Biscaye Bay, Florida - Last USA day for 2019

We went ashore to fill up our jerry cans of diesel and gasoline.  There sure are a lot of really nice big boats in south Miami!!!

Once Leslie arrived in the afternoon, we pulled anchors and headed east to No Name Harbour just at the inlet to Biscayne Bay.

Last USA sunset for 2019....we'll leave 4AM'ish and head across the Gulf Stream to Bimini!

Biscayne Bay, Florida

We're just hanging around, waiting on Leslie to arrive today.

Ralph took us on an afternoon wander around the cute "little" town of Coconut Grove.  I say that with a grain of salt because it's really a bustling upscale town that's huge and noisy in comparison to what I'm used to in NC. 


On the way into town we spied a huge manatee lumbering along next to the pier.  So cool. It's about 10-12 feet long.   If you look close at it's left side you can see the scars/marks where it's been run over by a propeller at some point in it's life.   That's why we are supposed to move very slowly in the marked Manatee Zones to allow them time to get out of the way of our propellers.

We'll be heading about an hour east this afternoon to an anchorage near the ocean inlet.  At about 4AM we'll head to Bimini!!  Should be a terrific sail.

Biscayne Bay

We are just in a bit of a relaxed holding pattern for Leslie to arrive Saturday.

Previous Manta owners saw us sailing past Miami yesterday morning at dawn and hailed us on the VHF to say hello.  They sent me this photo - always fun to have a photo of Sojourn under sail - since I can't take that photo myself!!

Sunrise this morning - just peeking out behind the high-rise buildings.

Vero Beach to Biscayne Bay (Miami)

Still chilly when we left Vero Beach.   Like 60 degrees.  Which may sound warm but I'm looking for 75+ !!

Out the Fort Pierce channel.

A few hours into the day, I saw this pretty spinnaker approaching.  As it got closer it was clear that it was a pretty big boat.

They tacked and came close to us.  We were also under sail going about 6.5 knots.  They were screaming along at 14+ knots!

They got really close (I assume on purpose) the crew was all dressed alike in dark uniforms.  I got one casual wave.  Most of the crew looked somber.   Maybe we were in their way?? 

Looks like they've got Kevlar sails.  So definitely a racing boat.

As they passed I could see their name - Chessie Racing.  The boat Chessie, is the first ever entry from the Chesapeake Bay in the famous Whitbread Round the World Race.

Just a minute or two later they crossed in front of us and were soon far away.

That was about the only excitement for the day.  Beautiful sunset and small waves.

Couldn't really ask for a more peaceful 23 hours!

At first light I could see the Miami skyline.

As the sun was rising....

We went in the Biscayne Bay channel to avoid the busy Miami shipping lane.

A closer view of downtown Miami.

And within a couple of hours Ralph and crew on Now & Zen arrived to the Dinner Key anchorage.  We'll get cleaned up and settled before the make our way ashore.  We'll be here a couple of days so no rush.

Vero Beach

We'll be leaving this morning for an offshore run to Miami.  It  will be about 23 hours. 

Had a beautiful sunrise - hopefully this will be our last semi-chilly night this year!! 

Vero Beach

A busy day at Vero.  

Finally found sunshine!!!  Rafted up with Dany from No Mer-sea.  Nice fellow, he is picking up some last minute perishables for me at the store today.  Cruisers are great folks.

Went ashore to the marina for wonderfully long hot showers with no need to conserve water!  The grounds are lush and green.

 Did a big load of laundry and we looked like the vagabonds that we are for a few hours. 

Then we met up with 3 other Manta owners - Scott & Tina from Sangaris,  Victor from Esmeralda and Stan & Beth from Scout.  Had a wonderful few hours visiting.  Interesting fact - Duane and Stan were in the same graduating class at East Henderson High.  Amazing that they both are sailing the same exact boat.  They haven't been in contact in 35+ years but appeared to enjoy the reunion.   We'll meet up with them again this evening before we head offshore tomorrow.

 Back to the dinghy dock the restaurant had a lighted area - hundreds of catfish were swarming....kinda eerie!!! 

Cocoa Beach to Vero Beach

Still dreary out here!!!

Lots of pretty fancy houses along the waterfront as we get further south.

Arrived at Vero Beach and rafted up with No Mer'sea a Canadian monohull.  Fueled up and topped off the water tanks.  We sipped fuel over the past couple of days because we only ran one engine.

Will meet up with some Manta folks later while we get ready for our offshore sail to Miami.  The weatherman promises sunny and 74 degrees today!!

Daytona to Cocoa Beach

We left early because we had a long day ahead.....still dreary skies as we pass the high rise condos at Daytona.

