March 2020 – Around the Great Loop on the Answer

Week 40: March 5 – March 11

*Week 40:*
*Palm Coast, FL to St Augustine, FL*

We left New Smyrna Beach on Thursday morning and headed to Palm Coast. Our plan was to stay for two nights and then spend a week in St Augustine. Originally, we were to meet up with our friend Frank who lives in Palm Coast but since he was planning to travel to New York, he joined us for dinner in New Smyrna Beach. Palm Coast was still a mid-point to St Augustine so we let our reservations stand since sometimes it is more difficult to change especially when a weekend is involved.

Traveling to Palm Coast was basically calm with a bit more wind than predicted. Of course, the wind picked up when we got to the marina and needed to dock. The forward gear issue still exists and makes docking a bit more difficult than usual. We got settled and planned to walk around town as usual and just relax. Peter received a text from Frank that he cancelled his trip to New York based on his doctor’s recommendation that he not travel by train at this point with the coronavirus. So, we made plans to have lunch on Friday with Frank and his brother Larry.

The nearby town within walking distance was not the usual local town but the European Village, a quaint and unique place with a great selection of restaurants and bars. It is designed like an Italian open-air piazza with shops and restaurants on the ground floor and colorful residential condos above. Vendors were set up under small tents in the piazza, some selling merchandise and some selling their own crafts. An enjoyable walk with lots of activity and lively music for entertainment.

On Friday, Frank picked us up at the marina and we met Larry in a local restaurant, Portugal Wine Bar & Grill. We have never gone to a Portuguese restaurant and asked them for recommendations. Both told us that we wouldn’t go wrong with anything on the menu. Peter had Pork & Little Neck Clams that he thoroughly enjoyed, even his leftovers for dinner. I took a leap and selected the Mixed Picadinho, that included cubes of pork, beef, shrimp, chicken, and Portuguese sausage in a red wine sauce with fried cubed potatoes. A very large helping so definitely a two meal portion. I enjoyed the dish and located a recipe similar on Pinterest that I would like to try at some point.

We also took a ride to see the beaches of Palm Coast and we saw the impact of one of the hurricanes a few years ago. The towns are still in restoration mode. However, with “bike week” at Daytona, there were many visitors resulting in a cash infusion for the economy.

Our plans were to leave on Saturday. The weather prediction indicated that the wind would be more than we would prefer for travel so waited until the morning to make a decision. Saturday morning we woke up to strong winds. We were able to spend another night in Palm Coast and pushed our reservation at St Augustine until Sunday when the wind was to be much calmer.

Sunday brought calmer winds so we left and arrived in St Augustine without issue until we tried to dock. Peter prefers to dock stern in and St Augustine had long fingers so if necessary we would be able to go bow in and still get off the boat. While the wind wasn’t bad, the current was very strong so bow in was the easiest. Even with dock hands on the finger to catch lines, it was not an easy docking – forward gear issue continues. We were happy to get settled, knowing that we would be staying put for a week.

One of the first things that we did when we got settled was to locate a dealer for Yanmar engines and ZF transmissions. Knowing that we still have 1,200-1,500 more miles until we get home, we cannot continue to have forward gear issues. A call was made on Monday and arrangements for the technician to come check things out on Wednesday was a good start for the week.

The plan was to play “tourist” for the week since St Augustine is rich in history. It is the oldest continuously settled city established by Europeans in the continental United States. It was founded by the Spanish under Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. It is commonly called the “Nation’s Oldest City.” We had a number of guide books from the marina and used Google Maps to outline a few of the places we wanted to visit. We also have a “local” to join us and make sure we don’t miss the most interesting. Frank is a short ride from the city and decided that since he generally takes his guests up to St Augustine since he enjoys it so much, felt it would be perfect to join us for a short tour and dinner at one of his favorite places, Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille. Harry’s serves a mixture of southern, cajun and creole dishes. It’s been great catching up after a few years. Plus, having local guides add to the adventure.

We walked around the city, exploring certain sites and spent a few hours at the Castillo de San Marcos, a 17th century fortress with drawbridges. We also visited the Colonial Quarter, Old City Gates & Historical Marker, Oldest Wooden School House, the Lightner Museum, Flagler College, and walked St George Street and their quaint shops.

