December 2 - 3, 2015 getting closer to the ocean

Gypsie Angel, Elaine and Audre'

St. Lucie Lock

some beautiful boats on the canal

anchoring during a heavy rain storm

sunset at anchor

heading into Sunset Marina

notice the brownish water, very typical

December 2, 2015

We spent the morning doing the blog, having showers, got gas for the dinghy motor (ouch $4.50 US gallon), visited with Gypsie Angel, Elaine and Andre', our French sailing friends, they took out dock lines in 2012 in Salaberry de Valleyfield, Quebec.

Joe finally got thru to customs to report in with our cruising permit, as I mentioned earlier our Canadian phone will not work with

Customs 1-800 #. We need to use a US phone. This will limit our calling in for sure, as we will be anchoring most of the rest of the time in the USA.

We said our good byes to SnowBird and Moonlight Maid and off the dock we went at 11am.  By 1:45 we finally locked thru St. Lucie Lock, down 18 feet.  Now we are getting into salt and tidal waters.  The sky kept getting darker and darker with thunder behind us.  Fifteen minutes earlier we could of anchored in the calms, but the sky opened up and the wind blew.

A squall hit as we dropped our new Rocna 15 anchor for the first time, the wind set us. (fast forward to the next morning, we had to motor over the anchor 3 times to break it loose .. HAPPY).  It rained very heavy and wind gusts turning us all around, but then it was over and the sun came out.

5 hours on the water 

December 3, 2015

Anchor up and we crossed the river to Sunset Marina, we could of anchored again but we wanted to use the facilities, so $26.50 got us the mooring ball.  We got diesel to fill our two on deck jugs, 2 jugs of water, showers, laundry, charged our iPad and phone, and got groceries at Publix (I like Save-A-Lot prices better, but not one within walking distance)

It has been threatening rain all day but nothing, it is cloudy, cool and the wind generator is nicely charging the batteries and fridge.  We started at 9 to do all of these chores and just finished at 4pm.  Lots of dinghy rides and lots of $ spent.

Joe adjusting the stuffing box again, it's not dripping enough.

We talked to 'OTHER GOOSE", Rick and Susan Schultz , from Owen Sound, on the VHF this morning, they are on their way to Lake Worth.  We will catch up with them on Saturday, to wait for the crossing to Bahamas.

The wind is picking up now from the north, rain and wind squalls coming thru the

mooring field .. good, no bugs tonight, and also we are out of alligator territory.

heading out to an anchorage this morning

November 30 - December 2, 2015 meeting up again with sailing friends

sorry I can't seem to get the pictures in order … here goes any way

we are now across Lake Okeechobee and thru Lock Mayaca … this is the 49 ft rail road bridge .. we are 47 ft high, so we just squeeze thru .. no problems again this time

St Lucie Waterway .. it is about 300 feet across

this is our crossing of Lake Okeechobee ..heading left to right, we left at first light 6:45 .. the winds about 10-12 knots from N - NE … we had the foresail up for the first part and motor sailed, then we headed north .. the sails came down and motored pounding into 4-5 ft waves .. the wind picked up as we got closer to the middle of the lake … where you see the zig zag, the motor was off and both sails up .. with a bit higher winds … then on the straight part the motor was on and winds became very light …  as we reached the Mayaca Lock the winds picked up again, but by now we knew we had made it ..   5 1/2 hours

we made arrangements to stop and spend a few nights at Indian Town Boat Yard .. our friends on Snow Bird are there getting the boat ready to put into the water. Joe helped Dave install a new Windlass and I helped Janine finish waxing the hull

enjoying a meal in the club house

next was unpacking the dinghy and seeing if it will last us another year

some of the boats in the work yard .. mold and mildew has even covered the mast and boom .. a beautiful ocean boat

our Halifax friends on Moonlight Maid , Alan and Heather ..are also in the boat yard, preparing their boat for launch…. we spent a few days together in the Bahamas

a very interesting paint job on this boat

Happy Hour with Moonlight Maid and Snow Bird … Heather and Alan are heading to Georgetown with their daughter Hayley on board, we will meet them there .. and SnowBird we will see again for the crossing or in the Abacos ...

November 29, 2015 Mud Daubers

leaving Turkey Creek

the only picture we took on route

Moore Haven to Clewiston, sailing the 12 miles

Mud Daubers in the fuel air vent

Modaki at the launch ramp dock … everything fixed now .. we hope

SUNDAY, November 29/2015

We where up early and anxious to get off the dock and start our Season 4 Adventure.  Mike and Sharon gave us a big shove off, leaving Turkey Creek, heading to the Bahamas.

As we passed Glades Boat Yard, we saw Brian Mundle wave from on top of "Bucket List", which is on the hard, we circled and waved back.

14 miles later and everything was running smoothly .. until we got the green light to enter the Moore Haven Lock, the motor sputtered and stopped.  We did a circle and got the engine running and locked thru, but the engine was still hesitating.  Now what do we do, we have a new fuel tank, new fuel line, clean filters.  It is 12 miles to Clewiston, in a 100 ft wide canal, to get to the launch ramp dock.  We figured if we needed engine supplies we had to make it some how to a larger city.

