Week 2

I left off meeting my uncle and grandma for brunch. Brunch was great and had a few drinks to unwind leaving the boat. I took the dingy and showed all them the boat and had a few more tequila drinks and took them back to shore. I thought to myself the day is not over and I would love to bar hop and get signature drinks at each place so I did. Bar hopped all the way up to publix on the west side and ended it at Bradleys were I used to hangout and listen to live music when I was 24. I could see my boat from that bar which was a surreal experience. I took my dingy back home and had one more drink before bed.

            I woke up at 2am to a thud noise. The boat would rock up and down because of the wind and the bottom would hit the bottom and come to immediate stop jolting the whole boat. I must have been in 4 feet of water because I draft 4.33 getting a lift and slam. I laid in bed with my eyes open feeling the jolts, hearing the deep thuds and the clanking of the anchor line along my port side. Man was I hungover and the hangiexty was through the roof. I just sat and stared at my Navionics seeing how far I was moving. It kept showing me in one place because I was a ground but then at 4am I finally lifted up and started heading towards an even more shallow section claimed at low tide. I had no options and had to reanchor.

            In the dead of night I pulled up the anchor and shifted over to the south thinking the next spot would be better. I anchored down and then awaiting where I would shift over to. It was no good, I ended up in a spot that read 5 feet at low tide but it was mid tide going to high and my depth finder only read 5 feet. There was going to be a negative tide under a foot and I knew I would be stuck like chuck again. I had to wait till 7am and then pull my anchor up during high tide and head out the bridge to the north away from the tight anchorage chaos.

            At 7am I got situated and started to turn on the engine and get going. I pulled up the anchor and off I was toward the bridge heading north. Unfortunately I had to wait for an hour in the middle of the channel because rush hour was happening. I waited paitentialy and finally the bridge open for me. I made my way down the larger portion of the intercoastal and found the spot I wanted to anchor 500 feet away from the closest boat. I dropped the anchor and sat and stared at the massive homes on Palm Beach until none where moving. I was holding good. I was so relieved that day. Nobody around me, the weather was calm and I was to myself. Finally after days I felt at peace. I relaxed all that day. Didn’t do a damn thing. I just saw and stared at the clear water. Took a nice shower and then watch sports the rest of the night. This is what I wanted some chill vibes.

            In the early morning the winds shifted. A northern wind blew in at 15 mph and the boat began to rock and roll. Waves piled up to 2 feet almost throughout the day and the anchor was banging so loud on the nose of the boat. Creaking and wailing with a sudden bang of metal I was in hell again. The anchor line tot holding for dear life. Gust of 20 mph winds, the air was 60 degrees and rain. What the heck kind of chill vibes is this. I checked the wind apps and all the apps said it would be blowing from the north the next two days and then the NE the next three days after. All at 20 mph steady with the topping gust at 30 mph on Thursday and Sunday. Thursday came it was right waves got up to 2-3 feet and the anchor continually banged the nose of the boat. I got zero sleep because it was so loud and had to put in ear plugs. That night my buddy (1 of 3) was asking how everything was going excited to see what he had in store. I had to be completely honest with him and said it has been miserable pretty much the whole time and every now and then I get a 6-hour peaceful moment that doubles down on the worst chaos. He was optimistic and said everything will be better once the boys come to town.

            The boys arrived on Friday night. I dingy’d a mile into town to go meet Jack first at 8:30pm. We had a couple beers and a small Thai restaurant and had some Thai tacos. Connor and Tyler would arrive at 10pm so I had to take Jack and his stuff to the boat fix since the intercoastal was still rough from the 20mph NE winds (not as bad as straight North). Jack got absolutely rinsed but luckily his stuff stayed relatively drive. On to get Connor and Tyler next. I picked them up at the dock and they were glemming with joy. The sawing me pulling up like a sailor and greeted me with an a hoy matey. I told told the sailors to pile in with all their gear and get ready for the splash mountain of a ride. The ride ended up being quite dry and we made it to the boat. Everyone was so excited and each person picked their spot to sleep. Connor would sleep on the side couch, Tyler on middle pull out bed and Jack in the stern queen bed. The boat felt tight but then again not really once we were all in bed. But bedtime was far from near.

