Home Be Gone

“Sell everything but the boat and have the simple life”. We did it. We sold our home in North Attleboro! Well almost. The closing is only days away.

The listing

When Kelly & I met we each sold our own homes and purchased this home together. We loved the home from the moment we saw it. We joked that … “if the current residents had ever seen us driving by each night after work they’d declare us stalkers”. Not having kids (of the 2 legged kind), it was more home than the two of us needed yet over the years we spent a lot of time updating the home & landscaping.

When you own a home, everyone conspires to trick you into believing you need to be doing “projects”. Projects like, installing a new irrigation system, wall-mount TVs, recessed lighting, new countertops, hardwood floors, a new shed, lawnmower, snowblower, leaf blower, surveillance system, smart home additions, and so on…

You’ll be standing in the lonely isles of Lowes or Home Depot reading some marketing display listing the PSI of a gas-powered pressure washer. You’ll spend countless nights searching the far reaches of Amazon to find the perfect WiFi connected smoke & CO detectors. You’ll open innumerable boxes and have to cut them up into ridiculously small squares to keep the town’s recycling from skipping over your barrel. You’ll do all these things during those precious moments when you are home from work. We finally asked ourselves…why?

We loved boating and we found ourselves getting depressed every year when it was time to put the boat on the hard. The boating season in New England is insanely short. We’d spend a month getting the boat ready for boating season and then hope Mother Nature cooperated so we could enjoy those few precious weekends during the summer. Then before we’d know it….it was again time to prepare her for winter and put her on the hard.

Well, we finally decided to do it! To really do it! We embodied the name of our boat, “The Simple Life” and sold everything! The last thing keeping us somewhat tied to terra firms was the house and that is soon to be gone too.

We’re back in Vero Beach (where we left our boat) after clearing out the house for the buyers. Now we think it’s time to start checking off items from our bucket list and the Florida Keys is on that list!

This is going to be quite the adventure!

Vero Beach with Friends

Well we made it to Vero Beach just in time for Christmas.

We had not decorated for the holidays and with it being almost 80 degrees and sunny it was not feeling quite like the Christmas for us Northerners. What to do? Put up a Christmas tree. OK, the boat is not that big so we settled on a small Xmas display instead.

We are staying in a Suntex Marina (formerly Loggerhead Marina). Suntex’s HQ is in Texas and they recently purchased 11 Loggerhead marinas in Florida. The marina here is surrounded by high-end condos in a gated community. They have a beautiful pool and waterfall as well as a captain’s lounge where the captains enjoy coffee together each morning.

The trip South down the Indian River from Melbourne Beach to Vero Beach started with a beautiful sunrise.

Followed by large homes and the occasional trawler passing by.

The highlight of our stay was getting to spend time with Kelly’s Auntie Lori and her husband Jim who have an amazing home here in Vero Beach. Thanks Auntie Lori & Jim for being such great hosts! Here is a selfie from happy hour with our waitress Savannah (whose personality matched that beautiful smile).

The weather has been warm and sunny but Chief Martin Brody and Happy don’t seem to mind.

PS. Don’t tell them it’s not real grass in the cockpit.

We have been hearing about the 8 degree weather back home so we hope all our friends back home are staying warm.

Μelbourne Beach @ Sunset

Well we got up with the sunrise in New Smyrna Beach, weighed the anchor and got underway. Our trip today looked something like this.

We passed other boaters like “Sweet T” who had not quite arisen.

We passed several homes that still had the “Blue Tarp” on their roof possibly from hurricane damage?

The birds were either acting like gargoyles or slowly peddling by us.

We were reminded as we passed under the NASA causeway Bridge that Merritt island and Cape Canaveral were off to the East.

There where power poles that crossed the sound and you had to be careful not to run into the guide wires.

Chief Martin Brody found a sunny spot on the grass in the cockpit. Don’t tell him it’s not real.

We passed a “blow boat”. Reminds me how much I miss sailing at times (not Kelly).

