On to northern Florida

From the Captain

3/23/14 Nasa Space Center to Adventure Yacht Center, Port Orange, FL. 44.4 nm.

We're told that the climatic dividing line between north and south Florida runs across the state at the top of Lake Okachobee. On the east coast, this line ends at Vero Beach. North of that line, as we are, temperature will start to be a factor in the trip. Compared to other cruisers making this trip, we are somewhat early, the start of the line of snowbirds migrating north. We'll plan to check the weather, and linger at stops before heading further north.

Today, we made an easy passage, motorsailing with the jib when we could against a light northwest wind. We are seeing dolphins in the cooler water now. They were rare in the Bahamas. It's nice to have them back.

Adventure Yacht Harbor is a friendly place a little south of the Seven Seas Marina where we stayed on the way down. Phil and Nancy stayed here on Emerald Sunset and recommended it. Of all the places we've stayed, it's the first we could receive a workable wifi signal right on the boat.

Dinner with Jerry, Siri, and Friends in Ormond Beach

However, we weren't there for long. My father and Siri drove down from Ormond Beach and took us back to their place for a couple nights. We had a short visit and did a little more shopping. I took my father to Advance Auto Parts to buy a new supply of Rotella (oil) and a couple new filters. Motor oil costs less at Advance than at West Marine, and the former will let you dump your used oil.

Jerry and Siri were the early inspirations for our trip, and we were eager to share experiences of the Bahamas as we found them. They also invited a couple for dinner. Shirley, was a cruising friend from 25 years ago, and she had spent time in the Bahamas as well.

The counter clockwise wind shifts from two days before indicating the arrival of another cold front. We're getting used to spotting these. Our day in Daytona was cool with a brisk north wind. The flannel shirt, fleeces, and jackets have come out.

3/24/14 Adventure Yacht Center to Cement Plant Anchorage, north of Flagler Beach, Florida. 26.5 nm

We returned to the marina mid morning and said good-bye once again to my father and Siri. The temperature was still cool, but the sun was out and the wind seemed to have moderated. We decided to motor north toward St. Augustine. I emptied one of the jerry cans of fuel into the tank and refilled it as we checked out of the marina. Once on the open waterway, we found the wind  stronger than on shore. There are no significant waves in the river, but plodding into a headwind is slow. Our average speed dropped by a knot to about five.

We considered returning to shore, but decided to solider on. The forecast calls for diminishing winds tomorrow. We won't get very far today, though. We looked at the Garmin Blue Chart on the I-pad. There is a protected anchorage in a basin served by a narrow canal above Flagler Beach. There is an idle cement plant here and the factory that makes Sea Ray boats. The evaluations from other sailors who have stayed here suggest the view is OK in certain directions, and the anchor holding is fair. No one mentioned the huge barge parked in the middle of the basin.

Quiet anchorage past the Sea Ray boat factory

 Somehow, we managed to get a little beyond the barge and set a stern anchor so we wouldn't swing into it. The wind built and howled overnight. The water in the little cove remained smooth as glass. Luna did swing a little, but stayed a good distance from the barge. The Rocna anchor on the bow held the bottom without problem.

3/26/14 North Flagler Beach to Rivers Edge Marina, St. Augustine, FL 27.7 nm.

When we woke in the morning, the cabin temperature was 52 degrees, thanks to the passing cold front. The wind showed no sign of moderating as predicted. We could spend another day here--not much fun--or continue fighting the wind, and now the cold, to St. Augustine. We chose St. Augustine. Rather than spend a cold, rough day and night on one of the public moorings, we called ahead to reserve a slip up on the San Sebastian River. Our friends on Mar-a-Lago and Mighty Fine (Brian and Jane, Craig and Donna) had stayed here coming south.

On the way north, the cold was intense. We were bundled with hooded jackets, gloves. We steered in 30-minute shifts. Between shifts, we hunkered down in the sun in the front of the cockpit under the dodger and out of the wind. We questioned our sanity and judgment. We soldiered on. The north wind drove the cold right through the clothes. I noticed, however, that occupants in the boats heading south were dressed similarly to us.

Get used to it--we're not in the Bahamas any more. We're headed north. It's cold up there. We resolved to pay more attention to the forecasts, try to stay behind the cold, and avoid north wind passages when we can. A better option might have been to wait out the weather back in Daytona. We could have made the entire 54-mile passage to St. Augustine on 3/27, when the wind abated and turned eastward and the temperature rose.

On the other hand, here we are. We'll have a nice sunny day in St. Augustine. As Brian told us when he suggested we stop here, Rivers Edge Marina seems like a nice, friendly place. On our way in, Paul, the dock master, was standing out on the T-dock. He directed us to slip A-11 on the VHF radio. In my head, Richard Thompson was singing of lost love:

I don't know you from Adam,
But if you're going to play the jukebox,
Please don't play A-11.
Please don't play A-11

 "There's a flood current," Paul called out. "Go up past us and turn around into it, if you would like."

