Marineland to St. Augustine, April 2013

We had a couple of relaxing days at Marineland after Steve and Linda left, while we waited for Monday when we could pick up a rental car from Enterprise. We were fortunate that we were able to make the trip from Marineland to Port Charlotte to pick up our car in the one day timeframe.

Overturned pontoon boat.

There was some excitement out on the ICW on our last evening. A pontoon boat broke off one of its pontoons while making a tight turn at full speed. No one had ever heard of that happening before. The dockmaster Chris quickly went out to rescue the boat and 2 aboard. By the time he got to them the pontoon boat had overturned and the broken pontoon was drifting one direction and the balance of the boat was in the current going a different direction. The two passengers were in the water, so he was able to get them into his boat. They then made sure that the boat and pontoons were out of the ICW, so as to not be a hazard to other boaters. Quite a bit of excitement, and it was good that there were no injuries.

Sunrise on the ICW, Mantanzas Inlet

The next morning we were up early and on our way before 7 a.m. to catch the last of the high tide, that we needed to be sure to get out of the Marineland Marina. It also meant that we would catch the tide right for our journey to St. Augustine. What should have been a 4 hour trip, ended up being only a 2.5 hour trip due to the tide effect. Got to love it when a plan comes together.

St. Augustine were ready for us. We asked for a dock for Wed and Thursday to get the boat unpacked and ready to be hauled. They gave us a haul out time of 2:30 pm.

Peter getting the sail ready to come off boom.

Wed. we took the sails off the boat and got them stored. Today, Thursday, I have been packing our clothes, some food stuffs that we won't need or won't store well on the boat. What a job. It took all morning.

Peter has been to West Marine and Home Depot. West Marine had another solution for the faulty depthsounder, and gave him a new power cable. West Marine said if this doesn't fix the problem, then check the unit to see if it was made in Mexico or Hungary. If made in Mexico he said they would just give us a new depth sounder unit DSM 300 module. Who knows, we may one day get this operational.

Originally thought this boat waiting for tide.

Peter then wants to caulk the toe rail around the boat. He also wants to take the alternator off the boat, and check the muffler. He thinks they both probably need to be replaced. He also wants to change the engine oil before the boat is hauled.

Not so much. Looks like it has been abandoned.

Tomorrow morning I will clean the glass on the enclosure and get it put away in the v-berth before the boat is hauled. We will also store all of the cushions in the vberth. It worked well last year. Peter wants to pull up all of the floor boards and store them up higher.

Then we should be ready to be hauled.

We may need the remainder of the day to get the dinghy onto the deck and secured and wrap the chartplotter to protect it from the weather.

Then we can be on our way home to catch up with family and friends. We will get Deja Vu ready for a summer on Georgian Bay.  There are a number of boaters that we have met doing the Loop that are planning to come to Georgian Bay this summer and we want to be ready to show them some of our favorite anchorages.