2020: Cocoa to Palm Beach FL

12 December 2020

Depart: Cocoa Free Dock 9:15

Arrive: Private Dock Vero Beach, FL 3:30

Distance: 46.5 nm

Conditions: Considerable Cloudiness 

Until well after midnight I could hear music coming from the Park with the pavilion across the street from the park where we docked for the night. That music must have been extremely loud to be audible inside our closed up boat at least a block away from the pavilion. At some point, despite the music, I drifted off to sleep.

With no need for an anchor washdown and no power cord connected to shore power, we made a quick getaway from the dock. I readied the lines for departure while Clark started the engines. I pulled the lines in quickly when Clark said he was ready and we were off!

Bye Bye Cocoa, FL

Free Dock at Cocoa, FL

I laughed when I heard the report on the weather station "Considerable Cloudiness". It seemed an understatement!

By 12:00, my phone said the air temperature was  74 degrees. With a cold wind gusting to 25 knots in our faces, it felt nowhere near 70 anything!

We are both still a bit nervous about the engine, and today I could smell smoke while standing in the pilot house. Clark could not smell it up on the flybridge. Of course we had to investigate the source. Turns out it was not coming from the boat. Phew!

"I smell smoke!"

"There's the source!"

With Clark and I both bundled up against the cold wind, we could not believe our eyes when we saw a boat with two people in it dressed for a hot summer day. The woman, wearing a bikini, reached way over the bow of their small boat to try to tie the boat to a marker.

"Don't fall off!"

She finally gave up trying to get the line around the pole and tied off to the metal framework instead.

"That's better!"

We continue to see sunken sailboats as we travel through Florida. We saw one underwater today and one near to it with shredded sails!

Sunken sailboat (front)
Shredded sail on sailboat (rear)

Even though our friend Don was out of town, he offered us the use of his dock for the night. When we got to the dock, our friends that moved to Vero Beach from New Jersey met us at the dock to grab our lines. Sadly, instead of sitting down to chat or going out to dinner, we kept our distance and talked with our masks on. They left after a too short time, and we settled in for the night.

Sunset at Vero Beach, FL

13 December 2020

Depart: Private Dock Vero Beach 9:50

Arrive: Lake Worth Anchorage #2 5:55

Distance: 61 nm

Conditions: Sunny, High of 78 predicted, Hot when no wind

Should we go or should we stay? When I went to be last night I thought it was very clear that Clark wanted to stay an additional night at our friend's dock. This morning, Clark surprised me by saying we would be leaving as soon as we were ready to go. I scrapped my plans for a shower and a bike ride and got ready to pull in the lines so we could get underway.

As we passed through Fort Pierce, we started to see more and more interesting sights on the water.

This island is for the birds!

Pizza anyone?

Another island with a smattering of drift wood.

Jet skis!

Sun sparkling on the water.

Fort Pierce Municipal Marina

Fort Pierce Municipal Marina

Clark was disappointed when the satellite launch was put on hold on the 11th. I looked this morning and found that it was rescheduled for today at 11:20 and then promptly forgot all about it. The launch did happen today at 12:30 while I was in the salon eating lunch. Clark said he heard the word "launch" on the VHF radio, turned around, and saw the evidence of the launch.

Sirius XM Satellite is the squiggly line in the sky!

What a difference a day makes in Florida! Yesterday we were chilly with jackets on. Today, it felt like summertime. A lot of the scenes we saw today made it feel like I had traveled into some alternate reality where the weather was beautiful and no pandemic existed. Being a Sunday and a hot, sunny day, we saw jet skis, water skiers, a sailing club outing, paddleboards, kayaks, and lots of party boats. 

Just a small sample of the group of sailboats out 
enjoying the beautiful day.

Dressed for summer

Hanging out at a sandbar

Fishing from a paddleboard

Partying on the Pon Tiki party boat

Rafting up big time

Another, separate group of partiers

All together on the black-hulled boat

Just a few feet down the waterway and very near the partiers, we saw these two, lone observers of social distancing.

We saw more than one water skier out on the water today. They appeared to be very skilled. One of them appeared reckless as he "walked" up the tow line and then skied on the wake right next to the outboard motor of the boat. So dangerous! Clark stopped filming before the skier got that far.

Besides the amazing party atmosphere on the water today, we did see some other interesting sights.

With just a bit of decoration ...
a Gingerbread House

Vessel "Who Cares" - 115' long and 26' wide
What amazed me on this one was the height!

Jupiter Lighthouse

Santa!

Christmas Tree

Unique Cloud Formations

And our personal favorite ... 

