Chapter 42: Ft. Pierce to Titusville

GCT Log 42
Ft. Pierce to Titusville, Fl.

6:45 AM
Monday, May 15, 2000
Titusville Municipal Marina
Titusville, FL.

Day 43

Yesterday…
Our Mothers Day was a good one. We left the marina in FT. Pierce at 6:55, and it was only about a mile to the ocean. The Atlantic was beautiful, with just the slightest of swells, and those were at our stern. I set a course of 351 degrees on the autopilot to get us to the entrance buoy at Cape Canaveral, (55 miles) and we were there by 10:30 AM.
There is a canal that connects the Atlantic to the Intracoastal called the barge canal. It’s about 3 miles long, with one lock to keep the seawater from dumping into the Banana River. On that canal is where our friend, Bert, keeps his boat so we stopped for a few minutes to see his catamaran. He was getting ready to leave, on an airplane, back to Trinidad, so we only stayed a short time.
As we were coming out of the lock we had a scary experience. Deb was in the salon getting something, and she came up to say she smelled smoke, and it was coming from the air conditioner ducts. I jumped up, and what I found was it was coming from the engine room. After a few minutes of panic while looking for anything that could be causing this smell (it smelled like rubber burning) we didn’t find anything. That is both good news, and bad news. We looked everywhere for what could have caused this, but up till now we still don’t have a cause. I’m going down in the engine room as soon as I complete this to look again, but for now it is a mystery.
Our original plan yesterday was to try to make it to mile marker 840, near New Smyrna, but we couldn’t find a marina with a transient slip, so we ended up stopping in Titusville. (Mile marker 885) This marina is ok, but not one of the nicer ones we have ever been in. It seems to have more than its share of Live-a-boards (people who use their boats as homes), and that makes it look a little old. The good news is they have floating docks, so the tide does not affect us.
The boat next to us is one of those live a boards. It is a sailboat, and you can tell someone lives aboard, because if it were a home you could picture it with old cars in the yard with grass growing up around them. Maybe even a refrigerator in the front yard as well. Anyway there is this guy sitting on it in one of those plastic chairs, chain smoking, and chain drinking. He would talk to those who went by, and the more time went on the less sense he made. When I went to bed he was still sitting there. Maybe I should go out and look now to see if he made it in last night.
To end the day we enjoyed a shrimp cocktail, during cocktail hour, and then Darrell cooked some great steaks on the grill for dinner. This together with some corn on the cob, and excellent biscuits, and we were all set. Earlier in the day Deb had promised Darrell we would watch a move before bed, so we did. Well, I should say… they did.

Today…

It’s a little cooler this morning (72) than it has been, but they say it will be about mid 80’s by noon. After another check in the engine room we need to get going to try to make it to ST. Augustine by dinner. There is a friend there we are going to try to have dinner with, but I’m not sure we can make it that far (120 miles) because right now my plan is to stay inside all day. They are talking about some chance of storm today as a cold front goes through, and I don’t want to be out there if these predictions come true.
No matter what happens, it’s going to be a great day.

BK