Due to the spread of the coronavirus, expectations are that more closures will continue. At this point we do not know what impact that will have for our return and will need to follow the news more closely than we had been these past number of months.

Week 39:February 27-March 4

Week 39: Titusville, FL to New Smyrna Beach, FL

Accomplishing routine tasks in a city is so much easier than in the small towns where we usually stay along the loop. Titusville has a bus system similar to the one we used in Fort Myers. As “seniors” our fares were only $.75 each so a roundtrip cost us the equivalent of what the tip would have been for an Uber or Lyft. The bus took us to a Walmart SuperCenter with a HomeDepot across the street. Definitely a good investment to get what we needed. We took four shopping bags so we could each carry two since the bus stated “only what you could carry” yet we did see people bring shopping carts on the bus. If necessary, we could make another trip before we leave or just take advantage of the local Save A Lot grocery store within walking distance.

The Space View Park and American Space Museum & Walk of Fame were an easy walk from the marina. We enjoying touring both and had hoped that there would be a launch while we were there but the next scheduled launch was a few days after we were scheduled to leave. We decided not to extend our stay to view the launch. If the weather did not cooperate, the launch could have been rescheduled so we might not have been able to see it anyway. The weather was nice, little wind and calm water so we were able to leave as planned and headed to New Smyrna Beach.

Arrived in New Smyrna Beach and after we docked, the dockmaster told us that she had a Manatee years ago. In fact, she had Jim Krogen’s Manatee named Sumo. Told her that our boat had been Skipper Bob’s so we shared a few stories about our “famous” boats.

While we were in New Smyrna Beach, we toured the town, visited the local library and picked up a few books as usual. We didn’t visit the library in Titusville as Peter bought a few books at the Space Museum. New Smyrna Beach is a nice town with a walkable historic district. It seems as though the town has two distinct “downtown” areas – the historic district and the “new” downtown located near the actual beach.

Peter also had a high school friend who now resides permanently in New Smyrna Beach after years of being a “snowbird” so we planned to have dinner together. Also, another friend (who was in our bridal party so many years ago) lived close by and drove up to have dinner with all of us. It was great spending time with Tom and Jeanne, and Frank. Lots of laughs and good conversation. Although we all said we needed to get the waitress to take a picture we were having such a good time that we all forgot….had Tom and Jeanne send us a selfie to post here but since we would be meeting up with Frank again in St Augustine next week we hoped that we would not forget again!

Week 38: February 20-26

Week 38:Fort Pierce, FL to Titusville, FL

Our original plan to leave Fort Pierce on Thursday changed because of the weather. Winds were high and it looked as though we would need to stay until Saturday when they were projected to be more favorable for traveling. Fortunately the marina was able to extend our stay and we changed our reservations for our next two stops at Melbourne and Titusville

We took advantage of the extra time in Fort Pierce to visit their small aquarium and attend the annual open house at the Smithsonian Marine Station. It was interesting to see experiments/research in action and interact with the resident scientists. As for the aquarium, it was “cute” but took only 15-20 minutes to see everything.

The Farmers Market on Saturday was terrific. It was much larger than any other one we visited along the loop. Lots of vendors, plenty of fresh produce and some interesting “gourmet” items, even for Kodey. Obviously we did some shopping. In addition to the market, we viewed a simulated cattle drive, the annual Cracker Trail Riders Parade where over 100 horseback riders travel the historic cattle drive route through Downtown Fort Pierce. There was whip cracking, tall tale telling, and horse petting, by the Marina, through the Farmers Market, and ended at Cobb’s Landing.

The weather predictions were correct and we left on Sunday for Melbourne Harbor, a good midpoint stop before Titusville. We planned to stay in Titusville for a week. They had an excellent weekly rate so we figured it was a good place to “slow down” traveling north and take advantage of touring the “space coast” since it was right near Cape Canaveral.

After we arrived and got settled, Peter sent a text to Rob and Claire, members of the Peekskill Yacht Club who were “snowbirds” for a few weeks. While they knew we were scheduled to stay at the marina, they also had family visiting so weren’t sure whether we would be able to get together. As it turned out, they received the text on their way to the beach and were just passing by the marina so stopped for a short visit. While they were there, we had two other visitors in the slip behind the boat, two manatees – a mother and her baby. I guess when you go looking as we did in Fort Pierce, they remain hidden and then surprise you when you least expect it. Throughout our two days at the marina, we caught more glimpses of manatees and a few dolphins.

