching if you take some Claritin (Benadryl is also good but makes you sleepy).

For a Christmas festival, they lit up the road that runs the entire length of the island with these lights-in-a-bag. During the day, they went down the road putting out these little bags filled with sand, then they came back and put an LED candle in each one.

These lights stretched the entire island.

View of the ocean. The beaches here were all under renovation after the hurricanes, but still really nice in our opinion. This pier is called Stonehenge pier in  Gasparilla State park.

The weather was forecast to be nasty the next day (the coast guard put out a small craft warning that night), so we had another day to enjoy the area. We rode our scooters to the end of the island to visit the drug store, then had supper at Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grille. This restaurant is supposedly famous because it is a setting for a bunch of novels written by Randy Wayne. We decided we would see if any of his books are available on kindle and to check them out.

Along the coast for about 40 km it was wall-to-wall hotels and resorts. The development of the coast here is something else!

A really nice resort along the way to Naples. Naples itself has no really tall buildings, the billionaires don't want them I guess, but all the other towns we passed were very vertical.

We set off for Naples the following morning at daybreak. It was now high-tide, so we had an easier time getting out of the harbour. Conditions got a little sporty for a bit, but nothing like lake Michigan. We pulled into the Naples city dock around lunch time and got set up. Franca and Neil stopped by to visit us. Louise worked with Franca for a long time at the school, and the two of them spent time catching up. They then took us to get some groceries with Melanie, and later we all went out for dinner at a local Italian place.

One of the McMansions in Naples. The guest house on the left was bigger than our regular house.

Our initial plan in coming to Naples, besides visiting with Neil and Franca, and Louise's cousins, Jocelyn, Darlene and Dave, was to then head down to the Florida Keys for a while. However, the weather did not cooperate. We had good conditions around Naples for the next day or so, but the weather window was not wide enough to allow us to make it all the way to the keys. A cold front was coming in bringing high winds to the entire area. Our initial plan was to go in three hops, which would involve two stops in the everglades at anchor. We were looking forward to this, as we would get to see the glades, and also looking forward to some nice protected anchorages. This kind of travelling is also more pleasant since we are underway fewer hours, and have more time to enjoy each location when we get there. But, each hop would be in the open ocean, so we needed to have conditions we could handle. The weather window was now closing, and we would not get the three days of good weather we needed to make it. We could go part way, but then would be stuck in the swamp for quite a while. One alternative was to do the trip in one shot. But, the distance was over 100 nautical miles, which would require night driving at the start, something we did not want to do since there were crab pots all over the place. As well, the weather window did not allow for a "buffer" at the end, we would have a cold front following us, which meant we could get nailed in the open ocean if the forecast was a little off. So, we made the decision to backtrack north and cut through the Caloosahatchee canal to the east coast of Florida. This would allow us to go to the keys using the ICW for protection. 

With our plans now changed, we moved to a mooring ball the next day. Dockage in Naples was really expensive, but the marina had several mooring balls that were much cheaper. We got to practice a new skill catching our mooring ball - stern catch. The mooring balls here have a ring on the top that you loop your boat's lines through. Our boat has high freeboard, and so the only place we could reach this ring from our boat was from the swim platform. We rigged up two lines to get ready, then Louise went out on the platform to catch the mooring. She got it first try, then we "walked" the ropes to the front of the boat and got secured. 

Melanie grabbing a mooring ball in Naples. They had this gadget that attached to a boat hook that had a spring-loaded carabiner on the end. Once she hooked the ball, the carabiner detached from the ball and they were tied up.

We had some planning to do for our next leg. This involves weather apps, marina apps, nautical charts and lots of phone calls.

This is the kind of winds we have been looking at. On this map, purple shows good conditions, blue is acceptable, any other colour means windy conditions (no-go), red and orange are really dangerous. As you can see, there is no purple on the map, and the blue areas are all over land. Movement is difficult by boat right now and for the next couple of weeks.

Louise was meeting Jocelyn, Darlene and Dave, her cousins, so I took her in by dingy, then returned to the boat to get some things fixed. After a few hours, Rich and I dinghied in and took our scooters to meet everyone for linner (lunch-dinner).

Linner with Rich, Melanie, Jocelyn, Darlene and Dave at Pincers.

When we have been sleeping here, we can hear a kind of scratching-clicking sound from under the boat. This noise is actually shrimp, that are eating the various things that are growing on our boat's bottom. The sound is pretty constant, every time I go into the bilge I can hear it. In bed at night it is particularly noticeable, as we are close to the hull and because it is very quiet. We have heard this sound off and on ever since we got to salt water, but for some reason the shrimp were especially loud in Naples. Kind of like ASMR for boaters.

Tomorrow we go to plan B and backtrack north to Fort Meyers and the Caloosahatchee canal.

Boat name of the day: Sweet EmOcean