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Typical Hobe Sound small home with a small boat 🙂

We have not even reached Fort Lauderdale and as always, the ICW waterway, between Hobe Sound and Delray Beach, is a warm up of what you will see farther down the way. Hobe Sound is near perfect with a narrow barrier island on the ocean beach, then one road running north and south, and the home lots reach the sound side where they dock their mega yachts or fishing boats. Here you have the best of both water worlds: Ocean Beach and Bay Sound Dock! OMG.

The homes are so beautiful here and with much more land and space than Ft. Lauderdale. To me, this is THE place for millionaires. People like: Bert Reynolds, Tiger Woods, Greg Normand, and Gary Player live here! So it looks like I know how to judge a location 🙂

Buddy Boat Sans Souci Too

Today was the day of bridges, with 15 lift bridges and we ended up waiting a total of 2 hrs and 20 minutes over the course of the 43 mile day for bridges to open on their schedules. It can be stressful waiting in front of a bridge with a 1+ knot current, but lucky for us, it was on our bow, so we could simply set in front of the bridge and keep powering into the current flowing at us. It is like setting in a river.

After Hobe sound we transited, Jupiter, Juno, North Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Lake Worth, South Palm Beach and Delray Beach where we dropped anchor in Lake Pelican! This lake is surrounded by beautiful homes and is 10 feet deep with a 6 foot shoal at the entrance. Lucky for us we only need 4′ 6″ of water so we passed into the lake! No one here on anchor except us.

Hobe Sound ocean front home with docks on the sound

North Palm Beach Home

Typical Run About Fishing Boat with 1,050 horsepower!

Small Ocean fishing boat, about 75 feet long!

Fishing Boat, 75′ long and 3 stories high

WHAT? Yes, a HOUSE on a barge that was sinking!

Commercial ship being worked by a tug as we pass their stern

Just launched Motor Yacht ACE at 87 meters long! Notice the people on the dock http://www.superyachts.com/motor-yacht-4383/ace.htm

Check out the side balconies on Motor Yacht ACE Sleeps 12 Guest with a crew of 30!

Look, it is 5 stories tall above the water!

Typical Motor Yacht in for service

Beautiful motor yacht

In West Palm, these yachts are everywhere.

One more motor yacht

New Home under construction

Typical Waterfront Home

Of course we have balconies

After 45 miles we dropped anchor in Pelican Lake, beaitiful homes off our bow

Next stop…..Fort Lauderdale….this should be FUN…

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Island Spirit and Charbonneau in Vero Beach

Somehow, we had the fortitude and motivation to actually depart Vero Beach City Marina today. The nick name for Vero Beach is VELCRO Beach because cruisers get stuck here and never move on. We actually met a woman who has been here aboard her boat for 2 entire years! We only stayed 3 days and departed for MIAMI, where we want to anchor off South Beach.

Lucky for us, we rafted to a boat we are very familiar with, IP 40 Charbonneau. and were delighted to meet her new owners, Bill and Judy. We know the former owners, Blaine and Janet, so when we arrived in Vero, we just had to raft up. Here is a photo of Island Spirit hugging Charbonneau…

One of the great aspects of the Vero Beach mooring field is that it’s really fun to share a mooring ball and visit with other cruisers. We had a wonderful time sharing stories and getting to know Bill and Judy of Charbonneau. We also caught up to our home marina buddy, Henry on IP35 San Souci Too. All of us enjoyed dinner and Bahamas discussions on Island Spirit, thank you Radeen…

Bill, Judy, Henry and Radeen at dinner on Island Spirit

Time passed quickly with bus runs to Publix for groceries and walks to the beach and around town. Of course, there are the weekly Thursday night social gatherings in the club pavilion and we also organized one for a smaller group on Wed to visit many other owners. Vero Beach is a destination and we could easily live at Vero. We enjoy Miami, too, however, so we have moved on.

Walking the beautiful streets and lanes of Vero Beach, FL

Here are a few photos of the run from Vero to Hobe Sound...

There it is….1,000 nm from Rock Hall, MD Try this at a speed of 6 miles per hour !

Check out this COOOOOL Cat that passed us Catamaran LIPARI

Hobe Sound, a great place to Kite Board

Hobe Sound, this a typical home

FOR SALE….this could be yours !

