Just splashed Valkyrie in Fort Myers today!

Valkyrie · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:14 am Post subject:

Hi Al,

Are you back on your feet yet?

As you know, but our West Coast brothers might not, C-Dorys are not a common sight east of the Big Muddy, so one stands out in someone's memory if they haven't seen one before. I doubt an occurrence like this would happen in the PNW!

Give Pam our regards.

Nick
"Valkyrie"

C-Gypsy · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:16 pm Post subject:

Hey Nick!

Thanks for asking. I am once again living large & loving life! haha.

I told Pam two weeks ago, "I'm too damn old to feel this bad!". But all is well now. The doctors took care of me. Smile

Pam says hello, give our regards to Marcia!

Al

Valkyrie · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 8:58 pm Post subject:

Hi Brats,

Marcia and I are anchored in New Tea Kettle Creek in the marshes of GA about 56 miles south of Savannah. We have the anchorage all to ourselves, but can see the anchor lights of a few sailboats in the distance, but only if we are at high tide like we are now. Low tide and they disappear as we drop below the tops of the marsh grass. Tide range is about 8 feet. (BTW: we have a free tide app on the iPad that is very handy for cruise planning)

No problems crossing the Okeechobee Waterway and we met an interesting character at Roland Martin's Marina in Clewiston, hard on the west side of the lake. His name is Little Man, the dock master. He is about five foot nothin', struts about like a bantam rooster, but really knows his stuff when it comes to boats and docking. He will do one wrap around a dock cleat, stretch the line tight from about six feet away and then throw 2-3 wraps, including a lock down wrap with just a flick of the wrist. Amazing.

We anchored in Manatee Pocket in Stuart and had no problem with any hassle about anchoring, despite their new law. Then it was on to Melbourne where we hid out for two days due to weather. Titusville was our next stop where we grabbed a mooring.

Then it was a long run to Marineland Marine, just south of St. Augustine. About ten miles south of there, in Flagler Beach, we were in a land cut with nice homes lining the ICW and surprise, there was a CD 25 down a small channel. We went exploring and discovered that it was Blues Cruiser, another C-Brat boat! Amazingly, her owners came out of their house and were just as surprised as we were to see another CD on the ICW.

Marineland Marina was great at $1 a foot and right across from the beach. We heard the surf crashing all night long. Marineland, the original Sea World, founded in the 30's, is not what I remember from the TV shows of my youth, but we did see some dolphins up close. We also took a kayak tour of the estuaries in the area one morning.

We spent a day in St. Augustine and did a tram tour, but we're disappointed in the cheap, touristy "entertainment" shops and "attractions" that predominated the tour. Not surprising though. However, we did tour the centuries-old fort and back "pirate" streets with their neat shops and restaurants. I wish we had another day to explore the old churches and museums. It's a beautiful old town. When we got back to our mooring I found an email from the owners of C-Tide (Alabama) who had spotted us from the sea wall and they offered to end us a picture of Valkyrie that they took. The CD world is indeed small at times.

We spent yesterday exploring the old town of Fernandina Beach after coming in during a near-zero visibility rain storm. The Marine Trawlers Owners Association was having a multi-day rendezvous at the marina and there were plenty of great boats to check out. We docked next to a beautiful Ranger 27 from MI. We also spotted Toyman's former boat, Fan-C-Dory in the marina, but no sign of the new owner. It took us a while to remember that the boat looked familiar because we had been aboard a few years back on the Erie Canal when our wakes crossed.

We ran close to 90 miles today, electing to add close to 15 miles to our trip by running back creeks to avoid St. Andrews Sound, where the ICW runs a mile or so in the Atlantic. The route runs through rough water and the main turn is close to a buoy that has waves breaking on shoals on both sides. The Cruisers' Net noted a few days ago that one local tow company will not let its boats respond to that area due to the danger involved. Overcautious on our part? Maybe so, but we saw some beautiful marshland on our detour.

