Thanksgiving in Beaufort SC and then onwards to Florida
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sat 7 Dec 2013 19:49
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We stayed for Thanksgiving in Beaufort SC as it's such a
friendly affair amongst the cruising fraternity. They welcome us 'foreigners'
with open arms wherever we may be in their vast country. Prior to the
festivities it was a treat to welcome Tom & Chris onboard for a night from
Polar Pacer (or ex Polar Pacer we should say). They have
just sold their Prout Snowgoose and are now 'between boats' that euphoric
state of mind where one is removed from the need to worry about your boat
sinking from under you whilst able to look at a healthier bank balance.
Next comes the exciting stage of searching the internet for a replacement and
then the sheer terror of handing over the majority of that healthy bank balance
to a complete stranger in exchange for another boat. Whilst with us they
kindly drove us round Beaufort, took a walk through the memorial park in the
bitterest of cold days we can remember at that latitude, then a trip to 'Publix'
supermarket for some top-up shopping before they headed off to Canada to 'rob a
bank'. Happy boat hunting guys!
   Paying respects and catching up on gossip......God
it was cold!! and in a warmer spot, back onboard where the heaters
have been running for days!
We enjoyed the feast of Thanksgiving with the many other
cruisers taking a break for the 'holidays' in the Marina. The
following day we witnessed an exodus of well fed boats all heading south for the
warmer weather!
  
What a feast.......
........as the 'Admiral' stands guard by her nut
loaf..... .......and no shortage of hungry mouths to feed
(32!)
We made the move offshore ourselves to take advantage of some
softer north-westerlies. These were ahead of a weak cold front moving
off the coast. Hopefully arriving well south in Florida before a high
pressure ridge following the cold front established itself. This would
have given us winds from the southeast or south which would have been
on or near the nose and not terribly attractive to remain at sea with. Not
dangerous by any means just nuisance value. The first night out it was soo
coooold. Out came the thermals,untouched for three years, and the breathable
foulies as we sat in the cockpit on our watch with barely anything
showing.
   Not much wind out there to sail by but a chance to
try out the new pole stowage system installed by 'Skip' in
Oriental.
As with most weather events produced by computers they never
quite seem to get the timing correct, or wind strength come to that. We
found ourselves motoring or motor-sailing along in light airs
southwards for two days before the high pressure system moved offshore. We
decided to call it a day and enter the ICW at Cape Canaveral. We have not used
this inlet before so were curious to see what it was like with the added bonus
that a twice cancelled rocket launch was due to take place later in the day.
This meant arriving off Canaveral to repeated dire warnings on the VHF from the
Coast Guard for all craft to clear an area into which the rocket would cross
after launch. The warnings were accompanied by threats of massive fines and
confiscation of your vessel for failing to keep clear of the specified zone. We
thought the risk of a red hot first stage booster rocket falling on top of your
deck would be more than enough incentive to clear the area never
mind the fines and confiscation. We scampered into the inlet in good time
in any case.
Once inside the harbour it wasn't quite what we had envisaged
although we had seen a Norwegian Cruise Line enter the port earlier. We passed
the sail or conning tower as we call it of the USS
Nathaniel Greene. The remainder of the submarine was
scrapped some years ago having suffered a grounding off the coast of Ireland in
its role carrying Polaris missiles. Probably the work of the
'little people'. With the damage suffered and the SALT2 treaty in force it
was conveniently decommissioned and scrapped with just the sail being preserved
at Cape Canaveral.
Next on the itinerary was to clear two bascule bridges and a
lock. The bridges were easy the lock wasn't.
  Approaching Port Canaveral. The Launch facility at
Kennedy Space Centre is a few miles to the
right The
'sail' of the USS Nathaniel
Greene a Polaris Sub from the cold war
 Port Canaveral is the
second largest commercial port in Florida and also a cruise ship
terminal
We re-named this obstacle the 'lock of sudden death' after one
of the most awkward experiences we have ever endured transiting any lock
anywhere! Thanks mainly to the lock keeper who decided to open the gates
allowing a one foot wall of water to enter the chamber and create a swirl
effect throughout the lock. With barely no time gap he then told us to move on
out of the lock. We refused to do so as it was simply too dangerous to release
our lines. There was a fire-boat behind us and we asked them to clear first.
They had more powerful engines and plenty of bodies onboard should they get into
difficulties which they almost did as they became caught in a swirl of water as
they approached the exit. Even as we left we were taken dramatically sideways at
one point before recovering the situation and clearing the lock with thankfully
no damage. Think we'll give that one a miss in the future especially at low
tide!
   Triple bascule (sounds like a gymnastic
discipline), 'lock of sudden death' and the single bascule (they were saving
electricity with just one span open for us)
After one more bascule bridge we motored down to the ICW for
five miles and anchored close to a busy road bridge at Cocoa Beach on the Indian
River. Presumably there were a lot of Indians there at one time but none now
that we could see. So over 'sundowners' at 1700 we sat down and waited to see if
the launch went ahead at 1741 as scheduled. And it did. A truly amazing sight
even though this was a smaller satellite launch it still takes an awesome amount
of firepower to get these things up into orbit. Silly us, why on earth did we
assume the thing would just go up vertically. It didn't as otherwise the various
booster bits would fall back on top of Canaveral and the thing would never get
into an orbit. So off it shot into the southeast making it the largest firework
either of us have ever seen live. A great thrill. What's more, rather than being
just a big fireball it became a thing of beauty as the stage separations
provided an excellent photographic opportunity for the occasion.
    Up she goes!!
into the south-eastern sky...........then the 1st stage
booster separated, falling to earth for recovery.
  ....leaving us with some spectacular views and
admiring man's ingenuity to achieve such wonders (well we'd had a few cocktails
by then!)
As the light breezes were now in the south or southeast we
stayed on the inside and headed down to Vero Beach. Here we could refuel, take a
walk ashore in the now warm Florida sunshine and then attend a cocktail party in
the afternoon - it's all go you know.
  The 'Salty Paws' entertain the cruisers as we all stand
around and tell each other lots of lies
  The mooring field at Vero...... the endless Atlantic
beach (looked the same the other way)...... and the dinghy dock where personal
agility is a useful skill to have
Our next move is to head southwards to possibly Lake Worth and
wait for a window to cross to the Bahamas in time for Christmas.
Oh!... spot the spelling mistake on the notice board? oops.
Answer further down - 'Skip' couldn't see it. Doh!
 'Picnic' not 'pinic' (or is this another new word to add
to our American dictionary)!!
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