SHIP' LOG:
Every December the islands of the Caribbean experience a phenomenon known as the "Christmas Winds." They are usually a steady 20 knots and they make sailing in the Caribbean an exciting time during the winter. Well, Florida got its share of the Caribbean Winds today. It went from dead calm to 25 in a heart beat and has been gusting to 30 on occasion. It made the trip from Titusville to Coca Beach fast . . .and exiting.
I had the need to put into a marina for a pump out and the only one on the way was Coca Village Marina. The wind helped me get in but it almost prevented me from getting out. It was right on the stern and I had the choice of spending the night getting pounded by waves against the stern or trying to get out and then through the bridge and into an "semi protected" anchorage.
I opted out. Getting pounded by waves, tied to a dock, is a sure way to have something break and I couldn't afford that financially or mentally. I have to give a lot of credit to the staff at the marina for making what could have been a really dangerous maneuver go smoothly and without a hitch . . . save for the bag of ice I paid for but forgot to pick up and take with me.
Even in the protected anchorage, with the Canaveral Barge Canal and Causeway acting as a buffer, the anchorage is still getting hammered pretty well. The water is shallow and the wind is right down the Indian River out of the north so it brews up a really nasty chop. This is the promised "cold front" - the small one that will be followed by the "Large one" Christmas Night. I am trying to decide if I got into a marina for that or stay on the hook. If I go into a marina, it will have to be for two(2) night as I doubt there will be anyone working on Christmas. Staying on the has the advantage of being less expensive but perhaps less protected. I will have to make the call tomorrow for as I said I doubt that anyone will be working Christmas.
Lots of dead fish in the water down here because of the cold. Just a few degrees drop in temperature in the water is all that it takes. Some places are a little "ripe" where the fish have all washed in to the same spot.
At the Coca Village Marina, I ran into Rick Manning. He was the guy whose catmaran went aground up in Jekyll Creek by the Jekyll Creek Marina. Luckily he had no damage and is continuing on down the ICW.
The early weather report for next week is clear, but colder. Highs in the highs 50's lows in the mid 30's. Obviously here is not the place to be and so I will move farther south. I will find the sun and the heat . . . . soon I hope.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Sun Shines Bright In T itusville!
SHIP'S LOG:
It was too nice a day to go any where so I didn't. The temp was in the mid 70's though the wind picked up in the afternoon to cool things down. There basically wasn't a cloud in the sky and the humidity was low. It was a beautiful summer day!
I opened every port and hatch and really gave the boat a good airing. I re-repair the hinge on the hatch for the windlass. I used bigger screws this time! I plotted the course for the next time I decide to move which will have to be in 15 days if they enforce the local ordinances. I read. I napped. I just enjoyed the day. I watched several boats hurry past on their way south. I hope they get where they are going safe and sound. Me, I am where I am going wherever I am. It's more relaxing that way.
It was too nice a day to go any where so I didn't. The temp was in the mid 70's though the wind picked up in the afternoon to cool things down. There basically wasn't a cloud in the sky and the humidity was low. It was a beautiful summer day!
I opened every port and hatch and really gave the boat a good airing. I re-repair the hinge on the hatch for the windlass. I used bigger screws this time! I plotted the course for the next time I decide to move which will have to be in 15 days if they enforce the local ordinances. I read. I napped. I just enjoyed the day. I watched several boats hurry past on their way south. I hope they get where they are going safe and sound. Me, I am where I am going wherever I am. It's more relaxing that way.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Mosquito Lagoon - What A Lovely Name!
SHIP'S LOG:
If the water had been deeper, this would have been one hell of a boring day. There were several straight runs on a few miles apiece in which I could not turn off course. In addition, especially going through the Mosquito Lagoon, there was nothing to look at except water. At least in other places there was scenery but here there was none. And like I said, if the water had been deep, it would have been boring.
As it was, it was a day of tension and anxiety. The ICW Channel was narrow and the water was shallow and I literally spent the day staring at my depth sounder. It bounced around like I don't know what but it would jump a couple of feet up or down with seeming randomness. I had to helm the boat with one hand as the other rode the throttle the whole time. More than a dozen times I had to back of the throttle and slow way down, even stop sometimes, to figure out just where the water was. Often chartplotter and depthspounder and visual observation were all contradicting one another. It wasn't boring and it wasn't relaxing. Thank God it wasn't cold and it wasn't raining. It was a nasty stretch of water. To make matters worse, local fishermen "needed" to set up shop right in the middle of the channel. The seemed to take great offense at my passing. I was followed most of the way down to Titusville by a tug pushing a barge. There was no place for him to pass and no way for me to let him get by. He was not a happy tugboat captain.
