Voyage 2002-2003: Chapter 7

15 Apr 2003, Heading North - Cocoa Beach, 28 21.501 N/ 80 42.500 W

We finally left the forces of Vero Beach and started our long trek north. We opted for a 'inside' trip as there was little to gain going 'outside'. Bob wanted to anchor near the 520 bridge at Cocoa as he and his father spent many happy days in that area on Dad's boat. We arrived at the south anchorage 1605. We had a great motorsail up the Indian River Lagoon. First time that we felt a chill in the air since we arrived from the Bahamas. We are anxious to go home (family, home, pets, work) but the weather stinks, the water is getting dirtier, and we miss our cruising friends.

20 Apr 2003, On the Outside to St Augustine, 29 53.770 N/ 081 18.530 W

We left our anchorage at Cocoa at 0830 yesterday and headed for the Barge Canal heading for Canaveral Inlet. When we arrived at the State Route 3 bridge, we were informed that the bridge was under repair and that we would have to wait 'awhile'. Imagine 'parking' a 13 ton boat in a narrow canal for 'awhile'. Twenty minutes past and finally one of the spans opened; but we still had to wait for a westbound sailboat to pass. Hmm. We then went through the Barge Canal lock and bridge at Port Canaveral. Piece of cake! At 1200, we left the inlet heading north (sorta) to St. Augustine. They were predicting swell to 6 feet. They were wrong. Average wave height was 6-8 feet (as later reported by NOAA). No problem except the swells had short periods and there was little or unfavorable winds. Result: lots of rolling; Jule III experienced many 30 degrees rolls over the next dozen hours. Not fun but we had become accustomed to such seas. We experienced similar seas two years ago around Canaveral. The next morning, the seas calmed remarkably as we approached St. Augustine Inlet. We dropped anchor at the anchorage north of the Bridge of Lions. Not Bad.

we were tired! We refueled our main tanks with the jerrys, splashed the dinghy, and headed for shore for a quiet dinner at O'Conners. Food was so-so. We were disappointed as we had much better 'grub' the last time we were there in the fall. The next morning, we logged on to the Cruiseheimers Net (8152 KHz) and chatted with many of our cruising buddies. The next day we went to the Sailor's Exchange (a consignment boater place) and bought a few do-dads. That night we went to A1A Restaurant where the food was excellent! The next few days were just relaxation and shopping. On Easter Sunday, we were awaken by a sunrise service at the fort. From our boat we could see and hear everything. We went to shore and took a well needed shower and went to the Basilica de Saint Augustine for mass. Later that day, we sat on the sea wall awaiting the Easter Parade. We looked back at the anchorage, and noticed that the boats (including ours) were going crazy. They were doing 'donuts' around their anchors. We rushed back just in time to note that a nearby sailboat was approaching within 6 feet of the Jule III. This happened for the next several hours until the owners of the boat returned from the parade and reduced their scope. Bottom line, current and opposing wind can make boats do strange thing while at anchor.