Further Adventures Of SV Nutmeg

 3/31- Daytona to Fort Matanza    We managed to float all night as we only had several inches of water under the keel. Thankfully there was virtually no wind. It took a while getting the anchor up as the chain was loaded with mud. I got a work out lifting many buckets of water to clean the chain.      We left early in the hopes of missing some of the traffic on the water. It must have been because it was Easter Sunday that there was very little traffic until early afternoon. It also helped that we were going through a narrower channel and this was a more residential area. It did pick up later but nowhere near like yesterday.     A lot of the boats we have been seeing are fishing and we see many people fishing from shore or dock all along the way. With all of the fish hooks that were in the water these last couple of days you have to wonder how the fish can miss them. Well it appears they seem to miss them just fine. We routinely ask people wh...

 3/30- Titusville to Daytona    It was finally a quiet morning. For the past two nights I feel like I have been riding a bucking bronco. First it was a southeast blow that wasn’t that strong but the anchorage was totally exposed to the south so it got a bit rough. Then it switched around and blew really hard out of the north. The boat bounced around all night so I was glad when last night turned out to be fairly mellow.      We normally don’t like to move on weekends but we were getting a break with the winds so we thought we should take advantage. Well now we know why we don’t travel on the weekends. I think every boat in Florida was out today. We saw all different kinds of floating contraptions. I normally don’t like to make a big deal about wakes but by the end of today I was just plain tired of being bounced around. Can you say torpedo!!??      We anchored in the Halifax River just down from downtown. I expected a couple of boats in here ...

 3/28- Titusville     We decided to stay here today or rather it was decided for us. The wind howled most of last night and by this morning it let up a bit. It was then I spotted an open mooring which we jumped on. We no sooner tied up to the ball when the front came through with a vengeance. There was very little rain but the wind heeled the boat on its side and kept it there for a couple of minutes. That lasted about a half hour or so and then things calmed down to a dull roar. We managed to get the dinghy into shore but the ride back was a little wet. The wind then switched to the north and cranked right up. The boat is bouncing around so much now that it’s hard to type this.  There must be 3 to 4 waves churning through the mooring field along with the 20-25 mph winds. It’s supposed to calm down by midnight or so. If this keeps up it could throw me out of my bunk.     With the wind screaming out of the north there was no point in trying to trav...

 3/27- Melbourne to Titusville     We got up early this morning but not before the rest of the fleet had taken off. We were the last boat to leave the anchorage this morning. It was an easier run today the only issue being the barge at the NASA causeway bridge. It wasn’t really an issue but a couple of people had called the bridge looking for an opening and the lift bridge has been torn down. They are working on the new bridge and there were a couple of barges that could have been trouble. We would have just cruised right through except some guy fishing thought he would park right in the middle of the channel and cast some lines. When he looked up and saw us bearing down on him he wised up and got out of the way.     There were no moorings available in Titusville so we anchored out north of the mooring field in 6 (yikes!) feet of water. There is a big front coming through that may have some rain but it will have some big wind. It should be a good ancho...

 3/26- Vero Beach to Melbourne Florida, Dragon Point    We ripped off the Velcro and we headed out this morning. It was tough to leave but I think we probably used up that town so it was time to go. It was quite the exodus this morning as 4 or 5 boats left before us. Once we got out onto the ICW there were boats lined up in either direction, most headed north. We are now part of the great migration northward.      Today is an easy run as there was not many tricky spots but there was a fairly stiff breeze. It was behind us though and it was interesting to watch all the boats popping out their head sails all in a row. We motor sailed most of the day so we could shake out some of the cobwebs out of both the sails and ourselves.      We ended up anchoring behind a bridge in Melbourne at a place called Dragon Point. This is the long pointy end of Merritt Island. At one time there was a sculpture of a dragon at the very end of the point. It had bee...

 3/25- Vero Beach     Well we hope to be leaving here tomorrow and so we spent the day saying goodbye to all of the friends we have made. It is really bittersweet in that it is time to move on but we have really enjoyed some of the people we have met here. Of course there’s every chance we will meet up again further up the road. I wonder if it’s easier to make friends here because we know that we will be leaving and going our separate ways. It seems to make relationships easier knowing they will end in a short while. That is also too bad because there are people we have met that would be great to have a longer relationship with. This is one of the things that make this cruising life so interesting.      I just wanted to say how much we enjoyed the company of Guy and Barbara and Roger and Shirley. They made our time here very pleasant indeed and are part of the reason this is called Velcro Beach. A shout out to Mike and Carla as well as Bob and Samar. T...

