Sailing Encore

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale ahead of the ELBE with time to scope out the Bahia Mar Marina where we will put Encore for a few days. Big Big boats are the theme here. We talked with marina staff and got a deep slip reserved.

Want to rent Savannah (bring a few rich friends)? $1,170,000 will get you the boat for a week -added fees for food, alcohol, and crew help.

John McDonald fans? Travis Magee’s houseboat was in slip F18 here. It is a well written detective “salvage consultant” type series. Great social commentary on the 1960-80’s.

 

 

On Friday at 6:30pm, they lowered Encore into water without issues. Except they seem to have misplaced two dock lines and four fenders. Which they replaced through a purchase at West Marine!
The gears and prop functioned fine and we motored off to our assigned slip. Almost… About 30 feet from the slip we went aground (in an outgoing tide).

A friendly boat was able to pull us off and we slipped back to a dock closer to the deeper channel. This will be the problem with all of Florida and a lot of the East coast. THIN water. Very unlike West coast sailing. When we lived in Corpus Christi, Texas (Gulf coast) we dealt with this. You are in the channel at about 25 feet deep but if you go slightly out it is 2-3 feet. They used to say, ‘Don’t sail the waters where the birds are standing’. We have been “premium” members with Boat Assist forever and called them several times when we have gone aground (stuck in shallow waters trying to give way in the Intercoastal to a barge or just not eyeing the edge well enough). We will have to pick our anchorages and marinas very carefully all the way up the coast. Our 9-foot draft makes only a few areas accessible to us.

We cleaned and stocked up at the local market and even stopped by Total Wine. (The groceries barely outpriced the wine). Unfortunately, my freezer did not come on, so I have to be careful with provisioning, but got enough to last at least 14+ days if needed. Having a rental car made all this easier- including refueling the boat. Made three trips with the 30 gallons of diesel cans -hauling it back and forth to refill tanks. Lots of physical work in the heat and had sore muscles -amazing how easily you get out of shape for the work and heat of this boat life. Exercise on the boat is a lot of “wax on-wax off”. Then walking and swimming when you can. Do fine if you keep it regular.
This marina is expensive – about $200 per day. That and the fact that we have been to Ft. Lauderdale before make us eager to sail north. Checked weather and there is a storm coming in along coast in a few days. We will need to do an overnight to get to the next deep enough area- St Augustine. Monday morning, we leave first light and get out to deep water (shelf extends miles out) then turn left. Predicted wind 5-10 and we start getting 18 -20 by the afternoon. There is a current in our northward direction so we are really kicking along – hitting 11 + knots with main and jib.

We sail nicely through the day seeing some dolphins, flying fish (hard to photograph) but otherwise just hanging out. The sun sets to a pitch-dark night with no moon to shine for us. About 10:30 pm the wind starts to swing dead behind us and to avoid a jibe we messily douse the main in the dark and motor on, taking 2 hours turns at watch and sleep.

The next morning and through the day it continues to blow. We rolled up the jib to slow down and make St. Augustine channel in slack tide. Currents in rivers are often hard to maneuver, so managing approaches and travel in general involves wind strength, direction, currents, tides, etc. The channels are all marked differently and like anyplace our first time there is tricky. But we watch a boat leaving the channel and easily navigate the path. Once at the Bridge of Lions we call bridge master to request opening. And hail the municipal marina for a mooring ball just off the town.

Monday evening, we relax with a glass of wine which I unfortunately spill on my computer. Sorry for the computer and loss of Justin Cab. Will dry out for a few days and hope. At 5 am Tuesday morning the storm arrives (a bit earlier than predicted) I awake and catch a view out to the cockpit.

Also discover we did not seal a few hatches tight enough and some cushions get wet and my computer even wetter. We spent the day on the boat doing chores and watching the rain. And Vernon is my hero – he fixed the freezer! Thursday and Friday we see the town. We have been to St Augustine several times but I enjoy the history.  It is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States. Founded in 1565 by the Spanish admiral, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. It has been claimed by the Spanish, British, Spanish again and then the United States when Florida was ceded to the United States by Spain in 1819. And became a state in 1845. Henry Flagler, millionaire developer and Standard Oil co-founder with John D. Rockefeller, arrived in St. Augustine in the 1880s. He was the driving force behind turning the city into a winter resort for the wealthy northern elite. He built the Ponce de Leon hotel, a huge resort (now Flagler College). And built the railroads to his hotels and all the way down to Key West. We took the “Red Train” ride through the city, getting on and off to see the sites. We saw the Castillo de San Marcos Fort built in 1672, Fountain of Youth- these four ladies had a brief debate and then slowly climbed off the train to give the fountain a go. Saw them later kicking it up on St. George Street.

We visited the Light House where Vernon actually climbed to the top with me.

We toured the Whetsone chocolate factory where we tasted very nice chocolates.And watched the workers hand making and packing. Hard jobs… not.

And the St. Augustine Distillery where we tasted Bourbon Whiskey, Gin, Vodka and Rum. Yum!

And we walked St George Street with its eateries and quaint shops. The town is definitely worth visiting if you ever get the opportunity. Vernon says it looks about the same as when he came here to visit when he was 10 and tasted from the Fountain of Youth. (That was early 1900s).

And because we could, we played putt putt golf — more like pool with all the ricocheting off the sides that I did. And Vernon won by just a bit.

The tides and current are extremely swift in the channel and our boat is pushed and pulled by wind and current, at many times sitting opposite to the other boats on moorings. Friday evening we are tight up to the big metal ball and seem stuck in a position against the strong current. As I fall asleep the water rushes past the boat. We want to leave early in the morning to sail north. At 4 am Vernon awakes to slack tide silence and goes up to find us in the same position. The line to the mooring is slack but we are stuck fast. It is dark and scary but My hero Vernon dons his wet suit and goes in to the unknown. He free dives under the boat to investigate. After long minutes of silence, he brakes the surface and explains the rode from the ball to the bottom weight is wrapped around the end of our keel. He dives again and frees the wrap, the boat floats free from the mooring and we are saved!!!Since we are up and awake, we go ahead and tidy the boat and prepare to travel north. We hail the Bridge of Lions keeper and slip through the 6:30 am opening heading east out to sea as the sun rises.

Next stop Georgia!

P.S. Vernon made me write up the mooring ball rescue that dramatically as his prize for winning putt putt.

P.S.S. He really is my hero!