ice in freezer, lines cast off, in the ICW

8/31 --- 918 miles to go until Norfolk
We looked at our charts, and realized our next entrance from the Atlantic would be the Barge Canal north of Coco Florida, which is where we wanted to stop. So we stayed inside. This part of the ICW is the Indian River ..( information taken from Wikipedia). The water is that caramel coffee, lite cream frothy color,  wild mangrove or homes, but not great big cities skylines, narrow canals and cement walls,we saw in Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Pelicans are around, fish jump for no reason, and occasionally we see pieces and parts of dolphins.

Again some interesting things, speeding boats looking at us like we are a long lost pirate ship, and no I was not wearing a two piece suit (aggh some of the people in the passing boats were...). This stretch has fixed bridges and only one lift bridge. Traffic is light for a holiday week end.... there is always tomorrow. We are going north, to Coco Marina, we stayed there in 2012. Get laundry done, rest then make a long run to get out of Florida and get a weather window to go outside for Georgia.

Our mast is officially 62'4" but we have antennas, and a wind gauge so we think its just shy of 64' We have tested that theory as the marker boards on the bridges have listed 65' and 64' and we heard no scrapes, nor did anything come raining down on us. We did scare the pigeons off the ledge.


The Indian River is a 121-mile (195 km) long^[1] brackish lagoon in Florida,^[2] and is part of the Indian River Lagoon system which forms the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It was originally named Rio de Ais after the Ais Indian tribe, who lived along the east coast of Florida, but was later given its current name. The Indian River extends southward from the Ponce de Leon inlet in New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County southward and across the Haulover Canal and along the western shore of Merritt Island. The Banana River flows into the Indian River on the island's south side. The Indian River continues southward to St. Lucie Inlet.^[3] At certain seasons of the year, bridges have tended to impede the flow of red drift algae, resulting in an odor of hydrogen sulfide in the area.^[4]

leaving Fort Pierce Marina

sun rise 

17th street Bridge 64' clearance 

makes you hold your breath !

boat bill boards ????

there were 3 boats fishing in front of this waiting crowd

I think we passed this going south 

this was going more sideways than forward.
the wind and current did not make this an easy move

have no idea how much room we had to spare 64' on the tide board

these pigeons didn't trust it and took to the air

For you Patty and Dale 

sand bar beach boat party with a storm coming on fast

wind went to 20 kts with cooling rain.
just got everything below and hatches closed
15 min. later all gone 

oops one fender gone, but a good two days Fort Lauderdale to Fort Pierce

Saturday August 30th

We finally cast off lines from Las Olas Marina with the help of Tom and Joy saying good bye again to one of our favorite marinas.
 Just a note, Las Olas, is clean, well guarded, a quick walk to the beach and restaurants, safe place to park a rental, you meet interesting people from all over the world.... All in all a number 1 marina as far as we are concerned.
Nevertheless we needed to get moving. First goal get north of Jacksonville Fl for insurance purposes, second goal it our 1000 mile journey to Norfolk Va.  Tonight we are resting with in reach of Mile marker 966.5.
 When we made our first journey north the weather was never suitable to travel out side. When we left Fort Lauderdale there was a good wind and forecast reasonable seas. Well..... we did have a good wind until about 4 pm when it started to get switchy, die off, gust, switchy, peter off, .... you get the picture. We dropped the main in rolling seas and motored to Palm Beach. It was a dark dreary sunset, not enough light to attempt the channel so we spent a rolling night on the hook. We woke to bleak gray skies and a large storm cell that look to over take us.  If your going to get wet might as well try and be as comfortable as possible. Our canvas leaks like a sieve so we opted to go inside for the day.

I miss the ICW, but not the powered boats. You can see the most amazing, unusual, different things along the way. We crossed paths with an Ice Cream boat.... yep I wish we flagged it over. There are beautiful home, normal homes, people swimming in 92 degree water with sweaters on, dogs walking people, and then there are the lift bridges. Each tender is different and they all make your smile as the send us on our way.

We ended up not getting rained on, had a decent wind so stayed relatively cool, I got some small knitting projects done and took photos.
Tonight we are tied to a dock at the Fort Pierce City marina. We had a lovely dinner at the Original Tiki Bar, plugged into the AC and tomorrow we will go back out into the Big Blue Atlantic. Next stop Barge Canal by Coco Beach

Las Olas Bridge, on the water again

Tom Handing me a line

Ok I only zoomed in 5' do they really take a bath up there and
expect privacy 

there are normal looking houses 

We woke to washing machine seas and gloomy skies on
Saturday morning

coming into the Palm Beach inlet 

Looks like two black eyes 

This is just the hull of a boat being built 

Our view in the morning where we anchored in the Atlantic 

time to go inside

Our route on the ICW

neat fountain at our marina in Fort Pierce

A pina colada after a long day

Tom is tired

The original Tiki  Bar sells fish food to feed the fish
off the dock

Peanut Island

Jupiter Inlet Light house

Ice cream anyone

We have a taller mast now 62' + the bridges all have tide measures

got through but it looked scary

Knitting and crafty adventures

Hobbies on a Sailing Vessel….

