Christy
06/16/2010, Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart, FL

The mechanic spent several hours yesterday diagnosing the engine problem and determined that it is probably the fuel pump. He had to go back and talk to his boss and see if one was available and if not order one. We have not heard anything this morning.

It has been unbelievably hot here, high's in the 90's and heat index well over 100 with no breeze. We are hold up in the Captains lounge for most of the day. We are thinking about a movie this afternoon if we do not hear from the mechanic that he is coming back out. Only deterrent is that we will have to walk or ride bikes the 2+ miles to the theater.

We are still hoping to get down to Key Largo and on to Key West if the weather holds. I will keep you posted on our plans.

That is all for now.

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Christy
06/14/2010, Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart, FL

We had a great day of sailing with Craig and Kandy. It took us 1 hour and 3/4 to motor from the marina to the ocean and once we got out there is was very nice. Light winds but I think everyone enjoyed a smooth sail. Kandy needed to get back by 6 so we headed home around 4:30pm. So did everyone else who had gone boating that day. I have never seen so many boats at one time trying to get through the inlet. Of course we were the slowest so we were being passed on both sides by large and small power boats. That was the roughest part of the trip. We were motoring through an area called Hells Gate about 45 minutes in with Craig at the helm and the engine quit. No warning it just quit. Morris jumped into action and grabbed the stern anchor directing me to get the anchor rode out of the locker. You would have thought we did this all the time. Morris got the anchor in the water and secured the boat. He and Craig headed down into the cabin to investigate the engine problem when Tow Boat US showed up offering assistance. Morris wanted to try changing a filter and we told him we would call him if that did not work. Shortly thereafter I was on the radio asking him to come back and tow us in. We were in tow for about an hour and got back to the marina without further incident. I was impressed with the skill of the tow boat operator, but I guess he does this all the time. Back at the slip we bid Craig and Kandy farewell and spent a little time getting the boat back in order. This could not have happened at a better time or place. I am very glad we were not out at sea. We are currently trying to get a diesel mechanic to come out and look at the engine. One said it would be the end of the week before they could get out and the other one has not called back. So we will sit back and relax a while.

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Christy
06/14/2010, Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart, FL

We have had a wonderful time here in Stuart and it looks like we will be here a while longer. More about that later.

On Thursday, the day after we arrived here we went on a sightseeing adventure to (2) West Marine stores by bike. The marina has bikes that you can borrow and we headed out to the closest WM store about 2 1/2 miles away where we had ordered some chain and line. They indeed had our order but did not have another item that we needed. They suggested that we go to there other store another couple of miles away. So we left our order and headed out. We were successful in getting the item we needed and a few more things and back to the first WM store where we loaded up the bikes with 6 ft of chain, 66 ft of line, a fish net and backpacks full of goodies. The chain was so heavy that it almost tore the basket off of my bike and I had to use the bike lock to keep it on. I was extremely glad to be back at the marina after a 6 hour trip. After showers we met my brother, Craig and s-i-l, Kandy for dinner.

On Friday we decided to take it a little easy and walked to the quaint little shopping area in Stuart and then did laundry. That evening we met my niece, Britt, her husband, Reid and their son Banyan. We had a nice visit with them. Banyan had just turned 2 and he was very entertaining. They had to get Banyan home and to bed so we met Craig and Kandy at a bar on the waterfront and then went home with them for the night. It was the first time we had slept off the boat in several weeks.

On Saturday the four of us drove over to The Villages to see some very dear friend, the Moores. They are in their late 80's and doing amazingly well. We very much enjoyed our visit. It was late when we got back so we stayed and Craig and Kandy's another night. We had planned to take them sailing on Sunday.

