Go with the flow ... you can't sail on a schedule ... breathe deeply ... stay centered ...

This sailing business is just another way of enforcing flexibility and constant adjustment to change. We enjoyed a lovely and relaxing Thanksgiving in St Augustine, with good food, lots of walking (the full 10,000 steps we are making an attempt to take most days now) and beautiful weather. On Friday morning, after coffee and showers, we released ourselves from the mooring, headed north through the Bridge of Lions (opens on the hour and half hour), and out the inlet. The forecast called for 11-15 knots of S-SW winds. We thought the wind direction was less than perfect but we'd give it a try.

Well - it will be no surprise that the forecast wasn't quite accurate. The wind was 20 -25 knots and right on the nose once we made our turn toward the Cape Canaveral waypoint. We would have been flying if only the direction was a little different. As it was, our speed dropped to about 4 knots, and we faced the prospect of banging into the choppy waves for hours. We think it is the first time we have ever turned around, but we did it and headed back through the inlet, planning to go down the ICW.

Next decision came when we discovered the Bridge does not open at 12 noon. As we sat and waited for the 12:30 opening, we figured out that we would miss high tide at Matanzas inlet - a place of notoriously skinny water. After deciding we might as well sit tight another day, we crossed back under the bridge and picked up our old familiar mooring ball M25. And then, we had occasion to say, "It's probably a good thing we couldn't go." After a phone call with my dad in NS, I decided that I'd like to go home for a few days so we spent the next couple of hours in the lounge arranging flights, cars and planning a schedule that would get me to the Orlando airport. None of that could have happened if we'd been out in the ocean. I booked a Tuesday flight from Orlando to Halifax, and reserved a car in Vero to get me to the airport. Three days from St Augustine to Vero - no sweat! Ha!

We got along just fine at Matanzas Inlet on Saturday, arriving about 2 hours before high tide and never seeing less than 11 feet of water. We moved along just to the red side of centre channel and had no anxious moments at all. The rest of the day went well too - there weren't too many little sport fishing boats zooming by and the big motor yachts were all very polite as they passed. Try as we might, we couldn't make New Smyrna before dark, so we pulled into the little anchorage just south of the Seabreeze Bridges in Daytona, anchoring in about 8 feet of water. There were 6 boats there and room enough for all of us - a safe little pocket on the east side of the channel. We were still on track for Vero on Monday night.

Because we wanted to get to Cocoa Beach on Sunday, we were up before dawn (and with the anchor chain pulled in a little because we were showing a total depth of 6'2"!) As soon as we could see, we called the Main St Bridge for an opening and cruised through.

The next spot of trouble started between that bridge and the Memorial Bridge - another bascule one. We could smell rubber burning. Jim opened the engine compartment. Rubbery smoke wafted out, and he plucked out a broken alternator belt. At just about that time, the cool water intake alarm began to shrill, although when I checked, there was still water coming out the stern. We passed under the 65' bridge, and I picked up the radio to request an opening from the Memorial Bridge, when it started to open. Good thing because I could hardly hear a thing in the cockpit! (These 3 bridges are all within a half mile of each other). Once through, I throttled way back and Jim called the Daytona Boat Works just a few feet further along the channel to see if they could tie us up while we solved the problem. They had space; we eased our way in (0.1 showing below our keel) tied up and turned the engine off. No fire. No going aground. No engine cutting out. And as we tied the last line, a wonderful great dog came bounding along followed by a couple of folks in TYC (Trident Yacht Club) jackets! It was John and Rhoda (Wet'n'Wild)! They stored their boat here over the summer and will be headed out tomorrow. They had heard communication from a Bayfield 36 called Madcap, and figured there couldn't be two of those!! Small world for sure.

Jim changed the alternator belt, thought about changing the impeller and then realized that the alarm had gone off not because of lack of water getting to the engine, but because the alternator wasn't working. (Broken belt = no operation). We ran the engine for 20 minutes or so with no problems so we ate some lunch while we waited for the tide to rise a little. The marina said they wouldn't charge us for the time we were there ($1.90 per ft) and we headed out again, for the umpteenth time in our cruising years, thinking how lucky we are that when bad things happen for us, they happen in good places!

We pushed along as fast as we could but didn't have a chance of making Cocoa Beach. Instead, we stopped when we ran out of daylight - which was in Mosquito Lagoon! No mosquitos. No other boats. No protection from anything. Just a few birds and us. Quite a weird place to anchor actually! The lagoon is a big shallow area of water with the channel passing through, and here and there a little bulge of deeper water outside the channel. We pulled off just past R 24 and dropped the anchor in 8 ft of water and sat down to a glass of wine and dinner (pork tenderloin with mango, onion, carrots and potatoes that had been roasting in the oven.) The wind picked up during the night - Jim saw continuous readings of 20 knots, and gusts to 25. (I managed to sleep through most of it!) Surprisingly, the boat didn't bounce around too much - it was just noisy with water sloshing against the hull. It's quite amusing what we worry about. I think I slept well because there were no other boats for us to drag into. Jim didn't sleep because he worried alternately about us swinging into shallow water and not being able to get the anchor up in the morning. The Bruce held without budging an inch and the wind was blowing so hard we didn't swing anywhere!

Once again, we were up at the crack of dawn and into Haulover canal bright and early. I took this pic just after we passed through the bridge. Monday was not a great day weather wise. It rained on and off all day, and the wind rarely dropped below 20 kn. We made some phone calls - cancelling this and reserving that, and ended up pulling into Melbourne Harbour Marina. ($1.75 per foot) Chris who picked us up to go get our rental car from Enterprise, gave us a little tour of the downtown near the marina, and we were pleased to see that there are many little spots for Jim to amuse himself while I am away. He has lots of work to do - between boat jobs and work-work (he is doing some contract work this year) so he doesn't need too much amusement!

In keeping with this whole theme of change, Jim delivered me safely to the Orlando airport and I caught my plane easily. While I was sitting in the lounge at Philadelphia waiting for my next flight, I checked my phone and found a message that my dad's planned surgery - the main reason for my trip - had been cancelled. What could I do but shake my head? Change, flexibility, spontaneity.

So here I am in Halifax, visiting Mary Beth and her current house mate, Kelsey, raking leaves and putting away the patio furniture. I made a decadent chocolate dessert to share with my sister, and tomorrow, I'll go hang out with Dad for a couple of days. We will take in some social events instead of convalescent ones! One other little benefit of the trip is that The Dalhousie Medical School Christmas concert is on Friday so I'll be able to take that in. Back to Melbourne on Saturday, and we'll see where we can get to before we both fly back up here for Christmas.

Change ... adjust ... breathe deeply ... enjoy whatever comes!