Mar 122017
 

We heard that the railroad bridge would be opening manually as needed today. We decided to head out despite hearing bad weather is coming in later tonight. Winds would be 9 mph on the anchor.

We headed out and easily passed through St. Lucie Lock with 2 other boats. As we traveled closer to the inlet we noticed that boat traffic was significantly less than when Scott and I came through a couple months ago. The marinas were not as busy either.

We headed toward the Hutchinson Island area just north of the St. Lucie Inlet to check out an anchor spot. At that time our new Simrad electronics decided to take a dive and we lost info. Scott managed to get her working again but not with all his settings. We had to abort the anchorage at this area and traveled south of the inlet to Peck Lake. We scouted this area when we were through the last time and thought it would be a great spot.

Peck Lake has about 10 foot depths at high tide. We anchored in with about 10 other boats. The day was sunny and warm. The area at the Atlantic side is a nature preserve and we were able to take the dingy to shore and tie to a tree. There is a short path of about 3 minute walk to the beach directly by the “danger sign”. This beacon is mainly for weather and readings. We walked about 2 km before heading back to the ICW. The wind was breezy. There is a natural barrier where you can see the reef out on the horizon where it breaks the water before it gets to the beach. Excellent snorkeling in this area according to sites that we have been looking at.

The main reason for coming here is “bathtub reef”. Just north of Peck Lake near Hutchinson Island is the area on the Atlantic side known as the “bathtub” for snorkeling. It is about 3 feet deep at low tide and 5 feet at high tide. It has been created by sea critters where the reef creates a “bathtub” for other critters to live. We really want to do this so we are hunkering down to watch the weather as this cold front passes. The winds will get stronger by tomorrow night so snorkeling is out of the question until at least Wednesday.

Instead of snorkeling we took the dingy to an area just north of Peck Lake. Traveling along the island to the north of Peck Lake there is a small inlet into a “reserve”. We find it and travel in through a tiny passage where we hear the snapping crabs make themselves known. We see wildlife that isn’t afraid of us humans. Birds in trees within a few feet is one of the highlights. It’s about a 10 minutes slow dingy ride into the open area. We didn’t find much in there other than shoals that we had the dingy stuck on. No biggy, it’s a dingy became the motto. It was an interesting “cruise”. As we made our way back out we watched a storm to our north. We knew we wouldn’t make it back before it started. Sure enough the skies opened and we became drenched quickly. About 200 ft from the boat the dingy quit. The gas tank had turned on its side cutting off flow to the engine. In the pouring rain and 200 ft away from our mother ship Scott is getting the “Low Voltage” going again. She takes about 8 pulls before she gets underway.

It’s been a day where our electronics decide to do whatever it is that they aren’t supposed to do. We decide to watch a movie and our media player decides not to work. Scott is more than frustrated after the Simrad quits, the gas flips to the dingy engine and then the media player.

Tomorrow we decide to stay at a marina with 25 mph winds coming in. I’m guessing we’ll be working on, you guessed it, electronics.

 Posted by at 3:14 AM
Mar 112017
 

Scott made his way from Nashville to get the boat ready and put back in the water for when Aiden and I would fly in. He had a great flight and landed in West Palm Beach Airport where he rented a car for a couple days. Conductance is scheduled for a splash the day after Scott arrived. She’s dirty and a bit dusty after being on the hard for a couple months. Until then Scott must spend the night with no power, water or amenities and it’s hot. Not a breeze.

During the day Scott heard news that the railroad bridge just east of the marina had a maintenance issue. They closed the swing bridge blocking boat traffic for those higher than a few feet. Boats were backed up and anchored on the waterway until Saturday morning. The marina became full.

Aiden and I would be landing a day later coming in on Friday. Unfortunately there was a large storm over NYC where our plan was coming from which delayed us for over 2 hours. Scott drove from the marina to Orlando, a 2 hour drive, to meet us after dark. Scott was able to catch up on some maintenance, laundry and make some new friends. There are a lot of Canadians in this marina. We eventually arrived back at the boat and settled in for the night around 1:00 AM.

Today, Saturday, we heard that the bridge was opening occasionally and then closing at 6:00 pm for the night. A work crew is out there trying to get her working but opening manually throughout the day on a scheduled basis. We were doing groceries, washing the boat, cleaning up and trying to get everything put away and missed the openings. We decided to stay at the marina 1 more night. That led to coconut hunting, husking and eating fresh coconuts.

Now that the night has fallen the sun has a warm glow on the horizon above the tree line. We are lucky to have resident alligators, flying fish and the boys saw an armadillo. The boys had made their way to the Okeechobee waterway and flew Aiden’s plane. He’s been excited to fly again and the regular boats had stopped coming now that the bridge is closed for the night.
We have 12 hours of sunlight now. It’s daylight savings time with the clocks going forward tonight which gives us an hour less of sun in the morning to leave early. Sunrise is 7:30 AM.

Tomorrow we are anchoring however the forecast is for thunderstorms and rain. A cold front is starting its way through. We’ll see how long it lasts.

 Posted by at 9:34 AM