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Christy
06/10/2010, Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart, FL

We arrived in Stuart yesterday afternoon around 1pm after a very exciting sail from St. Augustine. Imagine you are riding a combination of Space Mountain roller coaster and a log flume. It is pitch dark, no moon and the 4+ foot waves are hitting you from the side. You can't see them coming so you have to hold on to the wheel very tight. Got the picture? Now do it for 4 hours. On the plus side we put our sails up right outside of St. Augustine and did not take them down until we were outside of Stuart. Morris was sailing at 7+ knots and we made such good time that when I took over at 4am I was given instruction to keep the speed under 2 knots. That was harder than sailing in the 20 knot winds. It was a very satisfying leg of our trip for Morris. Morris also caught 3 fish on our trip. The first one was a sea trout, I will post a picture of that one. The second one was a king fish which he caught on a hand line. It was challenging to bring him in and we got him to the boat and he wiggled off the hook. But the prize was a Mahi Mahi that also managed to get away, but he was a real fighter. We bought a net so we might have better luck getting the fish in the boat next time.

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Christy
06/06/2010, Minicipal Marina

It is hard to believe that I grew up less than and hour from this historic city and knew so little about it. I guess you pay more attention when you are an adult. We have thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

We decided that the best way to see the highlights would be to get a 3 day pass on one of the sightseeing trains. It worked out great because it covered the city and we could get on and off whenever we saw something we wanted to investigate further. It was entertaining how some of the stories changed depending on the driver and tour guide.

We took a shuttle over to Anastasia Island to see the lighthouse and were taking our time with the self guided tour about to walk the 219 steps to the top when it was closed due to and approaching thunderstorm. We did get a rain check and return to make the climb a few days later.

On Saturday Morris took off to Sailor's Exchange, sort of a flea market for all things nautical while had an enjoyable lunch with my sister. Later that day my brother and his family came for a visit. We all took in a game of miniature golf, which should have been renamed water golf after the afternoon rain shower. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

We could not leave the city without partaking of the water from the Fountain of Youth. Sure hope it works. While there we took in a planetarium show of the stars the way Columbus and Ponce de Leon saw them during their journeys to the new world. Morris loved it!

We enjoyed good food and great live entertainment while here but the most exciting events actually happened around the marina. We were greeted when we arrived by our ever present dolphins just outside the entrance. Once we were docked Morris noticed some commotion in the slip next to us. I appeared that there were some hungry fish, we never saw them, who had trapped some smaller fish at the closed end of the slip. The little fish were doing all they could to jump out to the slip. I thing the big fish won and had a great dinner. We also so the dolphins playing with a fish they had caught. They were throwing it into the air and then catching it again and throwing again. This went on for quite some time.

We bid St Augustine farewell as we head south to Stuart in the morning. We anticipate another 2-3 day trip.

Comments [3]

Christy
06/03/2010, St Augustine, Florida

We arrived in St Augustine, Fl this morning after a two day journey. The first day started out like our previous leg, motoring all day and night. We did not see as much wildlife except for the flying fish which were abundant. Morris was hoping one would land on the boat but no such luck. Our ever present dolphins continued to greet us each morning and evening. They seem to just check in to make sure we are doing ok. I saw several spotted ones and one was almost completely white. Due to the wind direction we headed further out to sea than our course was planned but that gave us the opportunity to sail back in. My night watch was very eerie. No moon and I could swear that I saw the Black Pearl in the distance. Lack of sleep does something to your mind.

On our second day out we were able to roll out the jib and make really good time. We saw lots of seaweed in fact that is all Morris caught on his fishing line. But a "big one" got his lure. We saw several more schools or is that flocks of flying fish along with sea turtles and dolphins. We also saw much more trash in the water. There was a fully inflated Mylar balloon floating on the surface. I hope some sea creature does not think it is dinner. We continued to sail into the night. There was quite a lightning show over Jacksonville and the rain just about caught us around midnight. The winds also died. We floundered around for several hours killing time so that we did not arrive at our destination too early. I took over at 4am and started the engine to bring us the last 25 miles. Although we had read of the treacherous shoaling in the St. Augustine inlet, it was well marked and we had no trouble.

We arrived HOT and TIRED and after washing off the boat and ourselves with showers we got something to eat and feel human again. We plan to be here until Monday before heading down to Stuart.

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