The Haulover Canal which connects Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River was pretty decent and much like the canal in North Carolina. Cut through rock it was deep and decently wide but a moments lack of attention and even TowBoat US couldn't help you.
As you are coming down the Lagoon, you can see the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral. Florida is pretty flat and this is one big building. I anchor south of the Titusville Swing Bridge and can see the build very clearly. The closer you get the bigger it gets.
The weather was quite nice today though i didn't really appreciate it until after I dropped the hook and had some wine. It must have been in the mid 70's and at 6pm it is still in the mid 60's. I really have no idea where to go next. I will leave that to the morning when I sit with coffee to plot out the next run. Who knows, I may just work on my tan for a day.
If the water had been deeper, this would have been one hell of a boring day. There were several straight runs on a few miles apiece in which I could not turn off course. In addition, especially going through the Mosquito Lagoon, there was nothing to look at except water. At least in other places there was scenery but here there was none. And like I said, if the water had been deep, it would have been boring.
As it was, it was a day of tension and anxiety. The ICW Channel was narrow and the water was shallow and I literally spent the day staring at my depth sounder. It bounced around like I don't know what but it would jump a couple of feet up or down with seeming randomness. I had to helm the boat with one hand as the other rode the throttle the whole time. More than a dozen times I had to back of the throttle and slow way down, even stop sometimes, to figure out just where the water was. Often chartplotter and depthspounder and visual observation were all contradicting one another. It wasn't boring and it wasn't relaxing. Thank God it wasn't cold and it wasn't raining. It was a nasty stretch of water. To make matters worse, local fishermen "needed" to set up shop right in the middle of the channel. The seemed to take great offense at my passing. I was followed most of the way down to Titusville by a tug pushing a barge. There was no place for him to pass and no way for me to let him get by. He was not a happy tugboat captain.
The Haulover Canal which connects Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River was pretty decent and much like the canal in North Carolina. Cut through rock it was deep and decently wide but a moments lack of attention and even TowBoat US couldn't help you.
As you are coming down the Lagoon, you can see the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral. Florida is pretty flat and this is one big building. I anchor south of the Titusville Swing Bridge and can see the build very clearly. The closer you get the bigger it gets.
The weather was quite nice today though i didn't really appreciate it until after I dropped the hook and had some wine. It must have been in the mid 70's and at 6pm it is still in the mid 60's. I really have no idea where to go next. I will leave that to the morning when I sit with coffee to plot out the next run. Who knows, I may just work on my tan for a day.
Monday, December 20, 2010
New Smyrna? where's Old Smyrna?
SHIP'S LOG:
In case you might be wondering, an "un-grounding" costs$850 between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach. Yup, I did it again! But it really wasn't my fault. I was dead center between two marks and I went up on a bar and had to call the guys in the red boat . . . again! To make matters worse, the channel had been dredged less than a year ago and already it is half shoaled in. It goes in my book as a place to watch on the way back in the Spring. Talking with the Towboat US operator he noted that they average at least one sailboat a day at that very spot. I wouldn't feel so bad if I had been out of the channel, but right in the middle!!!! You would think they would mark it better. I may have to get a subscription to SEATOW for the trip back as TowboatUS probably has my name on a list of some kind somewhere, though I would think that I now know where I have to be extra careful and might not go aground at all on the trip back. Maybe it would be safer to go outside all the way back?
A couple of miles further on, the ICW goes right around Chicken Island and that stretch was also dredged within the last two years. And like the spot I hit, it already is shoaling in. Boaters avoid it like the plague. Luckily, the channel around the left side of Chicken Island is fairly wide and deep and that's the way I went. The thing is that the ICW channels, those cut between bays, rivers and lagoons are not natural and so good old Mother Nature tries to fill them in. For the Core of Engineers, it is a never ending battle and one that isn't a government priority in the dispersal of funding, state or federal. Strangely, what also contributes to the problem is people using the ICW. Tugs and barges create lots of turbulence and that sucks sill and mud and sand into the channel. Anyone in any size boat doing over 10 knots creates enough of a disturbance to do the same.