If we would like? We were most grateful for such sound advice based on local knowledge. We went up the wide channel, turned 180 degrees, and approached the slip against the current. Luna slid in easily, and Paul helped us with our lines. It was our smoothest docking experience so far.

Luna in her slip at Rivers Edge

Here is another luxury we have missed in the Bahamas: floating docks. These rise and fail with the tide. So we can tie our lines to the dock rather than to the pilings. Luna stays tight to the dock, and the lines don't need adjusting to compensate for the tides. The nicest marinas have floating docks, but we saw none in the Bahamas. We can step off luna onto a floating dock, but at low tide with a fixed dock, we've had to perform some interesting gymnastics to climb on or off Luna in some marinas.

Our friend, Tom, drove over from Hastings, and we had happy hour on Luna. Plugged into shore power, we turned on the electric space heater. The wind finally decreased. We walked a short distance to King Street for a dinner at Carmelo's Pizza. I recommend Tom's favorite vegetarian Supreme Pizza. We split a piece of peanut butter pie for dessert.

4/27/14 Rivers Edge Marina, St. Augustine, FL

Rivers Edge could be my favorite marina. It's small enough so the services--bathrooms, laundry, office, holding tank pumpout--are close by. There is a huge fruit and vegetable stand right out on Rt 1, just a block away. There is a supermarket, West Marine, Home Depot within walking distance to the south. St. Augustine itself is within walking distance to the north and east.

The marina is just funky enough so Luna does not seem out of place. Most of the boats are near her size and general condition. No shiny mega-yachts here. The dock master, Paul, is very friendly and helpful. When we pulled in, he said, "Nice boat." We signed up for the weekly rate to wait out some stormy weather forecast for this weekend.

There is a restaurant, Hurricane Patty's, at the other end of the parking lot. As a marina guest, we get happy hour prices all day. They serve seafood dishes. We learn it has an interesting personal history. To us, it looks like a popular, somewhat grungy waterfront dive. To our friend, Tom, it's "the scene of the crime."

Tom likes to work with kids. He teaches guitar and drums and has several students. Until last year, he also had a job as assistant music teacher at the Hastings elementary school. He created an after school program for kids who wanted to form a rock band. He was very proud of his band that was of mixed cultural and racial background and included a singer, a couple guitarists, bass, and drums. They rehearsed twice a week. Tom said the band was the pride of the school and certainly of the musicians and their families.

The band's most famous, and last, gig was at Hurricane Patty's. Tom arranged for them to play there. Their parents, friends, teachers, school principal, and community came. They were great. The principal suggested they pass the hat, and they raised $300 to support the school music program.

Everyone was proud and happy. Until, that is, the school superintendent learned of the event. He called in the principal and promptly fired him for allowing the students to play in a place that served alcohol. The music teacher left. Tom was out of a job.

Tom put out the word and has formed a new band of private students. They rehearse every Saturday. They are called "Good Puppy!" and their debut is coming up on April 5. Unfortunately, we'll be gone by then.

In the meantime, we have a few days in St. Augustine. Paul told us about a new exhibit at the Visitor's Center, down by the old Spanish fort. The exhibition, called "Journey," celebrates the 450-year history of African-Americans in St. Augustine. This year is the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and the city played a large part in the struggle to gain that legislation A guidebook directs us past culturally significant locations beyond the Visitor's Center.

We learned that free Africans and slaves came to St. Augustine with the earliest Spanish settlers in the 16th century. The Spanish governor established Ft. Mose (Mo-see) north of the town in 1738. This was the first legally sanctioned black settlement in America. Early on, the Underground Railroad actually ran south--to Florida.

After the Civil War, freed slaves established Little Africa in St. Augustine in 1866. This area of the city, now called Lincolnville, features Victorian-era homes, many of historical significance. We walked through the neighborhood in the afternoon.

Wells Fargo Bank is the former Woolworth's

The civil rights movement played prominently in St. Augustine. We passed the house of one of the four teenagers who sat at the Woolworth lunch counter and ordered a hamburger and a coke. The four were arrested and sent by the judge to the reformatory. The case received national attention. Martin Luther King came to St. Augustine. The governor later released the four, and they were escorted home by Jackie Robinson.The Woolworth store is now a bank on King Street opposite the public square where the old slave market stands.

The steps of the Manson Motor Lodge (now the Hilton Historic Bayfront Hotel) are still there. Here black protesters gained entry to the "whites only" motel's swimming pool as guests of a white patron. The manager, James Brock, ran out with gallons of muriatic acid pool cleaner and poured them into the pool and onto the swimmers. The photographs of this event went as viral as they could in 1964, appearing in newspapers, magazines, and on TV.

Some sources credit this as the event that finally turned President Lyndon Johnson firmly to the course of civil rights. He was able to break the filibuster of southern Democrats and attain passage of the Civil Rights Act. The moving swimming pool photo and many others are on display at the Visitor's Center.