This is NOT a resort, it is a private home on Hobe Sound

Tomorrow….48 statute miles to Lake Boca Raton, with ten bascule bridges, then on to Ft. Lauderdale and THEN….MIAMI. Can’t wait to get there. Thank you for traveling along!

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Radeen, Bob, Hayden in Cocoa Village 2012

From Cocoa Village, we continued south 54 miles to the wonderful town of Vero Beach, FL where boaters often times get stuck, hence the nickname Velcro Beach. We plan to spent 3 days here doing normal boater services and then press on to Miami ASAP. We loved Miami so much last year. that we really want to spend as much time as we can there so we can learn the area. For now, we will enjoy Vero…

Here are some random photos of this section….

Radeen has now taken our BEST elusive dolphin photo These guys are so hard to photograph

“Dough BOY” back on the bread making task…we ran out …so, make your own bread!

OMG, it is Aphrodite the 1937, 74′ Commuter Yacht built for Long Island commutes to Wall Street, Check it out here http://www.brooklinboatyard.com/aphrodite.html We have seen this yacht in Watch Hill RI for many summers

I love to photograph pelicans, they are so interesting

Pelican paint job on the bridge fender boards 🙂

Standing watch over the Manatee sign

Here comes VERO BEACH, slogan is…. The Tropics Begin Here

Vero Beach ICW home

Now, for some fun visits and boat services in Vero Beach. Already we have seen many fellow Island Packet Yacht buddies, and we look forward to meeting more. Vero Beach is cruiser convenient with a free bus to stores, malls, and restaurants.  Let’s not get stuck here….

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Daytona Speedway as we walked across the track!

Beach Street Daytona near Halifax Marina

Imagine the infield of the Dayton International Speedway FILLED with show cars, cars for sale, and car parts and gear, then you can imagine the largest car show in the world! 5,000+ cars and each one more beautiful than the next, this is the TurkeyRun.com auto show here at Daytona. From our anchored boat, we took the dinghy into the West Marine “temporary” docks and then walked 1.5 miles to the bus depot where we bought an all day pass for $3 and rode the bus to the Speedway, 5 miles out International Speedway Boulevard. Walking across the Daytona speedway race trace was exciting, let alone the show itself. Then, we entered the infield and were presented with row after row after row of the most beautifully restored cars in the world.

From the photos below, everyone should be able to guess what car I had in high school and college, as this particular year and model is still our favorite car. I tried to photograph a variety but I seemed to keep my camera focused on my eternal favorite. See if you can tell what that model is.

After the show, we were treated to a wonderful impromptu gathering of boating friends who connected via Facebook and this blog and text messages. We met at the Blue Grotto at Halifax Harbor Marina to share stories and drinks. Our long time Chesapeake friends and two time IP owners, Karen and Steve, IP32 Betelguese, were here on vacation. We were delighted to meet new friends Tammy, IP38 Sailbatical, and her Tayana friends, Penny and Stan.

Tomorrow we will move south, most likely making Titusville where we will hope to see our first manatees of the season.

Here are my best auto show photos….no captions….just beautiful cars
 

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Broadway Bridge (Local Name) Carlton Black Bridge, Daytona Beach, FL

We are slowly getting back to cruising speed and moving south, EXCEPT, we have no schedule! So, when we bump into an event like “The Largest Car Show in the World,” we just have to divert and take it in.

We enjoyed a wonderful cruisers’ Thanksgiving at Marineland hosted by Chris, Cara and Chloe, the creators of the Marineland Marina, which opened in August 2011. Chris and Cara are really working hard to offer the boating community a top notch marina at an interesting stop on the waterway. We suggest all boaters stop here, visit with them, and enjoy all they have to offer. Floating docks, great facilities and fantastic positive people!

Now, we are anchored off Daytona Beach, using the dinghy dock at Halifax Harbor Marina. This gives access to Beach Street and the wonderful town center with fantastic restaurants,  pizza shops, coffee shops and artistic stores. Palm trees line the wide sidewalks which have many benches and interesting landscaped islands. We will stay here another day, get a $3 all day-pass, ride the bus 4 miles out to the Speedway and take in the TurkeyRun.com event. This should be interesting, plus we get to walk the infield at Daytona Speedway….very fun…

Here are some fun photos of this section…

Beautiful Sunset at anchor, Fort George, FL

Extra Crew in the AM….not needed!

