Titusville, Florida, Part II

December 20, 2006

Our main intention for stopping in Titusville was to pick up mail, the first of which came yesterday. Well worth the stop! A whole package of Christmas presents and goodies (including Christmas cookies) from Kristen's parents. Yum! The rest of the mail is still in transit, but we're comfortable here in Titusville as the marina is very friendly, there is a great bakery close by and one of the best grocery stores we've seen down the ICW (Publix). So, we may just stay here for Christmas solely to buy all the good food we need for our Christmas dinners (Hans celebrates on the 24th with Swedish food and Kristen celebrates on the 25th with American/English food so we're likely to put on a few pounds, can't wait!). So far on the menu for the 24th: swedish meatballs, prinskorv (little sausages), baked ham, potatoes, gravlax (cured salmon), ris a la malta (a Swedish rice pudding with whipped cream dessert) etc. etc. etc.! For the 25th: turkey (may just be a little cornish hen, stuffing, potatoes, squash, cookies, etc. etc. All to be accompanied by copious amounts of glogg!

We’re going to spend the next few days steadily working through our list of projects that we need to complete before going to the Bahamas where supplies are scarce and expensive.

We met a great family from Toronto on their boat aptly named “Snow Day”. A 30 foot Acadia with mom, dad, two kids, two dogs and a cat. And you thought we’re crazy?! They’re very friendly, relaxed and all seem really happy with what they’re doing. The kids got a trip to Disneyworld the other day and were proudly wearing their souvenir t-shirts!

Sorry, no new pictures today, but here are a couple from the past few days.


A typical house located on the waterway in Florida.


A nice, classic cruising yacht at dock north of Daytona Beach.


Look up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, no it's...a blimp. Ha!

Titusville, Florida

December 19, 2006

We arrived in Titusville, Florida last night after motoring for two days from St. Augustine. We spent one night in Daytona Beach, Florida, but did not get off the boat and, alas, did not see the speedway. The scenery along the waterway has changed from marshland and barrier islands to paved over marshland and barrier islands with condos and high-rise buildings. We listen to NPR (National Public Radio) quite a lot (what a shocker, right?) and there is considerable discussion on the local stations about the amount of development in Florida with lots of pros and cons on both sides of the issue. Fittingly, on Sunday morning’s broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” the guest was Billy Collins, poet laureate, who read one of his poems which joked about the names of modern housing developments being requiems to the animals they displace (Fox Run, Pheasant Hollow, Deer Lane, etc.). The weather, however, can’t be beat and it’s pretty hard to complain about 75+ degree weather a few days before Christmas. But we’re planning on making some more lussebullar, pepparkakor and other Christmas food to remind ourselves that it’s Christmas.


The typical clutter in the cockpit towards the afternoon.


The backside of Daytona Beach in the morning.


The Jay Jay Railroad bridge open for boats to pass through.



Hans hoisted Kristen to the top of the mast last night to install the new and revised SSB antenna (thanks James Baldwin!) so she took the opportunity to take a couple photos of Whisper and the anchorage.

St. Augustine, Florida

December 17, 2006, Third of Advent

We’re writing this as we are motoring down towards Daytona Beach. The weather is wonderful, mid 70s (24 degrees Celsius) and sunny. It finally feels like we’re heading for the tropics. The water temperature has also gone up drastically, from 16 degrees Celsius to 21 degrees Celsius in the past 35 miles.

We spent yesterday walking around in St. Augustine, Florida, During our travels down the ICW we’ve stopped in many towns purporting to have some kind of historical significance or other. St. Augustine was the first place to really live up to the hype. Although very touristy, once you get past the “Olde Tyme Photo Store,” “Fudge Shoppe,” various nautical novelty shops and the innumerable tourist traps, St. Augustine is a well preserved/restored old town with a tangible sense of its colonial heritage. The centerpiece of the town is an old Spanish fort, Castillo de San Marcos. It was built in 1672 and is open to the public. The town itself was founded in 1565 as a Spanish military outpost.



The west wall of the fort.



Throughout the day the fort fires one of its cannons in a demonstration. Kristen tried to take a picture of the action, but the sound of the cannon made her yelp and move the camera, which explains the blurry picture. You may be interested to know that Kristen actually yelped (involuntarily) every time the cannon fired... she problably wouldn't hack it in a combat zone.


Hans keeps a lookout over the water. Any pirates?




Kristen with the world's largest pineapple! (no, it's actually a palm tree)


During the day we walked around town and stopped for a proper pub lunch at the Prince of Whales restaurant. Kristen had pork pie and a side of coronation chicken and Hans had bangers and mash. Yum!




