Progress South

I can't believe it's been three days since I've updated the blog.  It seems like ages ago that we were still in the sling hanging over concrete and hoping to launch WITHOUT sinking!

We got a good start on the day Tuesday when the final repairs were made and we successfully launched.  The sun was out, the boat looked great, we DIDN'T sink and we said our goodbyes to Scott and Paula and left the dock at 10:30 for points south.  After the whole ordeal of the yard, it felt more amazing than ever to get back on the water.  Even with the motor clunking away, there's this wonderful peacefulness of plying the waters of the intracoastal.

With bridge openings, currents and other distractions, it's hard to determine exactly what kind of progress you'll make on the ICW.  We made, however, great time and were able to get settled in Daytona after an uneventful seven hours of motoring in the gorgeous sunshine.  The anchorage we ended up in was in exactly the same spot that we had in the spring on our way home.  The weather this time was much improved and we had a grilled lobster dinner (thanks again, John!) in the cockpit looking at all the Christmas lights of Daytona.

Wednesday brought unexpected rain and cooler temps.  We surveyed the latest leak situation (from RAIN this time!) but didn't delay in weighing anchor and were moving by 7:15 hoping to make it past Canaveral before the major bridges closed for evening rush hour.  The dolphins were more numerous than I ever remember in the ICW and were good company and we both had some good time to "just chill" throughout the day - something I was thankful seeing Rob take advantage of.

We spent much of the day leading a chain of four sailboats down the path after we all sat waiting for a bridge opening.  The pack of us stayed together for over 5 hours before one by one they started peeling away leaving us to make the final stretch to Cocoa Beach solo again.

After some thought, we decided to forgo dropping the dinghy and spent the night aboard again sharing a big stir fry and watching a movie.  We were just heading to bed when Rob did his final check and went to empty the bilge with the pump to find that SOMETHING was wrong and it was pumping salt water INTO the boat instead of the other way around!  You really didn't think this stretch would be without drama, did you?

After quite a scramble (insert here "Rob, what's up?"  "I've got a situation here"  "Are we okay?"  "I can't say right now . . . ") Rob did another miracle assessment and quick fix and had the "situation" under control.  This, of course, involved an already over-tired Rob being down in the depths of the engine compartment again cleaning out some God-forsaken mess that hadn't yet been discovered or replaced or repaired!  But fix it, he did and after making the repair parts list, we finally made it to bed about midnight.


We woke to an amazingly beautiful morning ready to make the final trek to our destination for the next few days.  We pulled the anchor up and got on our way, making good time and arriving well before noon.  We're now in Eau Gallie, FL just north of Melbourne for a weekend gathering of the Seven Seas Cruising Association.  In the few hours since our arrival we've met countless other cruising couples we look forward to getting to know.

Our anchorage is calm, the manatees make their lazy way all around our boat and the anchorage, the Christmas lights are twinkling from boats nearby and the shoreline and we've got a lot to look forward to in the weekend ahead!