Melbourne Harbor was a good stopover and we headed to Titusville on Tuesday. Our first few days were spent on routine activities – some food shopping, boat maintenance, mechanic adjusting the intermittent forward gear issue, etc. We then searched for locations for our “tourist activities” and made plans for the next few days.

Week 37: February 13 – 19

We left LaBelle early Thursday morning since we had to go through a number of locks and wanted to get to Clewiston. The locks on the Okeechobee were not as high as we have done before so did not anticipate any problems…..we were wrong. The lock at Ortona was only an 8′ lift so we figured, short, simple, etc. This was not the case. The locks on the Okeechobee appear to leave the doors partially open and that causes turbulence inside the lock making it difficult to hold onto the lines especially when it is windy. Fortunately, we were the only boat in the lock since not only could we not hold on towards the end but it spun the boat around. This was also not a very wide lock making it difficult to turn the boat so we exited the lock in reverse. Fortunately the boat waiting to enter the lock waited for us to exit and turn around. The lock at Moore Haven is a 1.5′ lift; no problems at all. The last lock of the day before arriving at Roland Martin Marina was the Clewiston lock that is normally open at all times. The charts indicate that depending on the level of the lake, the lock may be open but we were advised by the marina that the lock is always open and the lock leads directly off the lake to two marinas.

Roland Martin is right off the lake and was one of the recommended stops. We met a few other loopers who were planning to stay two nights – we booked for two originally but were flexible about leaving the next morning depending on the weather conditions on the lake. Staying for the second night would mean that we would have others to travel with so we decided to stay and the next morning took the courtesy car to pick up a portable Thermacell bug zapper and made a stop at the local library. When we returned to the marina, we were only gone an hour, the other boats changed their minds and were gone even though the wind was worse than what was predicted for the next day. Since we had a longer day to Stuart, plus two locks, we stayed the second night since we would have had a late start after we got back.

We left early on Saturday morning to cross the lake and travel to Stuart to RiverWatch Marina since we were unable to get a slip at Indian Town. The weather seemed OK with predictions for a light chop on the lake. We went back through the Clewiston lock into the lake and started our day’s journey. The first hour was good but in the second hour the wind and waves increased, more than any of the weather apps predicted, so it was not pleasant. It did get better for a bit of time but then the wind picked up again. We arrived at the Port Mayaca lock at the other end of the lake and were advised that the lock was open (we had heard that this was a possibility because of the level of the lake) and received permission to come through. According to the information we received at Looper Palooza, the lock is normally a drop of 1′. We traveled along the St Lucie Canal and arrived at the St Lucie Lock, a 14.5′ drop. We waited about 20 minutes for the lock to be ready and all went fine. After the experience at Ortona, I was concerned about the locks since we have never experienced locks with the doors partially open. We arrived at RiverWatch (construction underway so limited services) before heading to Fort Pierce, one of the recommended stops along the east coast.

Reservations were made for 3 nights in Fort Pierce based on comments from Done Diggin. They had enjoyed the town and advised there were a number of things to do within walking distance and we also planned so visit with some of Peter’s high school friends. As it turned out, we needed to expand our stay another day to meet up with them. We were sure we would find other things to do.

It was great seeing Vinnie and Mike again. We met at Cobb’s Landing for dinner and talked for hours. Port St Lucie is now their permanent home after being snowbirds for a number of years. Before they moved, we were only about 10 miles away in New York but rarely saw them. Peter would see them every few years at their neighborhood reunions but I stopped going to these a number of years ago.

The public library was right on the other side of the park and Peter found a few new books. We visited the Manatee Observation Center but even though we went a few times, never saw a manatee. We strolled through the mid-week Farmers Market but heard that the one on the weekend is much better. We planned to be gone by then. As usual, we walked to a local grocery store to replenish a few things.

Next stop is Melbourne Harbor since it is midway to Titusville and friends from the yacht club are staying there for a few weeks.