Haul Out Time

A lot has happened since leaving St. Augustine. We have had some very mild vibration or flutter with our Autoprop, especially in shallow water. Immediately on starting out from St. Augustine, the vibration was more severe than usual and of concern. We stopped at Pine Island and I dived on the prop to clean it. It was was actually already pretty clean and my efforts did not improve the vibration. We had already planned a haul out this summer to raise the waterline so we decided to advance the date and do the haul out at Fernandina Beach. In addition to changing the waterline we would also change to our standard prop and add the dynaplates for the SSB radio ground.. Fernandina Beach had been recommended to us as a great stop. Fernandina Harbor Marina has recently added a mooring field and we decided to take a mooring for a week. The tidal range is 7' so the currents are swift. The mooring fee included use of the dinghy dock, water and shower facilities. The marina is right in the heart of the downtown. It is a wonderful and friendly town and quickly has become a favorite for us. The only real negative is a nearby pulp mill which is odorous with the wrong wind direction. We made arrangements with Tiger Point Marina and Boatyard to haul Ariel. They are a small yard on Egan Creek in Fernandina Beach. We ordered bottom paint and it was waiting for us when we arrived for the haul out. In all of our years dealing with boat yards, this by far was the best experience. They allow DIY and placed us near the restrooms/showers, provided 30 amp electrical service, water and a ladder. They did a very thorough job power washing the bottom and getting the boat very level on the stands. When we needed the prop pulled they responded within 10 minutes. They are really geared toward cruising boats and allowed us to stay aboard in the yard. There were several other cruising boats in the yard with us. We will definitely return to Tiger Point for any future haul outs. We were hauled on a Thursday and launched the following Tuesday. We rented a car to have while doing the boat work, knowing we would have to run out for parts and supplies. We treated ourselves to a night at their dock after launching to give Ariel a good washing before we left. This was our first night in a marina since we left our marina last Labor Day. We are now at Cumberland Island. We are now planning an offshore route to South Carolina. We are looking forward to spending a few days in Charleston.

 

Pulling Ariel, now 30,000 pounds

Ready To Launch

St. Augustine

One of our highly anticipated stops going south was St. Augustine. We ended up passing it by trying to get to Titusville for the Space Shuttle launch, which was eventually delayed by months. So on our return north we have stopped in St. Augustine and are staying a week or more. We had been here by car before and it is a favorite of ours. This is really a very friendly cruiser stop. For a small daily fee the Municipal Marina provides a dinghy dock, a good laundry, showers, a lounge, and it is located right in the heart of downtown. We have a guest on board for a couple weeks. Flat Stanley joined us just as we were about to leave Daytona. Flat Stanley is from Evelyn's kindergarten class. He is rather quiet, but we enjoy having him along. He enjoyed the ride from Daytona to St. Augustine along the ICW. In St. Augustine we have shown him some of the sites, including Castillo de San Marcos, the fort. We wish he could stay longer, but he needs to get back soon.

Spring Vacation

After so much looking forward to our week with our son Daniel and his family in Daytona, it went by way too fast. We made it to Daytona late Sunday, a day later than we had hoped for. As soon as we were settled we met Daniel, Lesli and Thomas for dinner at the Aquarium Restaurant which was close by and a convenient spot to meet and land our dinghy.

On Monday they were off to Disney so we had a day to recover and get the boat spruced up as we had invited them to spend some time aboard Ariel on Tuesday. After fitting Thomas out with a new life jacket we were off for a dinghy ride to Ariel. Everyone did well and Thomas sat still and enjoyed the ride. We had a great day aboard just enjoying each others company. Of course Grandpa started some early lessons on boat handling with Thomas. On Wednesday we took advantage of having a car available and started replenishing our depleted food stores and filled both propane tanks. We visited the Daytona Speedway. It was really enjoyable with a Tram ride around the complex and on the track.  They also have an IMAX theater in addition to displays including this year's winning car. On Friday, our last day with them we went to visit Steve and Dale in Paltaka. We had a nice cookout (Steve's speciality) followed up with a ride on their pontoon boat. It ended too soon but it was a wonderful week for us.