            The rest of the days were mixed into each other. That night of arrival we drank for the celebration of the start of the adventure. I was pouring shots for everyone and we stayed up till 4am in the morning. We had nothing but time to kill. The winds would not be right for the crossing till Wednesday of next week. Each day and night we did something fun. From going to the beach, to exploring the wealth of Palm Beach to bar hopping the restaurants local to West Palm. We were gracious with our money not worrying how much we would spend. We all knew deep down inside this was a once in lifetime moment and to live it up. Each day the hangover would linger and turn into a 12pm beer to a 3pm beers to a 6pm shot to a 9pm night beers. Nights mostly were short from the excess moving and grooving during the days. Laughs and jokes were told and guys just being dudes.

            The weather window was coming up. It looked like Wednesday was now a ESE wind of 15-20mph and Thursday was a 5 mph S wind but then it would change to 10 N. North is always a big no no when it comes to crossing the gulf. The boys and I were anxtious to get a cross but we decided Wednesday was not a go because the sea state was still 5-7 feet going directly east. That lead to Thursday for crossing. Since we decided to cross Thursday, it was time to drink again with my Uncle Jonas and his girlfriend. Boy it was a fun time and those 8 percent Florida Mans and two espresso martinis tasted good. The plan was to be completely sober the next day and be serious about Thursday. That Wednesday we woke up to 15mph SE winds. The forecast should that it would settle down to 5-10 by 3pm and then 0mph in the middle of the night but then would pick back up again to almost 15 mph from the North on Thursday! We couldn’t believe it. One app said no wind on Thursday and the other said that. What was it? All we knew was today if we left at 5pm it would be the safest. So hungover with lack a sleep we decided to go for it.

            We checked my oil and it was low so we filled it up and I will do an oil change once I get to the marina. We pulled again and then the anchor didn’t work and I frantically tried to figure out the problem. The breaker popped from all the torque and then switch the breaker and we were back in business. It felt like we were all nervous. An overnight sail hoping the engine would perform those 14 hours straight of motor boating. My hangiexty was through the roof. Today was not supposed to be the day and I was not ready. We made it out the channel with a little bit a of swell that came over the bow once but that’s it and heading at 110 degrees basically east. The sun set and it became completely night time. I was blinded by my instruments and Connor and Jack kept out a look out for ships. We were going to take shifts who would sleep but we were so Jacked up (except for Tyler he slept the most of the way) we couldn’t. For hours we would just sit and stare at the blank dark night. The swell would slightly roll us but not too bad. The Gulfstream ended up not being bad at all and we picked up some good wind speed. The last few hours we were going 7 knots (7.7mph). We made it to West End in a record 11 hours. Arriving at 4am in the morning.

            Pulling into the the Marina was nerve racking. I couldn’t see through my windows because of all the salt water and my instruments were blinding me. All I saw is rocks about 10 feet from each side. I remember saying where can I park? And we just did not know. We took a gamble and parked in a random slip and my god all my senses were firing and so how I wedge into this small spot with no vision perfectly. I was toasted. We looked down at the water and saw the clearness of it. We were definitely here. I tried to turn off the engine and the stopper was not budging. I couldn’t believe it. How do I turn off this engine? I read the manual for five minutes and found where the stopper was on the engine. I pulled hard on the engine and boom it turned off. The stopper was no longer jammed. My god I said to myself. We all had two to three beers and went to bed at 5am. A few hours a sleep before checking into customs.

