Titusville - at a dock

Along the ICW - one sunk boat and one "movable" house

We only had 30 miles to go to Titusville so we had a leisurely breakfast and were the last boat out of the anchorage. We found out that we are still ahead of the crowd going south. Mostly, that's due to the insurance that many boaters have (but not us!) that require you to not leave south of Norfolk until November 1. So there's huge wave of boaters that start out on 11/1 flooding the Dismal Swamp Canal and the Virginia Cut and points south. We're still ahead of that wave so far.

The coming northeaster?

The weather is still wonderful but on Tuesday we're due to get some rain, a byproduct of the northeaster headed up the coast. However, the rest of the week looks great with no rain and temps in the low 70's. We are seeing more and more dolphins and a few more manatees along the ICW. The dolphins will drive right under the boat and you'd swear you're going to hit them, but you never do.

Ann came into this dock without touching either piling!

Ann is doing much better so she walked over to the dog park to exercise Hoolie but did use crutches to be sure she didn't aggravate her knee further. We're hoping that by the time we get to Vero she'll be able to get around without the crutches. Meanwhile, she had been handling all the helm duties when bring the boat into a dock. It takes some practice to dock a 42 ft sailboat when coming down a fairway and aiming for a narrow dock between two pilings (compensating for wind and current) - and then stopping the boat before running into the dock. She's doing very well at that! I handle the lines which mostly consists of handing them off to the dockhands. She's done three dockings in the last three days, practice is all it takes. She has always been at the helm when backing out of a slip with me taking the lines in. As always, it's important for both crew members to be able to handle the boat in all situations (e.g, what if one of us is injured - the other has to know how to handle the boat).

We'll be here all day Tuesday and in the morning a diver will come by to replace the zinc on the prop. It shouldn't too far gone since I put a new one on when I hauled the boat in August but in warm waters the zinc goes quickly. The diver will also have his annual ballet with the local manatees, very inquisitive creatures that always come to investigate why a big, black form suddenly appears in their waters! On Wednesday we'll move south again, reaching Vero by Thursday, at least that's the plan.