The Journey Begins - Clearwater Beach to Titusville Marina Shake Down Cruise

[RDJackso]

In addition to all of my other faults, I am mildly dyslexic.

My wife makes fun of me because I can do calculus, but I can't spell for s$!t. And worse, I talked her into letting me buy a boat. Don't call me lucky, call me lucky lucky.

I have been trying to upload more photos and was, in fact, successful for a post or two. But for some reason known only to the computer gods (nerds) my macbook isn't playing nice with TF. I will work on it when I get home and see if we can't update the photos.

I really wanted to show some shots of both LaBelle and Roland Martin, because I think they are both underrated as key waypoints when traversing the state via the Caloosahatchee/Okeechobee passage.

Which turned out to be a milk run right up until we pulled out of Roland Martin and began making our way across the lake. The wind was blowing the waves, seas really, into a 2-3' rolling and somewhat confused state. Worse yet, the wind was kind enough to cause the waves to push us at the beam to quartering off the stern. I thought I was driving an unrestored 1950's Mack truck!

You know how you get used to listening to your engine and the exhaust notes it makes? Tell me you didn't freak out the first time a quartering sea overtook your exhaust and changed the tune. That'll make your pulse quicken when you can't see land in any direction. Turns out experience is a great teacher as it tends to make a guy think about what he is hearing and why.

It was a mildly uncomfortable ride in a boat that only displaces 28,000 lbs in that it required constant steering input as we chased our course. The good news is we never saw depths less than 10 feet the whole way, so at least running aground wasn't an issue!

Bonus, the lock master at Mayaca Lock opened the lock and gave us through passage as lake levels and the St Lucie canal were the same. Thank God, because the staging area outside the lock would have been challenging to say the least.

All of the lock masters on this trip were very accommodating except the last one, at St. Lucie Lock. I'm thinking he missed the charm school courses that I'm sure the Corps offers it's employees.

Tonight finds us in Stuart Fl at the Sunset Bay Marina, another well appointed marina that we would recommend to transient boaters.

Tomorrow, the journey continues.

 

[psneeld]

Listening to machinery too close can be a curse. Especially when a lot of it isn't exactly new or know for reliability.

Most of my adult life of flying and living on boats and in RVs, hy hearing is more tuned to machinery than conversation. If there is background noise, my brain is focused on that enough, sometimes people feel like I am not listening to them because I will miss some words here and there when an unexpected noise or change in noise happens.

has the upside though of preventing major problems if you catch the right sound early enough.

 

[TBill36]

it required constant steering input as we chased our course

Your next accessory needs to be an auto pilot. Some of us wouldn't leave the dock without one.

 

[RDJackso]

Your next accessory needs to be an auto pilot. Some of us wouldn't leave the dock without one.

I actually have a working auto pilot. But I find it pretty much useless in the ICW. It's basically an antique Raymarine coffee grinder manual setting heading bug that doesn't talk to the newer Garmin 8610.

Solar/LiFePO4, inverter charger and all of the accessories that go along with it are first up. For coastal AICW cruising, Meh... But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

I do have another option, the Admiral loves to pilot this thing! Makes for good naps

 

[RDJackso]

From sunset bay, 5/5 for amenities and services, we motored to Micco, FL.

An absolute drama free day, as most have been, with beautiful scenery and gorgeous homes outside Vero Beach and through the Johns Island area.

We put in at Windword Yacht services, in Micco. We found transient dockage to be scarce in this area of Florida.

Windword is a maintenance and storage facility that also rents spots on the T-dock. Full amenities and service and the least expensive at $89.00 a night. We were the only ones here!

It has a maintenance sort of feel, but the people are friendly and helpful, we had three dock hands come out to meet us, including the shop foreman. You might call it rustic, but it met our needs with clean showers and a place to water the dog...so to speak. I guess de-water would be a more apt description. Anyway, I give it a 5/5 just because it suited me to a tee. They had me at maintenance.

Of course, Gracie was a big hit with everybody. She really is the perfect boat dog. But no, she has, so far, refused to crap on her grass. I'm guessing a few more anchoring out experiences will cure that.

Next stop, Titusville, FL.

 

[Keysdisease]

Not that I have any actual experience with afterburners (I was a lowly helicopter pilot during one of the south east Asia skirmishes that we lost), but I always wanted to try it.

Thank you for your service. Great story o7

 

[RDJackso]

We departed Windword in Micco at 7:17AM. The goal throughout this odyssey has been to be motoring by 7:00. This is the closest we have come.

