Monday, March 21, 2011

Little Shark River to Marco

Tuesday March 14, 2011

To arrive at Marco Island at a decent time we set our alarm for 4 a.m. and trepared to leave the anchorage after a first cup of coffee. It was pitch dark and finding the way out of the mouth of the river was not easy. it was very low tide and we did not want to get stuck in the mud without seeing where we went. GPS did not help much, neither did the search light. Any way, we got out, probably waking all the other boaters in the anchorage... but they still had 3 more hours until daybreak to go back to sleep.
The autopilot followed the route that was programmed the night before, avoiding the Cape Romano Shoals in a wide circle. We had ample time to tidy up the boat and wash all the dirt and salt off with what was left in our fresh water tank. No need to save water any longer.
So we arrived at Marco with a clean boat and hoped to make a good impression to our arrival committee. We came up the waterway at 1417h, as predicted and ... What a surprise! A Swiss flag was flying on our dock and all our friends were there, expecting us with 2 bottles of Champagne.

A great end of our first big voyage from Savannah, GA to our final destination and home on Marco Island.




About 600 nautical miles in 8 days with an average fuel consumption of just over 2 miles per Gallon.
Average cruise speed 5.8 kts.
300 Gallons of Diesel used ( close to 1200 liters ). This includes about 50 hours of Generator ops to charge house batteries.
Cost of the trip:  300 G of Diesel = $ 1125.00
Anchorages: $ 0.00
Food / Drink: same as when home

The rest of our vacation will be reserved for maintenance on the boat, varnishing the caprails etc. Hopefully there will be enough time to go out for a small day cruise or two before we head home on April 1st.

Fiesta Key to Little Shark River

Monday March 14, 2011

Some 50 miles lie ahead of us to get to Little Shark River, about half way to Marco Island. We set off early, like 7.30 a.m. and headed west on the ICW again (no depth problems) to a point a bit west of mile marker 1815 and then turned north across the Bay. A pleasant trip in warm weather, about 15 kts of east wind and 2ft beam seas . Stabilizers were not necessary, and we spent most of the time on the flybridge, enjoying the warm temperatures and the scenery. Crab-pots were just a small nuisance from time to time.  An hour before sunset, we arrived at Little Shark River anchorage, where 3 sailboats and a Mainship trawler already had taken the best spots. But we found a good enough one closer to shore, in shallow water. Churned up some mud while manoeuvring, but always had 2 ft under the keel.
Again we spent a very quiet night at anchor. Not a sound from outside all night.

L.S.River anchorage

Pumpkin Key to Fiesta Key

Sunday March 13, 2011

Further on the ICW to the west, it got shallower and shallower until the depthfinder showed 0.5ft below the keel for quite a long time. And this at high tide!  We decided to take the next possible way out to Hawk Channel. It was just too risky to stay on the Florida Bay side. The next possibility was Indian Channel with its 27ft bridge. After a relaxing couple of hours on the Atlantic side of the keys we anchored behind Fiesta Key, again in a stiff easterly wind. Anchors no problem.

Peaceful evening at Fiesta Key before setting course to the north across Florida Bay.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Miami to Pumpkin Key

Saturday March 12, 2011

After a long night's sleep and a quiet, unhurried breakfast we left Miami to the south, again on the ICW. Biscayne Bay opened up and we were able to stray off the path and let the autopilot take us south. No need to watch for other boats and depths left and right of the ICW. The bay is 10-11ft deep and very wide.
This was the first day we could actually put on our swimsuits and enjoy the ride on the bow seats. Very peaceful and relaxing, just hearing the water rush from the bow. We had time now to go slow and used the port engine at 1000 RPM, which gave us a consumption of 1.7 GpH and a speed of 5.4 kts. This resulted in a very good 3.17 mpG. At this speed and fuel flow, Sunny Days could theoretically travel 2500 nautical miles in calm seas, with a 20% fuel reserve!
A more realistic value would probably be 1100 RPM, 2.5 GpH at 5 kts (2 mpG) with some seas and wind. This would result in a range of 1600 miles with 20% reserve. But this is all dry theory until the fuel flows can be confirmed by comparing the fuel used indications with the fuel filled.
After the shortest trip ever, since we left Savannah, we arrived at Pumpkin Key at 3 p.m. and anchored on the lee side of the island. E winds at 15 kts. We were not the only ones.
Tonight there will be some meat on the grill, up on the flybridge. A premiere as well.
Just got an email from a worried friend, that the clocks will have to be changed to daylight savings time tonight. What would we do without good friends like these...?!
By the way, we tried the other anchor tonight, which is a Bruce type. Worked very well too. So we seem to have two good anchors on this boat.
Barbecue time now, I need to light the grille on the flybridge.
Plans for tomorrow: Don't know yet...!

Hobe Sound to Miami

Friday March 11, 2011

Early departure from Hobe Sound with all windows fogged up inside. It had gotten very cold overnight, and the sky was clear. We continued on the ICW and intended to stay on it all the way down to Miami. Interesting at first, and quite entertaining with all the views to the left and to the right. But soon came the bridges, which became increasingly lower than our minimum clearance of 25ft. Again very interesting a t first, but we started losing time waiting for opening times, which were either on the hour and 30 minutes, or 15 past and 45 past. Some could be coordinated by adjusting our cruise speed, others couldn't. Our speeds varied between 4 kts and 8 kts to make the schedules. Calling them was never a problem, and all of the operators were friendly and helpful. But we just started to lose too much valuable time. After Boca Raton Lake there were another 7 or 8 restricted bridges to be expected, so we decided to go out Boca Raton Inlet and try the Atlantic. We should have done this much earlier! Boca Inlet is a bit tricky, shallow and narrow, but it was worth the small "risk".
Wonderfully calm sea all the way down to Miami, which we reached with a delay of 2 hours (due to the bridges) and consequently had to find our way in at night. Navigating the Inlet was easy, but the way to the Marine Stadium Anchorage was a challenge in the dark. Some portions of the ICW is extremely narrow, at least on the charts. GPS and the Nav-display was not a luxury!
Marine Stadium anchorage was quite full, but we found a good spot and stayed overnight with a northerly breeze of 15 kts and a little chop. The anchor was again not a problem at all.
Plan for the next day:  ICW  to Pumpkin Key anchorage, next to Angelfish Creek.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Melbourne to Hobe Sound

