New Years Eve

New Years Eve

Thursday 31 December 2020

I’m very happy to report that Gloria’s brother Paul’s surgery went well and he is on the road to recovery, which is a huge relief. Hopefully he should be home in a day or two.

2020 was not a great year for so many people. I think Gloria and I recognize that we have had a much easier time than most. So let’s hope that 2021 brings a much better year for everyone who has found this year a struggle.

We did a few more boat jobs this morning, topping up the fuel tanks and some cleaning inside. In the late afternoon we headed over to the State Park at Sebastian Inlet about 14 miles north of Vero Beach. This inlet is not a route that we could use from the Atlantic Ocean to the Intra Coastal Waterway, partly because it is fairly shallow, but more importantly there is a fixed bridge with a vertical clearance of less than 30 feet that crosses the inlet … our mast with instruments is 62 feet! The beach was closed today due to strong rip currents and /or Portuguese Man of War jellyfish. We saw a few of these washed up onto the beach, but also sea looked really rough and there is a small craft advisory in place until the weekend. We wouldn’t chose to go offshore in these conditions. The strong outgoing current and onshore winds were kicking up some impressive and scary looking waves. There were many people fishing off the pier and bridge and also lots of water birds of various sorts. It was fun to spend time there, but as the sun set the no-see-ums (“midges”) came out in force (despite the strong breeze) and we headed back to the boat for dinner and a lazy evening. We figure we might last an hour past “boaters midnight” (9 pm) … there’s no way we’ll see true midnight!

Happy New Year everyone!

Mike

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

The beach at Sebastian Inlet - a no swimming day

Snowy Egret

Brown Pelicans in Flight

A sad sight - a Royal tern with fishing hook stuck in its beak (perhaps through its tongue)

A juvenile brown pelican at sunset

A worrying day

A worrying day

December 30, 2020

This was a bit of a worrying day as my brother Paul is facing some health issues. Over the past ten days or so, unbeknownst to us, he has had some symptoms that caused him to be concerned that he may have had a mild stroke. Today, following a CT scan, it was confirmed that he has indeed had a cerebral hemorrhage. It appears it happened a while ago, possibly connected to tripping and banging his head on the pavement, although this was several weeks ago. Rather than watch and wait to see if the symptoms resolve, he has decided to undergo surgery to address the issue and that will happen tomorrow.

So whilst we waited to hear news we tackled a few more of our seemingly endless list of boat jobs.  Today we scrubbed the covers of the cockpit cushions.  I think they are improved but not restored to their original state.  Many people suggested that tan wasn’t an ideal choice.  I fear they were correct.  It’s probably fair to say that if those stains didn’t come out by scrubbing with laundry soap and bleach, they are not going to be transferred to my pristine wardrobe!  

Have other boaters ever wondered if cleaning with water solutions might just be adding to the mold growth on the boat?  Often we add bleach to the cleaning water but still there’s a lot of water being added to the atmosphere inside the vessel. A few years back there was a craze to wipe the surfaces of the boat with vinegar as a way to deter mold growth.  As vinegar is 95% water this seems to present the same problem to my mind. Perhaps I should just try it and see what happens.  Having Cotinga smell like a pickle jar doesn’t seem that appealing. 

Fingers crossed for tomorrow

Gloria

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

Under the Merrill P. Barber bridge (Vero Beach bridge)

Inquisitive squirrel

1.5 terabytes … Really!

1.5 terabytes … Really!

Tuesday 29th December 2020

The worst thing about our time at Vero Beach is how quickly it’s passing. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here nine days and that we only have four days left before we move on. Today we did a little shopping, some boat jobs and had a fantastic late afternoon trip to the beach to watch the moonrise. 

You all know I take a lot of photos and with my new camera each of them is 8256 x 5504 pixels and ~ 55 MB. When I get to work in Photoshop, particularly if I’m creating panoramas the images can get to be > 1 GB in photoshop format. All of this takes up a lot of storage and I am completely hopeless at throwing away any of my files, so I’ve tried to adapt my work habits to store all the files on an external hard-drive that I also make a back-up copy every few weeks. I was a little shocked to realize that since we moved aboard Cotinga at the start of August I have used 1.5 TB of storage (and the same on the back-up disk). So this morning we made a trip out to Best Buy to get a coupe of new drives. It’s mazing that you can buy a 2 TB drive for about $65. 