I have been following Skipper Bob's Publication on the ICW and for the most part it has been very helpful. However, it needs serious up dating. Many of the places that he recommends as anchorages have been taken over by the locals with their mooring or have silted in such that they are not usable. That was the case here in New Smyrna Beach. New docks, new mooring and shoals have made it difficult to find a spot to drop a free hook, so I found a cheap Marina, the New Smyrna Beach City Marina . . .$1/foot! and all the amenities. Ah Hot showers and warm toilet seats.
Tomorrow is a long haul through Mosquito Lagoon and the Haulover Canal and on into Titusville. The weather will be nice and clear with a high in the mid - 60's. But don't despair, there is a cold front coming on Wednesday but it will clear out immediately . . . . to make room for a bigger and badder and colder cold front on Christmas Day. Of course it is just the type of weather Santa likes what with all that fur he wears. Why couldn't the man wear Bermuda Shorts?
In case you might be wondering, an "un-grounding" costs$850 between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach. Yup, I did it again! But it really wasn't my fault. I was dead center between two marks and I went up on a bar and had to call the guys in the red boat . . . again! To make matters worse, the channel had been dredged less than a year ago and already it is half shoaled in. It goes in my book as a place to watch on the way back in the Spring. Talking with the Towboat US operator he noted that they average at least one sailboat a day at that very spot. I wouldn't feel so bad if I had been out of the channel, but right in the middle!!!! You would think they would mark it better. I may have to get a subscription to SEATOW for the trip back as TowboatUS probably has my name on a list of some kind somewhere, though I would think that I now know where I have to be extra careful and might not go aground at all on the trip back. Maybe it would be safer to go outside all the way back?
A couple of miles further on, the ICW goes right around Chicken Island and that stretch was also dredged within the last two years. And like the spot I hit, it already is shoaling in. Boaters avoid it like the plague. Luckily, the channel around the left side of Chicken Island is fairly wide and deep and that's the way I went. The thing is that the ICW channels, those cut between bays, rivers and lagoons are not natural and so good old Mother Nature tries to fill them in. For the Core of Engineers, it is a never ending battle and one that isn't a government priority in the dispersal of funding, state or federal. Strangely, what also contributes to the problem is people using the ICW. Tugs and barges create lots of turbulence and that sucks sill and mud and sand into the channel. Anyone in any size boat doing over 10 knots creates enough of a disturbance to do the same.
I have been following Skipper Bob's Publication on the ICW and for the most part it has been very helpful. However, it needs serious up dating. Many of the places that he recommends as anchorages have been taken over by the locals with their mooring or have silted in such that they are not usable. That was the case here in New Smyrna Beach. New docks, new mooring and shoals have made it difficult to find a spot to drop a free hook, so I found a cheap Marina, the New Smyrna Beach City Marina . . .$1/foot! and all the amenities. Ah Hot showers and warm toilet seats.
Tomorrow is a long haul through Mosquito Lagoon and the Haulover Canal and on into Titusville. The weather will be nice and clear with a high in the mid - 60's. But don't despair, there is a cold front coming on Wednesday but it will clear out immediately . . . . to make room for a bigger and badder and colder cold front on Christmas Day. Of course it is just the type of weather Santa likes what with all that fur he wears. Why couldn't the man wear Bermuda Shorts?
Sunday, December 19, 2010
It WasTo Good To Last!
SHIP'S LOG:
Well, all good things come to an end, even if they are short to begin with. Three days of temps in the mid 60's, one in the mid 70's, and today it is back to where it has been for three weeks. Maybe not that bad, but close enough.
When I got up this morning . . . well let me tell you about that! I was sleeping soundly when suddenly I became aware that the wind was up and the boat was rocking. I hit the light on my watch and read "6:39", so I figured I might as well get up. I did and went out and check the anchor. There was a misty rain falling and a stiff wind blowing(15-20) and it was cold. I let out a little more rode and went back and made breakfast coffee. I turned on the GPS to get the depth and to watch the little boat go round and round. I got my coffee and as I watched the little boat go round and round, the clock in the nav station chimed . . . once. That got my attention! If I got up at "6:39", the next chiming should have been 6 bells - 7AM. I looked at my watch and it was "6:49". I looked closer and realized that it was the Stopwatch function running. I had turned it on somehow. I shut it off, hit it for the time and it was 12:32AM. So there I was wide a wake, with a a jolt of coffee and it basically was midnight. Great! I went back to bed but not to sleep, at least not for a couple of hours until it was time to really get up.