A man leaning over the side of a moving boat
using a hose to washdown the side of the boat.
Why!!!???

We could not decide where to anchor. We passed the first possibility at 2:00 and felt it was too early to call it a day. We passed the Sandbar Anchorage and decided it was too busy.

Wading at the Sandbar Anchorage

We continued on towards the Lake Worth inlet looking for another opportunity. At 4:45 we considered another but decided that it might be a bit shallow, so we kept going. As we traveled, we encountered many slow speed minimum wake or idle speed zones to slow our travels while littler boats swarmed around and passed us like so many bees.

As we progressed towards our next anchoring option, Clark followed a Bob423 route on the chart. Unfortunately, right at the point where he needed to jog around a shallow spot, he found his way blocked by a little boat that cut the corner. I happened to have chosen that moment to be in the head. I nearly went headfirst into the toilet as the boat bumped bottom. 

At moments like this, I am ever so glad that I was not the one piloting the boat. Clark had to do some fancy maneuvering to get the boat out of there. He revved the boat in reverse to get off and found a little boat coming up behind blocking his escape. He moved again and bumped bottom a second time. He revved the boat in reverse again to get off. 

By this time I had made it to the pilot house from the head, and I was hanging on to the furniture with my heart racing. When I deemed it safe to move, I climbed the ladder up to the flybridge to get the full scoop from Clark on what had happened. It took a while for both of our hearts to stop racing!

We continued on our way hoping to reach an anchorage before dark. Clark brought the RPMs up a bit to check for a shudder from potential prop damage. We did not sense any problems and kept going. As Clark looked for a reasonable spot to drop the hook, I passed the time taking pictures of the sun setting.

The sun went down at 5:29, and so when we dropped anchor at 5:55, it was twilight.  After dinner I finally got that shower that I missed out on before departure this morning! We did what we have done for the past few nights watching a Christmas movie.

2020: Daytona Beach to Cocoa FL

11 December 2020

Depart: Bethune Park Anchorage, Daytona Beach, FL 9:15

Arrive: Cocoa Free Dock 4:45

Distance: 56 nm

Conditions: Fluctuating from cold to hot depending on wind and sun direction

Last night was our first night on anchor for a while. I definitely felt the lack of heat as we no longer had access to shore power. Our stateroom showed a whopping great 59 degrees when it came time to climb out of bed. I found it very hard to get motivated and climb out from under the electric blanket.

Around 9:00 Clark went forward to start working the anchor. Before leaving, he wanted to remove the bird poop that was encrusted on the anchor pulpit from our stay at the St. Augustine marina. Our railing must have been used as a roost a lot because the dried dung was caked on and would not come off. After using the saltwater washdown to no avail, he came in the boat to retrieve a scraper to remove it. With that out of the way, we had our anchor up and were on our way a few minutes later.

Morning view of the bridge near last night's anchorage

View of anchorage from ICW

Having traveled the ICW multiple times now, we found the views much the same as on past trips through here. We did have the pleasure of dolphins joining us for a portion of today's journey.

Last night we enjoyed seeing the launch of a spy satellite. Today, we anticipated the launch of a SiriusXM satellite scheduled around lunchtime. I understood the launch to be set for 11:20 a.m. Somewhere Clark had seen the time as 11:00. Therefore, at 11:00 he was already chomping at the bit to watch and get photos of the launch. I checked on Google and confirmed the time as 11:20. 

He settled down to wait for 11:20 to arrive. When it got close, he got all anxious again about catching the action. While he got his phone and camera ready to take pictures, I checked the website and found the launch delayed until 12:55. We continued navigating south and ate lunch.

Clark was piloting and I was reading news on my phone. In preparation for the launch, he took pre-photos on both his phone and the camera.

At 12:50 he reminded me about the launch (as if I could forget with his antics) and handed me the camera. "You take pictures on the camera while I take pictures on my phone!" I continued to read. At 12:53 he was posed with his phone in a ready-to-take-picture position waiting, no-so-patiently, for 12:55 to arrive. He demonstrated concern that I was not in a similar anticipatory pose. 

No way did I plan to hold my arms up in front of my face for 2 minutes. Instead I decided to verify the launch time. The website still showed the launch scheduled for 12:55 p.m. Well 12:55 came and 12:55 went with no rocket in sight.  At 12:58 Clark finally put his arms down and turned of his phone saying he was concerned about using up his battery. Meanwhile I found a different website that said that the launch was on hold due to too many cumulus clouds in the sky. (The picture above does not due the heavy cloud cover justice.) 