Even getting a wake up call from Gracie at 5:00AM each morning, by the time we check the oil and coolant in the engine and genset, have a cup of coffee and maybe a burrito made up of last nights leftovers, de-water the dog...it always seems to be 8:00AM before we are underway.

Not that it matters, I mean we are retired and if we make it home before Christmas, everything is good, right?

Fun fact: They say dogs can't tell time. Whoever said that never had a dog. Just try missing that dog cookie she gets every day at 12:30PM and see if dogs can't tell time.

I'll tell you what they can't do, and that is tell the difference between standard and daylight saving(s) time. During daylight saving time, Gracie's normal wake up call is 6:00AM. Guess what time wake up is during standard time...you got it, one hour earlier. As far as she is concerned, you can stick that daylight saving time thing where the sun don't shine. When it's time to get up, it's time to get up...same time every day, no matter what the clock, or my old body has to say about it.

People tell me that having a dog adds years to your life because they force you to get off your bum and get out and play with them. I am leaning into the theory that they actually take years off because they wear you out. I'm starting to understand why cats make better boat pets. Of course, not being a cat person and never experiencing the joy of having a cat jump up on the bed and sit on your face to wake you for breakfast, I guess I really can't make an intelligent comparison.

Which is really an oxymoron, because intelligent people probably don't buy boats and don't take their pet dog on extended boat outings, so who the hell am I to even consider that I may be capable of making any kind of comparison, much less intelligent?

Am I rambling?

So we finally wrapped this trip up as we made our way into our home port, Titusville, FL. Backed right into our new slip (of which we were on a wait list for two years to secure) A42.

Here is another fun fact: If you are a fan of obscure cult literature or films, and have read the book or seen the film 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' then you know that the number 42 is the actual key to the universe! How cool is it that our first slip in our home port of call is A42? Well, I'll tell ya how cool it is...all is right with the world. This trip went remarkably well considering the strong odds against it (us, newbs). The weather was nearly perfect the whole trip, there was no real drama to speak of, we met some remarkably generous and kind people along the way (shout out to Slowgoesit) and had the absolute time of our lives.

Thanks to all who followed along. Next stop, reworking the DC supply system. I will be sure and post about this upcoming caper...

 

[RDJackso]

Settling in at Roland Martin

 

[RDJackso]

Miss Grace(ie) in the flesh

 

[RDJackso]

Making lines fast at Roland Martin

 

[RDJackso]

Gracie trying to herd Scot and Laura Kellersberger's horses! The Unicorn really freaker her out!

 

[RDJackso]

Best stop of the trip.

 

[RDJackso]

Tied up in Sanibel

 

[RDJackso]

Missile launch from the Cape as seen from Sunset Bay. We are still two days out from Titusville here, a little over a hundred miles away, but seeing this makes us feel right at home as we see this close up several times a week.

 

[TomandMary]

After a little over three months of locating the right boat, surveys, haul outs, bottom painting, generator top end overhaul, engine cooling system flush and price negotiations...we own the boat, a 2001 36' Heritage East Sundeck.

The boat came equipped with a Cummins 6BT5.9M, Northern Lights 8kw generator, two 16 BTU A/C units, newer Garmin (8610) MFD, fresh water vacuflush toilets, 160 gallons fresh water, 420 gallons fuel, blah, blah, blah. The usual features in a package that should lend itself well to Intracoastal cruising, with the possible occasional Bahama run.

We had been searching for the right boat for a little over 2 years after motor-homing for twenty-five years and part time boating in a 25' Atlas Acadia. We started out looking in the 50K range and soon learned that we would have to up the ante if we wanted a boat that met our expectations/requirements, which were pretty simple really...no rotted out project boats. Which is not to suggest that any boat is not a project boat. Nobody said it was easy, and damned if it ain't.

This boat showed well, inside and out. Just the right amount of patina, if you will. Translation, not water stained to the point that a guy couldn't stand show his new boat to friends and family.

Still, there were issues that were identified during the survey that needed to be addressed and if I'm being honest, I actually thought I might expire before the deal was done. Not that I'm in poor health mind you, but Christ...what a grind. But the owner was a straight up guy and fixed all of the major issues.

We finally took possession of the boat on 11/20/25 and started loading a motor-homes worth junk aboard, packing said junk away, all in the spirit of making Miss Grace our own.