Bald Eagle on R36, north of the Town of Marineland, FL

If you can’t build a home…..BUY a TUGBOAT….cool

The NEW ICW Homes north of Daytona…. When is Enough, enough?

The traditional ICW homes north of Daytona, FL….very nice

NOPE….buy the traditional, bulldoze it down then build this monster

www.TurkeyRun.com car show! 4,000+ show cars! Daytona International Speedway

  So….tomorrow should be really interesting, viewing all the classic cars and walking around the infield of the Speedway. Daytona Beach, Fl….a cool place to stop.

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Brianna and Colton, Bride and Groom

After our Phoenix visit, we spent 2 days with more family in Atlanta, Georgia on our return trip to the boat. These visits were a great distraction from the boating life, and it was really wonderful to spend time with people that really know you and love you. After returning to the boat, it was difficult to get back up to speed and into the cruising mode, not to mention the 25-30 knot gale that was blowing offshore for a few days. But after re-provisioning the boat and clearing off all the bird dirt and city dust, Island Spirit was ready to go, and to continue our trip to the Bahamas.

Here are a few photos of the 375 photos taken!

Tammy, Radeen and Taelor

Bridesmaids: Rachel, Brianna, Eden, Taelor and  Erin

Groomsmen:  Zach, Colton, Kevin, Evan, Mike

Father Mark and Son Colton

Tammy and Radeen

Taelor, Shane and Krista

Brianna, Rhonda and Colton

Radeen in the garden where the ceremony was held.

Brother and Sister: Mark and Rhonda

Rose Marie and Krista Marie

Brianna reading her vows to Colton

Krista, Rhonda and Mike

Radeen and Tammy

Hayden and Radeen

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Tenth Anniversary Edition IPphotos.com IPYOA.com 2013 Calendar

We have released our Tenth Anniversary edition 2013 Sailing CALENDAR. This calendar is sold to support our Island Packet web sites at IPYOA.com and IPphotos.com. The Calendar profits are used to pay for the two servers storing and serving our 12,000 Island Packet photos at IPphotos.com and the new dedicated community web server running IPYOA.com. These three web servers are serving tens of thousands of web pages each month to the Island Packet Community. We appreciate your support and encourage you to purchase our calendar here. Thank you!

Here are the photos and pages of this Tenth Edition Calendar

PS:
If you are interested in Island Packet Yachts, we also encourage you to JOIN our Island Packet Yacht Owners’ Association. This web site is not only for IP owners, but also for Island Packet Dealers, Brokers, and Friends all interested in sharing the “JOY of Island Packet Yachts.”

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Hurricane SANDY, 3 days after we dock!

Known as a HURRICANE HOLE, a safe place to dock your boat during hurricane season, Brunswick Landing Marina is truly a safe place, well built and very solid. Since we ran down the east coast early, during Sept and Oct, we had planned to make this our destination. We booked a dock here months ago, before we left the Chesapeake Bay and we have been running for Brunswick from the first day we left.

Lucky for us, we had great weather all the way south, and we were able to arrive here a few days early, which turned out to be perfect due to Hurricane Sandy. Brunswick is as far west as you can go on the east coast, plus the NE flow of the Gulf Stream tends to divert the path of hurricanes away from this spot. Brunswick Landing Marina, GA is THE place to store your boat during hurricane season. We feel lucky to be here and we feel safe leaving our boat here as we fly to Arizona for a family wedding.

Here is a photo essay of Brunswick Landing Marina:

Island Spirit docked on pier #4 Notice the CONCRETE floating docks….full length….NICE

Massive dock cleats….notice the heavy dock lines… Thank to GREG!

CONCRETE PILINGS! Docks ride up and down via these rollers

Powerpost, cable TV and water. Notice the concrete pilings

15 PIERS, 20 boats per pier…WOW…this place is massive Ramps lead up from docks to a dock house on each pier

FREE WIFI on each dock house

Car parking right at the docks within steps of each pier.

