Palm Beach Yacht Center - at a dock

Great way to start the morning!

We needed to get an early start to brave the 12 bridges we had to traverse today so when I looked out the back, the sunrise was just forming and required some serious admiration. On to the dinghy and Hoolie relief, then up the anchor and off. Unfortunately, the current was against us which is very bad for making bridges on time. With 1.5 kts of current against us on the first leg, we missed the first bridge by 5 min which resulted in a 25 min wait for the next scheduled opening. Likewise for two other bridges bringing the total loss time to 1.5 hours of learning how to tread water in a sailboat. Oh well, with temps in the upper 70's and full sun, it wasn't too bad.

The name is "T/T hemisphere"! - some tender

We've stayed at the Palm Beach Yacht Center several times but it has little to recommend it - except that it's close to Joe Mastri, a dear friend of ours from the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club. The docks are very challenging since they don't have cleats, just piling to tie off to - especially since you seldom have dockhand help coming in. Sometime they're there and sometime they're not, mostly not. Later, we all went out to the Banana Boat, a local restaurant, for a fine dinner by the ICW.

On Wednesday we'll do some provisioning and more visiting with Joe Mastri before heading south again on Thursday for Ft Lauderdale.

Hobe Sound Anchorage

Typical Jupiter Island home, across from our anchorage

When I talked to the service manager this morning at Hinckley, he was very pessimistic that he had anyone to work on my boat until Tuesday - too late! As it worked out, the service technician came by to inspect the problem and found (as I mentioned to the service manager) that access to the repair was easy, the water pump was right in front of the engine, facing the access hatch. He had the pump off in no time but then he had to take it into the shop for a gear puller to remove the gear and transfer it to the new pump. Had I tried replacing the pump by myself, I would have been stopped by my lack of a gear puller on board to fit the water pump. So we were out of there by 10:30 in the morning, a great start after the disappointment of yesterday.

Our Fleetwing at anchor in Hobe Sound

We continued our trip sound and noticed that the engine was running somewhat hotter than normal (as it had been for the last couple of months). Fortunately, the engine temperature at 90C was just higher than the normal 80C and not in the overheat zone. It's certainly not the water pump or impeller since it was just replaced. We'll get that taken care on of the trip back if the boat lets us do that.

Moon over Fleetwing!

Tonight it's dead calm with a full moon, just beautiful!! The low tonight is to be 60F with a high on Tuesday of 79F, not bad! After the interruption for the repair, we're starting to get back into cruising mode with relaxing days and evenings admiring the views. On Tuesday we're aiming for Palm Beach Yacht Center and a visit with Joe Mastri, should be fun.

Oh No, a water pump failure!

There is a local racing club here, out in the bay you may see a half dozen or so racing along together

Popular in Manatee Pocket

We didn't have far to go today so we took our time in the morning, confident of resuming our southward trek in peaceful enjoyment. Ann backed out of our slip with me handling the lines and we headed out full of good cheer. After all, the weather was warm with a full sun and calm seas, what could go wrong? Just before it was my turn at the helm, I thought it was a good idea to check the engine as I usually do several times during the day. This time however it was not so dull, there was water dripping out of the shaft on the raw water pump! Since we were still in Stuart, there was a Hinckley service marina nearby in Manatee Pocket so we headed there. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday and there were no service technicians working.

Our first good sunset on our return to Florida

So now we're docked at Hinckley Marina and we hope to get the water pump fixed on Monday. Well, we're not due in Key West until February 1st so we have plenty of time to get there. Hopefully, the water pump problem is not any more serious than just replacing the pump (and there was no intrusion of water into the engine along the pump shaft!)

Additions for the blog

Nice condos with the marina but there's a railroad behind them that runs all night long

In conversations on my ICW trip, I'm sometimes asked about what information I use while cruising, how I came to select Fleetwing among all the hundreds of boat makes out there, what instruments I have on board and so on. With that in mind, I've added "Pages" to my blog which can be accessed by clicking on the links in the upper, left corner of the blog. So far I've added four pages:

- ICW Cruising Resources: A summary of references I've found useful while cruising down the ICW. I added this reference  before I bought the Apple iPad2.

