Apprehension and amazement

We got an early start in the morning to head the rest of the way home to Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach. The day started with us passing the Kennedy Space Center. We were so excited that there was a rocket launch scheduled that morning and we were able to watch it go up from our boat.  I grew up in Florida watching Space Shuttle and rocket launches, and yet the science nerd in me is still amazed.

 

 

The first drawbridge we passed was the NASA Causeway. One of the four arms wasn’t working so I chewed my nails to the quick trying to navigate just right of center through this bridge and praying I didn’t hit anything.  So NASA can launch a rocket in space but not fix an arm of the drawbridge?

Going North we continued up the Indian River to Mosquito Lagoon. The rivers are connected by the Haulover Canal which has a small bridge in the middle. Under the bridge there was a tiny little fishing boat. The bridge sounded its horn and started opening for me. As  I started advancing I saw the boater yanking the pull chord over and over trying to start the outboard motor to get out of my way.  It reminded me of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5qQgQoH8iY

Anyway the bridge was open, the canal was narrow, I had momentum trying to hustle through the bridge and not keep the bridge operator and traffic waiting.  I tried slowing down some but boats don’t have brakes and we have a heavy boat.  Fortunately at what seemed to me to be the last minute he got his outboard to start and moved out of the way.  I do not have a video of me almost running over the fishing boat as I was white-knuckling my way through it.  Kim doesn’t think it was that close.  I was the one with my mouth dry, heart pounding and praying for that little motor to catch.  I was apprehensive.  I could just see us knocking that little boat into smithereens.

We then travelled up through the Mosquito Lagoon. Initially we had a fantastic tailwind and so we were motor sailing with our jib raised. However, the ICW is very narrow through this area and there were a TON of manatees.  The drawback of the jib is that it limits our visibility right off the bow so we took it back down. Go a little slower, no sailing, but it was worth it for the views and safety of the wildlife.  Over and over again we would see something surface and watch carefully as we approached it.  Manatees and dolphins were everywhere.  It was just amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued heading north through New Smyrna Beach and had just passed the North and South Causeways in New Smyrna Beach when suddenly the alarm started shrieking in the cockpit.   We looked at our panel and it was in the port engine. We killed the engine and ran downstairs to take a look. The engine was overheating!  One of the alternator bolts had come out, the alternator belt was loose, so the engine overheated.  We looked and looked all around that engine with flashlights long telescoping mirrors, even had Ben climb down there but never could find that bolt.  It must have sheared right off.  We dug through our supplies but did not have one spare bolt that would fit through that hole.  The engine was just going to have to stay off until we got home and we would have to go the rest of the way on just one engine. That is one nice thing about having a catamaran, most things are in duplicate.  But docking in a tight space on one engine is tricky.  We rely on two engines to help us maneuver. We don’t have bow or stern thrusters.  We called some people at the marina and told them our predicament and they said they would be there to catch lines and help us get in when we arrived.

Then we approached the Dunlawton Bridge, our last bridge before heading home.  The height board read 63 feet.  The tip of the VHF antennae on top of our mast is at 63 feet 2 inches.  Sometimes the measurement on these fender boards refers to the center of the bridge, sometimes it is the minimum clearance which is the height of the large pillars on either side of the channel.  When it says minimum clearance that usually means we have a little bit more room as long as we go right smack dab down the middle of the channel.

Usually when going under a close bridge we take it slowly, knowing if we need to back up we can.  But with only one engine running we decided while in free water to test the boat’s ability to reverse.   We found that when we put the starboard engine in reverse the boat would not back in a straight line but in a circle, no matter how much we turned the rudder. Ok, so backing up was not an option–for the bridge or for docking.  So we had a choice:  try and go under the Dunlawton Bridge knowing that once we started going under we could not back up, or turn around and travel two more hours back south to find an anchorage for the night in New Smyrna Beach. And to top things off, there was a storm in the distance, and it was evening already, meaning if we turned around we would have had to anchor in the dark in an unfamiliar place while it was storming. Kim and I kept driving the boat in circles just south of the Dunlawton bridge while we thought about it. Pros and cons, go for it or turn around? I looked at the tide table, low tide would be in the middle of the night or the next afternoon, and the tide is only an 8 inch tide at this bridge. No help there. But then I looked at the ship’s log, what had we done on the way down?  We’d passed under this bridge before.  Remember the video Ben took of us going under the bridge?  That was this bridge, the Dunlawton bridge.  We looked at our ship’s log and the bridge was between 63 and 64 feet on our way down and nothing touched.  Worse case scenario we’d bend or maybe even break our VHF antenna, but the mast should clear the bridge. We decided to go for it.  It was harrowing, you can’t tell clearance under a bridge by looking, and bridges always look too close.  But nothing touched, not even our VHF antenna.

We pulled into Halifax Harbor Marina.  Several fellow sailors and friends from the marina were waiting for us on the dock.  The storm was rolling in, the wind picking up and blowing us off the dock.  It was hard for Kim to get the boat turned around and lined up.  It took a couple of passes, but we were finally able to toss some lines into those helpful hands and they reeled us safely onto the dock.   We remain so grateful and amazed by the camaraderie and support of the sailing community.