Mer Sea

We finally got out of Clewiston!! On the Saturday before we left they had the “Cane Festival” (they call themselves the sweetest town in America) which we of course attended. It was a beautiful, albeit windy day, and the festival was huge – lots of antique cars and various kinds of old motors and tons of food and people! Let’s not forget the dancing children and various other kinds of local talent. It was lots of fun! We ate and walked and people watched until we’d had our fill, and then headed back to our boat.

 

Finally, we were able to leave Clewiston on Sunday!! We decided on the “rim route” to get to the other side of Lake Okeechobee – this, as the name would imply, involves following the perimeter of the lake in a very well-protected path until the last fifteen miles when the route cuts straight over to Port Mayaca and the St. Lucie River.

 

The wind had died considerably, and we had an easy passage until the last 15 miles, when we had to make that cut. Although the wind was not bad, the lake was still amazingly rough, and we experienced some really choppy seas! It was a good opportunity to see how Mer Sea would ride in some real water, and I’m happy to report that she was unfazed. If I hadn’t been concerned about our fuel, I could have sat back and enjoyed it! (Of course, I wasn’t “driving…”). But I was concerned about our fuel, and we made some calls trying to find a place to fuel as well as a marina where we could stay when we came to the end of our day. It amazed me to find out that the East Coast of Florida, at least around the Stuart area, has had a much harder time recovering from the hurricanes this fall than the West Coast. We had real difficulty finding both fuel and dockage for the night.

 

We finally found a small marina on our way where we could fuel, but the price ended up being $3.50/gallon!!!!!!! (no, that’s not a typo!), so we just took on 50 gallons to get us to the next stop . (We’d paid $2.25/gallon before we’d left Punta Gorda, and thought that was high!) (this was sort of like just buying 2 gallons of gas to make it to the next gas station in your car, only different!) We were also successful finding a marina somewhat north of Stuart, and were finally able to pull in and put it up for the night. It had been a long day!

 

We had a beautiful, calm day the next day to a place called Eau Gallie, where we’d planned to anchor out for the first time. We picked an excellent spot, used our navigation tools to help get us in close to shore without being too close and shallow, and “dropped the hook.” Roy helped me set the bridle (I don’t think my reach is long enough) and we settled in for the night. It was calm and quiet and peaceful. We grilled hot dogs to initiate our new gas grill, and went to bed rocking gently in the river.

 

The next morning we made breakfast using the generator, and I noticed there was an error light flashing on the generator panel. Turned out to be some electrical problems with the generator, so we shut it down and fired up our main engine and headed out for our next stop: Daytona Beach. En route we were able to contact an authorized Onan repair mechanic who met us on the dock in Daytona Beach within an hour of our arrival. We were also able to purchase fuel for $2.11/gallon at the Vero Beach municipal marina! What a difference!

We loved the marina in Daytona! It was clean and well-run, and the staff was really helpful. Upon arrival, we received a packet of information about the marina and the area. We were right on the edge of the restored downtown area, and it was nice to be able to walk to something like a shop or restaurant. The marina is situated in a large, park-like setting on the edge of the Halifax River, and is a lovely place to stroll around. There are immaculate shower and toilet facilities, and lots of large capacity washers and dryers. There is also a West Marine store right on site, which is the place to buy anything you might need that has anything to do with boating. Very convenient and very dangerous!!!

 

The Onan mechanic determined that our generator problem was a warranty issue, which of course pleased us. If you have to have problems, it’s nice to at least have them covered under warranty! We ended up staying for two days while Larry worked on the generator, and used the time to get laundry done, and to explore Daytona a bit. We also needed to wash the boat, and I mean REALLY wash her, because the Okeechobee waterway is VERY dirty, and poor Mer Sea was literally covered in crusted dirt!

 

So we got our chores done in the “down” time, and Larry got the generator repaired, and then we left for St. Augustine. We stayed at a VERY nice marina in St. Augustine, complete with a “welcome” package and the use of the courtesy car!! This gave us the opportunity to visit downtown St. Augustine, which we really enjoyed. It reminded me of a European city, with a large pedestrian area and lots of shops and restaurants. We ate at a Spanish restaurant, which had delicious food, and had plenty of time to stroll around the city. I left plenty to go back for, however, because it was a bit late, and all the museums were closed. There’s a lot to see, and it’ll have to wait for another time.

 

We’re now on Jekyll Island, where we’ve been waiting out yet another front with VERY strong winds. We never did get to Two Way, but our friend who was supposed to meet us there drove here to meet us instead! So we did have the fun of seeing him and he gave us a great guided tour of both Jekyll and St. Simons Islands, and we had a great dinner with him. It was too bad not to be able to go out on Mer Sea, but that, too, will have to wait for the next time!

 

The weather is supposed to break tomorrow, so we’ll set off at oh dark hundred for Moon River, or thereabouts. We plan to anchor out the next couple of nights, and then to come ashore again in Charleston later in the week. Stay tuned…

 

P.S. The electrical problem with the generator was an unsecured positive battery cable which resulted in its being frayed by the flywheel, and melting the ten foot distance, through the bulkhead, to the battery. This resulted in a considerable amount of soot and smoke, but no visible flames. We were lucky.