Island Spirit in dock, mainsail lashed, double dock lines

Bath house and clubhouse between piers # 8-9 Bath house at pier #1 also

Clubhouse, library book share, TV, lounge

Clubhouse continued… tables and sofas for cocktail parties

FREE LAUNDRY ….yes, that is right…..FREE

EACH Dock House has a nice grill, table and chairs

Inside slips are for the large catamarans which means… .. there are 30 spots like this. The north end can take larger boats and more cats as well.

View Larger Map

If I were looking for a place to dock our boat during hurricane season again, this would be the spot. Many cruisers make this their starting point for cruising for the winter. For example: Arrive here, to your decommissioned boat before Nov 1. Set up your boat, install your sails and canvas, clean up the boat, provision, prepare. Depart ASAP for points south, South Florida, Bahamas, etc. Sail all winter, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, March, April, May. Come back to Brunswick June 1, dock here and decommission the boat, putting it away until Nov 1. Now, go home or do land based travels and family visits and then start again. This is what many cruisers here are doing, because it is such a safe place to leave your boat in hurricane season, June 1 to Nov 30. We are glad to be here!

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Sunset the night before we departed Beaufort, SC

Beaufort SC to Brunswick GA via offshore is a 104 nm trip. Traveling at 5-6 nm / hr, this can take some time. The real challenge on a leg like this one is not the coastal sailing, it is the tides at both inlets. Tides on the Georgia Coast are 7 to 8 feet and the current associated with these tides can run at 2-3 knots.

So a sailboat that motors at 5-6 knots will need to run with the current, adding this extra speed as opposed to running against the current. Considering two ocean inlets 70+ miles apart and figuring out the time and distances for exiting one inlet on the out flowing tide and making the next inlet on the inflowing tide can be a fun (and lengthy!) discussion.

iPad and Navionics, we use this for tides, currents and backup nav

Radeen is really good at these calculations. We use our iPad with Navionics software for currents and a piece of paper and pencil and we go at it. We find the max current at each inlet and run a route on the computer for assistance, and then we calculate our speed and time of arrival for each point.

With the anchor up at 4 pm, we were able to run the tide out to sea by sunset, then sail the 70 miles of sea overnight and make the next inlet at 8:30 am for the inflowing tide. We arrived Brunswick GA as scheduled and docked around 11 am. We were tired from only sleeping 2-4 hours while offshore, so we took a long afternoon nap. Offshore sailing takes days to get into a rhythm, and so with a short run of only one night, you never really get into a good sleep pattern. Imagine driving all night till 11 am the NEXT day, and then finding your way around a strange town and parking your car in an unfamiliar parking garage. This will give you a clue as to what we just accomplished!

Here are some photos of the area…

Horse Drawn Carriage Rides at Beaufort, SC

Spanish Moss on the harbor trees Island Packet friends: Larry & Gerry IP37 Galileo, Hayden & Radeen with Marjorie and Jeff, IP45 Far Niente

Cruising Island Packet Friends, Sam and Carolyn of IP-485 Malaka II connected with us in Beaufort for breakfast and a long walk.

Sunset as we exited Port Royal Sound for sea

One of the last sea buoys leaving Port Royal Sound near Hilton Head

Set course for Southwest down the Georgia Coast

Our NIGHT view with a moon – very bright! Notice the red instruments.

Daybreak, sunrise 8 miles off St. Simons Sound, GA

Commercial Shipping outbound as we enter the tight inlet motor sailing

Pelicans greeted us at Green #15….thank you

Sidney Lanier Bridge, 185 feet of clearance as we approach Brunswick, GA

Now, we are in Brunswick, GA which has been our destination since departing Rock Hall on Sept 27th. We will secure the boat here (during hurricane season!) and fly out of Atlanta to Phoenix AZ for a family wedding. We are very excited to visit our family…..can’t wait….

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Sunrise, Elizabeth City, NC on a COLD Oct morning!

We have heard from many readers about our great photos of sunrises and sunsets, so we have decided to make a new page dedicated solely to this topic. The new page can be accessed here, or from the menu bar at the top of the page. As we capture new sunset or sunrise photos, we will blog about them and archive the best photos on this new page. The photos will be organized in reverse chronological order with the most recent photo at the top. We look forward to continued sharing of this cruising life aboard Island Spirit….

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