It was still raining and cold and windy. I guess the front that pushed through as expected took the warm weather away and left the rain and cold and wind from Saturday. It also left fog. It looked to be a miserable day so I decided to stay in Daytona. One good thing about being this far south, even if It isn't always the warmest, if you want to hang for a day or so you can . . . until the police come and make you move on which they will do to me come Tuesday when my "5 day Daytona Anchoring limit" will be up. If I was a lawyer and had lots of money, I would stay and fight it but I am not and I don't so I will move on . . .tomorrow. Besides I am wearing one of my favorite T-Shirts from the Folger Shakespeare Museum in DC, with a quote from Act II of Henry VI, "The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers." It's easier to move.
Row into Daytona for ice and some groceries. The part I hit didn't have much to recommend it sad to say. It looked like "run down everyplace USA." It does have a skateboard park which is open 24/7 and which, much to my chagrin, is used 24/7.
Christmas is less than a week away and to answer the question asked by several, "NO, I have no idea where I will be spending Christmas nor with whom." At this moment though, "I'm dreaming of a hot Christmas!"
Well, all good things come to an end, even if they are short to begin with. Three days of temps in the mid 60's, one in the mid 70's, and today it is back to where it has been for three weeks. Maybe not that bad, but close enough.
When I got up this morning . . . well let me tell you about that! I was sleeping soundly when suddenly I became aware that the wind was up and the boat was rocking. I hit the light on my watch and read "6:39", so I figured I might as well get up. I did and went out and check the anchor. There was a misty rain falling and a stiff wind blowing(15-20) and it was cold. I let out a little more rode and went back and made breakfast coffee. I turned on the GPS to get the depth and to watch the little boat go round and round. I got my coffee and as I watched the little boat go round and round, the clock in the nav station chimed . . . once. That got my attention! If I got up at "6:39", the next chiming should have been 6 bells - 7AM. I looked at my watch and it was "6:49". I looked closer and realized that it was the Stopwatch function running. I had turned it on somehow. I shut it off, hit it for the time and it was 12:32AM. So there I was wide a wake, with a a jolt of coffee and it basically was midnight. Great! I went back to bed but not to sleep, at least not for a couple of hours until it was time to really get up.
It was still raining and cold and windy. I guess the front that pushed through as expected took the warm weather away and left the rain and cold and wind from Saturday. It also left fog. It looked to be a miserable day so I decided to stay in Daytona. One good thing about being this far south, even if It isn't always the warmest, if you want to hang for a day or so you can . . . until the police come and make you move on which they will do to me come Tuesday when my "5 day Daytona Anchoring limit" will be up. If I was a lawyer and had lots of money, I would stay and fight it but I am not and I don't so I will move on . . .tomorrow. Besides I am wearing one of my favorite T-Shirts from the Folger Shakespeare Museum in DC, with a quote from Act II of Henry VI, "The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers." It's easier to move.
Row into Daytona for ice and some groceries. The part I hit didn't have much to recommend it sad to say. It looked like "run down everyplace USA." It does have a skateboard park which is open 24/7 and which, much to my chagrin, is used 24/7.
Christmas is less than a week away and to answer the question asked by several, "NO, I have no idea where I will be spending Christmas nor with whom." At this moment though, "I'm dreaming of a hot Christmas!"
Saturday, December 18, 2010
NOAA Got It Right!
SHIP'S LOG:
Well NOAA was right on the money with the forecast. It rained in the morning. It rain ed in the after noon. It looks like it is going to rain tonight. Three for three! So staying put was a good call once again.
Tomorrow, I will be off to New Smyrna Beach and hopefully will find a spot to drop the hook. The prospects are, as they say," slim." Some spots just don't have any place to anchor. But if not, there is always a marina.
From there it will be the long run to Titusville and warmer weather. I have got lots of shorts and T-shits that haven't seen the light of day in a while and are hankering to get out!
Well NOAA was right on the money with the forecast. It rained in the morning. It rain ed in the after noon. It looks like it is going to rain tonight. Three for three! So staying put was a good call once again.
Tomorrow, I will be off to New Smyrna Beach and hopefully will find a spot to drop the hook. The prospects are, as they say," slim." Some spots just don't have any place to anchor. But if not, there is always a marina.
From there it will be the long run to Titusville and warmer weather. I have got lots of shorts and T-shits that haven't seen the light of day in a while and are hankering to get out!
