Underway Again

2/6/07 – The weather is expected to improve as the day progresses, so we went for it. Pulled out at about 10:30am, it wasn’t very graceful, (hit a pylon or two) but we managed. The ICW narrowed into a nice little cannel just past the north end of Lake Worth. The houses and condo’s along the ICW continue to amaze me; you’ll see a bunch of them in our photo album when I get it downloaded. It’s very cool in the pilot house when the sun retreats behind the clouds, but when it’s out, it’s fantastic to be up there with the breeze in your face. We saw the Atlantic Ocean just as we entered the Jupiter Sound and the water became astonishingly clear. I saw my first manatee swimming just under us. We dropped anchor at 3pm in Peck Lake, only to discover we had run aground. But Tom was able to back us off and re-drop the anchor a little deeper. Another trawler anchored within 50ft AND they rafted with a catamaran. (Far too close for our liking) With all this room I don’t understand why they came so close. This little lake has about 15 other vessels anchored for the night. The weather has definitely improved and hopefully will be even warmer tomorrow. Our sunset was beautiful.
2/7/07 - We were up and down all night making sure the distance stayed between us and we did not swing into the other trawler, fortunately we didn’t. While preparing to leave we backed onto another shoal luckily Tom was able to get us back off and on our way – sort of. We’ve discovered that our starboard transmission doesn’t work very well, if at all. So we found a nice little cove (Manatee Pocket) about 7 miles up, anchored and checked transmissions. After adding a quart of transmission fluid to the starboard transmission we decided to continue and hope for the best. Regrettably the transmission still does not want to cooperate fully so we’ll need to find a marina and/or yard to get it fixed before we head into the gulf. Approaching our first lock we had to wait for another vessel and drifted aground AGAIN. Tom is becoming quite the expert at getting us off while only using one transmission! We made it through the Saint Lucie Lock (12ft water) fine and dandy, and anchored for the night at the mouth of a little inlet across from a campground just west of the lock. This is so cool, there is wild life everywhere; on the shore, in the air and in the water. Gators basking in the sun, herons search for fish and old folks from the campground watching it all; like us. I could not have chosen a better location to recognize being one year older – even though lately it feels more like 20. We phoned Amanda and asked for her assistance in locating a mechanic to help us work on the transmission. It’s been a blessing to have her available to us in our hour(s) of need. Hopefully tonight no other vessels will decide to anchor here and we’ll get a good night sleep. The sunset was again remarkable; the waters are calm and the reflections are stunning.

2/8/07 – After a very restful sleep last night (and no other vessels joined us) I awoke to play with a gator – I’ve learned gators like wheat bread. Saw a raccoon foraging for his breakfast along the shore and hoped the gator didn’t want him instead of the wheat bread. As we sat on the aft deck enjoying our breakfast 13 kayakers took off heading west and I hoped we didn’t run across them later (literally) since we are heading in that direction ourselves. We did pass the kayakers on their return trip. I don’t think I’d like to be on those little water craft with so many gators in the water. Our trip along the St. Lucie Canal was wonderful today; so peaceful and uneventful. The weather could not have been more perfect. I actually piloted Refugio a bit today, but I’ve decided to downgrade my status as co-captain. I am so out of my comfort zone and I don’t feel it’s proper for me to even assume I’m proficient enough to consider myself a co-captain. So from here on out I’m going to be known as First Mate, which is so appropriate on so many levels. We reached the Port Mayaca Lock and moored to a couple of dolphins (aka pylons). This is the last lock before entering Lake Okeechobee, which we will tackle tomorrow on one engine. This is also a great location to spend the night. We’ve watched as a number of vessels have passed by and one sail boat in particular that was forced to return since its mast was too tall (55ft) to pass under the RR Lift Bridge just before the lock at 52ft. The sail boat has since joined us along the same row of dolphins for the night. We are not sure what their plans are. Later tonight we got to watch the RR Lift Bridge lower for a train to pass. The moon came out late so we were treated to a spectacular sky full of stars.