Our major boat job today was to glue down the formica top that surrounds our fridge / freezer. It had started to lift off and was a bit unsightly. We used rapid set epoxy and the project went pretty well. Once this was done we headed down to the beach to meet up with Paul, Fran, Clark and Susan. Our plan was to watch the moon rise over the ocean but there was actually quite a lot of cloud so we thought we were going to be disappointed. However, we did see it emerge from the clouds on the horizon, glowing pink from the sunset, and it was a beautiful sight. In other times we would no doubt have gone out for dinner and / or drinks afterwards, but this is the Covid era so we all retreated to our respective homes. 

Mike

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

the following photos are shown in the sequence they were taken during the day ...

Green Heron portrait

Girl playing in the surf (p.s. I did get her Dad's permission before taking this shot)

Royal Tern on Vero Beach

Steps Down to the Beach

Passed sunset at Vero Beach (looking east across the Gulf Stream)

Full moon over Vero Beach

Full moon over Vero Beach

Vero Beach in the moonlight

Is Florida full of boats?

Is Florida full of boats?

Monday December 28, 2020

It certainly seems busy here at the Vero Beach City Marina.  Admittedly, we didn’t stay here in December of 2012, so we can’t really make a comparison.  Here is my thinking on the topic. 

Each year in the fall significant numbers of boats make their way south from Canada, New England and other states that become too cold for comfort (however you might define that). Some boaters travel along the ICW, some chose to take shorter or longer hops on the “outside”.  A very large number of boats travel to Florida with the intention of crossing the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.  We have met people who make this journey every year and other boaters who are hoping to cross for the first time.  

But this year, in addition to the “standard” uncertainty around weather for the crossing, there is the uncertainty around entry requirements.  The last time we looked at the web, to enter the Bahamas you needed to fill out forms to obtain a “health visa”.  Then within five days of entering, you had to have a negative Covid-19 test.  Once admitted, you would be required to re-test within 5 days.  Not every island within the archipelago has testing capacity.  Add to that the generally fluid situation around infection rates, mutant strains; it seems that the rules could change quickly at any time.  Possibly you could be expected to leave at short notice (with unfavorable weather) or get stuck for an unknown length of time.

Thus, many boaters who have got this far south are planning on staying in Florida for the winter.  So, yes, Florida is full of boats and boaters. 

Gloria

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

Red shouldered hawk - (340mm lens, 1/320s at f6.3, cropped ~ 70% of full frame)

Looking north along Vero Beach

The boardwalk and lifeguard hut at Vero Beach - actually a red flag day with high surf and strong rip currents

Green Herons, Water Lilies and Lego

Green Herons, Water Lilies and Lego

Sunday 28th December 2020

Over the last couple of days we’ve been trying to sort some financial things and in particular set up payments for both our health insurance plans. It turned out not to be too complicated but it had been weighing on Gloria’s mind. This morning we addressed our Sirius Marine weather subscription. We get marine forecasts (and radio) direct to our navigation system via a Sirius radio module. When I lost my wallet I cancelled all of my bankcards and I had forgotten to register a new card for that subscription.  Whilst working that problem I started to wonder when our real estate taxes needed to be paid only to find that they were due at the beginning of November and we are six weeks late. I had received an email reminder, flagged it and then forgotten all about it. I’m really looking forward to calling Sudbury town offices this morning. You might think it’s idyllic getting away from everything on the boat but there are still all the everyday problems that need to be addressed and it’s hard to stay on top of them. Wait till we get to do our tax filings – that usually gets my blood pressure up into stratospheric levels!

