on the ICW anchored north of Twin Bridges in Daytona

After 50 miles today over 8 hours we slid into an anchorage at 4:30 thanks to Mark and Diana Doyle's On the Water Guides - anchorages.  We aren't big on anchoring, but with team work and encouragement we made it into an 8' anchorage for the night.  We  immediately ate our homemade tacos for dinner.
    Yesterday before we left, Drew installed the impeller, thankfully, since here is the old damaged one. 

What can happen is that the rubber bits can disintegrate and clog the engine so it just stops.  The impeller keeps raw ocean water running through the engine to cool it through the heat exchanger, that cools the exhaust and exits the exhaust pipe.  That's the water you see going out the back of boats.  It's essential to keeping the engine running. It's essential maintenance.
   While he was working I did errands with Mazu.  First we went to the ONLY place in town to get a real latte, Kookabura, right on the main square.  We stopped at a pocket park with a statue of St. Francis. Not sure how old it was.
 

St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish in 1565, had a major catholic population.  There was a poem inscribed on a plaque.
  
  Lord, Make me an instrument of your peace...
  Where there is hatred let me sow love...
  Where there is injury pardon...Where there is doubt faith...
  Where there is despair hope...where there is darkness light...
  And where there is sadness joy.
      ~ St. Francis of Assisi 

I picked up a T-shirt I mail ordered at the Black Raven mail service store.  It's to celebrate freedom of the press and my dad's life work as a newspaper publisher.
    

One of the major errands of the day was to buy anything that could calm Mazu down during passages, to figure out how to get her not to shake and pant on the boat when we take a trip.  It's weird because we can go in the dinghy with the motor on, run the engine on Shawnee or even take it out and around and she's fine. But when we are out for a while she just shakes.  So today we tried Benedryl that someone said would make her sleepy, calming treats, and a collar that gives off pherenomes that smell like what a dog that's just had puppies gives off for 3 days to calm her puppies.  Don't you wonder how vets captured that on a dog collar?   Well, she shook and panted most of the day, but not all of it.  We'll have to decide if she can continue cruising with us.
    Just finished a good book today by Malcolm Gladwell, What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures, essays he wrote in the New Yorker also finished an Irish novel, Nora Webster by Colm Tolbin.
  On to Titusville tomorrow morning, for another 50 miles.  We'll stay a couple of days for a diver to clean the disgusting bottom of the boat after 2 months sitting in St. Augustine harbor, and be American and watch the Super Bowl.  Go Pats.

Back on the boat and back to the blog at St. Augustine mooring

Summary for the days we've been here:
  We arrived January 19th after watching the wonderful birth of Isabelle, Sarah and Yeang's first and our fourth grandchild in New York.  All were born at Cornell Weill, First Presbyterian Hospital.  So much fun to be there and hold her, see her face to face.  Already she seems calm and wise.

   
















We drove our own car this time, again non-stop, 15 hours to St. Augustine

to find the boat in fine condition with no bird droppings.  Our inventive use of flags and tin foil worked.  Shawnee is the white one.

s

It's nice to have our car here to drive to the beach,  

movies and explore. 
   Glad we could avoid the great snow drop of 2015 and be in warmer clime except our heater quit after one night.  We are like camping now without a campfire in the cold of 39 degrees at night and 55 during the day.  As soon as that sun goes down I am in the bed with 4 fleeces and a sleeping bag.  Our heat is one kerosene lamp in the forward cabin.  We turned on the stove and heated up terra cotta pots that held the heat a long time.  I placed one in the bed to warm up the sheets.  Still, cold is cold.  Drew worked on the Espar heater for 4 days with many calls to the Rhode Island Espar Service before giving up and sending the unit to them.  

Have no  idea when they'll send it back.  He said he had never had it serviced in 10 years since it was installed.  Plug-in heaters don't need service so why would this one?  It is a real incentive to sail south sooner.  On top of the cold we are just recovering from the flu/cold complete with severe congestion, cough and temps.  It kept each of us in bed over 2 days, taking turns dinghying Mazu to shore twice a day.  That's lingering.
    We found our two favorite French coffee houses have closed or stopped morning coffee service.  We found another one a mile walk to the north end, "Petite Pleasures."  Good walk and good coffee is worth it.  On our way we passed the old wall and gate to St. Augustine 1729.

  and the warrior outside of Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum

  Another favorite is Smokin' D's BBQ about 5 miles south on route 1.  It's "a  vegetarian recovery center."  Just like last year it serves every day until they run out.  Always cars there, always a fast moving line.  Deeelicious barbeque like I've had no where else.

