Tuesday 21 January 2020
879 statute miles to go. A short day today. Only 35 but still pushing into the wind.

Once we were on the mooring last night it was cold enough that we wasted no time whatsoever buttoning up the boat and turning on the heater. It doesn't take long for even we hardy Canadians to get used to being warm so when the temperature drops even a few degrees we are shivering and shaking with the best of them. I know some of you back at home in the slush and snow and sub-zero temperatures have no sympathy but please try to remember that we were planning on warmth, bikinis and speedos all winter.

Wow! When I woke up this morning I discovered that Mother Nature hasn't finished with us yet. The temperature is eight degrees with a wind chill to six! I hope this doesn't last long enough to cool the water significantly. Last time this happened there was a really bad fish kill as the fish here can't handle water below a certain temperature and the ICW isn't deep enough to let them dive below the inversion layer to warmer water. We were at Vero Beach then and when we took the dingy in to shore Barb had to perch on the bow pushing dead and dying fish aside so we could get through. Serious and true story.

This morning was much more involved to get dressed. No more whipping on a t-shirt and pair of shorts. Today it was long sleeved shirt, the wooly bears that I used to wear under my dry suit for diving, foul weather trousers as a wind break and my parka, toque, and gloves to complete the ensemble. Brrr! Brrr! Triple Brrr! (This is Barb - I told himself that he better not complain about the cold as, after all, we decided to move northwards...)

As some of you know as Canadians aboard a Canadian flagged vessel we have to report coastwise movement. This is something that began after 9/11 and hasn't changed since. The problem is that Homeland Security or Customs and Border Patrol don't have a consistent story all down the coast, even in a single state like Florida. So, we call in every day just to make sure. Unfortunately there isn't always someone there to take the call. Very frustrating especially as in Florida there is always the next Customs officer that you contact who will ream you out a new one for not filing a report even though the fault was not ours. Last night Barb was on hold for over half an hour and the original recorded routing message kept playing and replaying. So we finally gave up and went to bed. This morning it was more of the same so we called Houlton Maine and spoke to a real live helpful person who took our report.

One thing that I forgot to mention in yesterday's post. Barb and I have both been struck by the number of damaged and abandoned boats along the waterway. We counted 10 that we could see during the day. Sad that so many people's dreams end that way.

We arrived at New Smyrna Beach City Marina and with the Dockmaster, a couple of local boaters, and Ken and Sherri's help tucked into a slip for a while. We have decided to hang out here for a couple of days to let the worst of this weather system pass by.

The Taylors took us out to Flaglers Tavern to hear a fellow that they had heard before and who had been up to Shelburne to perform and sing. Then they took us back to their place for a delicious dinner and for the night in a bed on land. Great meal and even better company. Ken also made some suggestions about the vibration in the engine that I am going to check on to see if we can get that fixed once and for all.

We did 35 statute miles today and have 845 to go to Norfolk.