            The next day I checked into customs and everything went well. I received my cruising permit but accidently put 3 months instead of a year because I was completely ignorant for how big the Bahamas was. The Customs officer said just redeclare in another port and I should be fine (I hope so). The boys got to go to dry land and got to take a nice warm shower. We all raced down to the tiki bar by the water and grabbed the local drink, the goombay smash. The taste was glorious. We did it! We made it, a thought that we thought would never happen. I cheers to the boys and said thank you so much for the help and I thought I would have to be stuck in West Palm for another month in that shitty anchorage. The next 3 days we were generates.

            We drank when the sunrise’d till late at night. Being obnoxious and loud and free. Time to spend all our money still and live it up while we can. Each morning would be a hangover like West Palm Beach but with endless sea in our eyes and the locals pitching us with drinks and places to go. We all dipped crazy with our nicotine pouches of Zyns and drank and yelled and danced the days away. We would go to an island one day and then catch lobster the other day to eat up at night. We would watch the sharks circle the boat and then go into town for more beers and fast food. We had so many Zyns that we ran out hence why we went into town. Like degenerates we bought 30 black and milds like we were back in highschool again and smoke all 30 in one day. We endlessly drank on our last night together and then the boys had to go home the next day.

            We all woke up hungover like always and went to the breakfast where we would have bloody marys and mimosas. Maybe even a straight shot of rum or beers because why not. The boys were leaving me though and we all said our goodbyes and off they went. I was alone again in a foreign place. Wrecked from the fun and my mind and body were not right. I need days of recovery till I gain the confidence on my next big sail which is 25 miles to Mangrove Cay ( a small 1 mile island  in the middle of nowhere) and then 25 miles to Great Sale Cay and then the start of the Abacos, fox town where I will be for two months working my way down.

            It is now the day after Christmas. I have not drank for a couple days and had a nice tobacco smoke while writing this entry. I have started to work out again and feel normal. When I am sober I have way more confidents. I have done an oil change to my little dingy motor and to my engine. I have filled up the coolant, restriped the anchor chain, refilled my fresh water tank with my reverse osmosis. Installed my filter to my fridge bilge pump and only have a few more items to get and do. I need to go back into town to get a couple more safety waters and food for the three day adventure where I will not see anyone and I will have to wait till the 29th for the correct weather window. The place is pretty expensive here. It will amount to 75 dollars a day if you include the Bahamas tax. A free gym, nice showers and peace of mind sleeping at a marina is great but I must get back out of my comfort zone and keep believing in myself and the boat. Live on the anchor and trust in myself and in Getting There.

The day before:

Monday December 1st. The last day at the marina before the big journey. I have done all my essential activities prior to leaving. That day the sole focus was to organize the boat, put extra items like my ac unit in the storage and buy can supplies that will last me a few months with my meal.

As I start to organize I check all my thru holes one more time and unfortunately I have found a leak turning on the thru hole to the sanitary out that was at a drip rate of 1 cup of water in 2 minutes. My trip, I thought is now delayed by a month. My mind starts to race on how do I fix this? Who can fix this? Do I have to take the boat out of the water. I call over my dock buddy Scott to access and he says go to the marine mechanic store next door named sadler point and ask for their advice.

I go over to sadler point and they say it needs be fixed. My heart sank. My dad was supposed to leave with me tomorrow. My friends bought their plane tickets and took a week off of work already for this. I have let everyone down. I voiced my thoughts in my head a little less sulky and luckily the owner of sadler said if you bring the boat over here in 30 minutes we will try to find the parts and fix your boat before 1pm tomorrow and you will still be able to leave. I couldn’t believe it.

I brought my boat over and they immediately started to work on it. I sat and watch them go in and out of my boat till about 5:30pm and the guy said not done yet and will most likely finish tomorrow.

I still had to get groceries and still had to go to Gainesville from Jacksonville to drop off my truck at my dads to stay there for six months. I went to Walmart, got my provisions, walked them all up a 12 foot latter and then off to Gainesville arriving at 11pm. Time for sleep and being up at 5am to get back over to Jacksonville at 8am.

