Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Part II)

 Vero Beach City Marina, Vero Beach, Florida:  January 10, 2021

27.6386° N, 80.3973° W

Lucy III motorsailing on the Indian River

Vero Beach City Marina

Our hosts and cousins Armand and Betty Langevin

Marc-  It was super cool this morning at Melbourne at 41 degrees.  We left the marina at 08:00 under sunny skies and a 10 knot Northwest wind.  All went well for the first hour of travel dressed in our winter clothes.  Then the engine started to sputter and skip and emit white smoke from the exhaust.  It appeared to be a clogged carburetor once again.  This was confirmed by a call to Brian.  The quick fix was to simply run with the manual choke open to a certain extent.  So the engine skipped, sputtered and the exhaust was really smelly for 4 hours.  Then it started to run normally just before we arrived at the Vero Beach City Marina!  

Fortunately for us we arrived when my cousin and his wife were in town.  They came and picked us up in their new van and spent the afternoon and evening driving us first to the supermarket and West Marine, then to their beautiful new home and eventually to a shore restaurant, Squid Lips, for dinner on the deck.

We will stay here tomorrow and regroup.  I bought more filters and will be working on the engine once again.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Part II)

 Melbourne Harbor Marina, Melbourne, Florida:  January 9, 2021

 Latitude: 28.0782 N, Longitude: 80.600 W

Marc-  Sunshine and favorable winds, what more could we ask for?  Winds were 10-15 knots from the Northwest and the sunshine helped to deal with the 39 degree weather.  It did warm up to 59 degrees by lunchtime.  We had no difficulties entering Melbourne Harbor and entered our assigned slip.  The harbor is right downtown.  It and the downtown area are alive and well.  We found a very nice crepe restaurant for a late lunch.  There is even a French bakery with everything including ice cream.  Michael found a quiche for tomorrow's breakfast.

We did see dolphins again today but were unable to get any images.  Here is a short video from Bob 423 to give you an idea:  https://youtu.be/c8KzjPBH_4w

Tomorrow we plan to go to Vero Beach!

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Part II)

 Cocoa Village Public Docks, Cocoa Village, Florida:  January 8, 2021

28.3541° N, 80.7242° W

Goodbye Titusville

Marc-  Today started off fine with a trip to the local donut shop for donuts and later coffee from Michael aboard Fiddler's Green.  We backed Lucy III out of the marina perfectly but as I attempted to accelerate to leave the harbor the engine slowed and stopped.  I was able to restart the engine using the manual choke and proceeded to the fuel dock.  From past experience, and extensive consulting with our engine consultant Brian Gilmartin, I knew we were dealing with a clogged carburetor and clogged fuel filter.  I walked over to the local NAPA and soon installed what was needed.  All of this delayed our start to noontime.  We altered our destination to Cocoa some 20 miles away.  This was an easy sail given the Northwest winds of 15-20 knots.  The NASA bridges opened for our passage and we arrived at the Cocoa Village free docks at 15:00.  This is a superb installation with new docks and a waterfront park right in the village.  Michael arrived early and held on to the last two spots on the docks until we arrived.  The nearby park was hosting a wedding reception with an excellent band playing.  There was even an Irish Pub on the first corner that we came to off of the docks.  We enjoyed walking around the village shops and pretty homes.

Cocoa free docks

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Part II)

Titusville Municipal Marina, Titusville, Florida:  January 7, 2021

28.6122° N, 80.8076° W

Space X rocket lift off. View from Titusville Park.

Marc-  We motored today in South winds to Titusville, home of Cape Canaveral.  We met Bob 423, Ann and their dog, Hoolie, who are here for the Winter.  I have been following their blog for years as they have travelled from NY to FL 10 times in their Beneteau 423.  This is their 11th year.  They have a fantastic blog at:  http://fleetwing.blogspot.com/

There just happened to be a Space X rocket launch, and we got to see it.  There is a very nice park next to the marina that was excellent for viewing the lift off.  A Turkish communications satellite was set into the Earth's orbit.  Michael sent out zoom invitations and we had Ann & George in Arizona, Martin & Peter in Syracuse, Brian, Irene & Lizzie in Hardwick, VT, Brendan in DC, Doreen & Kerry in Pompton Plains, John & Laura in Stamford, VT and Steph in Watertown, MA.  Michael showed the launch to everyone on his ipad.  

We have a new go-pro camera from Bill Lewis.  Thank you, Bill!  I used it to video the event.  I will try to post the video.  For further details on the mission go to spacex.com.  

Bird viewing today included seeing large numbers of brown pelicans North of the Haulover Canal, to almost all white pelicans South of the canal.  The dolphins were everywhere, but as usual, we just saw their fins and a little of their backs.  There are very busy fishing and don't jump out of the water and do tricks like Flipper.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Part II)

Rockhouse Creek, Ponce de Leon Inlet, Florida: January 6, 2021

Latitude: 29.0702 N, Longitude: 80.9178 W

Marc-  We departed Palm Coast at 10:30 this morning after a very nice visit to an excellent marina.  Sue and I especially enjoyed the scenic hiking trails.  Unfortunately we did not time the tidal currents well and only managed about 5.5 knots today in our journey to Rockhouse Creek.  There were two draw bridges that opened on demand.  Winds were light out of the North.  Our destination is in a peaceful creek that forms a passage to the Atlantic Ocean from the ICW.  We were visited by one elusive dolphin and many pelicans.  The Ponce de Leon Lighthouse is seen to our East flashing away while to our West is a magnificent sunset.

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Part II)

 Palm Coast Marina, Palm Coast, Florida: January 5, 2021

 29°34.620 N / 81°11.607 W

A 70 foot sailboat at River's Edge Marina, St. Augustine, purchased at auction for $100K

Marc-  We left St, Augustine today.  We waited for the depth sounder to indicate 4 feet and then we backed out of our slip at 10:00.  It was a great day to sail South with Northwest winds of 10-15 knots, a favorable 2 knot tidal current, bright sunshine and temperatures in the 60's.  We averaged 8 knots on our trip today slowing only for a drawbridge that did not respond to our VHF call.  I reached them via a phone call to the regional bridge dispatcher.  Palm Coast marina was much nicer arriving by water than our previous land visit.  The town has 120 miles of pathways for biking and hiking (we checked out 4 miles of beautiful ICW side paths).

Our engine starting issue returned today.  The problem is connected somehow to a very warm engine and its refusal to restart after a brief shutdown (like a refueling stop).  

We enjoyed a nice grilled dinner care of chef Sue in the marina picnic area. 

Palm Coast Marina

Funny banana lady

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Part II)

     Rivers Edge Marina, St. Augustine, Florida: January 4, 2021

29 degrees 53.175' N Latitude, 81 degrees 19.267' W Longitude

A marina inhabitant

Marc-  This is our last day in St. Augustine.  A cold front came through cooling things off and bringing welcome Northwest winds excellent for us heading to the Keys.

We spent today doing more boat projects on both boats.  Most importantly our diver arrived and cleaned the bottoms of both boats. He reported that our zinc was fully intact around the shaft and that the propeller was clean.  Unfortunately Fiddler's Green was missing its zinc protector.  

Sue and I went off on two walks around town enjoying some neighborhoods, blooming flowers and the Christmas lights.  Our turn around point was the Cross which marks the ocean channel entrance.

The St. Augustine Cross at Notre de Dios