Brooke Smith
04/09/2012, Port Royal Marina

Well we certainly are moving north. We left the 20ºs latitudes shortly after Marineland Florida. The bugs are increasing and so are my allergies that were non-existent in the Bahamas. Also gone over there and creeping back is the old peoples constant clearing of the throat. So, I've been wondering is Virginia a bad place to live with allergies etc? Anyhow, I've had allergies all my life in Virginia. But it is home. And we are most definitely headed that way.
Tomorrow we are going to have a hard run of 77 miles to Charleston. Leaving at the crack of sun tomorrow. We have friends that are in the Atlantic and are anticipating arriving in Charleston tomorrow night. So, we are hoping all to have dinner. We will have currents helping us in the morning. But as always happens as you get out of the influence of a helping tidal current you get hindered on the other side of an inlet. With 9 foot tides in this area there is lots of water moving around.
It really is funny all the people we have met and how we all try to coordinate meetings along the water. Very nice..
I checked Liquid Therapy over for all the usual pre-departure checks. This old boat has just been reliable and comfortable. It handles all sorts waves. it really felt great in it's element in the Atlantic. We are going to have her painted this summer to make her look good.
Not much else to say tonight. Nice trip from Isle of Hope to Port Royal.
Tonights picture is some parasail activity at Hilton Head

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Brooke Smith
04/08/2012, Isle Of Hope Marina

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE. We are at the Isle of Hope Marina and had guests aboard the last two days. Lindsey and Jim Perrow visited with us and drove us to Savannah to have a look around and eat at the 1790 Inn. Very much fun and too much to eat. It was still a bit chilly and we did not have a drink at the to of the Bohemian restaurant. NEXT TIME. It was too cold when we were here the first time in December too.
So, not too much to report from the boating scene. We met up with lots of new people on the dock having a DOCK PARTY. I finally fixed the wobbly legs on our diner table. It was not easy disassembling the support system with sound insulation and a boxed in cover over the bolts that needed tightening. But I got it all apart and discovered the bolt heads had no washers between the wood. Of course I only had three and needed six. A trip to Home Depot in the Marina loaner car was in order. However, one of the guys one at the dock party fixed me up with some spare washers he had and I got the table all back together. We didn't have to drive anywhere and joined the dock party. So now as I type this morning with my coffee near my computer, I don't have the jiggling of the coffee trying to spill. (The coffee cup is still some distance from the computer in case I spill it.) This MacBook has been a workhouse with all the navigation software and Internet weather lookups etc.
Check the photo gallery of Isle Of Hope to see a few pictures.
Todays picture is Lindsey and Jim Perrow, Susan and me.

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Brooke Smith
04/05/2012, Isle of Hope Marina

OK last blog was too long. This is going to be a little shorter.
We Left Marineland and traveled to St. Augustine on Saturday. Spent the night on a mooring ball were visited by more of our friends heading North that we met in the Bahamas. It's funny how you just seem to anchor, moor or pull in a Marina and see a boat that you met in the Bahama.
Sunday we left St. Augustine and pulled in Fernandina. Fernandina is on Amelia Island and spring break was in full swing here on Sunday night. We had quite a wait to get in ANY restaurant and the Mexican restaurant was slow but very good Margaritas and enchiladas.
The rest of the blog is about the dredge train being pulled by the Tug Royal Engineer. I was awakened early at the Fernndina Marina by something really straining. I looked out to see a tug, pulling a dredge housing barge, machinery and lots of long pipe. There were 2 other tugs assisting this long line of equipment. The entire thing crept by slowly and I was hoping that it would be going out to sea at the St. Marys inlet. Or, i was going to have to pass it later on the narrow ICW.
So, we left a couple hours later and sure enough as i got into Cumberland sound there was there entire train of the Royal Engineer ahead of me.
TO BE CONTINUED LATER.. DOCKMASTER WANTS TO MOVE US TO A SLIP..
Back to the story -
I passed the Royal Engineer and the 1/4 mlle long dredge pipe with plenty of room in the Cumberland Sound. Both of us had strong currents working against us. Me moving at 4.7 kts. The Royal Engineer was moving 1.8kts!!
Wow I was glad that was over. Or was it?? Later that day many miles further up the ICW we anchored in the South River. Small thunderstorm at anchor made the night interesting. Finally I'm asleep and during the night sometime, awakened to a familiar straining tug. And looking out at the ICW there goes the well lighted Royal Engineer pulling the 1/4 mile dredge pipe again!! That means that sometime in the day I will have to pass him again, somewhere with not as much passing room as I had in the Cumberland Sound. Sure enough around noon I come up behind the Royal Engineer again. I speak with him on the radio and decide for a tight close port side pass as soon as I can find a long straight stretch. There are none. So, I just follow the 9 foot shoreline and know that Royal Engineer drawing 8 1/2' ftt will not be occupying the same water as Liquid Therapy. I increase the speed and get on by in about 10 minutes of passing the entire length and then have to do something a little scary. CROSS THE BOW and let him be behind me. All is well and we proceed to Isle Of Hope Marina for the next 4 days. And guess what about 11:00 PM the Royal Enineer comes passing us at the Marina. What a sight at night. I watched the tug make the horseshoe bend turn at the marina fine. Royal Engineer has tw smaller tugs that pull the pipe sideways so it can make the turns too. Quite fascinating.

