From Vero Beach Municipal Marina,Thursday Morning.
Well folks, we finally made it to Vero Beach Municipal Marina. We're rafted near "Puff" the boat of our friends Kathy and Dave, from Sayerville NJ. Considering that Harmony left Keyport early in September, it has taken over three months to go the distance it would take about 24 hours to drive. This is not what people imagine when they think we are going "cruising".
The past four days have given us a season's worth of adventures already. Lew described the fog very well. We considered staying put until the fog completely cleared. However, we really wanted to reach Dave & Kathy before they left "Puff" here to go north for Christmas. Harmony as a good GPS system, so we decided to risk boating traffic and go south from our anchor spot in the Mosquito Lagoon.
By the way, the lagoon is well named. Even in weather so wet you'd think the little critters couldn't fly, we killed seven buzzers during the night. I think we got them before they got us. The fog was too dense to see the birds that are abundant in that area.
It was a bit tense motoring just on the instruments but if Honeywind can do off the coast of Maine in fog, we figured we could. We had far less to bump into than that rocky coast. All we had to do was stay on the GPS line of the ICW. That's all.
We pulled up anchor at about 10 AM and headed on our way. It felt like some clipper ship from "Master and Commander" was going to emerge out of the fog at any minute! That's silly, of course, because the Lagoon is about four feet deep in most places, except for the dredged canal marked by red and green buoys. We couldn't see from one marker to the next but when we got closer, the next one would emerge like a very still ghost.
We saw a number of local fishermen in their little 17' boats. I guess fog is good fishng weather. Thank heavens a power boat was coming out of the Haulover Canal, where we turn west through a narrow island out ofhe Lagoon, into the Indian River. Totally unexpectedly the fog lifted completely when we went past the Bascule Bridge in the middle of the canal. All of a sudden there were clear skies. We looked back behind us and it was as if the bridge were holding the fog at bay.
Across the expanse of the IndianRiver to Titusville, there was more fog but it was less dense. It felt like we might be in an airplane flying through the very tops of cumulus clouds. It was a magical seascape. Here and there there were glows of different colors as the sun reflected through thin clouds off denser ones farther away. Hundreds of birds were sitting on sand bars, waiting for better flying weather maybe.
We made it to Titusville about 1:30 on Tuesday afternoon. We were making good tme! Even in the fog! We got the fuel we needed, some simple groceries, and a pump-out. Ready to keep going south in the now-clear weather, we found out that the swing bridge just below Titusville was broken! The Bridge Tender couldn't tell when he'd be able to open the bridge for the boaters. It might not be until 5:30 - after dark! Oh No!
Fortunately he was able to open it briefly. Now the nerve wracking suspense was, would we be able to make it through the NASA (Addison Point) Bridge before it closed from 3:30 to 5 for Cape Canaveral commuter traffic? Harmony was leading two more sail boats. We all kept going at our fastest speed, which varied for each of us. Harmony and Wide Matilda made it. TaTo got stuck on the other side. NASA runs on a very strict clock!
Having anchored the night before near Wide Matilda in the fog and having been near her at a couple of previous bridge openings, we had some radio contact but no real meeting. Tuesday evening, both anchored in a broad area of water that was not particularly protected but seemed fine. We finally met Les and Sarah when they dinghied over to us, joying drinks and noshes on deck as sun set.
The nights had been calm so far, which made for peaceful sleeping. And that's what we got - until 3 AM when the anchor alarm went off! Harmony had dragged quite a way away from the other boat. Lew and I "did the deck dance", succesfully resetting the anchor and going back to sleep... until 5:45 when the alarm went off again. This time we said "the heck with it".
For the second morning in a row we took off in most unusual (for us) conditions. In the pre-dawn dark, we relied on instruments again to get us down "the ditch" until we see the markers. The wind picked up to about 15, which helped us go almost 8 knots with the jib up.
You think the adventure was over? Read on...
We surprised "Puff" by getting here at about 1:45. We were tired but so happy to get a mooring right near our friends. All we had to do was get our dinghy in the water and motor over to them. Lew untied and lowered it and started the engine just fine. Imagine our surprise when, as soon as I let the line to Harmony go,the motor konked out! We were pushed by the wind back down the mooring field!
Lew was trying to row us but the wind was too strong and the oars kept coming out of the locks. He got us near enough another boat for me to hang on. I "walked" us around that boat and it's buddy on the mooring, finally getting up to the mooring ball a hanging on for dear life. Thank heavens for cell phones. We called Dave, who jumped in his dinghy and towed us back .
The end of this saga (so far) is that we had a wonderful evening with Dave and Kathy and Tom&June-their buddies on their mooring. Today we will take it easy and maybe even get our motor fixed. We're warm and safe and glad to be here.
(by Florrie it is extremely diffcult to correct spelling - sorry!)
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