Southbound

110 miles today. Marathon (Boot Key) to Virginia Key (Miami). Whew!

12 hours non-stop. Totally exhausted, but the forecast is for more of the same all week, so we wanted to get to Miami ASAP.

We hauled butt up Hawk Channel playing dodge’em with the storms all day.

We had to drive through a pretty nasty cell off Islamorada, but we did manage to catch a couple of nice Mackerel and a Tuny for dinner. Not too sure how smart hanging a couple of fishing poles off the transom with lightning bouncing around is though.

Red Sky in the Morning. Should ‘a known better. KJ

Welcome to Miami!

KJ, are you still at Key Biscayne? We are on the boat at Ft. Pierce, are you coming this way?

We are just south of Ft. Pierce, hanging off the hook at Jensen Beach. We just pulled in a couple of hours ago. Kinda bouncy with the east wind, but not too bad. We made the run up from Boca Raton this morning. Lovely weather, lightning and thunder all morning, but when it cleared we had a very nice ride up through the Palm Beaches.

We are trying to get to St. Augustine by Sat. so we will be moving out at 0 dark thirty tomorrow. Where are you located? We’ll give you a blast on the horn if we pass by you (just kidding).

Do you know if it’s worth hanging a line off the stern going up the Indian River?

Saw this boat in B Raton. Any relation? KJ

KJ, we are the Fort Pierce City Marina. That's just before the first bridge. The Indian River is really a lagoon. There is an amazing assortment of fish living in it. It wouldn't hurt to hang a line over the side.

KJ on Avalon blew by Fort Pierce about 8:30 am. I think I saw him going under the first bridge. He was anchored at Jenson Beach a few miles south of here last night. Possibly where Daddyo anchored on the way up. Exchanged greetings on VHF. He is making good time.

Another 100+ mile day yesterday. Pulled into Titusville Marina just minutes before the sky opened up. They had to shut the fuel dock down because of the lightning. I can see why they call Florida the lightning capital of the US.

We got fuel this morning and spent the rest of day provisioning and cleaning.
We were treated to a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral this evening. We walked to the top of the Max Brewer Bridge and got to watch the whole show. Very cool.

We’ll make a stop at Flagler Beach tomorrow, and then on to St. Augustine on Sunday and Cumberland Island on Tues.

I think I’m enjoying scenery more going back, than I did coming down, even though we are covering more miles each day. Quite often I find myself saying “I don’t remember seeing that”, and my nephew says "that’s because we were going in the other direction”. Duh! KJ

I see you past Le Tub. I've been wanting to go there ever since I saw it on the TV show "Glades". They are supposed to have great burgers and what a great place to boat watch.

Northbound

The dark side of cruising. This happened right across from the mooring field we are staying at. KJ



ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Rescue crews say two people are dead and another is in serious condition after their boat crashed into a dock in St. Augustine.

It happened just after 10 p.m. Sunday at a dock in the Pelican Reef neighborhood.

Investigators aren't releasing a cause of the accident or if alcohol was related.

Officers say the three were returning to the Vilano Boat Ramp after a day of boating and that they were all ejected into the water after the collision.

We spent a couple of busy days in St. Augustine playing tourist. It’s a very old city with lots of interesting places to visit. We did the old Spanish fort; Castillo de San Marcos, St. Georges St. and a bunch of other places.

Our next stop was Cumberland Island Nat’l Seashore where we spent a couple of days exploring and relaxing. I can’t say enough about how beautiful this island is. It’s accessible only by boat and has miles and miles of deserted beaches, a really cool forest of old oaks draped with Spanish moss, and of course the wild (kinda) horses. The anchorage was quiet and peaceful, shared with only one other boat. I highly recommend this stop for ICW travelers.

I can’t believe we’re almost home. We’re currently anchored in a quiet marshland creek about 30 miles north of Charleston.
We’re probably going to try a long run tomorrow to make to home port, N. Myrtle Beach. It would be an 80+ mile run, and the weather is supposed to be crappy, but at this point, it’s like the old horse can smell the barn. KJ

PS Hell Gate is still scary at high water.

Homeport

Home at last. Heck of a trip. KJ

Kj. I'm happy to hear you had a safe trip home . that's a great average speed . how do you calculate your fuel burn per hour?
. will you do that trip again?

Thanks Michael.
I haven’t crunched the numbers yet for the fuel burn, but I think we did pretty good. We took on 300 gals in Titusville and made it to Myrtle Beach without fueling again.

The drive belt on the port engine raw water pump jumped off the pulley around Flagler Beach so we had to run on one engine for about an hour while I fixed it. The autopilot and the fridge were acting up, but otherwise we didn’t have any other problems.

“Will I do the trip again”?
Most definitely. The trip back up the ICW was just as enjoyable as the trip down, but around the middle of Georgia I started getting anxious to get home.

I’m planning on a fall 2014 trip and would like to be gone for about six months. Hopefully, I will have more time to wait for a better window for crossing over to the Bahamas.

I’m cleaning up the boat now and will be heading up to NJ with David to visit with my sister for a while. It will be good to be off the boat for a couple of weeks.

Are you still in Key West? KJ

Kj. Glad you made it home with no big issues. . You will have everything shipshape by fall
Yes. I m still in key west. Finding it hard to leave here. Perhaps next week. Have angreat summer