Several power boats roared past too.

However, after being glued to the helm from sunrise to sunset. Now it’s my time to enjoy an IPA and take in the sunset on anchor.

Oh. I almost forgot. Danny & Wendy, this one is for you… Merry Capt. Christmas..

Bridges of Daytona Beach

We weighed anchor about 8:30AM and pushed hard all the way to New Smyrna, FL.

48 nautical miles is a long run for us. We ran at about 2.0 Gal/Hr @ 7km/hr. We started with the current with us, then against us and finally with us again.

I read in Active Captain that they offered free tours of this fort. I wish we had more time (maybe on the return trip?).

Today’s trip took us by Daytona Beach and it was full of beautiful houses.

Who are these people who have homes in such a beautiful place?

Along the way Kelly & I tried our best to capture some of the birds that flew by.

We saw an airport that was pretty busy with small planes taking off or landing every few minutes.

The bridges were many but most opened on demand. This bridge was the first that only opened on one side. As you pass under you worry that you wont hit the bottom of the bridge or the unopened edge.

There were some nice bike / walking paths along the waterway and this woman and her dog were enjoying the day.

We anchored along the side of the ICW alongside everal other boats and now it’s time to play some music, bake some cookies and drift off.

St. Augustine, FL

Well, the no name island anchorage in Jacksonville, FL turned out to be very peaceful. Thankfully the strong current of the St. James River was not an issue behind the island.

We left that peaceful anchorage and retraced our path back over the 4′ bank that was not a problem this time due to the high tide that we left on.

As we made our way back down the St. James River we were reminded of all the commercial shipping that lined the river banks.

Our trip from Jacksonville to St. Augustine looked something like this.

As we departed the St. James River and got back onto the ICW we saw a ship in dry dock that had it’s bridge tower staged and shrink wrapped. It looked a lot like the navy vessels that were being worked on in Norfolk, VA.

A bit further down the ICW and it was back to beautiful homes lining the river banks.

We loved that someone put a festive scarf on their T-Rex. Who has a T-Rex in their backyard?

After a short trip down the ICW we came to Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor. A great little marina along the ICW.

We had reservations at the marina but when I hailed them on the VHF radio the let us know that we would have to anchor for an hour and wait for the tide to come in a bit before we could enter the marina. The entrance channel did not have enough water for our 5′ draft due the the tides and the recent West winds. When the wind blows from the West it pushes all the water in the ICW out of the inlets and back into the Atlantic Ocean. We decided that after 5 nights being on anchor we would spend the next two nights in a marina. We waisted no time and found a great little restaurant that was within walking distance called the Kingfish Grill. They had a great shrimp & scallop Alla vodka for me and an angus burger for Kelly. Below is the Kingfish Grill’s outdoor garden that was lit up for the holidays.

The next morning we re-provisioned the boat using a grocery delivery service. Kelly used her iPhone to place her order and set the delivery time the night before. We awoke to texts from our personal shopper texting us that she was on her way to the marina and and she would be the “girl in the gray Toyota”. After re-provisioning we spent the day taking on some more water and while Kelly cleaned the inside of the boat, I washed the outside. It was 80 something degrees out and seemed odd as Christmas is just a few days away. The next morning we shoved off and had no sooner started South down the ICW and we ran into a restricted bascule bridge and had to anchor for 45 minutes while we waited for it’s 12:30PM opening. Along the river bank you could see the fortress called Castillo De San Marco I snapped the picture below.

Below is a picture of a scenic tour boat that passed with it’s fenders permanently hung off their port side. Their pilothouse looked more like a gazebo to us.

When the bridge opened we were again making way and passing what appeared to us as a collection of derelict boats anchored along the river. The boat below appeared to have someone on board due to the attached dinghy. I wonder how the state handles these anchored boats?

Eventually we made it to a nice little anchorage near the Atlantic Ocean inlet known as Matanzas Inlet.

