{"id":1308,"date":"2012-12-03T13:17:14","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T13:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1308"},"modified":"2012-12-04T14:04:51","modified_gmt":"2012-12-04T14:04:51","slug":"in-coco-florida-we-arent-in-kansas-any-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1308","title":{"rendered":"Deck the Hulls Matey. We aren’t in Kansas any more."},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Monday morning and the sun isn’t yet up here in Cocoa. \u00a0Having said that, I expect that today, like the last few days, will begin with an absolutely\u00a0wonderful sunrise. \u00a0I have to take sunrise photos as it is the only way that Brenda can enjoy them. \u00a0 She has often said that her natural state is asleep. \u00a0Unfortunately, that “natural state” often\u00a0alludes\u00a0her until around dawn. \u00a0 So, photos of the last two sunrises when we were in St Augustine are for Brenda. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>If one fab sunrise is good, a second is better. \"\"<\/a>Yesterday we came through\u00a0Mosquito\u00a0Bay and area that was just a ditch run through miles and miles of a shallow bay that is rarely more than five feet deep. \u00a0Even though there was water all around us the constant threat of running aground kept us on our toes. \u00a0After a nearly 50km run for the day we were tired and had certainly had enough. \u00a0 The wind had also piped up so that we were motoring into it after some motor sailing earlier in the day. \u00a0Having to stay in the channel to avoid running aground was made even more fun given the large amount of weekend boat traffic. \u00a0 Adding an additional bit of tension was the fact that my max prop has been vibrating a bit, something that shouldn’t be happening as I had it rebuilt a few years ago. \u00a0I expect that it needs more grease in the hub which I will pump in today. \u00a0However, there may be more to it, perhaps the shaft log nuts are loose. \u00a0Who knows. Vibration in the running gear is not a good thing as it, if not addressed, can shake other things loose. \u00a0Fortunately when this happens, I can put the shift into reverse and then back in forward which smooths things out. \u00a0Having said that, it can’t be good for the transmission.<\/p>\n

My friend Keith, who has run his boat north and south many times, says that you are really in Florida after you pass St Augustine. \u00a0I believe him as while the water temperature, which was stuck in the low 60s for much of our trip south, rose by nearly ten degrees shortly after leaving St Augustine. \u00a0While I don’t know if it was just a different weather pattern over the last few days, we are now enjoying our first warm weather (that’s no heat required in the evenings and mornings and shorts during the day) in a long time. \u00a0 Over the last few months, we have chased the cooler weather and water temperatures south as we progressed along the way. \u00a0 Warmer is better as I will have to go for a swim today to deal with the prop as well as the shaft and prop zincs that need to be changed. \u00a0 I am also glad that the water is somewhat clearer, \u00a0I expect that the visibility is at least a few feet here, something that we haven’t seen since we entered the ICW. \u00a0Tough to handle zincs when you can’t see anything. It’s a good thing that I have the hookah dive compressor as it will take me plenty of time to get all of this done.<\/p>\n

Setting aside the drudgery of yesterday’s run, the last few days have been great fun. \u00a0In particular, we have watched the scenery change from miles of marsh to a mix of wetlands and residential development. \u00a0 While it may have happened sooner than I realized, we have now entered an area of mangrove<\/a>\u00a0instead of the grasslands that were dominant further north.\"\"<\/a>This was a nice looking lighthouse that we passed on our way past the Ponce De Leon inlet, just south of\u00a0Daytona beach.\u00a0\"\"<\/a> There are plenty of bridges in Florida and the further south we get the more there are. \u00a0Within about one mile in South Smyrna we passed five bridges. \u00a0To give this some context, in all of Georgia we only went under five.<\/p>\n

As we looked behind us, three. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>In front, two more. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>Love the mosaic work that was on every piling of this bridge. Perhaps it was a plastic stick-on, but I couldn’t get that close to see for sure. \u00a0My vote is for something more durable.\u00a0\u00a0 This sort of ornamentation wouldn’t hold up well in the north.\u00a0The attention to detail certainly\u00a0demonstrates\u00a0how important the water economy is here in Florida. \u00a0“If you like this bridge, you’ll love our city. \u00a0Stop and spend money!” \u00a0I stopped but didn’t get off of Pandora to spend a dime. \u00a0Sorry.\"\"<\/a>We are also in manatee<\/a> country but have not yet seen one yet. \u00a0Given the fact that these gentle creatures don’t swim very fast, it’s amazing that there are any left given the massive amount of boat traffic where they live. \u00a0 I am told that nearly all of them have nasty scars on their backs from the props of passing boats. \u00a0 Very sad.<\/p>\n

On a lighter note, we had our first dose of Christmas boat parade when we were anchored in New Smyrna. \u00a0 As we headed toward our destination we passed this boat with a full, and well amplified, band on board. \u00a0That and the pirate motif are certainly writing home about, and that’s what I will do. \u00a0Or, at least I’ll include photos. \u00a0 Pretty funny.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>I wonder if they had life jackets for all on board? \u00a0I am trying to imagine how a Coast Guard boarding would go with this group. \u00a0“Matey, have yee flotation devices for your crew and wenches?” \u00a0 So, any votes as to who is the captain? \u00a0My vote is for the grumpy guy on the left. \u00a0Behind him, head wench? \u00a0Well, at least happiest wench.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>This vessel had everything a pirate could want, even a trusty teddy bear.<\/p>\n

We anchored south of New Smyrna and had dinner in the cockpit with some friends, Ginny and Ted off of Firecracker, a sistership to Pandora. \u00a0They too are on their first run to the Bahamas.<\/p>\n

As the evening progressed, we were passed by boat after boat heading to the start of the parade. \u00a0This one, unlit was just a hint as to the extent of the decorations.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Later, after dark, all the boats passed us again, ablaze with lights. \u00a0And, all this in the company of the Coast Guard, complete with flashing blue lights and a good attempt to show that they too knew how to “deck the hulls”. \u00a0I guess this is the one time of year when the rules of the road for vessel lighting are suspended. \u00a0 It was too dark to get a good photos as the boats paraded by but this will give you a feel for what it looked like. \u00a0Well, this is what Santa and Rudolf would have looked like if you had enough to drink, which we did.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>What was this? \u00a0Don’t know, but it was blue. If I recall, the little brown guy on top was Snoopy.
\n\"\"<\/a>Yes, this was a sport fisherman, complete with outriggers.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>It was a great show for sure. \u00a0I am beginning to get used to this palm tree Christmas thing. \u00a0 Yes, it’s looking pretty good. \u00a0And no Dorothy, we aren’t in Kansas any more. \u00a0That’s for sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Monday morning and the sun isn’t yet up here in Cocoa. \u00a0Having said that, I expect that today, like the last few days, will begin with an absolutely\u00a0wonderful sunrise. \u00a0I have to take sunrise photos as it is the only way that Brenda can enjoy them. \u00a0 She has often said that her natural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1308"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1324,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions\/1324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}