Clark was clearly disappointed that the launch did not happen today. An hour later he was still looking at the sky and pointing out the fact that, by then, the clouds had mostly dissipated. The launch window closed at 1:30. It no longer mattered if there were clouds or not.

Given we were close to Cape Canaveral, it came as no surprise, but was still cool, to see the NASA Railroad Bridge and the NASA Causeway Bridge.

Looking down the tracks leading to the 
NASA Railroad Bridge

Looking back at the NASA Railroad Bridge

Coming up on the 
NASA Causeway Bridge

"US Government Property - 
No Trespassing!"

One thing we did see today that neither of us expected ... another Krogen Express! We saw a boat coming towards us, and Clark said, "Is that a Krogen Express?! It sure looks like one." Sure enough it was. After it passed we looked at the stern to see which one it was and found it to be "Blue Moon". "Blue Moon", up until a few days ago, belonged to our friend Steve in the Fort Lauderdale area. Clark immediately ran back to grab a photo.

Shortly, we heard on the radio, "Southbound Krogen Express this is the northbound Krogen Express, over". Clark ran back and  responded, and they exchanged contact information. We KE owners need to stick together since there are so few of us. It is always a thrill to see another KE on the water. (As I type this Blog entry, Clark is on the phone comparing KE notes with the new owners of "Blue Moon".  Anyone who knows Clark knows to expect that conversation to be a long one!)

By the time we got to Cocoa, our destination for the night, I was more than ready for today's travel to be done. 

View of Bridge at Cocoa, FL

Bridge at Cocoa, FL

We had heard from various sources that a free dock in Cocoa had become available. I felt very lazy and thought dropping the hook would be easier than pulling out lines and fenders, but Clark was curious and wanted to at least take a look. We decided to check it out and decide on dock or anchor after we saw it.

When we got to the free dock, in expectation of a "yes" decision, I already had lines and fenders either in place or soon-to-be in place. We found a long dock with only one other boat. It looked good to both of us, so we tied up for the night. 

We finished docking and shutting down at 4:45. I checked Google and found that sunset tonight occurred at 5:28. With that, we grabbed our jackets and went for a walk to stretch our legs and scope out the area.

The free dock is at a park in Cocoa called Lee Wenner Park. A sidewalk led us from the boat to a path under the bridge and then into town.

Views of the same bridge (above) from a pathway along shore of river ...

Our stroll into town took us past 

a paddlewheel boat,

a view of the river,

and a "Welcome to Cocoa" sign!

It has been a few years since we visited Cocoa. When we stayed here at a marina, we still had "Sea Moss" and visited a local business to buy materials to repair the screen door on the boat.

I remember this cool place.
This is where we bought the screen-repair materials.

This hardware / general store is so famous, it has a commemorative marker giving its history.

Nearby, we found an Artists Co-Op clearly trying to coax folks inside.

 

Carolyn Seilar & Friends
A Unique Artists Co-Op

Even the chairs are painted and welcoming

Two women busy painting a mural on
the outside of the Artists Co-Op building.

When we visited Cocoa in the past, we got together with Looper friends and ate dinner at Ryan's. As we walked by the smell of pizza almost pulled us in. With daylight running out and leftovers in the fridge, we opted to eat on the boat and kept walking. 

Before heading back to the boat, we crossed the street to check out "Taylor Park". Some folks there worked on adding decorations to the park. Others set up a stage while Christmas music played. We heard "O Holy Night" as strolled around. Clearly a Christmas event is planned for here in the near future. On Sunday, a parade will take place here to celebrate Chanukah. 

Entrance to Taylor Park

Covered benches at edge of park

Walk along the river

Pavilion with Christmas Carols playing
and folks busy checking out the acoustics. 

Splash pad / fountain
for the hotter days of the year.

Work of some of the co-op artists??

Christmas Tree in need of lights

Our walk basically took us around the block, albeit a rather large block. Clark led the way and said he wanted to make the walk into a loop. Even so I was surprised after we passed Ryan's Pizza to find we had already arrived back at Lee Wenner Park. Last time we were at Ryan's we never walked far enough to explore the parks right next door!

Sailboats must love the easy access to shore
from their boats here.

Besides the long dock where we tied up, the marina has several smaller slips and a wide area providing use of 4 boat ramps simultaneously.

Docks at Lee Wenner Park
(our boat is the one with the dark blue hull
docked along the long dock in
the upper left corner of the picture)

By the time we got back to the boat, having had my appetite whetted by the smell of pizza at Ryan's, I immediately set to making dinner! After dinner, I set up my laptop to work on the Blog, and Clark got on the phone with his new KE buddy. Talk, talk, talk!