There is a strong current in here with a rocky bottom so we let out 40 meters of chain rode and settled in for the night.

We anchored right in front of Fort Matanzas shown below.

Tomorrow it’s back down the ICW and hopefully we’ll be anchored somewhere in Daytona Beach.

Jacksonville Florida

Breakfast in Delaroche Creek, griddle style. YUMM!

We don’t know if we are gaining or losing weight? We don’t have a scale onboard. I’m sure cooking my favorite breakfast this morning is not helping but how can you say no to hash-n-eggs with wheat toast?

Our trip today took us from Delaroche Creek (about the middle of Cumberland Island, GA) to Jacksonville, FL.

On our way into Cumberland Sound the VHF radio crackled with a warning from the US Navy. There was a warship in the area and they advised all vessels to heed the 500 yard perimeter around the ship. M/V Simple Life does not have guns or armor plate so we made our way cautiously into Cumberland Sound with two other boats, “S/V Whiskey Me Away” and “M/V Redtail”.

M/V Redtail (pictured below) appears to be a 42′ Kadey Krogen which is similar in size and style to our 43′ North Pacific raised pilothouse. Kelly and I love the classic lines of a Kadey Krogen.

As we approached Kings Bay, this Navy patrol boat with blue lights flashing moved out of my way after we hailed them on 16. (Note the machine gun on the bow)

We passed some sort of observation tower (maybe connected to the Navy base or the nearby plant/factory?)

Next it was into the Amelia River near Fernandina Beach. As we made our way South along Amelia Island, the current was strong and there were many sights to see.

The mast pictured above was the only thing sticking above the water of this boat.

This sailboats keel was missing as she laid on the shore.

Below this Amelia Research and Recovery vessel was jacked out of the water on pilings. Note the black marine day shapes on her pilothouse roof. They are signaling her as “restricted in her ability to maneuver”.

Pictured below is a guy on some kind of tiny single chair dingy with a cooler. He seemed to be enjoying himself just cruising around.

The barge below passed us with what looks like vessel debris from Atlantic hurricane season 2017 and especially hurricane Irma which hit Jacksonville hard.

Three simultaneous hurricanes active on September 8, with Katia (left), Irma (center), and Jose (right), the first such occurrence since 2010.

Below is a boat that landed on the shore. She appears in good shape but I would not want my propeller and thru-hulls sitting in the mud like that. Especially when the tide comes back in and the wakes are rocking the boat.

A Tip of the Hat: Navigating around the shallows in this area was made easier by the .gpx downloadable routes provided by Mr. Robert Sherer. Bob and his wife Ann have a great Fleetwing sailing blog that I follow. Bob has been cruising the ICW for a few years now and helps other sailors avoid running aground.

Even the crab pots seem to find themselves aground at low tide.

When we arrived at our planned anchorage, it was clear that it was far too narrow for us to be able to anchor in for the night. We pushed on and tried several other anchorages but they were either full like the free-docks in Jacksonville or just extremely exposed to current, wakes and wind. We made the decision to go up the St. John’s River as the sun was setting. I quickly realized that this was not a good idea when I felt the strong current that was running against us. There was also large commercial traffic moving swiftly down current. This tug and barge that hailed us by name before the captain ever saw us. The captain was able to do this because of the AIS (Automatic Identification System) that Kelly & I installed. You don’t want to be stuck in that current in the path of something like this when the current is pushing her hard at you.

AIS made us aware in time to stay out of her path.

We did not want to wind up like this poor motor yacht along the shores of the St. John’s River.

We scoured the charts looking for a good location that would protect us from this strong current and picked the backside of an unnamed island near Jacksonville center.

The only challenge was there was not enough water for us to enter. It was too shallow. With the sun quickly setting, we probed to find a way in. The first two attempts had the bow pushing into a soft silty shoal. The third attempt and we found a way over the shoal with an inch or two to spare. We quickly found our way into deeper water behind the island. We anchored up and it turned out to be a wonderful peaceful anchorage for the night.