The last travel day for a while

Wednesday June 19 we awoke at 0430 (that's zero-dark-thirty for you USMC-types) to buzzing and flashing lights.  We were having severe power surges from the dock shore power connection!  As we ran around the boat turning off electrical equipment, I thought "That's all we need is to fry our two air conditioning units, with 95 degree Florida summer days!"  As I was turning off the main circuit breaker to shore power, I saw our voltmeter jumping between 100 VAC and 200+ VAC.  Sue smelled the unmistaken acrid odor of something electrical burning.  We scurried around the boat with our flashlights trying to find the source of the odor, and finally located it around the TV/DVD player cabinet. There was no fire, but the odor lingered.  I disconnected shore power, started the on-board generator & turned circuit breakers back on, one by one.  Fortunately, the only thing that got fried was a surge protector, protecting the TV/DVD.  For once, things worked as advertised!

Since everyone was now wide awake, we got ready to leave.  As we left Manatee Pocket, we saw this boat anchored in the entrance, selling live bait to the fishermen heading offshore that morning.  Lots of lazy pelicans surrounding the bait boat were looking for breakfast.  "We're not in Kansas any more, Toto".  (You can click on the picture to see a larger view).

We exited the St Lucie River at the junction of the Okeechobee Waterway and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, right at the St Lucie Inlet to the Atlantic Ocean.  This intersection can have strong tidal currents & rough water, but this morning it was pleasantly calm.  We turned north and started counting down the miles on the AICW.  (Mile Mark 0.0 is at Norfolk VA).

The wide, calm AICW

The AICW was wide and calm, but the dredged channel for us was pretty narrow.  Had to continually watch the red & green markers, except that one time when we went "bump" on the bottom!  Austin was driving at the time, so we blamed it all on him!  After all, he had been aboard the boat for 1/2 a day & should have known everything by then!

We had to watch the tides & currents as we passed the ocean inlets between the barrier islands, because the direction and speed of the currents changed frequently.  It could either add or subtract 1.0 mph to our progress.  At one point going under a bridge, the current was about 2.5 mph from behind. 

We finally made Telemar Bay Marina at Satellite Beach FL, just south of Cape Canaveral.  Austin was ready to hit the beach, having had enough of being a sailor (his dad is career Air Force).  His parents picked us all up & we went to their house for dinner and air conditioning.  We'll keep the boat at this marina for a month, while we retrieve our car from Clearwater FL, then drive north to Ohio to care for an uncle, and then to TN to care for Sue's mother.  We also need to plan where we're gonna cruise to next.  TO BE CONTINUED...............