Two pictures from Flagler College. Note all the seashells incorporated in the architecture (we're in the tropics now baby!)


After a day of sightseeing we met up with Jeanne and Scott Hunter, who live nearby. They are Kristen’s old neighbors from Mt. Vernon Street. They took us out for a great dinner at the Mexican restaurant “Acapulco” where we caught up over beers, mole chicken, burritos and chipotle chicken. Yum again!

We’ve got about 15 miles to go to Daytona Beach where we’ll anchor for the night. We’ll probably head out again tomorrow morning towards Titusville.

No alligator sightings yet and all toes accounted for.





We were lucky that our one day visit coincided with an holiday open house at the fort. The fort is usually closed after dark, but last night they stayed open (for free no less) and the festivities included a group of carolers singing Christmas songs in the candle-lit parade grounds inside the fort, cannon fire and historical re-enactors dressed as Conquistadors.

Foggy Fernandina Beach, Florida

December 15, 2006

After a 2 mile trek to Radio Shack and everyone’s favorite store, Walmart, yesterday, we had the supplies we needed to enhance our SSB antenna. The SSB radio will be essential for us to receive weather reports, however we need to devise a larger, more powerful antenna. Hans has been doing his research and came up with a solution, but it’s pretty hard to test it out when we’ve been socked in with very dense fog for the past 2 days (today is day 3 of heavy fog). It’s really odd to be at anchor in such dense fog. We can barely see the anchor lights of other boats and at times it feels like we’re suspended in the clouds. The water is very still and there hasn’t been much wind. Winter in Florida I suppose!



Foggy walk on the beach




There were lots of sea shells scattered about



Merry Christmas/God Jul from Whisper




Lussebullar in progress



Our view for the past 3 days

Edit to previous post re: ice cream

Pete & Janice,
The ice cream is by "Working Cow" not Happy Cow.
love
Kris

Fernandina Beach, Florida Part II

December 14, 2006

We're in foggy Fernandina Beach, Florida waiting for some mail. Luckily, the town has a nice library right downtown with 20 internet computers to use. Unfortunately, we can't upload pictures here, so this entry is pictureless.

We went to the beach yesterday. There were a lot of people surfing since the swells are pretty big these days due to a high pressure system off the east coast. After some internet research on SSB antennas, we went back to Whisper and baked lussebullar, saffron-infused sweet yeast rolls, a staple for Lucia Day (Dec. 13) in Sweden. They were delicious, and we ended up eating an avocado, cheese and probably far too many lussebullar for dinner (sorry moms!). Of course, we had them for breakfast this morning and there are still many more left over for a fika this afternoon.

Since we're here for another day, we have a list of projects to start working on, the first being the SSB antenna, then securing the windvane. If time permits, we'll tackle the biggest project: removing the sink to create more storage space. Currently, the sink is far too low to be of much use, and after washing just 2 mugs immediate backache sets in. So we'll pull the sink out, create more useful storage space in that cavity, plumb the saltwater intake to the old sink drain seacock, and use a plastic dishpan for the sink. The only con is that we won't have a permanent sink which will be a hassle for activities like brushing teeth, but we think the pros outweigh the cons. If any Vega owners see anything glaringly wrong with this brainstorm, please let us know before we start the fun job of dismantlement!

We'll post some pictures tomorrow (or perhaps this afternoon if we can find a volunteer for a second dinghy ride back to town!).

meow meow, MEOW!

December 12, 2006

By Kit Kat

They finally let me get my mitts on the computer. Listen, it’s not all fun and games. I am very hungry all the time. I know we’re at sea, but we’re not shipwrecked so I don’t understand why my food has to be rationed all the time. Where is my liver pate? Today I simply wanted to go into the marina office and make new friends with the nice dockmaster (who I suspect had some tuna fish behind his desk) but mean Kristen came chasing after me and threw (yes, THREW) me back on the boat. They still haven’t let me go in the dinghy yet. And don’t even talk about the bathroom situation. It stinks. The only saving grace of this whole trip is that I get to sit in the sun every now and then when I can muster enough energy to drag my weary, half-starved body up the companionway steps. Wish me good luck for my next escape attempt.


Here I am, hiding from them. I don't think they'll see me behind the whisker pole.


See, I help. I'm a really good navigator. That should give me at least one can of tuna a day, don't you think? And how about that slender figure? I don't have any idea who that man was talking about when he asked "So, is she pregnant?"


HA! Finally, some food to ease the pain in my stomach. I don't think they saw me eating their spilt eggs.

Fernandina Beach, Florida

December 12, 2006


Well, we finally made it to Florida!

