Day #500 - Reflection and Cogitation

Day #500; Loop Miles to Date = 5,558

Wow! It is really hard to believe that we left Chattanooga 500 days ago. And even though we move through this adventure at 8-9 miles per hour, the time has really flown by. From a different perspective, we have experienced 100's of small journeys, each one different from the next. Some have been interesting if not exciting, while others have been spectacular and invigorating. Regardless, all have been memorable. We have thus far covered only about 60% of the geography that encompasses the loop, so we are excited that we have many more wonderful experiences ahead.

At this time, we won't offer a full post-mortem on our trip thus far, but suffice it to say that we can echo the sentiment that most all Loopers express...the people that you meet and get to know become the most rewarding aspects of this undertaking. We have made life-long friends, and we very much look forward to more travels with them, while also looking forward to the many great people we have yet to meet. We are attending the AGLCA Rendezvous at New Bern, NC in April, and will have the opportunity to meet many in the 2017 class who we have not yet had the chance to meet.  

One continually evolving observation pertains to the endless variety of boating environments that we experience. It is difficult to describe the number of variables that we have managed through 500 days. Some days, the plan is simple and offers very little in the way of surprises. Other days, it is complex, and/or the variables surprise you in unexpected ways. While we know we have many unplanned or unknown situations yet to challenge us, a generalized sample of what we have experienced includes:

• Rivers, bays, sounds, channels, creeks, inlets, oceans, and of course the Gulf.
• Current, tides, wind, shallows, narrows.
• Locks, barges, tows, cargo carriers, bridges, and way too many recreational boats offering huge and inconsiderate wakes.
• Anchorages, fixed docks, floating docks, pilings, piers, walls, rafting.
• Weather management, route planning, dinghy and dog management.

Through it all so far, our boat has performed marvelously. An abundance of routine maintenance has kept us in "ship shape", and we've only had 4 instances where we've needed professional help to resolve an issue. Only 2 of these were unplanned...the other 2 were long term maintenance investments that we chose to make.

Finally, for you stats geeks out there...here are a few summary tidbits on our travels thus far:

• We have spent 465 nights in 86 different marinas. We had hoped to anchor out more often, but many times the challenges of managing our 2 dogs has dictated that marinas were much simpler. (Only 7% of our nights have been at anchor...we were anticipating this to be closer to 15%)
• 21 nights were at anchor in 18 different anchorages
• 14 nights were spent on 5 different free walls
• Only 6 days have been spent at boatyards getting work done on the boat, and we were always able to spend our nights on the boat.
• We've consumed 2,386 gallons of diesel fuel, at an average price of $2.12. Thus, we have averaged 2.33 mpg, with an average burn rate of just over 3 gallons per hour, including generator usage.
• Knock on wood...we have not yet run aground...we bumped the bottom a couple of times in soft conditions, and spent a night or two sitting in the mud in a shallow slip, but no hard groundings requiring assistance.

So...we'll leave it at that for now. We are camped out in Jacksonville for another week, and then will gradually start our trek north. We are excited for the Spring and are really looking forward to the northern part of our adventure over the next 8 or 9 months!

Thanks for reading...'til next time.

Cocoa to Titusville to New Smyrna Beach to Palm Coast to St Augustine to Ortega River

Day #495; Loop Miles to Date = 5,558

Ok...time to catch us up a bit...it has been a busy week or so.

Once again, Cocoa was a nice stop, but a week here was just about right. We made the decision here that for this year, this was as far south as we were going to go. This will allow us a leisurely pace back up the coast, with intermediate targets of Ortega River, Brunswick, GA, Savannah, and ultimately New Bern, NC for the Spring AGLCA Rendezvous. There will be plenty of stops in between, but these stops we know for certain. So, off we go north...first stop was to Titusville just for a night, and then back to New Smyrna Beach for two. This small town has really grown on us, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here again.

The beach at New Smyrna Beach is wonderful...a lot like Daytona Beach. Really wide and flat...and like Daytona, there are areas where you can drive your car right down the beach.

And yes...again it was a windy beach day, and a tad chilly.

From New Smyrna Beach, we headed to Palm Coast, a spot that we had not visited on either of our other 2 trips on this stretch of the ICW. We found a nice marina there, and as anticipated this is a very large residential area. Not any downtown per se, but it was obvious that scads of folks vacation and retire here. One really nice feature is a very lengthy walking/biking path that follows the ICW for miles. We pulled our bikes down and spent an afternoon having a ball just wandering down the path. There is a small European Village near the marina that we stopped at for a time...mostly its restaurants and bars, but a couple of very nice shops.