The day picked up after breakfast. I wandered along to the marina bathrooms and a little green heron was perched on a dock line in perfect position. Not only that, he even stayed there whilst I went back to get my camera. In the early afternoon Gloria and I headed over to the McKee Botanical gardens. It’s lovely to walk around there. I would also say it peaceful except at the minute they have a temporary Lego exhibition and it was surprisingly crowded with families with young children. Whilst a little skeptical at first, I have to say that the Lego models that were dotted around the gardens were impressive. Amongst the exhibits were a snow leopard, whooping crane, sea-turtle, dodo and butterfly. Each was 4-6 feet in size and comprised of 50,000-75,000 pieces and took 300-500 hours to make. The botanical gardens are near to Paul and Fran’s house so we went round later in the afternoon and spent a fine couple of hours chatting and setting the world straight. Plenty of problems … not so many solutions!

Mike

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

Green Heron fishing

Green Heron in profile

Red flower

Water lily in a gently flowing stream

Water lily

Lego butterfly ... it looks like a heavily pixelated photo!

Water Lily - McKee Botanical Gardens (200m lens)

Water Lily - McKee Botanical Gardens (200m lens) ... same photo as above but edited to low saturation

Propane refills and other fun

Propane refills and other fun

December 26, 2020

The good news is that we managed to cook our Christmas dinner.  To say that we didn’t run out of propane would be somewhat misleading... Through judicious use of the BBQ grill and the stove we had enough propane for our Christmas meal-- there was even enough propane for breakfast this morning

Once breakfast was complete we took the two empty tanks to a local oil and propane company and got them re-filled.  Hopefully, we will get the third tank re-filled before we leave and be set for a while.

Other fun today included a trip to the auto parts store.  We purchased replacement air struts to hold open our fridge top.  Even with the part in hand, finding a matching part was not easy.  In the end we settled for something that seemed “close enough”.  In addition to the size, a larger issue turned out to be the lifting power of the struts.  It was almost all I could do to shut the fridge with both new struts in place*.  We took one back out and now the fridge lid seems manageable.

Our trip to the West Marine didn’t provide a solution to our lifeline problem.  The part that Mike had ordered turns out to have a left-handed thread and won’t fit onto the end of the lifeline.  The shop had very little stock and nothing that would be useful for us.  Most likely we will have to get a new lifeline made with a swaged-on gate fitting.  

We pulled the dinghy out of the water and cleaned the underside.  It’s now drying on the dock.  Hopefully we will get some more anti-fouling paint on it tomorrow. So far we are quite impressed with the bottom paint—minimal growth on the dumb dog.

Gloria

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

* With two new struts our fridge could have been used as a medieval siege weapon .... "Fetchez la vache", place it on the fridge top, release the catch ... et voila, "pitchez la vache" (Monty Python - The Holy Grail) [Mike]

Cooking our Christmas chicken and some zucchini on the gas grill ... it worked out great!

Gloria happy to have a hot meal at Christmas!

Green heron on the dock at Vero beach Marina

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas

Thursday 24 December 2020

It was quite warm today (in the high 70s - low 80s) but also showery. We managed a couple of walks. This morning we wandered down to near the beach and this afternoon we went to Oslo Conservation area, about 5 miles from the marina, where there is a trail through the woods to a pond surrounded by mangroves. It was pleasant if not spectacular. The observation tower that was our destination on this walk has been destroyed, presumably by some named storm in recent years. We did see a possum and a few birds including osprey, a juvenile night heron, blue heron and tricolor heron. Our bird list for the trip currently stands at 129 species. 

Later this afternoon we filled our water tanks and attempted to hook up our third and final propane tank in case we ran out whilst cooking Christmas dinner. However, we found out that the only propane we have is in the tank that we are currently running and that both reserve tanks are empty. I think I cocked up somewhere along the line. Hopefully we won't run out tomorrow and we’ll be able to refill both empty tanks on Saturday.

We won’t be posting a blog tomorrow but we do hope that you all have a great time, eat lots of fine food and have fun. Happy Christmas everyone! 