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Brooke & Susan Smith
03/31/2012, Marineland Marina , FL

Getting caught up on the blog....
We stayed in the Cocoa Village Marina Tuesday night and explored the Historic Village of Cocoa.  It is part of Cocoa Beach and City of  Cocoa, very nice marina.  The largest old hardware store I've ever seen is here in Cocoa. Travis Hardware has been in operation since 1885 when it was on a barge that took the store from town to town. Huge wrenches, and old wood stoves. I bought some brass hardware at very old prices!!
Wednesday, we traveled on and moored at Titusville Marina, very near the Space Center. We took on fuel ($3.89/gal 150.5 gallons ) for the first time since February 5 when we filled up at Lake Worth for the crossing to the Bahamas. That's correct! We went across to the Bahamas; stayed 5 weeks and came back without taking on any fuel. Good old boat sips fuel. We still had over 1/2 tank! We thought about going to tour Cape Canaveral but decided not and stayed on the mooring ball for the evening.
Thursday, we started traveling at 7:30 and ended up doing 66 miles.  We should start earlier more often because of all the nature we got to view before the midday sun.  Going down, we did not see any manatees until Miami when Jonathan was with us.  Now, on our way home, it is the birthing season and they are all over the place!  We need to be very watchful so we won't hit any.  At the end of the day, yesterday, we were at a LONG stretch of the intracoastal where we couldn't pull over and anchor for the night. Too many rocks, so we entered the Palm Coast Marina to stay Thursday night.  It was a very late stopping time for us, around 8 PM. The old guy, late dock-master, was telling about the marina and surrounding areas mentioned the bathrooms at the marina were bi-sexual. I think he meant Unisex. We cautiously checked the bathrooms out and they were labeled Men and Women. So that's what he meant by bi-sexual! Hey old guys rule!
We walked to an Italian restaurant called Mezzaluna, for dinner, Delicious! We ate bread with seasoned oil like there was no tomorrow and then an antipasta and split a sandwich. Long days make you extra hungary..
Friday morning we had a short run to a place Brooke was dying to see called, Marineland Marina!!  It is highly recommended by a trawler organization, MTOA (Motor Trawler Owners'Association) we joined. Has GREAT rates and FREE laundry (only place we have seen with free laundry!). This is where the original Marineland is, from 1937, where they used to film Tarzan, Sea Hunt, and Benji and other TV shows. It was closed for a long time and reopened in 2006, and is on the National Registry of Historic Places! Right across street from the marina! We will go there to tour tomorrow, after I go with two other cruiser women to the grocery  (in the marina's courtesy car). We got a free ticket to Marineland because we went on a kayak tour this evening, so we will see it tomorrow. The kayak leader said the population here in Marineland is 8 people! Sunset kayak trip was fun, but it was overcast and we didn't actually see it.  After grocery trip, it will be laundry and Marineland and a peek at the beach!  Tonight we are invited to join a bluegrass jam session, here at this small, totally rebuilt  marina. Actually, the University of Georgia has research facilities in several buildings here,too.  In the morning, we will continue our travels north.
I added another photo gallery of Titusville to Marineland. So check that out.
Today's picture is Susan in the front of the tandem kayak. Check that long hair out.

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Brooke Smith
03/26/2012, Anchored near Melbourne, FA

We moved up the ICW today from Ft. Pierce. Just another windy day and a nice sunset. Wind was blowing to 25kts. So, it was slow moving 45 miles in 9 hours. But we moved.
I forgot to mention yesterday that I had posted move pictures on the gallery of the crossing. Check The crossing pictures.

Today's picture is sunset through the Eau Gallie Causeway bridge.

