Tag Archives | Selene

Wednesday, December 1, 2010, Day 66. Well, we only thought yesterday’s scenery was boring. From Daytona to Vero Beach, with the exception of the Space Center Area, there is very little of interest along the ICW. We set out from Titusville with the intention of anchoring at Dragon Point near Melbourne. We arrived there before noon and decided to press on to Vero Beach. There was little scenery on the trip from Melbourne to north of Vero Beach. Then, in Wassabaw, beautiful homes began to appear along the waterway. We are told (and we will see and report) that Vero Beach is the beginning of what is referred to as the Treasure Coast — The stretch of Florida from Vero Beach through Miami.
We went into the first protected anchorage we’ve seen in a long time, the Vero Beach Municipal Marina. One of the many mooring ball rafts in Vero Beach contained a Nordhavn, a Korgen, and a Selene (Live Wire!) (see banner photo). Corey from Live Wire came to greet us in his dinghy–we finally get to meet! We’ll see him and Linda soon. The weather is a bit chilly with a high of 75 and a low of 44.

Thursday, December 2, 2010, Day 67. We launched the dinghy in the morning and picked up a rental car (Enterprise weekend special $10/day). We went to Jim’s and Nancy’s beautiful home, which Linda was seeing for the first time, and marveled at their layout, space and new pool and pavers. They’ve found a great place. We had lunch and enjoyed driving around some neighborhoods, getting a bearing on the town. We are considering this town as a possible land home when we get back from the Bahamas. We both like it and house prices are compelling, and we feel that not much will change before May. We had drinks with Jim and Nancy, then dinner on the beach at the Ocean Grill.
Temperatures are really cool today for southern Florida with high of 68 and a low of 43. Locals are dressed in their winter clothes. Typical daytime temperatures should be in the mid-70s.

Friday, December 3, 2010, Day 68. The dinghy engine failed. This really put a crimp in our plans; since we’re on a mooring, we have to hitch rides every time we needed to go ashore and back. The wind and current was so strong that rowing was impossible. The good news is that it failed here rather then in the Bahamas or later when Kevin and Courtney are with us. We tried to row the now engineless dingy back to Escapade with the wind and current in our favor but sailed right past Escapade and had to get a tow back!
We had to cancel our dinner plans with Jim and Nancy, as they had no way to get to Escapade. Temperatures remained cool in the morning but warmed up into the mid 70s by afternoon.

Saturday, December 4, 2010, Day 69. We got a ride to shore and provisioned. Ken and Joy (Slow Dancin’) arrived in the afternoon. With the aid of their dinghy ferry service, we got to shore and went to a cocktail party at friends of Jim and Nancy, then dinner at Jim and Nancy’s. We met their great neighbors and had lively discussions and a great time.

Sunday, December 5, 2010, Day 70. We began to commission the water maker without much success. Flooding the system is a challenge.
With Ken and Joy, we drove to Stuart, provisioned at West Marine, had lunch at a great little shack in Ft. Pierce called 12A Buoy, and picked up the floorcloth that Linda commissioned from Judi Knight Goldfarb, an artist we met in St. Marys. In the evening, Corey dinghied us to Live Wire for drinks, appetizers and good conversation with him and Linda. We enjoyed their years of knowledge–having done this eleven times!–and seeing how they’ve provisioned their Selene. We hope to see them again many times in the Bahamas.

Monday, December 6, 2010, Day 71. We returned the rental car in the morning. Ken worked with Customs and Border Protection to signup for the Small Vessel Reporting System. Jim and Nancy, and Ken and Joy came to Escapade for dinner. We had a great time, filled with lots of laughter. And we made a cruisers’ pact together.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010, Day 72. It is really cold here, with a morning low of 32, an afternoon high of 62, and another cold front coming in on Sunday. The Mobile Marine shop is still working on our dinghy motor. First, they thought they might return in on Monday, definitely Tuesday. Now, they are predicting Thursday. It seems that the carburetor is so badly clogged that they couldn’t be clean it and it has to be replaced.
Nancy drove us to town, where we shopped for groceries and liquor as this is one of the last opportunities to provision before we cross. Linda got her snorkeling equipment. Ken got his watch repaired, and got a wetsuit. We took the free Vero Beach bus–a great amenity of the town–back to the marina where there is still no WiFi or pump-out. Had a quiet afternoon here on Escapade, the first in many days. We heard from neighbors Gail and Bruce on Orient Express that there hasn’t been a good weather window for crossing since the second week in November and there are only three boats anchored in Hopetown Harbor in the Abacos. Another very strange, cold season…..