Day 1:

            We woke up at 5am and got over to the marina where they were fixing my boat at 8am. I took them a few hours to fix and they said you are good to go at 11am. We were off on the start of the adventure.

            I was nervous getting through the railroad bridge and downtown Jacksonville because the current was going against us at 3knots and my boat only does 5.5knots. Luckily with a lot of steering and control we made it through that section and for 5 hours, motor boated against the current and until it changed 4 hours in to the spot we would rest. It was an absolutely cold day and night with a low of 34 degrees.

The spot we anchored was surrounded by shallow shoals and oyster heads. The deep spot was 18 feet but instantly rose up to 2.5 feet in 200 feet distance we had to drop the anchor in the perfect spot in order not to drift over the shallows. The current was ripping 3.5knots at one point and setting the anchor at sun down and checking the garmin gps was intense to see what would happen with our drift as the tide was going out.

While checking the gps and garmin, I was also checking my voltage and none of my batteries were charging. I started to worry my electric was not wired right from the work scott did and called him up. He said check the belt and make sure it is tighten and then see what happens.

It was pretty loose and tighten the conveyor belt and then watched the voltage readings with a little bead of sweat down my head even though in was 42 degrees at the time. After 45 seconds the batteries started to charge. I could breathe easy again, or so I thought.

The Garmin while I was fixing the charging problem, was saying we were drifting too far back and not holding. How does my 20lb anchor not hold!? The tide dropped and we were an officially on bottom stuck. I was in disbelief. Out of panic and action I quickly turned on the engine, flooring and rocking the boat left to right to wiggle our way out of the situation. After a minute the boat inched its way out to deeper water and my dad and I had to reevaulate where to anchor.

We decided it was best to anchor closer on the north side of the channel with the wind being from the north the hole night. It was now night time and it was cold. We set the anchor and started getting ready for bed.

I stared nervously at the garmin now not trusting the anchor. For an hour or two I stared as we kept drifting more and more from what was the max distance on rode line we left out. I couldn’t believe it, again we are drifting! I woke up my dad and 3:30am and told him we are drifting out to the channel and we had to get up and reset the anchor in 34 degree weather with the wind howling. We reset the anchor again and I stared at the garmin till 4:30am and then just said fuck everything I don’t care if we drift or not at this point I’m done.

Day 2:

            The alarm sounds at 5:30am. On one hour of sleep, I wake up ready to pull the anchor and move on from this anxiety driven anchor spot. I turn on the engine and check the voltage and we are charging which was a great start to the day. We motored all the way the Palm Coast. 10 hours straight. We went through the beautiful nature scenes of Guana Park and Mantanzas. It was a very pleasant intercoastal ride but just freezing still at 45 degrees during the daytime with the wind.

            Tons of eagles, ospreys, king fishers and pelicans. The live oaks would lean over the tannic water and the palmettos would stick out from the banks. Tall sabal plams and pine tries will be the back drop at the higher elevations.

            When we made it the Sisn’t Augustine we had to wait 30 minutes for the next opening at the Lion Bridge but we didn’t care. We thought it was so cool to see downtown Sisn’t Augustine from the view including the Matanzas fort. The first settler building in the United States.

When the bridge opened we continued the intercoastal and my Dad started driving the boat. He wanted to be efficient and hit the edge of every channel marker with the shortest distance and angle to the other. We were having an intriguing conversation and through thought we were both distracted and all of sudden came to hard stop.

It took awhile for us to know what happened and then we realized we were stuck again on a near high tide! I told my dad to floor it and rock and then after a couple seconds we were in the channel. The amount of adrenalin I have had plus the lack of sleep I was feeling all kinds of ways. I told my dad to stop hugging the channel markers and just go straight down the middle which is did slightly.

There is nowhere to anchor in Palm Coast so we decided to stay at a marina. We had a side slip next to the diesel pump and hooked up the power there. We took warm showers after being freezing for a couple days with no heater in the boat and then filled up the water tank and filled up the diesel. We walked to the nearest restaurant in a little town center which in the end was very pleasant. We ate at a pizza joint which had amazing pies and then had two nice strong IPAs to calm down the nerves and then walked back home and went to bed.

