April 11, 2009


Last fall our trip south to Florida was somewhat uneventful. We actually left the Chesapeake Bay the first part of October. We decided to leave a little early and take our time in some of the places that we hadn’t seen before. We had until the middle of November before traveling to the West Coast to spend the holidays with our families.

Anchoring in the Pungo River was a new spot for us. It was quiet, somewhat protected and a new stop. We like to anchor out as often as possible. There are a million different places to anchor along the ICW; it’s just a matter of where and how much you really prefer to be “out on the hook.” Staying in marinas all of the time becomes very expensive and our modest little cruising budget just will not allow it. Also, staying tied to a dock all the time just doesn’t allow you to see all of the out-of-the-way places that make traveling the waterway so fascinating.

The only real problem we had on the trip south was passing through Southport, NC. We lost our steering! Since our steering is hydraulic, once you lose the fluid all of the steering is gone. Fortunately, we have two engines which allow you to steer by using the engines. We made it to a marina about 10 or 15 miles further down the waterway and contacted a mechanic to do a rebuild of our seals in the system. Bud already had a rebuild kit just in case this should happen, so all the mechanic had to do was install the kit. If you see the inside of the system, you would understand why Bud was a little reluctant to do it himself. It’s very intricate inside with a bunch of little balls that have the potential of falling out.

After that, we didn’t have any issues to deal with except a really nasty thunder and lightning storm while we were in Charleston, South Carolina. We happened to be in a marina and decided to stay an extra day to wait out the storm. We were tied up on a very long dock next to a 149 foot mega yacht that had six full-time crew members. It was a beautiful yacht and dwarfed our modest little boat. The boat’s name was Sun Chaser. And you will see it in some of the mega yacht magazines.

We finally made it to Palm Coast, Florida around the 10th of November and had a few days before we flew out to Oregon so we took the time to do a lot of the maintenance that needed to be done on the boat. When we got back after the holidays we finished the remaining projects including replacing a cabinet on the aft deck and then got underway again.
We really enjoy cruising Florida in the winter. The weather isn’t normally too cold and the days are sunny. There are a lot of great places to explore. First, we stopped in New Smyrna Beach and then Melbourne on our way to Vero Beach. Everyone calls Vero Beach “Velcro Beach” because it is so boater friendly that you don’t want to leave. There are moorings to tie up to, a large dinghy dock and a very nice captain’s lounge. The city bus is free and stops within the marina grounds. It’ll take you almost anywhere you need to go. It’s walking distance to the beach and a nice little beach community along with numerous upscale shops. We stayed for a week and continued on to Stuart, FL, then over to Indiantown before we crossed Lake Okeechobee headed to the West Coast of FL. The trip from the Atlantic side to the Gulf side is a truly interesting part of Florida. It’s like stepping back into the 50’s; very old and charming in its own way. One of the things we enjoy about the trip is all of the wildlife. At one point we counted over 70 alligators in a 12 mile stretch of water. Also there were bald eagles, raccoons and snakes. All of them were on land and not a threat to us.

Once we got over to the West Coast we stopped and visited some cruising friends in Cape Coral. They have a beautiful home on a canal, so we tied up to their dock and enjoyed their hospitality. Unfortunately, though, we discovered that a very small fuel leak that we have had for 3 or 4 years had gotten really worse. So we decided to have it looked at again and see if we could repair it. It turned out that we had to have our injector pump rebuilt (ouch!!). So we were at Candice and Rick’s house for a week instead of just a couple of days. We had a great stay and hope that we didn’t over stay our welcome. We were really stuck! And they were really nice about it.


After we left Cape Coral we went over to Fort Myers, just across the river, and Bud’s brother, Jim, came and joined us for a few days. We’d had big plans of taking him out and visiting some anchorages that we knew and showing him what we do. Well, as is often the case in Florida, a cold front decided that it was going to pass through and sit on us for 4 days, so instead of doing what we had started out to do, we rented a car and did some sightseeing instead. We had a good time and hope he did too. It’s always great to get together with family along the way.

When Jim left, we decided to call some friends (Jay and Susan) who live in Fort Myers. They invited us to stay a night with them. They have a boat that is being prepped for repainting and wasn’t at their dock so we took its spot for a night and had a great time. The next day we started our trek back over to the East Coast.

Crossing Lake Okeechobee again wasn’t a big deal. The weather cooperated and we had a smooth crossing. We stopped in Indiantown and also Stuart on the way up to Vero Beach one more time. As you can tell, we have gotten too really like Vero.

Next week, around the 15th of April, we will start to head north again. This is the time of year when everyone begins to make the trip up to the more northern states mainly because of the insurance requirements and partly for the cooler weather during the summer months.

Be sure to watch the attached slide show below that has all of our slides of this portion of our trip. You should be able to click on it and watch.