Indiantown, Florida - Feb 21, 2015

Well we left Marathon with a 3 day weather window. It was great to get back on the boat and moving. We made 50 miles the first day and tucked into an anchorage in Key Largo. The next morning we awoke to rain showers and the wind was to start picking up later that afternoon. We got into our raingear and departed at 7:30.  The weather did break a bit in the afternoon, enough to get out of the raingear. We managed to slip into Miami about 4pm just as the Atlantic started to kick up a bit, so much for that 3 day weather window. We were secure for the night and the wind didn't pick up to the 20 knots we expected.
Next morning we headed off to Hollywood, where we would take a slip for the night as a cold front was expected to come in. We fought head winds of 15 knots for the day. Hollywood was full, but we did manage to pick up a mooring ball in Fort Lauderdale. As it was again the wind didn't pick up to the anticipated 20 mph.
Next morning we headed out, needing fuel and a pump out. When coming into the fuel dock , I heard clunk in the gear box. The boat seemed to be working fine so we continued on.
Later that afternoon, the boat started to labour a bit and lose some power. When we were going through the bascule bridge in Boca Raton, the boat engine quit. The current and winds were in our favor and they pushed the boat out from under the bridge, without hitting anything. We quickly through up the head sail and sailed out of the channel and threw out the anchor. Upon quick inspection, I noticed the prop shaft was not turning. I suspected that we may have picked up a line or crab pot, seizing the shaft. I dove on the shaft and managed to turn it by hand and saw nothing fouling the shaft or prop.
Upon further investigation I found that a ground wire had vibrated lose on the starter. We secured the wire and the boat started .
Next morning we set out with limited power . We were going to head to Vero Beach, but decided to go to Indiantown to have them look at the transmission. We were now doing about 2-4 knots, dependent on the tide, current and winds. We supplemented with sails whenever we could. We limped into Stuart, Florida and St Lucie River. We managed to make the St  Lucie Lock , the entrance to the Okochobee waterway. The winds in the lock would not allow the boat to pull off the lock wall. We  decided to shut the engine off , in hopes that the transmission would cool off. We went down and back up the lock as the boat traffic was heavy. We again tried to pull the boat off the lock wall, but this didn't happen. We walked the boat out of the lock and tied the boat to the wall for the night.
We were 15 miles from Indiantown, so we decidd to have BOAT US, tow us the next morning. This would have cost us around $400-$500, but fortunately our membership covered this cost.
We arrived in Indiantown the next morning.
This turned out to be okay as the cold front was coming in. Temperatures were dropping to the low 30's. Because we had shore power we were able to plug in our little space hater, making the boat reasonably comfortable for the past 3 days.
The transmission was pulled earlier in the week and sent to Stuart for service. We should have the estimate early next week.
As we are here until the boat is hauled March 3 and we fly home on March 4, we decided to rent the car earlier, so we could get around to see some things, including our frinds in Vero Beach.

Atlantic at 8am

Miami

Fort Lauderdale

Rich & Famous? 165' yacht

Boat US Tow

   

Derelict boat

4' gator swimming by boat

Indiantown

 

MARATHON- Update November - February 2015

Well it's been a while and we have done alot. In fact we have accomplished phase 2 of our 3 phase journey. 1st phase was to get down here, 2nd was to see if we could live on the boat , together for 4 months  and the final one was to bring the boat home.
The last  several months was personal time , so I did not blog much... I will however, give some highlights on what it is like to live a board a 36' boat with no shore power, relying on the boat engine and solar power to keep our lights, refrigerator etc, functioning with some degree of comfort.

Well we have done some snorkeling at the reef, seen manatee's, dolphin's, barracudas, rays,
herons, osprey, turkey vultures, hawks... but no sharks. The sign in the harbor states that this is "Shark friendly harbor... catch and release.. "  Remember Memo...We certainly heard of them being around, but not lucky enough to see the tell tale fin streaming through the water.

We have taken several trips up and own the keys (Key West, Key Largo, Islamorada, Big Pine key...)
We have been involved in several community events at the harbor... potluck Christmas dinners, music jam nights in the tiki hut, participated in group discussions on going to the Bahamas, or Cuba, reading weather forecasts etc. We have seen lighted Christmas boat parades, Santa parade in Key West, interesting as there were almost more adults than kids... Superbowl party, memorial day parades...

The weather in December was breezy and the sun was shifting south and lower in the sky and the available hours for charging our batteries was decreasing. Our solar panel went from a daily charge of 40-50 amps per day in November , down to 15 amps a day in late December. We were having to start the boat engine to supplement  the charging of our batteries more and more. After Christmas, we decided to shut down the refrigeration system which was running about 30% of the time... not too shabby and switch to ice. This enabled our solar panel to keep our batteries well charged without having to supplement with the boat engine. We now could listen to radio and watch video's whenever we wanted, without worrying about the battery charge. Both of us started to again fully enjoy the life on the boat.

We had a pre -booked trip home to Barrie in January. Joanne had some medical treatments to be completed. It was great visiting family and friends for 8 days. It was cold but not a lot of snow.. we did mange to get out skating a few times. Katie/Nadia were gracious in picking us up and dropping us off at the airport

When down here we have had time to better understand the requirements of staying here as foreigners... We recognized we are restricted to 182 days ( 6 months ) and as this stands we have to return to Canada by March 4-15.   Further to this although our cruising permit is for a year (ends September 2015) , we have to leave the US for a few months in order to build back some time , which would enable us to get the boat back to Canada before the end of August. It is our intent at this point to store the boat in Indiantown, Fl. for 3 months, then return in June and work our back to Canada.

This being said in early February, when the winds and weather cooperates, we will leave the Keys and go to Vero Beach. We will take a mooring ball for a week and met up with Jack & Shirley and Peter & Eileen, fellow Barrie boaters. This trip is about 250 miles. We will then bring the boat south about 30 miles to Stuart/Indiantown for it o be hauled out. We chose this location on the Okeechobie  canal as it is in fresh water and it should kill a lot of the barnacles and seaweed growth on my hull. It will also allow me to scub the salt off the boat and flush the engines with freshwater before storing it.
This area is a bit of a hurricane hole and makes my insurance premiums will drop a bit while it is on the hard.
Well we set off tomorrow and I'll keep you posted.

Tarpon feeding

Marathon Harbour Christmas lights

Key West Christi pride

Looking out beck of the boat at sunset

Christmas lighted boat festivl

more lights

and more lights

Sunset Boot key

Dinner with the Grand kids