The civil rights legislation advanced the rights of African Americans but not the fortunes of the Democratic party. Following the Johnson presidency, the election of Richard Nixon was facilitated by the cunningly cynical southern strategy that converted the racist southern Democrats into racist southern Republicans. Gone with the Civil Rights Act are overt references to segregation. That language is replaced by the new hate language of inequality, subtly directed toward disenfranchised people of color--"No expansion of the Medicaid rolls. Individual responsibility. Get the government off our backs." Fittingly, the exhibition at the Visitor's Center ends with the campaign posters of President Barack Obama promising hope and change

3/29/14 Rivers Edge Marina, St. Augustine FL.

I don't think we're capable of spending more than two days in a marina without undertaking some sort of major boat project. Perhaps no one is. So, while the commander has been busy defrosting the refrigerator, doing a couple loads of laundry, and reorganizing the cabin, I've been thinking about the holding tank. While we're at the marina, we're not using the head on board, but underway, there is a faint, but distinct odor in the forward cabin over the holding tank. It's worse when the hatches are closed as we expect them to be as the weather turns colder up north.

My thought is that the fitting at the tank outlet is loose. When I installed the Y valve before leaving for the Bahamas, I was unable to tighten the fitting fully because it is a right angle and if I tightened it all the way, it pointed in the wrong direction. The plan is to install a straight fitting and cement a PVC elbow to this then reconnect the drain hose.

I have been collecting parts from West Marine and Ace Hardware along the way, but I'm not sure of the size of the holding tank outlet and want another straight fitting of a different size. Getting the thing apart will be bad enough. Lacking the proper fitting, being unable to get it back together would be worse. This marina doesn't offer a courtesy car, but it has a few courtesy bicycles. I find the black one with two large baskets on the back and a front wheel vaguely resembling a warped taco. It's serviceable, and the baskets will be useful.

I ride up to Home Depot and get the needed fitting. The next morning, we back out of the slip and motor over to the pump out station to empty and rinse the holding tank. Returning to our slip, we are eyed by the grouchy looking Texan standing at the stern of his large trawler, ready to shove us off if we get too close. We don't. Unlike nearly all other boaters, he doesn't even bother to wave.

Today is a good day to stay in the cabin and work on the boat. The forecast is for thundershowers and heavy rains. Everything is ready, but the PVC cement we have is dried out and useless. Back on the bike? Fortunately, Donnie, a live aboard on the sport fisherman next door has a new can he lets me use. I am doubly grateful. No sooner am I back on Luna then the rain starts in a torrent.

The repair goes smoothly. I like to do these sorts of things when we're in marinas, because I can use the power tools if necessary. The multi tool is perfect for cutting the think vinyl tubing. To complete the job and because there's been an odor in the head as well, I also replaced the check valve that prevents the contents of the holding tank from backing up into the toilet. This is called a joker valve because some look like one of those rubber things you blow through and it makes a raspberry sound. I don't know of anyone who has actually tried this.

The projects are done, and everything is back in order. We reassemble our bed in the bow over the holding tank. We'll see if the repairs were helpful as we leave here and start to spend more time at anchor. The sun comes out in the afternoon. A beach party at Hurricane Patty's starts up. I take a shower. For his help, I give Donny a couple Bahamian beers, a Kalik and a Sands, from Luna's locker.   It takes awhile to work out the kinks from spending the morning being in weird positions, but the stiffness resolves as we take a walk. Then I ride the bike up to the supermarket. We're back in fresh shrimp country.

Dinner is grilled shrimp, red peppers, italian tomatoes and onions in fajitas. Accompanied by the music from the beach party next door and a glass of nice red wine. We've been drinking red box wine recently. We throw away the cardboard and just keep the filled  vinyl bladder. It's much easier to carry and store than bottled wine, and it keeps for quite a long time as the bladder collapses and excludes air. In the Bahamas, we found a Burgandy from Almaden that we like. We haven't seen it in this country yet.

It's neither a blessing nor a curse I decide, that the opposites buffet you. The ability to maintain mental flexibility is a great necessity for boat cruisers. One minute, it's pouring rain, and the next, the sun comes out. One minute, you're mired in your holding tank, and the next, you're drinking red wine and eating grilled shrimp fajitas as the sun sets and the boat moves gently in the wind. What a life!

3/30/14 St. Augustine, FL

We have another day in St. Augustine. There is a Sunday farmer's market in Lincolnville that will give us another opportunity to walk. We've met a boat neighbor, Don and Carol, from Maryland. They've invited us over to their Tartan 35 for happy hour. They travelled down the ICW from Solomon's, MD, and spent the winter here. Naturally, they'd like to hear about our adventures in the Bahamas.

We plan to leave tomorrow for Fernandina Beach, the northernmost Florida town. We'll anchor overnight, then set out on an ocean passage to Charleston, SC, the next day. Forecast is for warming temperatures and light winds. We're looking forward to being on the move again.

Fountain at the St. Augustine Visitors Center