 

Sample shot of the bike path. Although this pic doesn't show it, there were plenty of folks out walking and biking, and just enjoying the day like us.

Next up was St Augustine again...this was our 3rd visit here, another favorite of ours, but only for a night this time.

A couple of you out there know exactly where this is from in St Augustine! This is probably our 3rd trip to this place (Pizza Time...with claim to the 2nd best pizza in the country). And after many tastings we've decided that their Margherita pizza is our favorite. Shout out to our friends on ACT III and Corkscrew for helping us narrow our choices down to this one over time!

And after St Augustine, we made our way back to Ortega River Marina in Jacksonville. We'll be here for a couple of weeks most likely, and then start venturing further north. Here are a few random shots from our trip up the coast this past week or so...

 

This is the FEC Railroad Bridge in downtown Jacksonville. When we left a few weeks ago, it was going to be closed to marine traffic for a week or so, and our heart skipped a beat when we saw it was closed from a distance...even though we had checked online, and received assurances from the marina that it was open for business. Fortunately, as we got closer we realized that it was closed for a train to pass through. A short 15 minutes later, and it opened up with no issues. Phew!



Nothing says "Florida" like a fish on a roof...

Hanging Out in Cocoa

Day #487; Loop Miles to Date = 5,371

We've been enjoying our stay in Cocoa...and the weather has been absolutely stunning. Cocoa Village is just a block or two from the marina, and is a great little town with plenty of shops, restaurants, and of course multiple choices for ice cream. The past week has gone by quickly, and we've managed to get a few important things done while here...haircuts, post office runs, etc...and also a few boat projects - most notably, we changed out the raw water impeller. This is something that needs to be done periodically, and can be a bit of a chore...this time around it was a 2-hour project. The good news is that the new water pump that we installed last March has an improved design, and after 10 months and over 425 hours, the impeller still looked to be in great shape. Now we know that we can go a year or so before this needs to be done again.

An interesting sighting on the ICW the other day on the way to Cocoa. We believe that this is some sort of prototype vessel being tested by the manufacturer. When boat builders are testing boats out prior to full-scale production, they often look like this...all covered up and secret. It was probably about a 50' boat...maybe bigger. It was too shallow for us to get any closer.

One of the highlights of our stay here this week was an afternoon that we spent at the National Wildlife Refuge at Merritt Island. This is definitely worth a visit for any nature lovers out there. This Refuge is huge...140,000 acres and was established back in 1963 in a unique partnership with the Kennedy Space Center.

There is a 7-mile driving tour that you can take, with endless spots to stop along the way to view this pristine landscape. We had a blast...and here are some pics of just some of the birdlife that we saw...

American Coots...all over the place.

White Ibis



Wilson's Plover

Northern Shovler...this guy almost never came up for air. He was scooping food off the bottom here where it was quite shallow. He has a large shovel shaped beak. Very pretty.

Common Gallinule

Taking a bath.

Anhinga.

 

Great Blue Heron in the foreground...and a Green Heron in the back.

 All for now...back on the waterway again tomorrow...

New Smyna Beach to Titusville to Cocoa, FL

Day # 481; Loop Miles to Date = 5,371

No pic's this time...just a quick update on where we are...

We've had an absolutely gorgeous 2 days of cruising. The weather is simply idyllic...low-70's, light wind, and not a cloud in the sky. And it looks like it will be this way for the foreseeable future! After a couple of nights in New Smyrna Beach, we stopped off at Titusville for one night, and now we are at Cocoa Village Marina for a week. We've been to all of these stops before, and we really enjoyed Cocoa last spring, so we decided to head here for a short stay again.

Titusville is also a nice stop...a fairly large marina right on the ICW, and it has a dog park directly next to it. So, we were able to get our noisy pups off of the boat for some group therapy...Kikie especially enjoyed it as she turns into a real socialite in these types of settings. It doesn't matter whether it's dogs or people...she just wants to meet everyone.

And today, the water was perfectly calm, and there was no boat traffic at all. The beauty of this is that we were able to spot a couple of manatees swimming not far from us. They stay mostly submerged, and are difficult to spot even on rather calm days. But it was like glass today, and we were traveling through waters that are known as manatee habitats, so we were on the lookout. We got within about 50 feet of one of them...this is the first time we have seen them while actually cruising, and not sitting at a dock...it was terrific!

So, we're settled in Cocoa for a week, and we'll have a rental car this weekend (thanks Enterprise for having your weekend special available at the location here). We'll therefor be able to tour around, get some errands done, and visit some "stuff" in the area that is not within walking distance...more fun to be had.

All for now...thanks for reading.