Day 3:

I woke up feeling refreshed. I started up the boat and read the voltage making sure it was charging the batteries and it was. As we started getting going though the voltage was reading way too high at 14.6-14.65. This voltage is on the cusp of damaging all my batteries for over charged and I called up Scott who wired everything and he said that is the max voltage if there is any increase let him know and also let him know what the batteries are the next morning.

Nervously I motored the boat, hopping down stairs continuously monitoring. It kept holding 14.6 and then all of a sudden, no charging anymore because the belt loosened again. The belt is continued to my water pump and so I was constantly checking the exhaust out making sure water was spilling out so I would not over heat. I turned on my solar panels to charge just my house batteries and continued on. Slighlty all right that I wasn’t continuing to fry my batteries.

When we arrived into Mosquitoes Lagoon it was beautiful. Barely any wind and about 65 degrees with the sun out. The amount of birds we saw was insane. So much wildlife was out there and dolphins surfing along the boat, it was a moment we could enjoy. Our plan was to anchor out in this massive lake like lagoon just outside the ICW. A lot of comments said it is a horrible place to anchor because it is so exposed to the winds but we got lucky.

We anchored out for the night and decided to enjoy the rest of the two hours of daylight and try to do some fishing for reds. Fish were popping everywhere but we managed to only catch two ladyfish on artificial which was still awesome to see my dad catch a fish with my for the first time on my sailing adventure. The sky light up with all sorts of colors from blues to purples to oranges. It was a surreal evening that made the all-day journey worth it.

We motored back to the boat once it was night time, cooked some dinner and had our two shots of liquor and watched the gator’s basketball game. I again adjusted the the alternator belt with some jerry rigging and extra nuts and washes and thought that would do the trick. It was so quiet I could hear the drip of my shaft of my propellor and nothing else. I slept with ease knowing there was no current or no winds to budge my untrusted anchor.

Day 4:

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise and it was about 50 degrees. Another cold front was moving down and we could feel the cold wet wind in our clothes. I started the boat and again looked out my voltage meter. It was reading 14.6 and I was okay with that and started going. I kept checking my voltage and then It was reading way too high! 15.7 voltages at one point I started to panic and told my dad we need to fix the problem and then the voltage dropped because the belt slipped after 30 minutes.

            The wind was howling on our backs for 7 hours and the ICW was choppy and hard to steer. Whenever I had enough open space, I would set on autopilot and then catch a breather until a boat would go by. The only cool thing about this day was Port Canaveral and the thousands of dock in the bay. I called up a marina in Melbourne once we got close to stay the night. There was a little channel to get through and as I was going through I hit a sandbar the boat instantly stopped in its tracks. I told my dad to rock the boat and floored my engine as hard as I can and pointed left and right. It took a minute the boat rocked its way out of the sand bar and back into deeper water. Holy cow it’s been I day I thought to myself.

Once we got there and docked I had a game plan. Go buy the proper bolts and nuts at Boathouse Discount and fix the slipping of the belt which I assumed why I was getting such high reading before the belt slipped. I paid an uber there and back for 40 dollars and fixed the parts where I knew the belt was holding way better. I cranked the engine and read the voltage and again it read 15.7 volts. My heart sank something was wrong other than the alternator belt and I don’t know how to fix it. I called out Scott and he said the only thing it could be is maybe the regulator and I need to figure out to reset it.

            I needed a magnet to reset the regulator and I spent an hour trying to find my magnet and in the end it was lost. I had to hurry up and call another Uber to West Marine and pray they had a magnet, 30 minutes before closing. Luckily, they did and another 40 dollars later I was back on the boat with a mission. For an hour and half, I tried programming this thing I was not getting it at all. I told my dad we will try to figure out tomorrow but if not, we will have to stay here for the day. My dad was not happy with that because he had to be in West Palm by December 8th. I told him it is was it is but I am not hurting my batteries and at worse case I’ll drop him off at a closer town so he get take a rental back home and do the rest by myself.