Friday, December 17, 2010
The Promised Land!
SHIP'S LOG:
I got in to Daytona Beach yesterday with temperatures in the mid-60's. Today the temps hit the mid 70's and there wasn't a cloudy in the sky. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain but the temp will still be in the mid 60's as it is supposed to be for the rest of the week. I have arrived in the Promised Land! ! ! ! ! ! !
Hopefully, the last of the "winter" weather has departed and nevermore to return but one never quite knows about these things. Still the weather is a vast improvement over the last couple of weeks. I'll take all I can get. I am waiting for that night as I am trying to sleep and am tossing and turning because it is too9 hot. Let me have it!
The trip down from Palm Coast was uneventful which is just the way I like them, True to form, NOAA got the wind speeds wrong and it was rather more breezy than expected but it was warm. The ICW is a little bit spotty in depth but nothing that a sudden stop and a slow proceeding with eyes on the depth sounder couldn't take care of. Things really opened up in Daytona Beach but all that seemingly "open water" is around 4 feet at low tied and not all that deep at high tide. There looks like a thousand places to go but they really ain't there. One of the best spots, across for Caribbean Jack's Restaurant has w wreak right in the middle of it and if you are not careful you can add to the wreckage. I anchored past all the bridges nearer Halifax Harbor, a rather popular place if the number of "anchor-ees" is any indication. I'll be here for another day. It is a logistical problem. I would like to get to Titusville but that is almost a 50 mile run and that means 10 hours. New Smyrna Beach is about 14 miles down "the road" but doesn't have a lot of places to drop a hook. And Saturday it is going to rain. If I left today and got to New Smyrna, cutting 13 miles off the run to Titusville, and couldn't find the room to drop a hook, I would end up spending two days in a marina which I can't afford. So I'll stay in Daytona Beach and leave on Sunday and go to New Smyrna and if necessary, spend one night in a marina. Then make the shorter run to Titusville which has anchorages everywhere.
To let you know just how cold it got down here, when I was up in St. Augustine it got so cold and the wind blew so hard that the vinyl windshield in my dodger split. Also, there has even been a fish kill as the water was too cold for some to survived. Man, that's cold. I don't care where you are. But that's all behind me now . . . . I hope.
I got in to Daytona Beach yesterday with temperatures in the mid-60's. Today the temps hit the mid 70's and there wasn't a cloudy in the sky. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain but the temp will still be in the mid 60's as it is supposed to be for the rest of the week. I have arrived in the Promised Land! ! ! ! ! ! !
Hopefully, the last of the "winter" weather has departed and nevermore to return but one never quite knows about these things. Still the weather is a vast improvement over the last couple of weeks. I'll take all I can get. I am waiting for that night as I am trying to sleep and am tossing and turning because it is too9 hot. Let me have it!
The trip down from Palm Coast was uneventful which is just the way I like them, True to form, NOAA got the wind speeds wrong and it was rather more breezy than expected but it was warm. The ICW is a little bit spotty in depth but nothing that a sudden stop and a slow proceeding with eyes on the depth sounder couldn't take care of. Things really opened up in Daytona Beach but all that seemingly "open water" is around 4 feet at low tied and not all that deep at high tide. There looks like a thousand places to go but they really ain't there. One of the best spots, across for Caribbean Jack's Restaurant has w wreak right in the middle of it and if you are not careful you can add to the wreckage. I anchored past all the bridges nearer Halifax Harbor, a rather popular place if the number of "anchor-ees" is any indication. I'll be here for another day. It is a logistical problem. I would like to get to Titusville but that is almost a 50 mile run and that means 10 hours. New Smyrna Beach is about 14 miles down "the road" but doesn't have a lot of places to drop a hook. And Saturday it is going to rain. If I left today and got to New Smyrna, cutting 13 miles off the run to Titusville, and couldn't find the room to drop a hook, I would end up spending two days in a marina which I can't afford. So I'll stay in Daytona Beach and leave on Sunday and go to New Smyrna and if necessary, spend one night in a marina. Then make the shorter run to Titusville which has anchorages everywhere.
To let you know just how cold it got down here, when I was up in St. Augustine it got so cold and the wind blew so hard that the vinyl windshield in my dodger split. Also, there has even been a fish kill as the water was too cold for some to survived. Man, that's cold. I don't care where you are. But that's all behind me now . . . . I hope.
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