  One day while the Subaru was getting its 30,000 mile service in Jacksonville we walked Neptune Beach and visited the Cummer Museum and Garden.  Put it on your list.  What a little gem.  The Cummers were Michigan lumber barons making a fortune and building a winter mansion on the St. John River.  The mansion is long gone, but the modern museum took it's place and is well endowed with major corporate and philanthropic supporters.  It has a cafe, shop, Meissen porcelain galleries, modern and impressionist art and rotating art exhibits.  The 2 1/2 acre garden is exquisite with English, Italian and Olmsted designs.  It's centerpiece is one of the oldest live oaks in Florida, just huge, spreading 150'. 
  

  I've walked through the sleepy, quiet, beautiful, Old Florida residential districts that dominate St. Augustine with Mazu. 
   Other days Drew and I have watched three great films:  "American Sniper" where the whole audience applauded the true story. "Into the Woods" was terrific, fun and such a great score.  And "The Imitation Game" a true story about Alan Turing, the inventor of the computer and code breaker during WWII.
  The good news is we bought a heater today so I'm able to write this in the warmth of the fore cabin. : ) now 65 degrees in while 44 out.  It runs on low with the engine running : )   : )  Other days the temp was 54 in and 44 out.  Now we have the lamp and the heater as our new heating system. 

Lamp and ceramic heater also view of vitamin C and cold meds.

  My job is to check tides for the possible trip Friday to Daytona (50 miles south) and search for anchorages though none we've seen have fit for us.  The requirements are a depth of 5.5' for our boat's draft and land access for Mazu's daily pit stops.  There is a notable ICW trouble spot at the Manazas River Inlet with bad shoaling/shallow spots.   We will not be going through the area, 13 miles south of St. Augustine at high tide given our early morning start.  That will be a challenge.  We have 10 hours of daylight at 6 k/hour so we figure we can make it even with all the low bridges.  Since we aren't sailing outside (because of high winds in the wrong direction) sailing 24 hours a day, it takes many more days to get to warm Miami.  We have to wait for 5 Bascule, draw, or swing bridge openings as we go the 50 miles to Daytona.  Now I am sitting in our sun room before the sunset, very cozy in a shirt, fleece, parka and windbreaker, very comfortable.  Searching the "On the Water Chart Guides, Anchor Guide for the ICW"  I find 2 anchorages possible, one 13' to 10' at the Memorial Bridge mile marker 830 and one a mile farther south in Daytona 11' to 7', slight current, both with shore access by dinghy.  When we get there we'll see ; -    Sleep tight everyone.  Thinking of you all in cold places for the most part.
  Think of Drew tomorrow replacing the impeller (engine part) and starting up the water maker.

Christmas for the boat

Thinking ahead we have a better idea how to keep the birds off the boat with a device my roommate from college uses and recommended.  It sings a high pitched noise we can’t hear but keeps the birds off.  Check it out.

http://www.deck-guard.com/index.html

  

Also found a secondary anemometer that fits onto a smartphone.  It’s available at West Marine and on my Christmas list.  I’d like to be on the boat and check whether that anemometer at the top of the mast is accurate. Or use it at the beach when the wind blows. We also wouldn't have to turn on the instruments to find out the wind speed.  

 VAAVUD wind meter from Denmark

See it work at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPfRTmGrU90

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/ronstan--wind-meter-for-smartphones--15100605  about $40

In the next few days we’ll be enjoying a few parties, seeing my sister, Chris, my niece, Susannah, Drew’s brother, Bruce and zipping to NYC for the holiday.  In New York Sarah and I are going to make graham cracker gingerbread houses with the grands.   I hope we all sing Christmas carols around the piano - one of my favorite things about Christmas is the music.   Christmas day we’ll have breakfast and stockings at my pregnant daughter’s and son-in-law’s. In the afternoon we'll drive 20 minutes to my son and daughter-in-laws with his three children 6, 2, and 6 months. Fun Chaos. Sarah is due December 28, the same day her in-laws arrive from Malaysia for the event, Lei Peng and Seng.  They are so excited to see their first grandchild.  We’ll be there too.

The plan is to return to the boat Jan 14.  More then.

When the frost is on the pumpkin in Exeter, NH and the sun is 79 in St. Augustine

Mazu had a last run before we went out to sea for a few days as she shakes and pants most of the time when we're under way.

 

Seems she is getting more frightened as she gets older rather than used to it.