So here we are, fixin' to shove off from Clearwater Beach heading down to Ft Meyers, across Okeechobee to the AICW and up to Titusville to our slip in the Titusville Municipal Marina in what can only be called a leap of faith, or in nautical terms, our maiden voyage/shakedown cruise. And don't you know it's starting out with it's own drama? Yeah, the owner left us with a blackwater tank that was 3/4 full and two nearly empty fuel tanks. No big deal, right? Well if that's what you think, you haven't been hanging out in Clearwater after the hurricanes decimated everything. Thanks to a few dock mates local knowledge we are headed to Madeira Beach, which fortunately has both diesel and pumpouts. Life is good.

Sometimes I think I might enjoy posting about our travels, but I can see now how much work it really is and I understand why people burn out and quit sharing the details of their journey. This is my first post...well, not really my first if you count the incessant whining I was doing before we actually closed on this boat (thanks for listeneing Slogoesit, and others). We'll see how it goes, hopeing for the best, while palnning for the worst... On the other hand, what is life without adventure? I'll tell you what it is...Bonanza re-runs.

At least keep a journal with pictures, then you can post interesting things without too much hassle. I use “notes” on my iPad. Just a thought, would love to hear about your journey across the big “O”.

 

[RDJackso]

Just a thought, would love to hear about your journey across the big “O”.

Lake Okeechobee was a strange experience. We never saw another boat during the three plus hours it took to cross the lake until we got to the Port Mayaka lock staging area where another boat was coming out of the St Lucie heading the opposite direction. Mostly, this is what we saw:

We had quartering seas and winds in the 15kt range the whole trip, which makes for interesting handling for a relatively narrow boat. Our beam is only 12'6" so between the wind and water we were bullied by the chop a bit, but not to the extent that it was uncomfortable, just a lot of work keeping it between the lines, as it were. The marked channel seems narrow in the vast expanse of Okeechobee, but it's not really, and it probably wouldn't have mattered much since we never really saw less than 10' of depth on our sounder. We draft 3'8", so no worries.

Earlier, I posted that it was like driving an unrestored 1950 Mack truck. I really have no idea what it's like to drive an unrestored Mack truck, but it sounds good...

As luck would have it, the lock master at Port Mayaka gave us an open lock and what a blessing. By the time we got to the staging area, seas were confused and any holding would have been a challenge. This is what we saw after we passed through:

Calm water! Yeah...

At the risk of a potential rules violation, I share the following because I believe there is a safety lesson in here somewhere. The last lock we passed was the St Lucie lock where I commented earlier on the lock masters lack of grace. I think I said he missed the requisite ACOE charm school course. Here is why: one of the things the previous owner left us, besides a full black tank, empty fuel tanks, a bunch of junk lines and a dumpster full of personal belongings was a bunch of dead batteries. Fortunately, the generator battery was good, so if we left it run and the battery charger on, we were pretty much assured that we would have sufficient battery to start the main engine. ALL of the other lock masters had no problem with us leaving the genset running as I am pretty sure none of them wanted a dead vessel stranded in their lock. Not St Lucie, it was by the book...the end.

Next in his bag of tricks, as we are approaching the line I had picked for the Admiral (and chief deck hand) to snag, a little short of midway into the lock, he shouts out over the PA to stop and take the next line. We were really going too fast, but nonetheless, I made an attempt to stop while the deck hand grabbed the line and secure it around the Samson post. Sadly that action caused the stern to swing out into the lock such that we were almost perpendicular to the wall. No big deal, since we were tied off to the Samson post all I had to do was put her into reverse and spring into place parallel with the wall. There was no one else in the lock but still, I was embarrassed that I had let this guy intimidate me into doing something unplanned and potentially dangerous, as well as more than a little pissed. Can I say we had words? I actually suggested that he may want to jump down and pilot the vessel himself, but he graciously declined and the locking went per plan after that.

The moral to that little story is this: When you are locking, docking, or just moving along; safety first. You are the captain of your vessel and as such bare the full responsibility to maintain complete control, to the best of your ability, of your approach to fixed objects. Let no one, not even the revered lock master, deter you from your planned/intended action. Those little last minute distractions and unplanned alterations to your course could become a real serious problem, if not a full blown accident.

Now I suppose there is a caveat in there somewhere; if you were piloting your vessel in an unsafe manner, but this was simply not the case. This was a control issue, and I allowed him to control my actions when I shouldn't have. My mistake, no harm no foul, but a valuable lesson learned nonetheless.

From the exit of the St Lucie lock to Stuart, FL and the Sunset Bay Marina, it was smooth running.

This was our evening view:

It's times like this that remind us why we choose this lifestyle.