Thursday, March 10, 2011
Rain all day, sometimes heavy, with visibilities down to 1/4 mile. Strong north wind up to 30 kts.
Easy travel down the ICW, some concentration due to the the visibility, but otherwise without problems.




The boat got a free wash and rinse. The wipers worked overtime. Had to use a fan to blow against the windscreens. They fogged up. The temperature in the pilothouse however was a comfortable 75°. We did not envy the numerous sailors who fought their way north against rain and wind and had to spend their time in the open, behind their helm.
The ugly weather made us change our destination and we went further south than planned. Ft. Pierce anchorage was left behind and we continued south to a proposed anchorage just south of Port St. Lucie, called Peck Lake. No good. The anchoring guide was too optimistic. 15ft depths changed to zero within 20 ft! Had to back up and back out 3 times and decided to abandon this attempt for a more open anchorage in Hobe Sound. Night fall was an issue, so the speed was increased to 8 kts.
The CQR held again on the first attempt in Hobe Sound, just as the last of the daylight was fading.
Time for a "gratin dauphinois" with lots of garlic, some salad and a bottle of Merlot.
Tomorrow we'll depart again at first daylight to make it to Ft. Lauderdale.

Mosquito Lagoon to Melbourne

Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Mosquito Lagoon proved to be a peaceful and safe anchorage in 6-7 ft of water just east of marker 19. Sunny days draws 5 ft, so we had 2 feet under the keel at all times after leaving the ICW. The depth finders confirmed this.
The wind was E at 12-15 kts all night with a little chop on the lagoon, but what a difference compared to the previous night, where we had to take turns for watch and try to get some sleep in those big swells.
The house batteries were down to 50%, so the big genset (16KW) was started to charge them up and to operate the water heater. The little one (8KW) can not handle both charging and heating.
Charging current on 12V house batteries: 125A  (Prosine display)
Genset: 240V 50Amps initially, with 12V charger, water heater, 24V charger, lights.



Last night during anchoring the starboard engine showed a warning on the display: complete data loss. It still ran fine, but I know that once it's shut down it won't start with this warning present. Hopefully we will get it back again today.
The plan is to continue on the ICW, past Cape Canaveral harbor and the NASA site to Melbourne for anchorage. 50 miles, 7 hours.

And that's exactly what we did.
After a phone call to CAT specialists in Savannah, the culprit was found. A corroded inline fuse that supplied power to the engine electronic control. A bit of cleaning with sandpaper and a bit of electronic spray, and the engine ran like nothing ever happened.
Unfortunately we missed the landing of the Shuttle "Discovery" by about 1 hour, as we went past the landing strip. We heard the sonic boom and wondered what it was, until we heard by email from the scheduled landing.




The trip was uneventful, although the wind was very strong all day from the southeast. Impossible to spend time on the flybridge, and a shame really, because it was a sunny day.
Anchorage on the north side of Melbourne Causeway was no problem. (south winds)
At 1 a.m. it started to rain heavily and the wind picked up. This time from the north. Time to go upstairs to check what the anchor was doing. The alarm went off right when I arrived up in the flybridge. We had not moved, but swung around 180° and this triggered the alarm, which was set at 100ft.
The remainder of the night was noisy and rocky, since the wind came from the wrong side. (or we were anchored on the wrong side of the causeway).
Early departure planned to go further south.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Savannah to Mosquito Lagoon, FL

Monday March 7, 2011
Cleaning the boat inside and out took us over 3 days, including fixing a few things that did not work
After being granted a US Cruising License by the Savannah CBP field office  (Mr. J.J. Richardson) Sunny Days immediately left the Hinckley Yard at Thunderbolt and headed out the Wilmington River to the Atlantic. The first leg to the south was planned to be a 30 hour leg to Mosquito Bay, between Smyrna Beach and Cape Canaveral. It took 29 hours and 30 minutes, most of it at night in 15-25 kts northeast winds and up to 10 ft swells. Stabilizers helped a lot, but could not take out all the roll from those quarter and beam rolling seas. Consequently things were "moving" a bit on the boat and we had to clean up a broken bottle of dishwashing soap on the floor....at 2 a.m....!

Tuesday March 8, 2011

Taking a nap


Calm Atlantic Ocean

Approaching Ponce De Leon Inlet

In the Inlet









After daybreak everything calmed down considerably and the second day of the trip was pleasant. The flybridge was used for the first time. We navigated along the Florida coast in sunshine and very little wind, about a mile offshore to Ponce de Leon Inlet, where the tide was flowing out at about 2 kts. Another 12.5 miles on the ICW to go to our 1st anchorage in Mosquito Lagoon.
The CQR set perfectly on the first attempt, so a quiet night at anchor was anticipated. We were the only boat in this big lagoon, so there were no worries about swinging into other boats. It promised to be a very pleasant night with the portholes open and temperatures of about 70°.