We made it to Daytona Beach early this afternoon, only about 2.5 hours from our inexpensive slip last night. I really like these short travel days. We were here and anchored in time to
Read
Check and respond to email and FB
Work on the door screens and skylight screen
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| David makes a screen...w/help from Amelia |
Make a couple of phone calls
Do some volunteer work for Freeport Players
Look at a couple of sailing zines
Prepare the grill
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| Safety first and I've not cooked on this grill in 3+ years |
Have a long conversation via text with Lavers Pond neighbor, Landon
And now... catch up w/the blog
You'd think this was Christmas vacation!
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| The beach is to the right, a short drive/long, long walk away |
Easy travels down the ICW, especially when we stick to "high tide rising." Of course we do not do so completely, but are now planning our travel more effectively by planning to use, rather than fight the current (pretty tricky with all the inlets we pass); and choosing which places we will transit when tide is falling or low. This means some shorter days. It also means a heck of a lot less heartburn!
So, we have reached Daytona, where I have planned on doing some needed maintenance that I thought not wise to do while in transit:
Along with 400 hour oil and tranny fluid change, and a valve adjustment routine, we have some upgrades to do.
New tranny cooler (old one unknown age and we are told, suspect and prone to leaking after 2000 hours). Also plan to upgrade at least one hydraulic line that has been compromised by unintentional chafe we detected during one of the daily "look at everything" routines. (whew!}
New oil filter bracket, so our oil changes will be less of a nightmare (you might recall we have, in the past changed oil filters in extremely cramped quarters and eventually had to clean oil out of the bilges. Hopefully the new filter housing will resolve the five hour oil changes!)
Time for a new impeller. No problems yet, and that is the way we hope the whole trip will be.
Some thoughts on navigation: We are using Navionics Charts that we have upgraded several times. I find them basically functional and yet, in spite of their claims of regular updating, they are buggy. Missing buoys and sometimes duplicate buoys on the electronic charts. None the less, we have found we can trust them (the one exception being, never trust the "magenta line" over the physical buoys you encounter. (The Magenta Line is the line that traces the preferred route down the whole ICW) The magenta line is not perfect; sometimes going into shallow water and sometimes on the wrong side of a red or green. It helps one identify the actual ICW route, especially in a confusing intersection of channels and buoys, but it is only an aide, not a a god. Trust the buoys and your depth sounder.
In addition to Navionics, we are using "Active Captain," supported through Garmin Blue Charts. Using their web site, we can get and rely upon other cruisers experiences at each location along the route, to anticipate both problem areas and resources.
About cruiser friendly ports:
St. Augustine, FL has a good municipal marina. There is a small business called "Port of Call" (interestingly, run by several people who live on boats) that provides an amazing shuttle services for cruisers; picking people up at the marina each morning at 9 and 11 and taking them to the most frequented farmers market, marine stores and grocery stores and diverting to other places as possible (did I say ABC [alcohol beverage control] store?)
If I had looked a little closer, I would have found out if the marina or city were sponsors of the shuttle. For me, now, the question is: Is this a place that works to make it easy for cruisers to spend money or is this place where cruisers have overcome the hurdles of the local structure to make it work?
I hear that one of the marine stores currently refuses to be a sponsor of the shuttle because, in spite of the fact that a lot of cruisers spend money there, they "don't like cruisers." Does that not rub a blister raw?
Florida Pirates and wharf rats: We are now entering urban Florida where pirates and water rats prevail. Having lived here in the late 1970s I come with my eyes (I hope) somewhat wide open. From now on, more frequently, unfortunately, waterway traveling is more like walking in a crowd of pickpockets. Pull your belongings in more tightly.
Happy Solstice!
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