Boating with Sunset Delight: 2020: FL Mooring Ball from Hell

5 May 2020

Depart: Mosquito Lagoon Anchorage near Titusville, FL 8:20

Arrive: St Augustine, FL – Marina Mooring Ball 6:15

Distance: 79 nm

We started raising the anchor at 8:00. However, with the paper-thin pieces of vegetation that refused to be washed off, we did not leave the anchorage until 20 minutes later. Clark spent a bit of time trying to decide our destination for this evening. He found an anchorage 30 nm away but thought that would be too short of a travel day. He decided to hold plans A and B in his pocket and see how the day played out.

The anchorage Clark chose last night had a shallow section we had to cross to get back on the ICW. I decided to station keep until he was done with the anchor and then let him navigate us across the low waters. After he got us going in the right direction, i.e. northward on the ICW, he gave me the helm, so he could catch up on email, etc. He said, “There’s a long slow-speed section where you can drive.”

Slow Speed on the ICW

I have to wonder why it is that it gets interesting when I take the helm. We were traveling along the slow-speed, narrow waterway with very little boat traffic, and everything was going well. Coming up ahead, I noticed 4 boats spanning the width of the channel --- 3 kayaks and 1 small runabout. I was considering how to get around them.

As we got closer, I noticed the runabout say goodbye to the kayakers and head off. That looked good because then I should be able to find a space for our vessel to proceed forward. I continued to watch the kayaks carefully and was concerned that the paddlers did not seem to notice my approach (or did not care). That made me nervous.

Then what did they do? Instead of staying to their side, they decided to paddle across the channel directly in front of me. I squawked, Clark looked up quick from his email and pulled back on the throttle to put the engines in neutral. That should have given them room to cross as we coasted forward.

Unfortunately, at that precise moment, the man in the middle of the trio flipped his kayak. He went under, his kayak went one way, and his paddle and equipment on board went another. He was not wearing a life jacket, but he did have 2 floatation cushions. It looked like he could swim, or perhaps he was using the cushions and kayak to stay up. It was impossible to see exactly, but he was clearly struggling with the situation.

I thought, having myself been in a kayak with big boats around, if that was me, I would be freaking terrified looking at this big boat coming down on me. Fortunately, Clark had already thrown the engines into reverse to stop all forward motion. All we could do at that point was sit and watch the rest of the show.

With help of one of his co-boaters, the very-wet-boater managed to get the kayak right side up. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried he could not drag himself into the kayak without flipping it over again. I ran to the cockpit of our boat and yelled to him that he could use our swim platform as a way to get back into his kayak if he wanted. Unfortunately, the current carried him past our boat so fast, he just shook his head sadly, as if to say, “What can I do?”, as he drifted past at relatively high speed. Clearly, he could not get anywhere near our swim platform. All I could do was watch him float by as he was too far away from me for me to be of any assistance.

Fortunately, a small boat came along just then, and the pilot but his boat in the path of the kayak. The kayaker’s friend grabbed hold of the errant kayak, and the boater on the small boat hauled the water-logged boater out of the water and into his craft. Show over, Clark pushed the throttles forward once more and we were on our way. A woman sitting in a fishing boat, whom I had not noticed through all this, was close enough to talk to me and said, “That was a nice offer though!”

Kayak in the water

Wet kayaker pulled into small boat

Just after that, we came upon the Bissit Bay Fish Camp where we saw a man standing in the water working hard trying to start the outboard on his rowboat. Clark worried that the guy might have it in gear, and if it started, it might take off without the owner and head towards our boat as a torpedo. Fortunately, he was still pulling on the cord repeatedly even after we were past. Phew!

Man trying to start boat
(behind dock – too slow on the camera)

After that, Clark kept one eye on his email and one eye on the waterway. We found no more craft directly in our path, but we saw some folks out enjoying the water.

SUPs and beach-goers aka sandbar dwellers ...

Clark finally got through his email. I managed not to run over anyone.

We eventually got as far as New Smyrna Beach where Clark decided to check out the Ponce de Leon inlet as a way to get us out into the ocean and freedom. He made the decision to “go for it”, and instead of turning left to stay on the ICW, we continued straight and went out the inlet.

We have never traveled this particular inlet before, so Clark said, “Take pictures!” So I did!

Watch depth, stay in channel

Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse

Lookout tower at beach

The Shallows in the Inlet

One last look back towards New Smyrna Beach

Yay! The ocean!

The shoreline curves inwards between New Smyrna Beach and St. Augustine where we decided to tuck in for the night. Clark set one waypoint at the St. Augustine inlet, and we sat back and relaxed for the ride. The ocean water was basically flat! We had a cool breeze! Nirvana!

Until …

Clark picked up the binoculars for a look around. He never expected to see what he saw. Bugs! Lots of bugs! In the air – three miles offshore! Comin our way!

Shortly after, we had tons of lovebugs landing on the boat and making themselves at home.