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Brooke & Susan Smith
03/26/2012, Fort Pierce City Marina

Day 145 West End Bahamas to Ft. Pierce I slept good. Lots of things going through my head:
Tomorrow we would be traveling 87 nautical miles - the most miles we had ever done in a day - mostly in the Atlantic.
The path Liquid Therapy would be traveling would put good use to the gulf stream's northerly march.
The weather window was good for lighter winds and calm seas the entire trip.
We had plenty of fuel.
All systems "GO"
I figured this trip could take 10 -13 hours depending the actual push we got fro the gulf stream..
Still there was lots of very deep blue between the Bahamas and the United States. I had spent much of my Navy years in the Atlantic. I had seen it good and bad. But mostly good. And when it's nice out there it is really beautiful. So even though we had crossed over to the Bahamas from Lake Worth. We were more interested in "getting there" than observing the beauty of the Atlantic. This crossing would be different - enjoying the Atlantic.
As we pulled away at first light 6:45AM and said goodbye to the Bahamas we were quickly in the Atlantic. I set the GPS for the entrance marker at Fort Pierce and set the GOTO function and saw something that looked wrong. The arrival time saw 2:45. I was thinking PM and that seemed impossible. It was indicating 2:45AM. We were catching a southernly flow along the cost of the Bahamas and making only 4.3kts! Yikes I wasn't counting on that. So, I changed course to the west to get out of that current. Then things got better. 9:40PM ETA. But that was before we hit the gulf stream. I told Suz that the ETA would get better as we picked up more of the gulf stream and then get a little worse as we got closer to shore. I took hourly position readings and recorded the ETA. The best ETA we got was 7:32PM with my 4:00PM fix to the #4 entrance marker. We were tied up at Fort Pierce City Marina at 7:57PM. We had left 6:51 AM. So my 13 hr travel time was OK.
We also did an old ritual at 12:00 noon. We tossed a message in a bottle for someone to find one day @26º 59.8N 79º 28.8W. Nice wine bottle with instructions to contact us if it is found. Now where will it go???

The gulf stream influence is strange to witness. For a couple hours my compass course was 265º. The boat was traveling 305ºT at 7.1kts. So there was quite a cross current out there. Of course you could not see this on the calm ocean. The trip across was very pleasant except for the last 8 miles. As we came out of the deep water the waves got larger and the the wind also picked up. What had been a slight roll of the ocean swells was now building to 5-6ft seas hitting our port quarter and at times almost broadsides. The autopilot was no happy and I manually steered to take better angles on the overcoming waves. This was not dangerous, just reminded me of the Chesapeake Bay chop. But if it had gotten much worse we would have had to make course changes making our landfall delayed. I considered to heading north to Cape Canaveral as an alternative. Susan went below to control anything shifting around. I had my PFD on that Meade Shore had loaned me. It has the tethered to keep you from leaving the boat. It never got that bad. But the large swells appeared to come very closet to the dinghy hanging in the davits. Liquid Therapy handles just great in all of the sea conditions. Very good when you get in tune with the handling characteristics. As we got closer and in shallower water the waves subsided to 3-4ft. We did have to turn to port as we entered the Fort Pierce inlet channel and the waves were now hitting us broadside on the port side. The boat was fine with this and the decreasing wave size. We came through the inlet at dusk with lots of boats fishing in the channel and it was only about 10 minutes to our slip.
We were tired and and tied up went up to the TIKI restaurant and had an American Hamburger with a pickle spear. Wow that tasted good and the pickle was something good.

Todays picture is a barracuda I caught. YIKES.
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Message from Susan after we arrived in Ft Pierce.
Good Night to All, from Fort Pierce, Florida!!
We wanted you all to know we arrived, back in the states, safely, the around 8PM tonight. We went 87 miles in 13 hours, our longest travel day yet! Understandably, Brooke is alseep after his first hamburger in weeks! We had a great weather forecast for today, and a pleasant crossing, until about 8 miles out the wind cranked up and so did the waves. I had to stay below it was so rough. Things were flying all around, as my regular securing for travel wasn't enough today. Thank goodness we had stayed at this marina before on the way down and knew how to get in here! Tomorrow we will take a cab to Publix to get groceries and then start back up the ICW early Tuesday. We may make some outside passages, too. Just depends on the weather.
What an adventure we have had! We highly recommend you visit the Bahamas, as well as southern Florida. We will continue to update the blog until we get back home. Thanks to all of you who have kept up with the blog and supported us with your comments!! See you before too long!
Susan

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