November 1, 2019
New Symrna Beach
29.03.669N
80.55.875W

Who turned off the heat!!  Holy smokes!  We went to bed last evening grateful for the power to  the AC.  This morning Dale got up, got dressed and went outside.  He was back inside within 30 seconds, completely changing clothes saying that it was 60* outside.  A good time to head south. 

We had scheduled a 7:30am appointment to have our boat hauled for the out of water survey.  Dale went up about 7:15am to make contact with the manager as no one had responded to my text from the night before.  He came back about 7:30 saying that there was a whole new group of people there and they were having a meeting at 7:30 to discuss the day.  My impression was that as soon as our surveyor got there, they would know exactly how it was going to start. 

About 7:45 a man with his hands stuffed in his shorts and wearing a flowered shirt looking terribly cold came walking down the dock looking for us asking why we weren’t heading for the haul out.  I explained that we were ready but were waiting for the meeting to get out.  He went looking for Dale, who had gone looking for the surveyor.  I turned on the engines and waited.  Sure enough, here comes Dale, circling his finger as in fire it up, we’re going. 

Dale had warned me that the wind and current were opposed to each other, so be careful.  I backed out like I knew what I was doing.  That’s where it ended. 

Heading to the slip, Dale had said to swing wide, that’s the last I heard.  As soon as I started my turn, it became extremely clear that the current was much stronger than I anticipated and as I slid past the slip, three different men were yelling directions at the same time as the AIS started beeping a warning of a dangerous target in the area.  I wondered if it sensed it was me. 

Ready for the out of water survey

What many of you may not know is that I am a private pilot.  One of the things my instructor screamed in my ear (and there were many) was that you shouldn’t try to save a bad approach; its better to go around and line it up better the next time.  I fell back on that lesson as soon as the yelling started.  So I reversed engines and backed my catywompus angle back into the current.  The next time I approached heading into the current which was much easier to control; that time I pulled in reasonably straight.  The line handlers did the rest; they’d seen enough.  Jim Campbell, our surveyor, saw the whole thing.  He was sweet saying that anytime you come in without damage, its good.  Similar to my flight instructor who said anytime you can walk away from a landing, its good. 

We came out of the water about 7:50; Jim did his work, we paid him for his time and effort and we were back in the water by 9:15.  We had to back tract to refuel but we were on the road again (so to speak) by 10. 

Our journey south wasn’t a miserable day but it wasn’t a chamber of commerce one either.  It was overcast, dreary and cold all day.  However, it kept a lot of boaters off the ICW.  There were a few and generally most were polite as they approached us and slowed to knock down their wakes that can give us a nasty rocking. 

As luck would have it, I was at the helm when we went through the Mantasas Cut.  This is an area that has notoriously shifting sands.  They actually keep a dredge permanently anchored there.  Today was no exception.  However, today, they were actually working in the channel which required some serious navigation to get through.  Dale was standing by my side as we heard the boat ahead of us asking for directions.  We followed behind him until he did a complete 180 and started heading back towards us.  A voice on the radio called to us and said to stay put until the little boat leading the one ahead of us returned and then we were to follow him.  OK, I can do that. 

When it did return, a man came out on the deck and motioned for us to come towards him.  I was concerned that we were going to hit him as our boat doesn’t exactly stop on a dime.  He then gunned the engine forward and he again motioned for us to follow.   This forced us to do a hairpin turn, which appeared to take us back out but then he cut back in within feet of the dredger before doing another hairpin turn in front of the dredger.  I grant you, we got through without mishap but man, what a serpentine route!  You’d never get through that on your own.  There were 3 more dredgers along that strip but thankfully, it was Dale’s turn.  He was fortunate that 2 were anchored and the last one was clearly on one side of the channel. 

The remaining part of the day was spent staying in the obscenely narrow channel for such a wide expanse of water making steady progress south.  In fact, originally we had hoped to make Daytona Beach before dark.  We actually got there by 4pm, so we elected to continue on to New Symrna Beach.  Dale picked out an anchorage from a book we have on such information, and when we reached it, had only 2 boats in it.  We anchored in the center and backed down.  We got the sharp tug that indicates we’re well set and started to settle in.  Within 5 minutes, it became clear why there were only 2 boats here.  We were in a cut between the ICW and the beach which caused us to swing 180* on a regular basis.  We guessed the other boats had thrown out a stern anchor to keep them into the current but what happens when the tide turns?  Dale didn’t want to chance fouling two anchors.  As we plan to be underway at first light, we elected to let out more chain, roll up the side curtains to our enclosure to lessen the wind factor and keep checking.  It did seem to help.  We kept a close watch for about an hour and a half until sunset and appeared to be doing well.  Since sunset, it seems to have settled even more.  Every once in a while, we’ll feel the tug on the anchor and Dale jumps up to go check again. 

Let’s hope we have an uneventful night.  Every time, something happens, Dale is quick to say “Well, its something for your blog!”  Please!  Some things I don’t need to experience.