November 27 - 30 We stayed at a town called Saint Augustine, Florida. If you get a chance visit the town. The town was founded by Ponce de Leon and has lots of spanish influence in its architecture.
December 1 Wow it is December already. We sailed past Cape Canaveral and was able to see NASA's launch pads and buildings for making rockets and spaceships. Impressive.
December 2 We motored to Vero Beach and picked up a mooring. Manx Cat was at Vero beach so the children were excited to play with their friend Jack again.
December 3 Picked up some diesel in Fort Pierce. Took at Photo of Pierce in Fort Pierce..just had to.
December 4 We motored north from the Forks into the St. Lucie canal on the Okeechobee Waterway (O.W.W.) We went through a lock which raised the water level 12 feet and then stopped at the Port Mayaca railroad bridge for the night. The bridge clearance is 49 ft high and our mast is 51.5 ft high. It doesn't take a genious to realize we dont fit under it. We have to tip the boat. We spent two hours trying to fill the skiff full of water and hang it off the main boom. I was exhausted, James was exhausted and frustrated so we decided to anchor and try tomorrow.
December 5 We awoke refreshed and applied our engineering skills to the problem. We moved everything heavy to the port side of the boat. Place the mizzen boom at 90 degrees to the boat and hung 15 gallons of water off it. Placed the main boom at 90 degrees and hung the skiff filled with water. We went for the opening slowly and crunch... my calculations were off by 0.5 inch the top of the the mast light scraped. So we backed off and I climbed out to the end of the boom hanging precariously over the water. We made it!!!. Sailed across lake Okeechobee.
December 6 We set out on a beautiful morning towards the west coast of Florida. We motored through many bridges and three locks. At the last lock my parents arrived in the viewing area to see us through. Unfortunately there was a little wind and with the distraction of parents, locking did not go so well. Basically we swung 360 through the lock with parents taking pictures and laughing. Joy.
December 7 We made it to Fort Myer and tied up to the Fort Myers Yacht Basin. We are renting a month here.
December 8-30 Went to Disney and had a lot of fun. I wouldn't recomend the Tower of Terror as your first ride there however. Spent Christmas with parents,
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