When we started our journey in 2012, I was determined to keep up with my arty, crafty endeavors. I stocked our boat with watercolors, chalk, pastels, crayons, paper, pencils in every color and shade, floss for cross stitch, charts, yarn, thread, scissors, glue, tape- you can see the trend. If the mood struck I could create something. As we traveled I passed on bookmarks, and Christmas ornaments, then we entered cooler weather and I found some wonderful yarn shops in North and South Carolina and I started to knit in earnest.

I thought I would write this blog about a few things that I have found to be of great help in my crafting quest.

First there is a book called Fiber & Fabric Manual… A travel Guide. www.NeedleTravel.Com. This book lists independent retailers who carry yarn, material, and needle art supplies. It has been a great source for finding wonderful shops, filled with fantastic product and great women who share my love for creating. My recent find in Fort Lauderdale Fl. Yarn and Arts, was a perfect example of a local store that welcomes strangers, making me feel at home while I shopped their abundant selection of yarns. If you travel this is a must have.

Second was pattern keeping… and I found a great APP Knit Companion. Mine is on an I mini, you can try the program for a while before investing in a full version. I download E-magazines to it and then pull out the patterns I specifically want. I also down load patterns directly to it, can convert to projects with information on yarns and supplies, keep track of time spent, and it has 5 different counters so you can track rows, repeats, or anything else that a pattern calls for. I back it up to I cloud so I will not lose anything.

I also use a program called Ewe Stash. This program lets you keep track of yarn and needles. When I purchase a new yarn I list it by name, brand, weight, yards per skein, total yardage, (you can use metric) fiber content, and a place for notes where I record where I purchase, pattern I intended it for and a review as to how it knitted up and what I knitted with it.

There are JknitHDpro, and Yarn GPS in Apps also, I occasionally use. I also found Pages is a great word processing program where I can copy patterns, add pictures then turn into PDF files for my Knit Companion program. I only do this for patterns that are listed as free.

Of course the Raverly Web site is my favorite go to for patterns. I purchase yarns on line for Knit Picks and Jimmy Beans Wool. They have had the quickest mailing times. With traveling from marina to marina, waiting for a package can get expensive. I also use Webs, and Fiesta Yarns, but generally have the product shipped to my daughter and she sends with our mail drop.  Amazon is a great source for books, needles and other craft supplies and with Prime you can get two day shipping.

So… everyone get your creative caps on and start a project. Christmas is coming and personally made items are still treasured. They will have their flaws, for instance the pot holders knit during an overnight voyage, or post cards painted in rough seas, but that is the fun and challenge.

Stay Creative….

tiny dinosaur 

I have knitted several purses and I pad holders

scarfs are fun to knit and great gifts 

minion mittens

I like making cowls, again great gifts for my
northern friends and family

Christmas ornaments I have cross stitched 

Waiting in Fort Lauderdale....

Tuesday August 26th

Good news.. TS Cristobol is heading out to sea, we have seen rougher surf, gusty winds, yep cooling rain but no hurricanes this week. Of course there is always a BUT and we are entering the peak part of the season ... and they think there are three storms developing ... so we keep watch

We had the Riggers come out and inspect the rigging. They installed our topping lift, fixed the lazy jacks, and found some major flaws with our sail track. A new one was ordered, we took our main sail in to get some repairs and today they are returning to install the track and put the sail back on. Should be interesting as it is a little breezy. 

We have explored more of Fort Lauderdale, visiting restaurants that we went to before and finding new ones. We love the Chowder at Kelly's Landing and home made Pickles at Season 52. Tom sold the old radio to a consignment shop, I found a yarn store and bakery, and will visit Smitty's Old Fashion Butcher Shop on Wednesday.

Joy and Tom from S/V Kokopelli are here and share in many of our adventures. We are both waiting for Mail, repairs, and weather in no particular order. We think... maybe... we will leave Friday or Monday depending on the seas in the Atlantic. 

For now

Nope that is not Tom

Joy and I got Mani, Pedi's and hair cuts... a pamper me day

the Good Year Blimp 

beach was dotted with umbrellas this weekend

home made pickles at Season 52

Sunset and forecast of  rain

Cool Hand Too ... backed in