Cocoa Village to Marathon - 1/25/14-2/1/14

 

This picture is mostly for my brother, Kevin.  These fish were right in the marina in Cocoa.

Schools and schools of fish in the marina

We left Cocoa Village on December 18th to go home for the holidays.  It was nice to be home, but it felt a little strange.  Almost like I had left my home in Cocoa and was going to Delaware for a visit.  Just nine short weeks on the boat and it already felt like it was home now.  It snowed twice while we were home and let me tell you, shoveling snow is not fun.  It's cold, it's wet, and it's hard work.  Neither one of us care if we ever see snow again.  We sent the picture below to our friends who were in Florida on their boat and they said "John looks better behind the helm than he does the snow blower."  John very much agrees.

John - at home in Delaware.  Hopefully this will be the last time he will ever have to use this machine.

It was great to see family and friends again but we can't wait to get to warm weather.  John officially retired on January 23rd and we left for Florida at 7:30 a.m. on the 24th.  We arrived back in Cocoa on the 25th (temperature a cool 68 degrees).  We did the grocery store thing to re-provision the boat, turned the rental car in, and prepared for departure on the 27th. 


Our first day back in Cocoa Village.

Our last night in Cocoa, we went to the village for dinner and to shoot some pool.  John won one and I won one.  The record is now 8 for John and 2 for Miss Deb, but I think I'm on a roll. 

We said good-bye to Cocoa Village at 8:50 in the morning, heading south for as long as we felt like going.  We ended up traveling 66 miles that day, anchoring in Faber Cove, which is just north of Fort Pierce.  It was a beautiful anchorage just off the ICW.  In the morning we woke to a dense fog and couldn't get underway until almost ten o'clock.  We only travelled 44 miles on Thursday, some of which was due to slow wake zones because of manatees and some of which was due to waiting for bridges to open.  We anchored in the north end of Lake Fort Worth, which is just north of Palm Beach.  I wouldn't anchor there again.  Way too much wake from the ICW.  Next time we'll find a calmer spot to drop the hook.

Our view from our anchorage in Lake Fort Worth

Florida has miles and miles of waterway that are manatee zones, but we only ever saw one, and then we're not even sure that it was a manatee.  We travel slow anyway (approx. 8k) but 5 or 6 knots???  What a pain in the ass! 

This was also the start of many low bridges that we had to wait for an opening.  One bridge had a piece of construction equipment on it and said they wouldn't open at all until the end of the day.  Really?!?!  The bridge tender said we should be able to make it without an opening, but it wasn't his boat with $17,000 worth of new equipment on top of it.  So, I went up on the hard top and stood on my tippy toes in front of all that equipment and told John to go very, very slow and if I yelled, he was to immediately stop and back up.  The bridge tender was correct, though.  We cleared the bottom of the bridge with about six inches to spare.  Another bridge was supposed to open on the quarter past and quarter til the hour.  We motored at a slow speed so we would get there at quarter til and not have to wait too long for an opening.  Not to be.  The bridge tender told us that due to construction, they only open on the quarter past now.  When you drive on the highway, they post signs indicating that there is a road closed ahead, or there is construction ahead.  So, you prepare for that.  Why can't the ICW do the same?  It's more or less a highway for boats.  I think we had to wait on a total of 19 bridges to open over two days time.  These bridges, too, are a pain in the ass!  I thought John was going to lose his mind!!!

A lot of the bridges are pretty, though.

 

On Wednesday, the 29th, we got underway at 7:45, going through "Concrete Canyon".  It's called this because both sides of the ICW are lined with a concrete bulkhead for 66 miles.  There was little boat traffic when we went through, so the wave action wasn't bad.  They say that on weekends, the water just bounces off the concrete bulkheads and there is continuous wave action.  We anchored that night in Sunrise Bay, Ft. Lauderdale.

   

 

 

 

Concrete Canyon

 

Downtown Miami

 

On Thursday, January 30, we got a slip in Key Biscayne.  That was a total waste of money.  There was nothing to do there.  The Cruiser's Guide said they had a restaurant but all the restaurants were miles away and we didn't feel like taking a cab.  Plus it was raining.  So, we stayed on the boat, went to bed early and left the next morning at 7:20.  Our whole trip from Cocoa to Marathon was pretty uneventful.  The water is now a turquoise color.  Friday night we anchored in a beautiful cove off Windley Key, Islamorada.  On the way into the cove, three dolphin swam in our bow wake but before I could get a picture, they stopped.  We've heard of dolphin doing this but this is the first time we've ever experienced it.  We took the dinghy ashore and had dinner and drinks at Ocean View.  Really cool place.  They have a heated/cooled pool that the restaurant patrons can use.  I wish I had known that.  I would have worn my suit. 

 

Saturday, February 1st -- Happy birthday to my brother Walter. 

 

The water in this area is very shallow and has a lot of lobster and stone crab pots, so we couldn't go too fast.  That morning, we left the ICW and headed into the Atlantic Ocean in order to cut about 45 minutes off the trip.  I'm not sure that was wise because it was a pretty rough ride.

 





Going into the ocean at Channel Five

 

YIPPEE!!!  We finally arrived in Marathon.  We're very excited!  We got into Boot Key Harbor at 1:00 p.m.  WOW!  There are a thousand boats here if there's one.  A number of MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Association) members greeted us at the dock and helped tie the boat up.  Everyone is very, very friendly.  Why not?  They're in paradise.

 

1328 miles from the Bohemia River.