 3/23- Vero Beach     We have had many people come up to us and say “You’re boaters right”. I’m trying to figure out how we stand out as boaters. Even the cashier at the dollar store had me pegged as a boater. Some folks tonight introduced themselves and said you must be boaters. They even went so far as to say sailboaters. I mean everyone around here looks like they could be from a boat. I guess in Florida 1 out every 3 people own a boat so your odds are good asking that question. I mean I shower every couple of days or so so it shouldn’t be the smell. Maybe it’s the scruffiness of our clothes and hair. I have yet to figure out what gives us away.       I got my exhaust elbow yesterday from the fabricator and installed it. I always get bummed when I can reduce to a mere sentence an act that took me almost 7 hours to complete. It’s always tough entering it into the maintenance log as installed new mixing elbow when it took a couple of days and a t...

 3/20- Vero Beach      Today was a lovely day. It was a blue bird day with very light winds and moderate temperatures. In other words it was the perfect day to go kayaking. Our friends Guy and Barbara lent us a pair of kayaks which we paddled up into the maze of mangrove channels. It was so confusing I had to use my mapping app to figure out where we were. These channels are lined with mangroves which seem impenetrable. They all look alike from the water and it’s hard to tell where the cut outs are.     Anyway we had a good time just putzing along. We didn’t see much wildlife though. We saw a couple of dolphins and some osprey but no manatees. We could go close enough to shore to stay mostly in the shade. With the cooler temps it was very pleasant.      When we got back we found the diver, Peter, was cleaning off the bottom of our boat. This is a high growth area for barnacles and such. We have been here for over a month now so it was ti...

 3/19- Vero Beach     Happy Spring Equinox. Spring begins tonight at 11:06. That means that the length of the days are equal to the length of the nights. It also means that the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west. And there are druids all over the world celebrating.      The thing I wanted to talk about tonight is trash. As someone who dwells on a boat trash is something we have to be very concerned about. When we are anchored out there is no place to just deposit your refuse. It may have to sit in your boat for several days so we really try to make as little trash as possible. When we provision we try to take as much stuff out of the packaging as possible in order to not have it on the boat. We have containers for things like cereal and pasta so that boxes can be left at the dock. There is also the matter of garbage and food waste. Boy it doesn’t take long for that stuff to reek in this heat. Still no matter how we much we try...

 3/17- Vero Beach      Happy St Patrick’s day to all. It was very hot and muggy here today. It was all we could do to get off the settee. The wind has completely died off here tonight and I’m sure the humidity is hovering around 100%.      We went to a car show yesterday and as I told you previously there were all kinds of beautiful cars there. Well it turns out that is not the only place to find amazing autos. Just walking around in the parking lot for Publix and I can see Ferrari’s , Alfa Romeo’s, Peugeots, lots of Land Rovers and even the occasional Rolls.  I have seen more Ferraris in one day here than the whole rest of my life combined. It’s just amazing the amount of money here that people spend on cars. That doesn’t even include some of the less expensive luxury cars like Lexus and BMW. That does not even begin to cover pickup trucks. There some incredibly tricked out trucks around here. I guess it’s easier to maintain a vehicle here than i...

 3/16- Vero Beach     Well I am still waiting on the parts for my exhaust. I may call this week and see how they are coming along. I have looked at TAD (TransAtlantic Diesel) and I could have bought the parts to make a close approximation to my mixing elbow. I’m sure it wouldn’t be any cheaper but it might have been faster. Oh well, what’s done is done.     Today was a hot and sticky day. We walked to the farmers market in the morning in the hope it would be cooler. On the way back we came across a large car show in the park. There were all kinds of cars from hot rods to old timey cars. There was even a section for VW bugs. I’m not much of a car guy but it was neat seeing motors you could eat off of.      The weather is threatening to be hot and humid for a while so we are hoping to get the part and get it installed soon. We have been here for almost 2 months and we are starting to feel like we have used up this place.  There’s stil...

 3/13- Vero Beach      Today I’d like to talk about all these gorgeous live oaks around here. These trees are simply amazing. They spread out with these gravity defying limbs that make you wonder how that tree is still standing. They reach out 40 and 50 feet from the trunk. Not only are these large branches but they have all kinds of symbiotic plants growing on them. There are streets here with height restrictions due to the level of the canopy over the road. It is such a pleasure to walk down these streets especially on these hot sunny days.      These trees were prized for boat building because of all the bends and elbows. They were great for making knees of all kinds. Cutting them now is illegal unless it becomes necessary. This town is just loaded with many examples  of  the beauty of these trees. It always amazes me that they are able to survive hurricanes at all.     Our friends Mike and Carla are headed out tomorrow as w...

 3/11- Vero Beach     In case you don’t know or realize here at the municipal marina you are required to raft up with another boat if they have no other room. As it stands now there are no empty moorings in the field of 56. There are only a couple of boats that are singles on their mooring. That means there around a hundred or so boats moored in the harbor.  This is the only place I know of that requires you to raft up. They claim that they will never turn anyone away.      The consequence of this is that you almost always have a neighbor. There are plenty of people who don’t like coming here because of this. I don’t really get it because in a marina slip you are just as close to the boat next door.       I embrace the idea of having a neighbor. However in our case the first time we came in the person on the boat we were tying to was a little inexperienced but was friendly. He left the next day and has yet to return so we had no nei...