This is for those interested in bridge clearance heights.  Usually, the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) bridges have about 64+ feet of clearance under them.  These boards are on each bridge so that boaters can read the clearance height at all times as the tides change.

Many sailboats have around 64 mast heights just for this reason - to get the most performance out of the sails that is possible for the size of boat and still be able to transit the ICW.  Our mast is somewhere around 60' so we don't have to worry much about bridge clearances.   With the strong winds there are apparently abnormally high tides lately - and many sailors would be watching these boards very closely.   A boat like our old Glory Days would simply have to wait for low tide at each bridge before transiting.  Would make for  a very slow trip down the ICW!
 

Underway Duane got the watermaker pump installed and operational after some adjustments.

 The scenery for a good part of the journey today.  Still dreary. 

But finally found some sunshine!  Anchored at Cocoa Beach and will move to Vero Beach tomorrow.

St. Augustine to Daytona Beach

Quite a dreary day.....we were up at dawn to taxi Ed and Cathy from their boat so they could leave their dinghy hanging on the davits for the next 3 weeks while they visit their family on land.

It was pouring rain, but warm. Looks uncomfortable, but really was not.  (Photo stolen from Cathy).

Cathy looking drenched too!  Didn't get a photo of Ed as he was pulling the car around.  We'll miss them but they'll catch up with us in the Bahamas in December hopefully!

Passing another Manta "No More Mondays 2.0" on the way back to our boat.  We'll probably see them in the Bahamas also!  Going to be a lot of Mantas this winter!!

Underway to Daytona, lots of scenery, it was just overcast.

 What the cockpit looked like during the day!

More bridges along the way....

 We needed just a bit of fuel to get us all the way to Vero Beach in a few days so, once anchored at Daytona, we dropped the dinghy and took a little ride for some cans of diesel from the nice folks at Halifax Harbour Marina.

 Back to the boat for an early evening.   On to Cocoa Beach tomorrow.

St. Augustine

We drove into town with Ed and Cathy to go to a marine consignment store.  Was a lot of fun looking thru the piles of parts  - scored some really heavy stainless hinges to replace the small ones on our refrigerator and freezer. 

St. Augustine is just such a pretty town!  Even in the dreary weather.

Huge live oaks and Spanish moss everywhere.

Since this was our last day with Ed and Cathy, we joined them at a little nearby restaurant for conversation and a nice meal.  Jim and Bentley from Salty Paws joined us also for drinks - but I forgot to get a photo.  No worries, we'll probably see them in the Bahamas in a month or two.

We'll leave St. Augustine this morning and head further south and try to escape this rainy weather!

St. Augustine

Yesterday was one of those yucky windy rainy days.....much reading and a few chores accomplished.   It would have been very wet to have tried to leave the boat....

This evening I used the last of the sweet peppers my brother and sis-in-law gave us to make some very yummy curry.  Just right for a dreary night.  Served over a mix of wild and jasmine rice. 

St. Augustine

Settling in for the next few days at St. Augustine. 

On the offshore leg 2 days ago Duane tested the water maker for the first time this year.  We test it offshore because the water is clean there.  (You don't want to suck in harbour water to make fresh water - all kinds of nasty stuff is in harbour water!!)

Unfortunately, the water pump bearings had frozen over the summer of non-use....so after some troubleshooting Duane decided the best course of action is to get a new pump.  We're having that shipped to Ed and Cathy's PO box just a 1/2 hour away.

This is where the pump is mounted - the board is kindof yucky with stains and rust......

Nothing a little white paint won't fix!

Normal chores - washing all the "long pants" we'd worn this last week.  I took them in to the marina laundromat.  It's cheaper to pay the $4.00 per load than run the diesel generator on the boat.  Plus we're in water-conserve mode until we get in clear water again.

At the marina was a cool boat.  It's called Eagle - and it has a huge vertical wing exactly like an airplane wing.   You can read about it here.


Looks like a wild ride and it can reach speeds of 25-35 knots! 

After the laundry was done I schlepped it back to the dinghy dock....waiting on me there was this huge heron.   You'll note in the background if you look close,  another white heron.  They seem unconcerned about us humans, just moving a short way away to perch at another spot.  Don't know why they stand around on the docks as it doesn't look like anyone feeds them.

And the end of the day was at the White Lion for a cruisers happy hour.  Lots of folks we already knew from last year's Bahamas.  Most everyone is headed back again this year so we'll probably run into most of them at some point.

The 3 Manta couples - Sojourn, Now & Zen and What If.

And this morning - this is the view in the anchorage.  Lots of wave action and wind - effects of the cold front that has the rest of the country in an icebox.  We are still in shorts but the  highs today will be in the 60's.  Probably a stay-on-the-boat day today since a dinghy ride would be wet and chilly!