What a Day!
Tuesday, May 8, was quite a day! Marvin wanted to go outside today to make better time. Looking at the charts, the ICW is winding and narrow and turns into a ditch at one point before getting to St. Augustine. So, we decided to brave the Atlantic Ocean and travel north on the outside.
I had the helm out of the marina and into the channel. It’s about a mile from the marina to the inlet. I was going slow in the channel, with a large sports fishing boat (with flybridge and outriggers) behind me. I kept thinking he would pass me so I kept going slow and stayed to one side of the channel. Even in an area where I could go faster, I didn’t. Marvin hailed him on the radio as we approached the turn to the inlet. Marvin told him it was OK to pass as we wanted to follow him out of the pass. He radioed back that he was OK staying behind us. It had been a long time since he had been out this way and he was OK with following us. Marvin told him we were not from around here and had never been out the pass before. The response was “I guess it's the blind leading the blind.” Marvin responded “more like deaf leading the dumb” and asked where he was headed. The other captain said they all had a good laugh over that! And they were going to North Carolina.
Once we were out of the lee of the breakwater to the north of the channel, it was rough! I turned us north and then Marvin took over. In hindsight, we probably should have turned back. It was a pounding 4 1/2 hours. Seas were 3 to 5 with a brisk northeast wind. It was "frisky" as a sailing friend would say. The boat handled well and took the seas well at 1800 to 2000 rpms (~18 nmph).
At the entrance to the St. Augustine Inlet we had another sports fisherman following us. Marvin hailed him to tell him to go ahead of us as we wanted to follow him in. He said he was going on north, not into the pass. Another boat, Merlin, hailed us and said he just came in the pass, had never done it before, and that everything was well marked. He said to stay south of the dredge and we'd be fine. There was a big dredge in the channel with pipes everywhere and floating buoys marking the pipes!
Just as we passed the dredge, the gauges for the starboard engine went to 0! The tach, the oil pressure gauge, and the transmission oil pressure. All gone! And the engine synchronizer didn't seem to work. (We later learned that the synchronizer works off the tachometer.) We shut off the engines. There we were, in the channel, near the dredge, trying to restart the engines and figure out what was going on. We tried to restart several times, but in our disorientation (and panic) the engines would be out of gear or both keys not on at the same time or not being able to hear if both engines were on or off. Plus there was the issue of the synchronizer not working. Finally, we got the port engine started and in forward. But, there was a high-pitched whistle alarm going off. The whistle was the starboard key alarm because that engine was not on, but the key was. Our engines won't start unless both keys are on.
We limped under the Bridge of Lions into the St. Augustine Municipal Marina fuel dock on one engine. We filled up and called Diesel Services of SW Fl (Mike) who had just serviced the engines in Ft. Myers. His suggestion was that we jarred loose a piece of the wiring harness during our pounding run north. We moved out of the way on the fuel dock to see if we could find any loose wires. While we couldn't fix it, we think we found what the problem might be. But, the good thing was the starboard engine started, just without gauges. So we slowly motored to our assigned slip and Marvin did a great job backing us in.
We called the Cat dealer who works out of Camache Marina. Tomorrow morning we'll move up the river a little to Camache Marina fuel dock. The mechanic will take a look at it. Then we can move to a slip where the boat will stay for a week.
After we were settled in our slip and had hosed off the layers of salt, our neighbors from Shell Point, Gary and Hollis, called to say they saw us from the Bridge of Lions. Their son lives in St. Augustine and they own a house here too so they are a frequent visitors to this city. They stopped by the boat for a beer and some Aquavit while we told them the tale of our day at sea!
After the day we've had, we walked a little way to Harry's restaurant and had dinner. It was a cool night as we walked back to the boat and took a deep breath!
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| Ponce Inlet Lighthouse |
I had the helm out of the marina and into the channel. It’s about a mile from the marina to the inlet. I was going slow in the channel, with a large sports fishing boat (with flybridge and outriggers) behind me. I kept thinking he would pass me so I kept going slow and stayed to one side of the channel. Even in an area where I could go faster, I didn’t. Marvin hailed him on the radio as we approached the turn to the inlet. Marvin told him it was OK to pass as we wanted to follow him out of the pass. He radioed back that he was OK staying behind us. It had been a long time since he had been out this way and he was OK with following us. Marvin told him we were not from around here and had never been out the pass before. The response was “I guess it's the blind leading the blind.” Marvin responded “more like deaf leading the dumb” and asked where he was headed. The other captain said they all had a good laugh over that! And they were going to North Carolina.
Once we were out of the lee of the breakwater to the north of the channel, it was rough! I turned us north and then Marvin took over. In hindsight, we probably should have turned back. It was a pounding 4 1/2 hours. Seas were 3 to 5 with a brisk northeast wind. It was "frisky" as a sailing friend would say. The boat handled well and took the seas well at 1800 to 2000 rpms (~18 nmph).
At the entrance to the St. Augustine Inlet we had another sports fisherman following us. Marvin hailed him to tell him to go ahead of us as we wanted to follow him in. He said he was going on north, not into the pass. Another boat, Merlin, hailed us and said he just came in the pass, had never done it before, and that everything was well marked. He said to stay south of the dredge and we'd be fine. There was a big dredge in the channel with pipes everywhere and floating buoys marking the pipes!
Just as we passed the dredge, the gauges for the starboard engine went to 0! The tach, the oil pressure gauge, and the transmission oil pressure. All gone! And the engine synchronizer didn't seem to work. (We later learned that the synchronizer works off the tachometer.) We shut off the engines. There we were, in the channel, near the dredge, trying to restart the engines and figure out what was going on. We tried to restart several times, but in our disorientation (and panic) the engines would be out of gear or both keys not on at the same time or not being able to hear if both engines were on or off. Plus there was the issue of the synchronizer not working. Finally, we got the port engine started and in forward. But, there was a high-pitched whistle alarm going off. The whistle was the starboard key alarm because that engine was not on, but the key was. Our engines won't start unless both keys are on.
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| Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine |
We called the Cat dealer who works out of Camache Marina. Tomorrow morning we'll move up the river a little to Camache Marina fuel dock. The mechanic will take a look at it. Then we can move to a slip where the boat will stay for a week.
After we were settled in our slip and had hosed off the layers of salt, our neighbors from Shell Point, Gary and Hollis, called to say they saw us from the Bridge of Lions. Their son lives in St. Augustine and they own a house here too so they are a frequent visitors to this city. They stopped by the boat for a beer and some Aquavit while we told them the tale of our day at sea!
After the day we've had, we walked a little way to Harry's restaurant and had dinner. It was a cool night as we walked back to the boat and took a deep breath!
Adventure on the high seas! You Teri are so amazing!
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