Day 5:

            I studied the programming guide an hour before bed and then an hour in morning while drinking my coffee. I was confident I need how to program it. It took me an hour to program the regulator but finally the right flashes indicating the setting were appearing and I thought I did. I turned on the engine and sat for 30 minutes staring at the voltage. It would not go over 14.10 volts. Success!

            We gassed up the boat yet again and let around 10am for our 8 hour day. Luckily we had current and wind on our side. We flew down to Fort Pierce in under 7 hours and found an anchorage at the inlet. As we made our way down there were really cool islands along the way where people would camp and beautiful mangroves in the area of Vero.

            The Fort Pierce inlet was so crowded with boat I could not find a spot to park without hitting other boats. The tide was ripping and movement was hard. After 30 minutes I finally found a spot and anchored. Everything looked okay I am just praying my anchor holds in this ripping current. There were neighbors next to us that were odd. The yelled and introduced their selves but the cadence the way the spoke and pauses I didn’t like. After 10 minutes I walked down stairs and let my dad deal with them. My dad walked down stairs and said they said we can come over if we want to hangout. I said no freaking way. I have bad vibes with them.

            I again sat the Garmin before bed. Staring at the glowing screen watching the distance we were swaying with the anchor. The tide was going out and we were staying in a good spot. The tide wouldn’t change again till 1:30am so I was comfortable going to sleep. I woke up to the weird neighbors yelling the Titanic song to us. The whole freaking song at 1:30am! I was like wtf is going on? The song the whole song and then ended with your drifting away, good luck and good bye neighbors and started laughing and then silence. I pulled the garmin out for an hour and stared. We definitely moved but only because the tide was coming in. The anchor was holding for that hour and I shook my head and went to sleep thinking fuck everything I don’t care what happens.

Day 6:

The final day, we are almost there. We decided to go offshore for this last leg of the trip and motor sail. It was help us by pass all the bridges you have to open which was like seven. We will out the inlet at 2.5knots current with an eastern breeze. The waves were massive at 4-5 slightly capping and coming over the boat. I was wigging trying to control the boat for 30 minutes until finally we were out at sea. The adrenaline and lack of sleep was getting to me. My head space was all fucked up.

            We motored sailed for 7 hours going about 6-7 knots consistently. Good when and seas were semi rough 2-4 feet. Felt like 6 feet to me but my dad said no way. It was fun and sporty actually once I got used to the crazy rocking and leaning of the boat. We sailed like this all the way to West Palm.

            The last hurdle making it to West Palm was going through an outgoing inlet. Big waves again were shifting the bow left and right and I was going 3 knots max. Terrified I would hit the jetties I locked in and focused so hard to keep the boat straight and dead center. Once we passed the jetties and into the intercoastal it was a huge relief. The last step was to find an anchorage.

            Again there were no anchorages I kept trying to park by people at the start of nighttime and they would all come out saying do not park there you are going to hit my boat. I got denied by 3 people and then finally to a gamble an decided to anchor in 5 feet of water (boat drafts at 4.33) that swings to 4 feet at 150 feet away. This is all just based on Navionics and can be completely different. This was the only option and this is what I did. I don’t care if I go a ground during low tide. I am just tired and want to chill.

            So that is what I have been doing for the past two days after anchoring. My dad left that night and the day after I literally just sat in the boat all day and did basically nothing. The only thing I did is install my grill, reorganize the boat, put the canvas back up on the boat, reorganize the lines, and set up starlink. I little bit of non brain work and nothing. Now today I hangout with my grandma and uncle, leaving the boat for the first time unattended at shallow anchor. It does feel like I hit bottom at peak low tide but every other time it is fine and feels like it is holding. Only time will tell and I am sure that there will still be stories. Hopefully mostly good and some bad.