HANGING IN VERO BEACH
(Note that the publish date far beyond when I wrote this as we have been totally absorbed by travel )
It was a warm and gentle time at Vero Beach Municipal Marina where we picked up a mooring ball just off the marina dock (we were there for the second time, having arrived January 31) and this allowed us to reconnect with Phoebe, the twins, Bobbee and Erik here in Florida. After an unscheduled two week trip back to Maine for John Larsson's memorial service, our travels continued and both PM and I were chomping at the bit to be moving again. Our time in Vero Beach as moored residents at the marina allowed us to re-provision, refit (correcting for the last time, I hope, the idle adjust screw, and changing fluids for the genset and main) and review our cruising plan for 17 cruising days to Norfolk VA. We are scheduled to attend the AGLCA (America Great Loop Cruising Association) Rendezvous at Waterside Marina for 3 days in early May. But first we need to get there.
The community of Vero Beach is known as Velcro Beach to some and this is apt. The services there are really top notch: free municipal bus service, a world class art museum within walking distance of the marina, really good grocery and wine stores and (PM's favorite service) several greasy spoons and some not so greasy breakfast joints.
The biking there is really good as well as the roads all have off road paved paths or wide on road bike lanes. Bobbee's home at The Anchorage (named that as the gated residential development looks like an anchor from space) is a bit over 7 miles from the marina where we stayed and was very doable in under an hour. We made that journey many times as well as explored the community on both sides of the ICW while we were there. (I defer to PM to describe the reason we were here so long in her blog entry).
Well, we finally dropped the mooring pennant March 10 and headed for a north bound inside passage up the ICW to the Georgia line making between 30 and 40 miles (nautical) per day and selecting to anchor as often as opportunities presented themselves for a safe overnight. Our first stop after the 71st cruising day since departing our home-port in South Portland, Maine last July was Au Gollie and our last stop in Florida five days later Fernandina Beach. PM and I had kept a watchful eye out for the Florida Marine Patrol as, due to the unexpected delay for a trip back to Maine, we had overstayed our legal cruising days in Florida by 10 days. I do not recall any thing unusual about this route as no mechanical problems and no weather issues arose for our inside run north. The weather was pleasant, the days gentle and we found convenient stopping places each evening. We had a "daily dose of dolphin" seeing them play in our wake or bow wave several times a day. Our fuel burn averaged just under 2 gallons an hour. We cruised generally between 30 and 40 miles, 4-6 hours, each day but had one day of 62 miles, just under 10 hours, Our favorite stop was in Saint Augustine, where we delayed a day to take in some of the local sights. As we have been travelling along a narrow passage line, we have seen many familiar boats and have spent pleasant time with several of the crews. Most who do the "Great Loop" comment that it is the people they meet that are most memorable and we are beginning to agree as well.
The Florida portion of the ICW is very placid, passing million dollar homes and well tended lawns, well marked and recently dredged canals, and some open water. When we moved south in the fall, we had calmer weather and had taken outside passages along the Atlantic between safe inlets for several days, so much of what we saw going north were new vistas. Given the choice, I would go outside. Most of the ICW in Florida seems to be developed with marinas, homes of the uber- and not so uber-rich, retirement villages, towns and some cities, unlike what we discover as we move into Georgia, South and North Carolina and particularly Virginia.
We pulled into Brunswick Landing Marina, Brunswick, Georgia on March 15 and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. We had escaped Florida and a considerable fine for being scoff laws. The next couple of days, we anchored the first night at New Teakettle Creek, one of if not the favorite anchorage we have discovered, and the second night at Sapolo Island behind Thunderbolt, Georgia, The next eight days we stayed at docks as the currents and available safe anchorages made this a more prudent option. Our passage was again interrupted for a few days in Savannah, where we stayed at a dock on the very industrial river front, enjoying exploring this incredibly beautiful city, likely the most efficiently laid out municipality we have ever seen. I discovered in a town park a monument to my great great grandfather, Nathaniel Green, who had been a revolutionary war hero leading military operations along the southern coasts and lands under Washington and successfully defeating the British mercenary troops attempting to stifle the economy of the American colonies.
We arrived in South Carolina at the little town of Beaufort (pronounced Buford) after spending five days in Georgia and started to be challenged by the lack of recently dredged channels and well marked routes through these bucolic lowlands. The funds made available to the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) have been significantly reduced by the economic woes in Washington so to avoid groundings, these areas take considerable attention to our charts and the many temporary visual navigation aids. Although there were many many references to OMGs (Oh My God moments) and NDEs (Near Death Experiences) made in the cruising guides and on Active Captain, we successfully transited the state without incident. Both PM and I have concluded that most of the problem areas noted are such because captains slave their auto pilots to the chart plotter. We found the charted passage line often took us over dry ground. We always use common sense in areas prone to shoaling and depend on our most valuable navigating tool, our eyes.
The North Carolina border was reached March 27 and the Virginia line by the 31st. We anchored in the Alligator River at another of our favorite spots on March 30, made a perfectly calm ideal passage across Pamlico Sound and Albemarle Sound the next day and made Coinjock Marina on the Alligator/Pongo Canal, which stop provided us some delectable pickled artichoke, highly recommended.
Passage up the canal to Vining's Marina, Norfolk took two days, stopping at the free canal wall at Great Bridge for haircuts and some surprising good local food at the park adjacent to our wall. We stayed a month or at least VELOMER stayed a month at this convenient marina in Little Creek, as this was time we used to refit, re-provision, catch up on bright-work, thoroughly clean inside and out and return to Maine to spend a few weeks with the Greenleafs (see PM's blog for this description).
As we continue along the waters of the east coast and soon the inland waters of the "Great Loop", we have adjusted our cruising style to take advantage of cheaper rates for longer stays and to explore the stops more than we had last year. This has given us a much more thorough appreciation of the history of this country, particularly the maritime history of the 17th and 18th century, and also allowed for a much less tiring journey. Perhaps we may make the decision to take even longer to do this trip, although the current plan to is be back in Key West for Christmas.
Well so much for catching up. Next we head north after the Rendezvous and return to unexplored stops in Chesapeake Bay (Annapolis here we come), the C&D Canal, Delaware Bay and the dreaded lee shore of Jersey.
Stay tuned you passionate voyeurs.