- Apple iPad2: The iPad has over 90,000 apps available and I think I've tried out just about everyone that has any use on a boat. On this page I've listed the ones I use on on the boat.

- On chosing a boat: If you're in the market for a boat and want to cruise the ICW, what are the important features to look for? I'll admit to bias in the list I give but they are all important to me.

- Our Fleetwing: Once the criteria was settled on, the actual selection was relatively simple, they had to be applied to the hundreds of models in the market. I go through the matching of criteria to model feature here.

One of my new toys - a hand held shot with a Canon 310

These four pages will only change occasionally as I think of new things to add and more pages may be added on new subjects in the future when more questions are encountered. I've thought of adding one on marina prices and the best places to stop along the ICW if there's interest.

Meanwhile, it was a day of getting the boat back to life from its 1 1/2 months of idleness. The dock crew was kind enough to de-water my dinghy which had filled to overflowing during our stay up north. Putting everything away was a challenge - even after a year of cruising, we still carry along too much stuff! Plus, my WiFi card died. Verizon replaced it under warranty but it still didn't work so the battery is now suspect - all via FedEx, hopping between friends' addresses and marinas. If all goes to plan, we'll leave Sunday morning for an anchorage just south of here in Hobe Sound. It has the prerequisites: good holding and a sandy beach for Hoolie.

We continue our trek!

It really is a stunning sight at night

Well, we had a great time over the holidays. We visited with our daughter and her husband in Pennsylvania, our son and family in Connecticut, friends from the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club in North Carolina and friends from our days on Cross Road in Lagrangeville who have relocated to Tampa, Florida. It was fun and we wouldn't have missed it for the world. But now it's time to move on and we're back at Stuart in  Fleetwing which was none the worse for wear and after provisioning we aim to move south again starting Sunday.

We're in the land of the palms at last

It is hard to describe the sensation of being back on the boat and moving again. We certainly enjoyed our time up north but being on the boat is incredibly relaxing. It's hard to describe to those who haven't experienced cruising. It's not for everybody. I sometimes hear, "What do you do all day, isn't it boring?" Well, time passes, no doctor visits, no house responsibilities, no meetings, no million and one things that occupy your time in a house. It all melts away when cruising. It's an experience not to be missed.

We'll meet up with Joe Mastri from the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club on Saturday for dinner out and then we'll leave early Sunday morning for an anchorage just south of here.

Loggerhead Club & Marina - INTERMISSION UNTIL 1/7/2012

Ann is always on the lookout for pictures of clouds she can use in her pastels

We've come to the end of our first half on the trip south down the ICW. We're leaving Fleetwing in Stuart until January 7, when we'll return and continue down the ICW to Key West, arriving there February 1. So today we made our lists of what to take with us and made finishing touches on getting the boat ready. Now we just have to pick the car up on Monday, pack and load up the car and take off.

Fleetwing at rest at Stuart

I'm trying out the iPad2 as a car navigator, the display is bright and easily seen in the car and the app seems powerful with many features including a real time traffic display so slowdowns can be routed around, at least in theory, we'll see.

I'll restart the blog on January 7, tune back in then to follow our cruise to Key West.

Loggerhead Club & Marina - the wind finally abates this evening

Notice the loooong walk - we're in the upper right corner

The winds continued to blow all day at 20+ kts but they seem to finally slowing down tonight. It's hard to work outside on the boat in such winds and waves so we mostly stayed inside. We did get an invitation from Joe Mastri and his friend of many years, Jim Hatch of the Catskill Yacht Club, for dinner out at a local buffet. It was nice to see a familiar face after these months.

How can you get excited about Christmas tress in 80 degree weather!

Meanwhile, the goal at the dock is to make the boat safe for the next 1 and 1/2 months regardless of the weather. So each of the forward cleats are double tied, the middle cleat is tied to fore and aft cleats on the dock, the after cleats are tied off on either side to a piling and the middle cleat on the other side is tied to the aft piling - all this to keep the boat secure and not touching anything. So I spent a lot of time just watching the boat's motion, trying to see how it moved as the wind and waves played with it, trying to convince myself that I had correctly anticipated the extremes of movement. Who knows? Hopefully it'll be okay until January.