Mike

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

Butterfly in Oslo Conservation area

Butterfly in Oslo Conservation area

Tricolor heron

Counting our blessings

Counting our blessings

Wednesday December 23, 2020

After a lovely afternoon celebrating Christmas, I am reminding myself that there are so many things for which I should be grateful.  It has been a tough year in many ways for most people.  However, we have managed to stay healthy (at least so far).  We got the opportunity to bring our boat south to Florida, where the weather is a lot more moderate than in Massachusetts. The weather is going to cool down considerably over the next two days so today was the best for a meal outside.

To celebrate Christmas, we went around to Fran and Paul’s house.  Along with Susan and Clark. we enjoyed a BBQ of burgers with all the fixings.  We ate on the lanai at two separate tables so that the risk of virus would be reduced.  The delicious main course was followed by two kinds of dessert. I ate both Clark’s pecan cookies and a slice of key lime pie.  Yummy! Maybe there is a reason why I feel so lethargic...

It was lovely to chat and eat with friends and family.  The conversation ranged widely from virus technology to planetary conjunctions and from photography techniques to future travel ambitions.  Don’t you think it’s amazing the topics that are touched upon during an afternoon of conversation? Occasionally, I have tried to piece together how these topics were interconnected.  There’s no making sense of it after the fact.

Gloria

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

After our lovely afternoon out I took a brief walk back along to the bridge to see if I could get any interesting the shots … including some abstract photos. The photos below were all created on camera and I’ll try and explain in each caption how the shot was taken. They were all taken with the camera / lens on a tripod using mirror-up and a cable release (to minimize movement when not wanted). They are edited to optimize brightness, contrast, highlights and shadows etc – but not overtly changed from the original.

Mike

Fran, Susan, Clark and Paul out on the lanai enjoying an excellent dinner (iPhone)

17 mm wide angle shot ~ 2 minute exposure at F16 with a flashlight helping to illuminate the darker left side of the bridge

180 mm telephoto shot 30s exposure F14

10s exposure at F16 whilst changing the focal length of the zoom lens

102mm telephoto, 6s at F13, in-camera double exposure with camera tilted ~ 30 degrees either side of horizontal

70mm telephoto, in camera  triple exposure - each at 5s, F16 - camera ~ +30 degrees, horizontal, -30 degrees.

Hard to believe this is the same subject - 200mm telephoto, 13s at F16 whilst rotating the camera and tripod through 180 degrees back and forward. The lens has a "collar" with a tripod bracket ... the collar allows rotation primarily so you can frame horizontal and vertical shots without adjusting the tripod head.

As above but 70mm telephoto, 8s at F20 - and most significantly, really after dark so the primary lighting comes from the bridge lights

Engine Maintenance

Engine Maintenance 

Tuesday 22nd December 2020

Today was an exciting day for Gloria. She got to open her Christmas presents three days early and play with them! This year Gloria got not one, but two new belts for our Yanmar diesel engine. How exciting is that? She’s such a lucky girl! So this morning we replaced both the alternator drive belt and also the fridge compressor drive belt. These jobs aren’t too tricky but we also replaced the impeller on our raw water pump and this is a pain in rear end. We’ve done it before and we know how to do it; it is just extremely difficult to get to. You need to assume an advanced yoga position like a contortionist to reach through an opening underneath the kitchen sink, round the back of the starter motor and remove four screws and a metal plate (without dropping them). You have to pull out the old impeller with needle nose pliers, then squeeze in the new one making sure the fins are folded back in the correct orientation for rotation. Finally the plate has to be screwed back on. I honestly can’t imagine doing this whilst out at sea. To finish off we cleaned out the raw water strainer, (which filters the sea water going into the water pump to cool the engine). It’s just as well we did this, as it was ¾ full of jellyfish.

We took a break midday and went to eat at the local waterside pub / restaurant, sitting out on the deck as far away from anyone else as we could. Then it was back to the boat and more jobs. In the afternoon we dismantled our bimini sunshade and cut 4” off the main legs so that it isn’t quite so high, then refitted and adjusted it so the additional zip-on sections of canvas still fit properly. We rounded off the day with a trip to Publix to buy some groceries. Thanks to Paul and Fran we have a car that we can use whist we are here. Now we are relaxing in the cabin, completely exhausted!