Tomorrow it's on to Savannah and the following day to Dataw Island Marina just north of Beaufort, where my in-laws live. We'll pull Valkyrie a day or two after that for the ride back to Ohio. The weather is a bit iffy the next two days with lots of rain and chance of thunderstorms. Early starts are planned for both days.

Sorry if I rambled on a bit, or maybe even more than that! It's been a very relaxing and enjoyable trip. Will post some pictures in a few days.

Regards,

Nick and Marcia
"Valkyrie"

SusieQ

Nick:
Your so called "ramblings on" let us vicariously enjoy your cruising experiences.
Thank you.
Take care,

Roger
The SusieQ

Pandy Girl · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:25 pm Post subject: Great trip for you

Hi Nick,
Thanks for posting you Crusing trip, At Roland Martins Marina we met Little Man also, they were having a big weekend there you had to have Rev. to get a table, we did not know that for for that weekend, He told us he would get us in for Dinner if he could. He came to Pandy Girl & SusieQ and said he had 4 seats for us with some others, great time. He is the MAN. Maybe we can do some of that trip sometime with Susie Q great ones to Cruise with.
Jim & Sandy

Hunkydory · Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:10 am Post subject:

Nick

Thoroughly enjoyed your posting of cruise. The cruises we are both on though very different in weather & many other aspects, I believe is being enjoyed equally by us both.

Jay

jennykatz · Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 8:40 am Post subject: trip

Nick I'm glad trip was good for you guys . Anytime your in fl you know where your bedroom is . Hope to see you guys this summer ?JIM

El and Bill · Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:51 pm Post subject:

Nick -

We enjoyed cruising 'with you.' Have a good ride to Ohio.

dotnmarty · Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:00 pm Post subject:

Valkyrie · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:11 am Post subject:

Hi Brats,

Just an update here. On Saturday the weather was much better than was forecast and we took advantage of it, bypassing Savannah and pushing on to Hilton Head, another 90+ mile day.

Yesterday we made it to Dataw Island, our pull-out location. We timed it carefully to be here at high tide, as the current runs very rapidly through the area and the ramp at the marina is down a concrete chute which is open to both tide and wind under the decking that supports the TravelLift. While our timing was spot-on, the TravelLift was on the decking, preventing us from hauling out and there was no one there to move the darn thing. We also contacted them the afternoon before to make sure that it was open. Someone didn't get the message, obviously.

Typically, this wouldn't be a big deal, but high winds are forecast for the next 2-3 days and Valkyrie is at a dock now while we are at my in-laws. We plan on running down at both high and low tides and hope that there is a break in the weather for us. Fortunately, we don't have to leave until Thursday so we do have some options.

As usual Marcia balanced things out for me saying, "Hey, just relax. We covered about 600+ miles and didn't have any problems to speak of. This is just a bump in the road.". Good advice.

By the way, we saw an older gentleman on the ICW the other day who made our resident minimalists, El and Bill, look like over-the-top materialists! We were crossing a large sound in southern GA and I spotted a small, open, double-ended sailboat with a single, lug-rigged sail in the distance. Marcia got out the binoculars and noted that the sole occupant was rowing the boat.

We anchored that night and the next day, after and hour of being underway I spotted the same lug-rigged sail in the distance. When we caught up with him, we saw that it was a Dracombe lugger (I thought), just like the ones I admired in their catalogs back in the 70's. The sailor was older than me (61) and obviously crusising and living on the boat, which only had a fold-down dodger/tent for shelter. I called out and he confirmed that it was a Drascombe, but I wish we had idled over to talk with him and to hear his story. Definitely a true individual and an adventurer!

Time spent on the net today has me believing that it was a Drascombe Scaffie, about 15 feet long. His did not have an outboard and he was truly roughing it and connected to the elements, but too much for my taste at my age.

Regards,

Nick
"Valkyrie"