 3/8- Vero Beach     Well today is my birthday and I turned 70 years old. The folks around here have been great. I’ve gotten several birthday cards from people and many people wish me happy birthday. A group of us went out for a lunch/dinner at a Chinese buffet.      Today was very warm and tomorrow is promising to be even hotter. The humidity is at 100% I swear. If this is what Florida is like in the summer you can have it. I sweat just by waking up in the morning.      We did get to a large craft fair/art show over in the park. The vendors are all set up under the spreading branches of a park full of live oaks. I amazed me to see how talented some people are and also how original. There was a lot of painters and potters but also quite a few wood turners. Some of those just blew me away. We did get to meet an artist from Montague Ma. which is my home town. He was excited to meet someone down here who knew all about back home.  ...

 3/7-Vero Beach     Well all the love I gave Mr Perkins yesterday didn’t seem to make him happy. A friend told me about a hole in his mixing elbow and so I thought I’d take a tug on mine. Sure enough it came right off in my hand.     In case you don’t know the mixing elbow is part of the exhaust system. The exhaust from the motor comes out of the manifold and up and elbow. At the down side of the elbow water is injected to cool the gases before going into the muffler and out of the boat. It is usually made of steel plumbing parts which when mixed with salt water have a tendency to corrode. This one has lasted 10+ years which is a really long time.      It took most of the morning and some pretzel like maneuvers to get the old one out. About this time the diver came by who was supposed to clean the bottom. We agreed there was no point in that and he said he could drive me to the metal fabricator. We are having them make a copy of the old ...

 3/6-Vero Beach    Well today we gave some love to Mr Perkins. I got a ride this morning with Guy (pronounced gee) to get some fuel. Rather than pay marina prices we shopped around and found some diesel for only $3.89 a gallon. Marina price is $4 something a gallon plus 7% Florida tax. We’ve been doing our best to support the Florida economy but this time we decided to go cheaper. I filled up all our Jerry cans and hauled them back to the boat.      Then I set about changing the secondary fuel filter. This one is a 30 micron filter that is also a water separator. The old filter was pretty dirty as it had been in there for 150 hours. Then seeing how dirty that filter was I decided to change the primary filter also. This one has been a pain in the past as I have to bleed the fuel lines. The last couple of times it’s been a struggle to get the motor started afterwards. This time though it fired right up.      Then as long as I had the engine com...

 3/5- Vero Beach      We had a busy day today and the next several days promise to be even busier. We started our day with pickleball which we have been playing at least once a week. It’s a good way to break into a sweat and get some exercise. Sweating wasn’t a problem today as the humidity was 100%. I have watched some pickleball on tv and it can be a pretty intense game. Some of the folks we play with are a little intense but it’s all in good fun.      After showering we hopped on the bus and headed over to the movie theater. We went to see the new Dune movie. I was bummed when I went to the first one several years ago and discovered it was part 1. So I saw Part 1 in Virginia Beach and Part 2 in Vero Beach. It’s a long movie and we ended up catching the last bus back to the marina. Whew!!     It seems as if there may be some weather windows for the folks heading over to the Bahamas coming up soon. Boats come and go now with regularity. In t...

 3/3-Vero Beach     Today was a mixture of sun and clouds. The forecast had called for rain most of the day but as the time drew near they kept pushing back the rain. It was cool though with the towering clouds scudding by all lit up by the sun. We decided to take a hike in between the rain drops that never happened. We climbed the highest thing around- the Merrill P Barber bridge. We summited the top of the 70 foot high bridge and enjoyed the view before having to head back to base camp. The view was spectacular. You could even see quite a ways out into the ocean. It was quite the ordeal having to brave fierce winds and heavy traffic.We persevered climbing to the summit and part way down the backside before we were forced to turn back by the impending threat of a thunderstorm. It was not a harrowing experience.      The bridges in Florida and everywhere on the ICW have a controlling height of 65 feet. This is supposedly at mean high water but very few...

 3/1- Vero Beach      Damn here it is March already. Back home they are talking about spring skiing. I’m not sure I’m ready to leave here yet but leave we must, just not quite yet.      We took a walk down the beach today and back through some neighborhoods. The thing I’ve noticed is all the sounds that never seem to stop. Besides the sirens and the unmuffled cars and bikes there are a variety of noises that always seem to be present. I’m talking about lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and hedge trimmers. Landscaping is big business here and you can’t walk far without meeting someone working in a yard. If some how you manage to find a street that isn’t being landscaped I’m sure that someone is sawing or hammering nearby. These noises seem to always be floating in the air       Speaking of landscaping there is another kind of landscaping that is very prevalent here- human landscaping. There is a large number of stores that are dedicated to the b...