 So the sails went up and about 5 minutes later the engine stopped completely. The wind was light and on the beam or close hauled.  We talked a lot about, what if the wind died completely , how would we lower the sails quickly and throw down the anchor before we hit the rocky shore, 50 feet away.

The power boats where good to us today, everyone slowed, maybe they where wondering .. those crazy sailers with both sails up only going 2.5 - 3.5 knots in this narrow canal.

Then we talked about how we where going to dock and stop the boat, at the launch ramp dock.  It was a long 12 mile sail. There was no picture taking and we spent long minutes with out talking.

We tried to start the motor again when we got close to the dock and no luck.  The foresail was brought in, and working on the main only it seemed like we where working in slow motion.

Joe lowered the main as we approached the dock, I was in front of the main and I stepped off, the main obstructed his vision, cause it did not drop completely and the wind caught it.  I had the centre line and felt like I was Superman trying to stop a speeding train.  But I managed to get it around a cleat and bang we where stopped.  By this time Joe was off the boat and had the stern line cleated.

Before all of this happened, there was a man on the dock fishing, and I yelled to him that we where going to dock there, but we had no motor.

He just smiled and I yelled again our situation, then he said okay no problem..  I'm sure he thought we where quite the pair, sails 1/2 down, me jumping off, trying to get the cleat wrapped and then Joe jumping off to do the same.  We interrupted his fishing but he said he wasn't having any luck any way.  He said it must be deep here cause you are a sailboat, and we said 10 feet, and he said no wonder I'm not catching any fish.

We knew by the way the motor was running and not running that it was starved of fuel. On visual inspection the fuel filter was clean and no water in the bottom of the filter.  We started from the tank to inspect everything.  Joe checked the fuel air vent, by blowing into it and nothing happened …. we took it apart and Mud Dauber's had blocked it with mud .. Once again we bled the fuel lines and finally Modaki chugged back to life.

A Very Stressful Day

Tomorrow is the test when we cross Lake Okeechobee

November 27-28, 2015

Black Vultures at the local dump .. there was no alligators visible that day

Cyprus Knees … the small stubs growing beside the Cyprus tree

Joe and I drove to Clewiston to see what the inlet looked like … with binoculars we saw a lot of white caps on the lake …the winds are support to be lighter in a few days

more projects, removing the old hard foam from the lockers and replacing 

it with nice soft sealant foam

todays lunch .. PIZZA

Mike and Sharon took us to a local Mexican Market … what a nice setting under the

oak trees

there where a lot of veggies that we could not name

cactus for a snack

burning off the sugar cane .. so that is why we have this black soot on the boat

supper, fresh shrimp from the Florida Keys and Taco's

tomorrow we leave the dock and head to Clewiston and prepare to cross the lake on Monday

November 21-26, 2015 … Happy 26 Birthday Lily Sue Ellen McTeer …. waiting for less wind

another thunderstorm coming our way .. it delayed us with putting on the bottom coat for a day

Frean Board was from Montreal, the black haul boat

two of the repairs to the keel, it seems to be an annual thing .. some more fibreglass 

and putty

we took off our water line for this year and anti-fouled up another 1 1/2 inches …

for some reason the boats sits kind of low in the water  lol

another Canadian Boat, they are actually from Sudbury

the storage boat yard, there must be over 250 boats there, all shapes, sizes and some not in very good condition

there was great laundry facilities at Glades, but you had to drive close to a mile to get there

it was time to put the car away and here she is all nicely secure, little did we know a few days later we would have it out of lock down … 

Mike Ashmore and Sharon Ramage took us back to Glades in their pontoon boat, the wind was starting to pick up from the east to north east

this is kind of a silly picture, but right next to the work yard was a herd of cattle grazing .. no gate to keep them out of the yard, just one of those in ground open ribs that they call a cattle gate … we understand that sometimes one is spotted amongst the boats

a recommendation for the prop is to install outboard gear lub, it will keep off the barnacles

launch day

everything went as planned, no surprises  .. we got lined around into the east wind that was now blowing 20 knots .. Brian Mundle helped us get her ready  … the motor started, even after all of the work we did removing the fuel line and filter, to get at that one last anoid

about 4 miles down wind back to Turkey Creek

Joe was noticing that the starter battery was not charging, and after a few frustrating hours of testing everything, we found this over sized 30 amp fuse blown 

we had another in stock and now have ordered 5 more threw Amazon

you know your boat is small, when you have to remove everything from one side of the boat to another to do any work … now everything is ship shape

Mike and Joe doing some yard work

another job was for us to take off one of the winches and change the bolts, that attached it to the boat ..

Joe also spent time cleaning and servicing 

the old bolts that where installed 6 years ago .. we now have stainless ones

we have been experiencing winds from the North East and East at about 25 knots for the last week, and they will continue for another 4-5 days … we are heading east and Lake Okeechobee has to be crossed, it is a very shallow lake and with high winds it kicks up the waves .. and they range from 6-9 ft. at 

times … it is a 4 hour crossing for us … so the plan is to move the boat to Clewiston on Sunday and leave Monday morning at daybreak and get across the lake before the winds get at there strongest …

to be continued