So Daytona Beach was a lot of fun. We spent most of the following morning taking the sound shield off the generator, which was toatally covered in soot, to discover that the exhaust elbow (which mixes raw water with exhaust gases) was totally cracked, and the water impeller pump (which cools those gases) was also shot. Bear in mind this is a very cramped space, lots of wiggling around, and a LOT of sweating and cursing. Lined up a mechanic to bring parts and install the next day - whew.
Next up was a new head (toilet) for the aft cabin. Luckily a West Marine (boat supply store) was actually on the premises! And I had a credit card! What luck?
So Wednesday (the 1st) was a rainy day but buddy showed up on time with all the parts, fixed everything up and then I gave him my check book. After that fun we installed the new head and now we really have to leave; we're having way too much fun.
Off early the next day. but first a stop at the fuel dock where I give them my wallet (check book is gone) and off we go down the Indian River and Lagoon headed south. Long pretty uneventful day to get to a an anchorage just south of Dragon Point and the swing bridge.
Up early the next morning to make it a long boring run down the Indian River to Stuart where we make the turn west to the other coast. Quite wide and lots of fixed bridges.
Even Rumor is getting tired of steering. "Are we there yet?"
Finally made it to a nice anchorage a few miles south of the Stuart cutoff, called Peck Lake. You can go ashore and then walk past that sign for several hundred feet through the woods and then you are on the Atlantic ocean.
There is a large tower next to that sign where kids were jumping off it. It's always nice to see parents take their little kids to a tower marked Danger and then encourage them to jump off it.
And we of course had the usual derelict boat with someone actually living on it.
The next morning the real fun began. Upon checking the engine oil (which we do every morning) I discovered about a quart of oil in the catch pan under the engine; now what? Valerie took Rumor to shore for a walk while I removed all the engine hatches and while running the motor I finally discovered a small leak by one of the small oil lines. So, based on my many years experience as a mechanic and with a bit of BFI (Brute Force & Ignorance) Tim the Tool Man grabbed his trusty 14mm wrench, gave it a little twist to tighten it up, and promptly snapped the line. Now I have oil spurting all over the place! A quick slither out of the engine room to shut of the engine and it was time to realise we had a major problem: we are miles from anywhere and the engine was out of commission. Valerie came back to the boat and after rummaging through all the bits and pieces of junk the previous owners had left on board she found the ideal fix - a foot long piece of 3/8" rubber gas line. With that and a few hose clamps I borrowed from the generator we were back in business. Whew, that was a close one.
Underway by 10:00 and then up the Okeechobee Waterway though Stuart and on to Lake Okeechobee.We stopped briefly in Stuart for some fresh groceries; we had lots of time because the next lock was under restriction and only opened at 9:00AM and 4:00PM. We got to the lock area early and saw seven large male manatees all trying to mate a lone female. We have never seen anything like this before.
It was pretty hard to tell if any of the males had any luck but this one looked rested.
The it was time to go up throught the St Lucie lock (up about 4 feet) and then were shocked to see the docks where we have stayed before; they were high and dry, no way you could use them.
.And then further along the canal were boats mired in the mud. They will be there for months if not years.
Lake Okeechobee is about 5 feet lower than its normal low and this could take a long time to replenish. And this is why were are nervous about crossing it; there is about 4 feet of water in the shallowest part and we draw 3.5 feet. We went throught the final lock into the lake about 7:30PM; not really much of a lock, he just opened one gate and let us through, the difference was less than an inch. We decided to tie onto the dolphins (large cluster of pilings) at the entrance and promptly went aground. Great way the end the day. Managed to get off that and had a peaceful night. On the advice of the lock tender we kept to the far left of the channel going out into the lake and didn't have any trouble. Pretty boring crossing of about 25 miles but we did see some white pelicans which are not common.
On the far side of the lake we had almost 10 miles of channel to go through that fluctuated between 4 and 5 feet with the occasional 3 foot sounding just to scare me. The Clewiston lock was wide open.
And then along the rim canal which was a real relief - it had 10-15 feet of water.
And it was also swarming with alligators. This one had us all lined up.
Then through a couple of locks, one open, the other a drop of about 7 feet.
And then finally to an anchorage in the river next to the small town of LaBelle. Just slighty over 1,000 miles of waterway done. We're on the home stretch.
No comments:
Post a Comment