3/20/15 to 3/23/15 ICW update

After a little hiccup with the water pump impeller & the drama subsided, TOMKAT was ready for her next adventure. Captain Tom had a spare part and he replaced it and we were only an hour later than we wanted to be. Thank you to our wonderful neighbor Susan for her speedy delivery of me to the boat in her fancy sports car. She even handed us the boat lines to get us on our way.

We are also thankful for our awesome neighbors Jack, Denette  & Bonnie who keep an eagle eye on the homestead so we can travel with less worry.
We left with variable fog conditions but  no bridge opening delays which was nice. Anchored in South Daytona due to continued fog.

After it was too late we discovered a cast a way barrel of monkees.

I let them know if they were going to stay on this trip they would need to be "Matie" assistants  and help with chores and fun!!

So we will see how that goes. Water Temp is 60 degrees in Daytona. Friends have asked how we eat on the boat. Captain Tom said very well! Turkey salad for lunch and Chicken Teriyaki & veggies for dinner! On Saturday, foggy conditions persisted in the AM but improved steadily in the morning. We made great time motoring & motor sailing through pretty New Symrna Beach and Titusville. No problems with any bridges and the Haul Over Canal did not disappoint us with a few manatee sightings. We also saw may Ospreys, dolphins and even a pink flamingo! Many fisherman were out enjoying the beautiful sunny Sunday.

Water temp in Titusville are 80 degrees! We encountered the Melbourne Airshow with fighter jets and the Navy Blue Angels flying formations right over the boat.
This was a great surprise to get to go thru there at the right time. One jet flew so low and close that we thought it was going thru the halyards.

The monkees helped make grilled cheese & Swedish meatballs for todays eats! We also saw Siren Song a boat from Alaska that we met the crew 2 years ago in Hadley Harbor. On Monday we left at the crack of 7:15am as soon as Captain Tom could see the buoys. No beauty sleep for the matie today. We passed Emme a sailboat from Maine, we know,  about 15 miles north of Vero Beach,  and chatted with them as they headed north. We are now in Vero Beach and are nicely connected to Wifi. Had a glorious hot shower. Sunshowers are great but......
We will go into town & the beach tomorrow and stay another night before continuing on our journey. The weather may be an issue, so we will wait until tomorrow to plan. will post pics tomorrow.

ON THE WATER AGAIN!

After almost 2 years, TomKat is on the move again to our next adventure. We moved her from her Satsuma berth to Palm Coast Marina. 

We almost forgot how spectacular sunsets are on the water. Never gets old.

We enjoyed a couple of nights at Jacksonville Landing. Having dinner with cousins Brenda & Dave Bolton at Fionn MacCall Irish Pub.

Back in Palm Coast! Love the view of Washington Oaks from the water.

Stay tuned for posts from where ever the winds take us!

Ft. Pierce, Harbour Town Marina, USA

We left Green Turtle Yacht Club as planned about 6am and saw a beautiful sunrise.

 We then headed to Great Sale Cay  arriving about 6pm on Wednesday 5/8.  We were happy to see the large yacht in the Black Sound channel was gone. They ran aground out of the channel at low tide and needed to wait several hours to float again. We had a great night at Great Sale prior to our crossing. The seas were fairly calm and winds light for our trip off the banks into the deep water and through the gulf stream. We motor sailed a lot and we had plenty of fuel, so no worries! We beat the heat with sun showers. We made our own sea salt with the occasional spray over the boat, which felt good, but we did get salt encrusted.

Tom checked into the waterway net on his ham radio every day. It was great being able to get the local weather every morning.

 We were treated to a dolphin show on the banks just before entering the deep water of the Atlantic Ocean.

We saw some amazing cloud formations and cloud to cloud lightening in the gulf stream.

When Tom was sun stroke or very tired he let Kathy be Captain...he even photograph the moment haha!

The night watches were very cool with flying fish, bright stars and lots of plankton that lit up the water. We entertained ourselves by taking pics of ourselves and everything else!

 We arrived safely in the USA at Ft. Pierce Harbourtown Marina at about 8am 5/10.

We napped , went swimming, napped, ate dinner with friends Carl & Joyce, showered and called it a night. Today we are almost back to normal and will head on to Vero Beach as we head north towards home.

Green Turtle Cay

After spending a few nights at Treasure Cay we went through Whale Cay Passage. It was a great passage even though the surf was breaking on land. We anchored out of Black Sound until the tide was rising then instead of getting a mooring we stayed at Leeward Yacht Club for a week. We met up with our new friends, Dennis & Claire, from Cinnamon Girl and had a great week. Several other boats we have met in our travels were also there which made it nice to get together before we all departed to head to the states. Everyone's departure was different and we head out at "zero dark thirty" tomorrow. "Truancy" saw us leave Treasure Cay very early and he is the one who coined our departure times! While in Green Turtle we experienced a Waterspout/tornado that came very close to the marina we were at and turned at the last minute. Tom said hurry up get below, but get the camera! Lol! We also toured more of the settlement and went to the Island Heritage Festival both days. The second day they had a Junkanoo which we had never seen and was a lot of fun. They had Bahamian Island music and local food which we liked sampling. The weather has been perfect and we have all spent a lot of time at the pool. It will be hard to leave this mon!

Man of War Cay

No smoking, no drinking & nothing open on Sunday .....and they do boat building and Kathy had to have one of the really nice bags they make. Tom has enjoyed seeing all of the Lignum Vitae trees. The island is quiet and the beach is beautiful. Did I tell you it's quiet? HaHa! We relaxed and watched a couple of rental boats run aground at the entrance and then their docking skills. We enjoyed a good laugh at the fire drills...only because it wasn't us! Tom has just loved the navigational markers as well.

 It was a relaxing 2 days with cooking ,cleaning, laundry & beach combing. The sea beans are still a quest & fruitless so far. We have found other sea treasures though. As food is eaten, shells & coral take their place. We left Man of War this morning and Tom decided to drag a fishing line while we were sailing and .........Snapper! It's what's for dinner! It was 5-6lbs and fileted while it was still flopping. We are safely anchored in Treasure Cay to wait out forecasted thunderstorms.

Hopetown & Tahiti Beach, Elbow Cay

Five days at this stop has gone by very quickly. We leave tomorrow for Man of War Cay, as we start making our way north west towards Florida. The Elbow Cay Lighthouse was a fun visit. Tom went twice! The 120 ft. 101 step candy striped lighthouse was built in 1862 to warn sailors of the nearby reef. It is still operating today by a kerosene light. The views at the top were breath taking. We explored the settlement with it's tiny shops and beach. We rented a golf cart and went down to Firefly resort for lunch, which had awesome views and fantastic food. We then headed to Tahiti beach which has an enormous sand bar at low tide. With the full moon it was extra low. We found sea glass, sea biscuits, sand dollars and some other cool shells and coral. The Hopetown Inn & Marina where we have stayed is a nice resort marina with 2 pools and hot tub which we have put to excellent use. Some boats have come in with plentiful catches of Mahi, so we hope to get the line wet on the way to our next stop!