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

 Los Olas Marina, Fort Lauderdale, Florida:  January 14, 2021

26.1224° N, 80.1373° W

Marc- We made it through 26 bridges in one day and all but two of them needed to be opened.  Needless to say we arrived just before dark in Ft. Lauderdale at the city owned docks.  We did not need a drone to get the dock photo, we only needed to be docked next to the Los Olas bridge where we walked after dinner.  

We were off to a good start this morning with refueling at North Palm Beach, Northwest wind of 10 knots and sunshine.  We could not sail in this part of the ICW because of the numerous bridges (it is prohibited to have a sail up going through a bridge).  Lake Worth has a deep water inlet and we saw large container ships in port.  A little further South were several marinas catering to mega yachts.  The water in the Lake was incredibly clear and the brightest aquamarine color seen on this trip.  

We saw so many beautiful homes as we motored from Lake Worth to Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Hillsboro Beach, Pompano Beach, and then Ft. Lauderdale.

The many bridges kept us on our toes.  Lucy III has a 45 foot mast that always required bridge openings.  The Lantana bridge was far and away the best.  Its design resembles a castle and Linda, the bridge operator was very nice to us including sending us photos and a video of us passing through.  Many of the bridges were on set schedules to open on the hour or half hour,  We could not always make it to the next bridge in time even if we powered up to 6.5 knots.  At two bridges we waited 30 minutes each.  

Lake Worth Water

Lake Worth's commercial shipping area

There were several interesting liveaboard boats in the anchorage

Lots of mega yachts 

Santa enjoyed this place so much that he stayed

Hard to believe that this is a single family home

A vintage yacht

More interesting real estate

The Lantana Bridge castle tower where Linda reigns

What a view Linda has of the passing boats

And she has a pet crow 

Yet another interesting ICW bridge

Hillsboro Inlet bridge and lighthouse

                                     The sign says "Welcome to Fort Lauderdale, 

                                               Yachting Capitol of the World" 

Bubba Gump at Ft. Lauderdale beach

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

 Old Port Marina, North Palm Beach, Florida:  January 13, 2021

26.8171° N, 80.0591° W

Marc-  We left Jensen Beach at daybreak (07:30) and headed South with plans to reach Lake Worth.  The first half of the trip was uneventful with the usual dolphins and pelicans messing about.  Excitement came when we reached the St. Lucie Inlet, crossroads of the ICW and the St. Lucie River.  What we saw was a floating dredging pipe blocking about 90% of the navigable channel of the ICW and no dredge in sight.  Luckily we had Michael go explore ahead with his Ranger tugboat.  Michael threaded the needle and found the narrow slice of deep water at the western end of the pipe and by staying very close to it and then advising us on the best route.  Michael continued to lead all of the way to North Palm Beach.   Unfortunately we were held up by several drawbridges that opened only on the hour and the half hour.  The bridge operators only seemed happy when boats are waiting to pass through.  It is nearly impossible to time the passages through here.  All of that being said we were only delayed about an hour in total by bridges.

North Palm Beach is quite different from any area North of here in Florida. There are many high rise condo complexes here and many marinas catering to large Sportfishing boats.  Sue and I went out to explore the town on foot.  We found two shopping areas nearby with many shops including a West Marine, Publix & a Honey Baked Ham Store (the latter is where we picked up a delicious dinner).  The neighborhoods we came across could not be explored because they were gaited and obscured by high fences and high hedges.  We did find a very modern designed church about 2-1/2 miles into the walk on the edge of a State Park (the Park was inaccessible without walking another mile).  One advantage of having a marina next to a drawbridge was when the bridge opened it totally shut down Route 1 and we could cross the 4 lane highway safely on foot.

The infamous St. Lucie dredge pipe

Sunken sailboat just off the ICW channel.  We see one or more of these a day, almost always sailboats

North Palm Beach.  Out marina is at the top.

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

Jensen Beach Mooring Field , Jensen Beach, Florida:  January 12, 2021

27.2545° N, 80.2298° W

Jensen Beach welcoming committee - some well behaved birds

Marc-  We made a short run today due to the availability of harbors / anchorages.  Good news no engine issues today and we motored all day.  There was also a nice surprise as we approached the Ft. Pierce Inlet.  The ICW water turned a beautiful aquamarine color even with a gray sky (the photos do not do justice).  The beautiful water lasted until about 10 miles South on the Inlet.  We found a new mooring field and pier facility just South of the Jensen Beach Bridge.  Apparently the pier did not pass inspection and nothing is open.  We still picked up two moorings since there is no indication that we can't use them.  We used the launching ramp docks to tie up the zodiac and walk the 1/2 mile into town.   We picked up a few items at Publix and Walgreens.  This port has a lot of potential but needs more development.  Tomorrow we are off to Lake Worth.

Fiddler's Green

A new way to monetize your boat

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

 (Day 2) Vero Beach City Marina, Vero Beach, Florida:  January 11, 2021

27.6386° N, 80.3973° W

Marc-  We are still in Vero Beach for one more day.  We understand how this place has been called Velcro Beach.  There are so many conveniences here including the free city buses and the extensive park facilities.  It's just very nice.  Beautiful housing developments and neighborhoods.  We could get used to this.  Sue and I set off on foot to explore the local walking paths and discovered lush vegetation and some interesting birds.  We walked over to the Ocean Beach park and were impressed by the aquamarine color of the sea, so different from Massachusetts Bay.  

I spent part of the day checking on the engine with Michael, adding fuel treatments, replacing filters, cleaning the carburetor, and finally doing a successful test run.  Sue did our laundry.

Sue and I later benefitted from another visit from Armand and Betty who took us out to an Orange Grove to purchase delicious local fruit:  honeybells and orris.  They even had orange flavored ice cream.  We have not been seeing Florida oranges in the grocery stores...it seem that the local orange growers sell their produce directly to the public and a lot of what people buy is shipped to friends and relatives outside of Florida.

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