We left Broad Creek in North Carolina on Friday and made our way down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) to Beaufort Inlet timing it so that we went out the inlet just before sunset. We chose this time to leave so that we would approach Frying Pan Shoals in the morning. We continued on planning to go to Fernandina Beach which would take about sixty hours. Along the way we determined that at the speed we were traveling, which was a combination of sailing and motoring, we would arrive in Fernandina during the dark of night. We decided to change course a bit and continue on to St Auguatine where we would arrive just after sunrise. We try, if at all possible, to not arrive at night. Monday morning we made our way into the harbor and anchored once again off from the fort and settled in to rest. In the morning we launched the dinghy and made our way to the dinghy dock to check in with the marina and get a dinghy pass and key cards for the showers. Once clean and smelling nice we hiked with one of our propane tanks to the hardware store to have it refilled. On the way back to the boat we stopped for lunch and once again made a change of plans. We were moving on.
Once back on the boat we pulled anchor and continued down the river planning to anchor for the night along the way. There are a number of areas where there is reported shoaling and we found one and went aground. Fortunatly it was soft mud and we were moving very cautiously so it was easy to back off and manuver around. By now it was about an hour before sunset and we were not going to make it to our planned anchorage. Since there was some deeper water close by we moved over and dropped anchor for the night. In the morning with a higher tide we moved on with plans of passing through Daytona Beach.
As we approached the Daytona area we felt a very serious vibration coming from the prop. My thought was that we picked up a line on the prop and it had gotten wrapped. We could still move but there was a banging on the hull at low speed. Checking the charts we found there was a boatyard near us and after a phone call we pulled in to get hauled out and find the problem. Once again the tide was against us as it was too shallow for the boat lift slings to get under us. With a bit of ingenuity they were able to get us lifted and moved onto land. At this point we found that it was not a line wrapped but that a bearing that supports the propshaft had failed. This involved calling in a mechanic to remove the prop and bearing and install the new one. Fortunately we knew a good mechanic that we had dealt with before and he was the one suggested to us by the boatyard. The next morning Al showed up with his equipment and went to work. By mid-afternoon the repair was complete and we were back in the water. We spent the night tied to their dock and in the morning with a rising tide we headed out again.
The next day we continued on to Titusville and anchored with the Cape Canaveral launch sites in view and dropped the anchor. We had always wanted to see a rocket launch and there was one scheduled for the next night. We spent the day relaxing and that night just after midnight we were able to watch one of the Space X launches. We were about ten miles away but it was spectacular. In the morning we continued on eventually arriving in Vero Beach.
Vero Beach is often called Velcro Beach because it is a staging area for boats planning to jump to the Bahamas and sometimes there is a long wait for the right weather window. Looking at the forecasts we plan to stay here for a week before moving on. We know several other cruisers here and there is a very active group and the city is what we call "cruiser friendly" with conveniant bus service to the marina and a variety of activities.