Wednesday, December 8, 2010, Day 73. It is cold. The temperature in the salon when we arose was 50, 37 outside. But temperatures began to warm through the day. We are hear waiting on our dinghy engine. Ken and Joy hosted Jim and Nancy, and us for dinner aboard Slow Dancin’.

Thursday, December 9, 2010, Day 74. It was noticeably warmer in the morning — low 50s, but it rained. The two Kens helped Jim put new batteries aboard Solitaire. Linda and Joy went shopping. In the afternoon we got the call that we have been waiting for. The dinghy motor has been repaired and will be delivered tomorrow morning at 8:30. We’ll get the dinghy aboard; get fuel, water, and a pump-out; and be underway by noon. (Knock on wood)

Daytona to Titusville. This had to be among the most boring days of the trip so far. The current was against us all day. (How is that possible?) The scenery was sparse, albeit, there were a few interesting places. For most of the trip, there was little to see but broad expanses of shoal water and low marsh lands. Although, the Florida ICW is better dredged and wider than further north making steering easier, we still had to hand steer all of the way. Note for the future: This is a good area to go outside.
There are many good anchorages around Titusville, and we did find an excellent one directly off of NASA’s Cape Kennedy complex and the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB, see banner photo). When it was built in the late 1960s, this was the largest building in the world (in terms of interior volume).
We are told that this is an excellent anchorage from which to witness space launches. Unfortunately, there are no launches scheduled this week, and no shuttle launches scheduled for a month. Maybe, we’ll be able to see them from further south.
We learned that fellow Selene 43 owners, Linda and Cory (Live Wire II) are anchored about 500 yards from us, but we can’t see them because of the causeway in between. We’ll investigate tomorrow.
Ken and Joy (Slow Dancin’), friends from Herrington Harbour North are about a day behind us. We plan to meet up with them on Saturday in Vero Beach.
For our friends up north, our high and low temperatures were 81 and 70. It was overcast most of the day, but no rain. It is supposed to cool off a little tomorrow.

We cruised from St. Augustine to Daytona, where we stayed at the Halifax River Yacht Club, guest of Carl and Susan’s friends and neighbors Ben and Marilyn. The trip was mostly through long, straight, narrow channels, but wider and deeper than those we experienced in North and South Carolina. Carl and his friend Vito picked us up, and we had dinner and spent the night at Carl and Susan’s beautiful home.
On Sunday, the four of us went to a Classic Car Show. Carl is interested in buying a Street Rod. We came back to Escapade, lounged around, read and took naps and, later, had drinks and appetizers on board Escapade when Ben and Marilyn arrived. We enjoyed dinner with them at the Yacht Club bar.
On Monday, we hung around, did a few errands and chores, and took naps. What a delightful day. This is what Ken wants to do when he retires!
For those interested in our weather; It was a bit cooler on Saturday, with Highs and Lows of 68 and 53, skies were overcast with no rain. Sunday was a beautiful clear day with a high of 76 and a low of 45. Monday, the high was 74 and the low was 65 with a few afternoon drizzles. We’ll be leaving for ports further south in the morning.

Our month in St. Marys was fun. We visited both Linda’s and Ken’s families. We thoroughly enjoyed all the activities and camaraderie of the Cruiser’s Thanksgiving, and met a lot of friends, both new and old. And it is good to be underway again.
The trip from St. Marys to St. Augustine was a long day. We had considered going outside but wanted to visit friends in Daytona (the Daytona inlet is not good) and the winds were blowing from the south — wrong direction. We traveled with Slow Dancin’–friends Ken and Joy from years ago at Herrington Harbour–and enjoyed the trip. The St. Johns river was a little squirrely, but we really enjoyed looking at the homes and their docks along the ICW, especially Palm Valley. Once moored, we had drinks, pleasant conversation, and dinner with Ken and Joy.
The Florida ICW (so far) is considerably wider and deeper than the portions from the Chesapeake to St. Marys, making it much easier on the helmsman. For those of you in the northeast, our high/low temperatures were 81 and 57. We had a mainly overcast day with a few light sprinkles in the mid-afternoon.