On the glass of the full enclosure

On the dinghy cover

Called Lovebugs because they are alway mating!

I looked up black bugs with orange heads on Google, and there I read all about lovebugs and how thoroughly disgusting they are. Even birds don’t eat them because they are too acidic. They mate, the male dies, and they leave a mess in their wake. With precious few options to deal with the pests, Clark suggested we get his bug weapon of choice – his Ryobi hand-held vacuum cleaner.

We sucked up a large quantity of them. That got them off the boat and off me, but then I could see them walking around inside the opaque dustbin section of the vacuum. It did not kill them; it just collected them. Then I saw a few clever ones find their way out the in slot, so I sucked them back up again.

Clark suggested stuffing something in the nozzle so they could not escape. I thought about it and decided that maybe I could suffocate them if I soaked a piece of paper towel in Vicks VapoRub and stuffed that in the nozzle. I think that just got them drunk as they seemed to stagger around inside. Clark laughed at me as I stared at the vacuum in morbid curiosity. “Why don’t they die!?”, I bemoaned. I told him I expected to have nightmares tonight, and he said, “Then stop looking at them!” I just could not stop!

Then I remembered I had a can of Raid on board left over from the previous owners. Hoping it did not go bad in 4-years’ time, I pulled out my paper towel, squirted in Raid, and plugged the hole back up again. Now they had VapoRub and Raid, and still they walked around in there. Still not out of ideas, I placed the vacuum in the sun thinking that it might have a greenhouse effect. I am not sure what worked, but finally, they succumbed to the fumes, heat, or both!

Surprisingly, I noticed that, as we approached the St. Augustine inlet, most of the bugs had abandoned ship. We only captured the ones inside the full enclosure area. We had others everywhere else that I couldn’t deal with as we traveled. I was happy to see that most had left on their own.

St. Augustine Inlet

We got into St. Augustine just before 6:00. Clark called the city marina and asked for our mooring ball assignment. At $25 for the night, we decided it was a great way to spend a night. We did not have to get off the boat as we could pay over the phone. Coronavirus free solution!

Clark and I usually go for a marina or anchor. We have only used a mooring ball a few times in our boating experiences. Last time we stayed on a mooring ball in St. Augustine, I laid down on the bow and reached down to grab the line attached to the mooring ball. We got feedback afterwards that it is best to pick up the ball in the stern and walk the lines up to the bow after.

So … I armed myself with my headset so Clark and I could talk, my boat pole to reach the ball, and two lines to feed through the eye of the mooring ball. Clark has limited visibility on our current boat. After a certain point, he could not see the mooring ball or me. He has to rely on me to be his eyes and tell him what to do.

Well, we had wind and we had strong current. Clark said it looked like we should grab the ball from the port side, so I lined my stuff up there with boat pole in hand ready to go. As Clark drove the boat past the ball, I told him he was too close to the ball. It was too near the bow. He was going to hit the ball. He was going over the ball. OMG! The mooring ball went under the boat! “Where is it? Where is it?”, says Clark. “I don’t see it. I don’t see it!”, I replied. I looked port. I looked starboard. Finally, there it was – behind the boat! Phew!

Okay, let’s make another pass and try from starboard this time. I dragged my gear across the cockpit and prepared myself for war with the mooring ball. As we passed, I got it with my hook! I got near enough to get my lines through the eye. Then, it all went to hell.

Where I started out on the starboard side, the ball first moved to stern and then crossed to port with me chasing it. I had the lines in my hand but they got snagged on the dock box we have in our cockpit. I kept telling Clark I needed him to get the stern to port, but his thruster was no match for the strong current. He could not hold us there; I could not get the lines untangled with the force of the pull on the line by the mooring ball.

I had a decision to make. Let go of the lines I had connected to the ball or have the lines pull me overboard. I could feel I would get rope burn shortly if I tried to hang on any longer. Sadly, I dropped the lines and watched them whisk through the eye of the ball to leave us free to attack once more.

Having just wrestled the beast and lost big time, my heart was racing, I was shaking, and I was out of breath. I told Clark he would have to hold on a minute before we could go again. How are we going to do this!? I walked up to the bow to take a look. No way would that work. The ball was way way down below me. Then I decided to split the difference and try to grab the ball at midships.

I told Clark where I planned to stand and that I planned to only try for one line to begin with and we could add the second line later. With a new tactic, we came at the beast for a fight to the finish. Success! I got the ball. I got a line through. I even managed to hold onto it long enough to get to the bow. I got first one line tied with a cleat hitch and then the other end tied with a cleat hitch on top of that. It was ugly but it was holding. I told Clark to leave the helm and come help get the second line on.

Without even realizing it, I had tied the first line so short that it was an easy reach for Clark to put a second line through the eye. After he did that, I asked him to clean up my messy cleat hitches, which he did. My heart was still racing, but I felt proud! I had wrestled the beast, and I had won!