Day 10 Wednesday

Been a little while since our last post.



We have been very busy with all the things necessary to make the cruise move along as well as making the most of our shore time and time getting much needed sleep.


Our departure from Indiantown was not uneventful as it has a close quartered configuration and if an unexpected wind arises, there is no maneuvering room to counter it. Where were at our slip we were essentially in zero wind and as we went out forward maybe the length of our boat and turned right, we suddenly had a significant wind pushing us right up on the line of boats on the "far" side. Maybe a total distance of 50 feet from the end of the slip we departed from.


The day "at sea" was the rest of the St. Lucie Canal to the St. Lucie lock which dropped us 14 feet down to the level of the St. Lucie River. The St. Lucie River meanders around and eventually led us to the Atlantic Intracoastal waterway to head north.


At the intersection and as we turned north there was a wind surfer coming south toward us. As is the custom, when encountering other watercraft, I pointed the Salt Shaker to the direction I thought would clear and he would point the same way, ensuring a collision. So I would point the other way and so would he. My only option was to put us in neutral and force the wind surfer make all the decisions. After all we were more of less constrained by the channel and he was not. He went flying past us and cleared us by maybe 15 feet with a grumpy look on his face. I wonder what kind of hand gesture he would have given us, were it not for the fact that he had to keep both hands on the tiller to control it. Those things really fly if there is any wind at all and today there was lots.


We were able to make it to Vero Beach where Piper Aircraft had a plant so many years ago, the plant that made the airplane that my father had and enjoyed for many years. That was 1960, my word, 50 years ago.


Another bit of nostalgia at the Vero Beach Municipal Marina was right next door to our slip. It was a 1931 38 foot Mathews boat with a live aboard fellow, (reminded me of one of those so called "free spirit folks from the 60's now aged appropriately.) My folks had the sister boat to this one back in the late 40's. I remember all the Mahogany wood that was varnished to a shine and all the brightly colored greens and whites and the care my dad took of this boat. The one next to us was in good shape considering her age but was showing all the signs of the care being practical instead of being done to make her look good. Everything was covered with many layers of old white paint.


We made our way out of Vero Beach yesterday and traveled to Titusville, staying at their Municipal Marina which is very nice, as they all have been so far. My docking skills are improving. There was enough maneuvering room here to allow us to counter the fairly brisk cross wind to our "back in" slip. I am beginning to handle the throttles and shifters with more instinct and authority which is necessary under such conditions.


On the way up the Indian River we passed Cape Canaveral and got a good view of the "vehicle assembly" building. We went under the bridge that connects the mainland with the cape. This is the only bridge in the state of Florida that has hours of operation for boat openings. There are large blocks of time at the morning and the afternoon rush hours that they will not open the bridge to let tall boats thru. Our boat height, fortunately was low enough we could pass under, there quite a grouping of boats taller than us that were "patiently" waiting for the rush hour to pass.


I will post some pictures with the next entry.


Tony n Pat