We left River Dunes to sail/motor to St. Augustine over a 3 day (72 hour) beautiful weather window at sea.  Life in the waves 35 miles off shore is different than digitally connected and in sight of land.  We set up the lee cloth so when we take turns at the helm one can sleep without falling off the settee in the salon below.  The string holds up the side of a navy blue cloth that's also secured under the cushions.  The boat rolls quite a bit so  the blue cloth keeps us from rolling out when sleeping.  Someone is at the helm at all times.   I claim the 10 to 2 am watch and then it's sort of whoever is awake is on.

 We use a red light at the Navigation station so our eyes stay used to the darkness, and we can see in the dark outside at the helm.  Every night had a glorious moon shining too.

At the Nav station the picture shows the computer screen lit up that tracks our route,  the radar screen that shows us if there's a boat or barge or cruise ship heading our way.  We can set it for a 1/2 mile to 48 miles out.  The yellow screen is the data like speed, depth, longitude and latitude.  The little white lights on the left are all of the items on the boat that are being charged by batteries: plugs on port and starboard sides, hot water heater, VHF, radio, lights inside and outside, the upper right hand yellow light is the VHF that monitors stations for US Coast Guard announcements or ship to ship conversations.  You're not supposed to use channels 9,13, or 16 to chat.  They are for marinas and important conversations.  All of these instruments can also be seen in the cockpit at the helm where we are on watch. If there's a storm and it's too rocky and unsafe to be outside we can navigate from down below with this nav station.

We had very smooth sailing and the usual beautiful sunsets. You can see how calm the water is. 

Then it got a little rougher:

The rougher weather was predicted by the expression: "red sky in morning sailors take warning"   The sunrise:

We arrived in St. Augustine Thursday morning at 7 am leading about 7 boats into the inlet.  It can be sketchy.  The inlet shoals so much there are no permanent markers, but the word is 'hug the red.'  We followed that local knowledge and never saw anything less than 16'.  Easy in.  We did have to wait at the beautiful St. Augustine bridge for half an hour for the drawbridge to open.  We then slid through, fueled up at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina, and signed on for 2 months at "water storage" rates since we won't be on the boat. 
There is one big problem when you leave your boat - seagull poop.  If they decide they like your boat it can be a major cleaning disaster.  Trawlers and motor boats have different ways to deter the birds, but sail boats usually feel the shrouds (all the wires and spreaders) are enough of a deterence.  Since we've experienced the opposite we decided to make our own deflectors.  We used tinfoil squares, baggies, tape and string
















 to hang from the boom that is over the bimini canvas top.

You can see the tinfoil hanging and swinging around on the left.  We'll see how it works.


Mazu always eager to get to land on edge of the launch as we headed into the dock to load up the car.

 We rented a car to drive back 21 hours straight (switching at the wheel like a water passage) to New York City in order to give Sarah a wonderful baby shower (due Dec. 28th) with her friends and relatives.
At the shower:  Sarah and me and Sarah and her niece, Violet (Dillon's daughter)

Violet and Sarah.

And the usual Tate and Violet playing with the balloons at the shower.

A Huge Wind/storm (more than a gale) 55k predicted on the ocean SC to Maine

This kind of weather is when the Coast Guard says everyone off the water.  With west winds sometimes the water is all blown out of marinas and boats are left high and dry until the wind changes direction.  Boats can be aground for a couple of days.  Fortunately we haven't had this experience yet.  And fortunately we are in a very protected (on all sides) marina.

Saturday I got up to do the laundry and for the first time there was a line and all the talk and place to be was in the laundry room trading stories.  Glad I didn't have any to tell.  Sailors who don't watch the weather, don't plan ahead, don't check their oil...most stories were ones where the adventure could have been avoided.
   Mazu and I took a 3 miles walk in the windy, windy weather.

For us we are in this incredible marina, River Dunes, (trying the hot tub today)! 

Nice time at River Dunes, Tomorrow we head outside -- Gulp!

The winds whistled through the shrouds and even in this very protected harbor rocked the boat Saturday night with the 35+ winds. 
Saturday morning I did our laundry.  With the storm coming people were actually in a line to use the washer and dryer.  The room buzzed with stories or adventures.  Fortunately I didn't have any this year.  Just listened to how so many mishaps are preventable.  Then there are always the ones that are unavoidable.

Mazu and I headed out to explore while Drew went shopping for oil via the courtesy car.  These are some of the houses in the community.  The channel was man made for boats to come into the protected harbor and slips.  Should have taken a video of Mazu tearing across the field.

 Double porches and high ceilings are part of the southern architecture.  Really beautiful homes.

