Christmas Eve - Christmas in Miami Beach anchorage

Christmas Eve, and Christmas 2011 are now past.   Susan is having a great time with our daughter, Ruth, up in NY.   
Sydney and I have been enjoying the warmth of the Miami weather, (Sydney really enjoys the swimming, almost every day).    Although... the 80 degree days don't do much for the Christmas spirit... that's got to come from 'inside', I guess...if you live down here in the South.

Dorothy and Glen (s/v Dot's Way) at Peanut Island

Dorothy and Glenn Floyd (s/v Dot's Way) have been gracious enough to invite me for Christmas Eve dinner on their boat.   Last night (Christmas Day) they came over to Autumn Borne for happy hour, and dinner.

Their company has been great, over this past week or so...   They're now looking seriously about moving down to "Nixon Harbor"... near No Name harbor (Key Biscayne) to get an easy exit to the Atlantic, and the Gulf Stream crossing.  

I've got some small shopping to do today, or tomorrow, but for the most part my days are taken up with small boat projects...    ( just came inside to write this, and do some phone calls... for taxis, and shuttle connections from MIA.... I was hoisting the spinaker to let it dry and unfold)...

AB leaving HON Marina in October 2011 -  Pea Soup Fog

Dee and Scott from our marina (summer-time) in NY sent the picture of Autumn Borne leaving Hop-O-Nose Marina in the fog.... we had picked that day (although I don't remember exactly why.... I know it wasn't a Friday (sailor superstition)....   anyway... we left the marina, exit Catskill Creek, turned into the Hudson, and the fog was even thicker....  We transited down the river about 3 miles by RADAR, then pulled off to the east in a wide part of the Hudson, and anchored (well out of the channel)...    We stayed anchored until the fog lifted about 1-1/2 hours later.... and  WOW... right next to us was a rock cliff... not 5 boat lengths away... that we could not see....  Impressive FOG!!!! 

more later.

Life at anchor in Miami Beach

Yesterday was our third or fouth day here, anchored out in Miami Beach, near the Sunset Islands.  

Tuesday was a varied day...a little boat work in the AM, (making fresh water, washing a few clothes, and the galley rug (runner), adjusting a few things in the dinghy so we could use the stern anchor more effectively for holding the dinghy off the docks/walls/and pilings, etc.)...

Then we went shopping...at the ACE hardware in Miami Beach. I needed another set of ear protection (MUFFS) for working in the engine room while everything's running. While there we got a call from Helen, and Andreas Tzenos (cruiser friends from about 4 years ago). They're vacationing here in Miami Beach. We arranged a time and place to meet for drinks,and dinner...

Dinner with Helen and Andreas - Miami Beach

GREAT to see them... ...

So much to catch up on.... since they stopped "cruising long distances", they've built a house up on Lake Simco, north of Toronto. Their boat is still in Lake Ontario, at Toronto.

Anyway... great evening... we might get together again for a walk on the south beach or a walk down Lincoln Mall.

We'll see...

OK... back to some chores, and making up some additional fresh water... (The water here where we're anchored is clear, and now free of jellyfish... in fact Sydney swam yesterday.... (second, and third pic.. swimming, and me assisting her into the dinghy)...

Sydney enjoying the warm Florida waters.

Assisting Sydney into the dinghy after swimming - Tired doggie!

Lake Worth to Miami on the outside (Atlantic)

We got up at 4 AM this morning...started the generator, made coffee, readied the wind vane, and sails, and raised the anchor. 

We went out the Lake Worth Channel and into the Atlantic at 5 AM...and turned south...

Dawn on the water...is always a special time....

We decided that we'd sail closer to the coast this trip... usually we're out a few miles.. We did find a very favorable counter current to the Gulf Stream.. Moving South... BUT..........

Wow!!!!! ..
what a "show" traveling close to the coast... talk about "traffic" !!!!
There were other cruisers, fishermen galore, dive boats by the dozens, commercial boats, and even kayakers; Oh My!

(Now what the heck is a lone kayaker doing 2 miles from the coast???)

All in all, it was a nice trip around on the outside today...

I did get to talk to one of the dive boat captains... as I was going by on dive site.

I asked him what they were diving "ON"... They were drift diving... but over several coral reefs... as several reefs all lined up with the current that was carrying us along too...

 

We used every sail on AB but the Spinaker, at various points of the day...

The winds were very fluky 5 to 15 knots, ... some rain squalls which brought higher but sporatic winds,

... some wind "on the nose" while it was making up it's mind what to do... but all in all... a fairly nice day, on the Atlantic.

We're now anchored at the northern end, (but not IN), Sunset Lake... (near the Julia Tuttle Bridge), Miami Beach.  

Lake Worth for two days, but leaving before dawn for Miami

Leaving before dawn from Lake Worth, bound for Miami.  Nice anchorage here... but found one strange thing due to the extended East winds...and wild seas for the last few days...(weeks) the sea life around us... cost us a generator impeller, and some tense moments.  

Night before last... we're laying in the aft cabin watching the last of "Criminal Minds" on TV.. and the generator was running (6 kW nORTHERN LIGHTS..) to charge the batteries before nighttime...

When all of sudden... and I mean sudden...the exhaust note changed on the diesel engine..(driving the generator)... and before I could get from the aft cabin, down the galley walk-way, and around to the engine room the generator shut down on "high temp"... (NO cooling water !!!!!! ) What the heck...?????

So I took the top off the raw water strainer... Inside the strainer was completely clogged with a portugese-man-o-war (jellyfish)....

after removing (carefully) the strainer... I opened the seacock again..with the top off the raw-water strainer...and more of the jelly fish came out of the inlet pipe... YUCK!!!!  (clear jelatious mass)!

Starfish at Peanut Island Park - Lake Worth (Palm Beach)

But the real problem was that in that few seconds of no cooling water... the impeller on the water pump 'toasted' itself... and now I have an impeller with 2-1/2 whole fins (out of the normal 12.     The strange thing is that once the strainer was clear... this old impeller actually cooled the generator... it Worked!!!!   but now it's replaced...and working efficiently.

Vero Beach FL - for a few days

We're now on a mooring at Vero Beach FL.  We're rafted up with a boat called "Dream Weaver" (Frank, and Patty)... but they're gone most of the time anyway...

It started raining last night, and hasn't really quit since... I've pumped out the dinghy about three times...  lot's of WATER !!!!!

We did don our foulies, and go into town today on the shuttle bus, that comes through the marina... (West Marine, Scuba store, book stores, and finally lunch at Panera's)... nice.
The bus quits at 1500 hours on Sat. and doesn't run at all on Sunday... so tomorrow has become laundry day... (regardless of the weather).

Sydney after Swimming - CRASHED !

So many of the cruising boats that are here now... came from St. Mary's (thanksgiving)... So many of them look so familiar...  maybe from the FL Keys, as well...

Titusville FLorida (for a few days)

We motorsailed down the Halifax River, through Mosquito Lagoon (that really is the name), and into the Indian River.  We're now taking a few days rest from moving, and enjoying Titusville.

We took one of the new mooring balls (B-2) at $15/night, as it the wind was really 'piping' up the last few days....and there's not much protection out here in one of the widest parts of the river.

Sheila, and Brian at Bare Foot Landing enroute to Titusville

Had a nice dinner with Brian and Shiela last night...after working on his propane monitoring system most of the afternoon. 

Container ship at Tybee Roads - Savannah

More later.