Mike

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

Vero Beach City marina - north dock at sunset. We are at the far end of this dock on the left

The office - Vero Beach City marina

Reflections on the water at sunset

Pink clouds and moon

Winter solstice

Winter solstice

Monday December 21, 2020

Today is the start of winter, the shortest day of the year and the day of the “great conjunction.”  It didn’t seem very wintery here today, although the day did start with cloudy skies and a brisk north wind.  

Time on the dock feels more restful.  It’s also time to do some boat jobs and catch up on things like laundry.  I sorted through the food storage boxed this morning.  Any for which a lid could not be found were rejected.  Mike removed the knot meter—always a good idea when you aren’t going to be moving the boat for a while.  (Things grow on the paddle wheel while the boat is stationary.) I did some laundry.  Mike did some cleaning of the v-berth. 

In the afternoon, my brother Paul and Fran (his lovely wife) came to the marina to deliver a car to us.  We are very grateful as this will make grocery shopping and other errands so much easier.  By the afternoon it was sunny and warm with a gentle breeze.  We sat in the cockpit and chatted.  Later Fran’s sister Susan joined us.  It was relaxing and suddenly it really started to seem like a holiday!

Just after sunset, we walked to the bridge that crosses from the barrier island to the mainland.  Mike wanted to take some bridge photos and I wanted to see the “great conjunction”.  As I was waiting for enough darkness to see the planets, I found myself thinking that the photos won’t capture the whole sense of being under the bridge.  You won’t be able to hear the strange whirring noise of the traffic right overhead or smell the leftover bait from the day’s fishermen.   Perhaps that’s all on the plus side.  

I did see the conjunction and was glad to have brought my binoculars.  It was cool!  A telescope view would no doubt be terrific.      

Gloria

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

Vero Beach Bridge across the ICW is a photographers dream - cool abstract lines, easily accessible and a presence that changes as the balance of sunlight / cloudy light and artificial lights changes. I'm not done with photographing this bridge yet!

Sunset - wide angle lens (HDR)

Sunset - telephoto lens (focus stack + HDR)

Shortly after sunrise - telephoto lens (focus stack)

After sunset - telephoto lens (focus stack)

Looking back from the viewing platform (where the other shots were taken) towards the east end

We arrive in Vero Beach

We arrive in Vero Beach

Sunday 20th December 2020

It was a beautiful clear windless morning in Melbourne. We pulled up anchor shortly before 8am and motored the final 30 miles down the ICW to Vero Beach. It was very busy out on the water – perhaps no surprise for a Sunday with such good weather. We pulled in to the Vero Beach City marina fuel dock to sue their pump-out system and to check-in, then we moved onto our assigned slip, which will be home for the next two weeks. It feels like we have finished another part of this voyage. Norfolk, VA  is considered to be mile zero of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and Vero Beach is at mile 952. We did some of this part of our journey out at sea and some on the inland waterways – but all told it’s quite a long way!  We’ll have two weeks break and then make tracks south towards the Florida Keys and possibly the west coast of Florida.

You may be wondering why we chose here in particular to take a break. Gloria’s brother Paul and his wife Fran spend the winters here in Vero Beach, as does Fran’s sister Susan and her husband Clark. We are excited to see them – although it will be different from our normal interactions, as we’ll all be taking great care to avoid spreading the virus. As nice as it is to live on the boat and anchor out in wild and beautiful places, we are really looking forward to being able to step off the boat whenever we like, use the marina showers and facilities and generally relax.

Not much else to report here. We may get rain and T-storms this evening but we are safely tied up to the dock so no worries. Now it’s time to catch up on some football. I think our presence here in Florida is going to give the Patriots an edge over the Dolphins in their game in Miami!

Mike

27 39.482 N, 80 22.215 W

Our neighbors in the Melbourne anchorage - early morning light

I particularly liked the look of this property on the ICW just north of Vero Beach