Moving south in Florida

2/10/06 We sailed 47 miles down Intercoastal waterway from Melbourne, FL to Ft. Pierce, FL today. We will be here for the weekend with a rental car which we will use to provision for the trip to the Bahamas. Next week we will continue south to West Palm Beach where we will make final preparations for crossing the Gulf Stream. Susan Tonon, who crewed with us on the April attempt to cross the Gulf Stream, will join us at Lake Worth.

2/9/06 Sailed from Titusville, FL to Melbourne, FL on our way south. Linda noticed that the filling in Oreo cookies was getting soft in the sunlight of the cockpit. We took this as the first official sign that we are finally in the south. When we were docking in Melbourne Barbara Oehler on their sailboat “My Dream” spotted us. We met Harry and Barbara and their dog Mercedes last spring heading north on the ICW. We had a delightful dinner and catching up conversation with them.

2/8/06 We traveled south on ICW from Palm Coast, FL to Titusville, FL. We passed the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral which we toured last spring and had a good view of the vehicle assembly building from the waterway. As we passed through Daytona Beach we called Jerry Nelson, David Nelson of Geneva’s father. We traveled 78 miles today- a long run for a sailboat on the ICW. We stayed at the Titusville Municipal Marina which is one of the friendliest and least expensive places we have stayed in Florida.

2/7/06 Today was a 58 mile day from Jacksonville Beach, FL to Pam Coast, FL. Going through the Palm Valley Cut (an area of shallow water where we ran aground last summer) we encountered a dredging crew who temporarily blocked the ICW with their dredge pipes. The depth of the northern end we came through was 5.5 feet, but after passing the dredge crew the new depth for the next five miles was 14 feet. Linda e-mailed Skipper Bob this information for his nest edition of his waterway guide. He replied immediately that her information would be included. Underway today Loy put snaps in the mosquito netting for the companionway.

2/6/08 In the marina we cleaned the windows of the enclosure, drilled holes in boards on the deck to which we tied the water, diesel and gasoline cans for the gulf crossing. Linda prepared a pork roast. We do eat well on Sandpiper thanks to Linda. Today the wind finally moderated and we left Fernandina Beach and traveled to Jacksonville, Fl.

2/3/06 We left Delaroche Creek today and tonight took shelter from the high winds at the Fernandina Harbor Marina, Fernandina Beach, FL. The wind and cold front continued through Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday with 30 to 40 knots. We enjoyed the break from traveling and walked the historic downtown of Fernandina Beach and sampled their fresh seafood. We built a rain catcher for the Bahamas from a shower drain and a blue tarp and hose and installed the navigation tool cabinet given to us by Claudia Tzucanow in Brunswick, GA from the boat she and her husband sailed for years.

On the dock we met Bryon and Karen Walton who were on vacation and enjoying looking at sailboats. We invited them onboard Sandpiper for beers and conversation about learning to sail and sailboat cruising. Bryon plans to take lessons and get started realizing his dream.