After reluctantly leaving Savannah on Sunday morning, we motored for three days to get here. The weather has been sunny and blustery, so we’ve been going through thermoses of tea each day. We went grocery shopping the night before leaving, so we’ve been eating quite well. We cooked Karin’s (Hans’ mom) Creole chicken stew, which was fabulous. (The recipe is in the comments from a previous entry, but you’ll need to learn a little Swedish). Last night we made a recipe from a cruising memoir, chicken with rice, cheese, avocado and tomatoes. Tonight we’ll probably make some pasta with a sausage and tomato sauce.

Georgia was mainly undeveloped marshland with the ICW weaving its way through tidal rivers and creeks. As we’ve come to get used to, the currents have been quite swift, but they seem to average out to give us a speed of about 6 miles per hour over ground. For the Vega people reading this blog, the Beta engine has been consuming a little over 1/3 gal. Per hour and has been plenty powerful.


Kristen takes advantage of the sunny weather to varnish the companionway boards

Back in July, some of you may remember that we both attended a diesel seminar in Annapolis. That day-long event paid off on Monday morning. Soon after leaving Savannah on Sunday, we stopped in Thunderbolt to top off our diesel tank. A couple of times during the day, after filling up, we noticed that the engine was running erratically. At first we suspected that there was water in the fuel from condensation due to the cold weather and the previously half-empty fuel tank. However, we couldn’t find any water in the fuel filters, and figured that there must be air in the high-pressure fuel lines. So, on Monday morning, when the engine started acting up again, Kristen got out her notes from the diesel seminar and Hans proceeded to bleed the high pressure fuel lines of all the air. Problem solved! It was easier than we suspected and took less than half an hour. (Again, for the Beta/Vega people out there, the Beta 13.5 engine will run at idle with only one cylinder firing, which makes bleeding the lines MUCH easier.)

After the Monday morning mechanical triumph, we continued motoring until we found an almost idyllic anchorage just north of Brunswick, Georgia on Jove Creek. It was a little tricky getting in as the chart showed shoaling on both sides and the creek wasn’t marked, but we snuck in just fine. We were the only people in the creek for the whole night, except for one fisherman who sped by around sunset. We were surrounded by marsh grass, water and stars. However, due to the popularity of water, there is always development nearby, so while we felt as if we were in the middle of nowhere, we could hear police sirens, traffic and what seemed to be evangelical Christian piped music. How serene…


Sunrise above Jove Creek


We motored this morning past Jekyll Island and the Coast Guard cutter that was replanting the channel markers, through a couple sounds, until we made it to Fernandina Beach, FL (FLORIDA!!), around 3PM. At one point, the ICW went out almost into the Atlantic. The chart indicated that we needed to turn right at Red “31” which appeared to be missing. The boat ahead of us got a little excited and called the Coast Guard cutter which was nearby asking for the location of Red “31.” The Coast Guard replied “well, yes, Red 31 is here on our boat, we’re in the process of repositioning it. How can we help you?” With a panic-stricken voice, the sailor replied “Just get me out of here!” We later came upon them hard aground, between two red channel markers (for the non-boaters, you always keep the same colored markers to the same side of your boat, on the ICW going south, Red is almost always to starboard). When we came upon this same boat, he had a red marker to starboard, and a red marker to port. We offered to help and they declined. They came in to port at Fernandina Beach a couple hours after us today, so nothing hurt but pride.


Here's another coast guard barge installing channel markers



A typical shrimp boat, returning to port.

We’ll stick around Fernandina Beach until we get our mail, hopefully it will come in tomorrow, although the PO is a little busy since it’s the holiday season and all. The town is very cute and touristy, but has some great ice cream (Happy Cow from Clearwater, Pete and Janice have you had it?) and we’ll bike to the beach tomorrow!


WELCOME TO FLORIDA
(paper mill on the north side of Fernandina Beach, the beach is on the other side of town!)

Savannah, Georgia...still

December 9, 2006

It's 10:55 AM and we're still tied up to the City Docks. We just couldn't get motivated to leave this morning and kept finding some more reasons to stay another day. We'll make another run to the grocery store today, do a couple odd jobs on Whisper, and probably walk around town a little more. Last night Savannah recorded a record low of 26 degrees--we were warm in our sleeping bags, but it was freezing this morning! The sun is warming it up a bit and lots of people are walking along the riverfront.

Savannah, Georgia

December 7-8, 2006

We’ve spent the last two days touring around Savannah, Georgia. Kristen, like so many others, has always wanted to visit Savannah after reading “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” which paints a vivid portrait of Savannah and its citizens. Savannah is as beautiful as all the tourist brochures that are printed about it. Almost all the trees have Spanish moss hanging on them and the majority of the houses in the downtown historic district have been restored so at times you feel as if you’re walking through Savannah in the late 1800s. The town is laid out around 21 squares that were originally designed for wells, baking, and general social gatherings. Almost all the squares are still intact and are all well kept, landscaped, and right now are all decorated for Christmas.