Time to change the oil  (every 200 engine hours) and the racor filter.  One storyI heard included a captain who owned a boat for 8 years and never changed his oil - that's the one who was installing a new $15,000 engine.
Here's the crud at the bottom of the filter.

There was a wedding at the place Saturday night and one of the traditions is to take the couple around the harbor. All the boats ring bells and honk horns.  We did this in the cool rain to celebrate.  The bride heading up the ramp off the little boat.

We went to dinner at the restaurant with a wonderful fire blazing.

I missed going in the hot tub afterall  : (  This is the pool at night and the hot tub is the little circle on the right side.

We had Captain Bruce Gregory and his crew for dinner tonight on our boat, a rare thing.  He was the Captain who took us on our first passage from Florida to Buzzards Bay 10 years ago.  We've stayed in touch, but this was the first time we could sit down and catch up.  
We are off to Florida tomorrow outside (open ocean) so out of Internet touch for a few days.  Putting on that good ole Transderm patch to keep the seasickness at bay.   If we average 6 k it will take us 69 hours.  Good luck Mazu.  Hello Audible books.

Back on the boat after leaving Shawnee at Ms. Wanda's for a week

Please view the new

Recommended Books above

  Please comment if you have other good books to add.

We suddenly had to leave our boat and drive a rental car up to Schenectady, NY to see my mother-in-law (ex) who went into Ellis Hospital with a deteriorating kidney at 102 years of age.  We all went to visit and help out.  She is now in a hospice situation in a nursing home.  Rhona Twombly is a wonderful, kind, accepting person I love and have known since I was 18, a second mom.  She's as sharp as a tack.  We will head back up there once we secure Shawnee in a place where she can stay for a couple of months.
 Ms. Wanda allowed us to keep our boat for a week at Alligator Marina, her place.  She drove us to the rental car place in Devil Kill Hills, NC so we could drive up to the emergency. 

This is Shawnee at Alligator River.  The slip is 14' wide and we are 13' wide.

After seeing Rhona we drove straight down 11 hours from New York and arrived Thursday AM in time for Wanda to take us to return our car.  We hopped back on the boat by 10:30 and motored 8 hours to Bel Haven, NC where we could anchor (yeah, one free night!)  The weather was better as we sailed down Thursday.  We dinghed the dog in for a break.  She dutifully sat outside while we ate at the best restaurant, Tavern at Jack's Neck,  Bel Haven's colonial name.  It's only been open a year and we highly recommend it.  We met a bunch of sailors in there, each with their own boat expense horror story - one was buying and installing a new engine for $15,000 after having a calamity or two at sea.  Another had hit a submerged log so hard the splinters were stuck on the drive shaft and bent the propellers, and another was having a new transmission installed.  All stuck in Bel Haven for a while.  We felt last year's expenses were at least in the ball park with theirs. 
    I decided that there are two kinds of expenses:  preventable expenses that have to do with spending money to maintain and check the boat thoroughly before things break.  If you don't change the oil and do the recommended needed care for the boat and replace and upgrade as needed then you'll be in trouble, big more expensive trouble.  And there are expenses that occur beyond your control like hitting stuff submerged in the water.  When I am at the helm I look through the binoculars for debris as we motor along, but I'm afraid there's no way to see something submerged unless it has some little different wave action around it.  Anyway, we've been lucky, and I don't complain about trawlers or big yachts passing us anymore  - they can forge the way and hit stuff ahead of us.  We also have 3 navigation systems I've talked about before. 
The large scale paper charts that show depths and routes.

We also use Navionics on the Ipad that I chart before each trip.  I like it the best because it also shows the boat going on the route through the water with the depths. Drew plots on Max Sea, the boat's computer navigation system that connects with the Garmin radar and routing system.  It moves through the radar but doesn't show the depths on the screen.
   Since we read about two lows converging here for some real fowl weather and gusts to 50 k for Saturday and Sunday we went into River Dunes Marina tonight, one that had been recommended last year because it's cheap, very protected from big blows, and is a luxury facility.  We can't figure out why it's so cheap, but we'll take the 6 water jet showers, fabulous bar, fitness center, beautiful restaurant house, pool, cabana, courtesy car to get groceries in Oriental, bikes, kayaks, beautiful architecture, and comfort.  This place is also a wedding destination booking spot.

The front of the House at River Dunes                 Back of River Dunes

Marina

Pool

The usual last picture from the upstairs dining room, bar and porch with fireplace. Sunset overlooking the marina.
The calm before the storm.