Hans fueling up with some fika (coffee & cake) before starting the walking tour.
One of the many squares—most have either a statue, fountain, or gazebo in the middle.
The Mercer-Williams House—featured in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”
We also decorated the boat for Christmas!

Yesterday morning we started a self-guided walking tour and in the afternoon decided to bike to the marine store to get a few supplies. We were told it was only 3 miles away, but it turned out to be over 6 miles away. We definitely got our exercise! We stopped at the Bonaventure Cemetery on the bike ride back to town. The Cemetery is listed on the National Register and is spooky, even in the daylight.

Kristen biking down pretty, but busy, Victory Drive on the way to the marine store.
Kristen at a bridge that crosses the ICW.
One of the roads through the cemetery.

Some headstones & family monuments.


We went to dinner at the Moon River Brewery (thanks Nigel!) where Kristen had some baby back ribs and Hans had a sirloin steak. We started the meal off with roasted oysters with garlic and artichokes. Very good!

The City dock is located on the Savannah River which is also a very busy shipping river. Large (HUGE) container ships pass us during the day and in the evening hours. Whisper usually seems pretty small to us, but at times she feels downright miniscule!

This morning we woke up to 30 degree weather, but nevertheless, put on warm clothes (we are from Vermont and Sweden so we should be able to handle a little cold weather, right?!), and continued the walking tour.
The central fountain in Forsythe Park. This park is at the south of the historic district. The northern end of the park is a landscaped in a very formal manner, with the fountain being the focal point, the southern end of the park is for the citizens of Savannah with a playground, playing fields and tennis courts.
The Andrew Low House. Mr. Low was the grandfather of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts. She and her husband inherited the Low House and the Charter for the Girl Scouts was signed here in 1912.
A boot scraper on the main steps of the Davenport House. The house was scheduled for demolition in 1955, however seven Savannah women got together and raised $22,000 to rescue the house from a near-death. This was the start of the Historic Savannah Foundation which is the leading force behind the restoration of Savannah’s Historic district.
The Pink House, built in 1789 for John Habersham. This is the only major structure that survived the 1796 fire and is now converted to a restaurant.
River Street
A bridge leading from the old warehouses to Bay Street.
We are docked right next to the Factors Walk and River Street, the site of the original cotton warehouses. The Cotton Factors wanted their offices on Bay Street (one street south of River Street) so elaborate iron bridges were built to span the distance between the warehouses which faced the river and Bay Street.

We spent the afternoon doing a little shopping, and went back to the boat around 4PM to have some tea and cookies to warm up. Hans is currently being very masochistic and is washing Whisper’s deck. I won’t be surprised if the water freezes on deck! Tonight we’ll make a chicken dinner from a recipe from Hans’ mom, and then we’ll hit the local pubs for some Friday night drinks. We’ve asked around and have gotten some recommendations for some non-touristy pubs.

We’ve put cushions next to the port window in the vee-berth so KitKat can keep a sharp lookout while we’re not on the boat.

We’ve had so much fun in Savannah that it will be hard to leave tomorrow morning, but we’ll probably push off from the docks in the mid-morning.

Charleston, South Carolina to Savannah, Georgia

December 5-6, 2006

Whisper's off on her first offshore adventure!

Tuesday morning was spent in a flurry of activity to get some last minute projects done before we left around 2PM for our first offshore trip. The weather was forecast to be sunny and calm with light winds. We weighed anchor at 2:10PM and were quickly motoring out of Charleston Harbor. The inlet was straightforward and the imposing stone jetties on either side of the inlet were fairly obvious.
The jetties which create the inlet to the harbor and keep the breaking waves safely away from boats.

Hans had put in all of our waypoints for the 80 mile trip, so it was simply a matter of keeping a good watch and a steady compass course towards the Tybee Roads Inlet. We saw a few container ships leaving the Harbor but besides that, we shared the sea only with the dolphins, pelicans and seagull. We took turns sleeping and kept a good log of our position & speed every hour. The highlights of the trip were the sunset & moonrise over the water.
Kristen and the sunset.

Sunset.

We arrived at the Savannah City Docks at 11AM and promptly fell asleep! Now we have our proper sea legs (or at least the start to them), we’ll probably go offshore again to get to Florida in order to skip what is reputed to be a poorly maintained section of the ICW.

A fishing boat at work on Wednesday morning outside of Savannah.