Day Eight-Continued-Titusville, Fla

The boat is in Titusville, Fla tonight at a small marina called Kennedy Point Marina.   Snug fit for sure.   We did have a small mishap when entering the slip.   We have been running with the outriggers in the lowered position for transiting the bridges and one of the small lines attached to the top blew over the outboard pile (25 kts of crosswind) and bent the top 5'of the outrigger.   I'm sure it can be repaired but I am distressed that it happened on my watch.   The boat itself is fine.  I will post a snapshot of the condition so Gloria will understand what is involved.

Outrigger that Caught on Out-most Piling

Back about 10 miles or so there was a huge forest fire burning away. Smoke was pluming up about 1000 feet at least.  There we helicopters over flying the area evidently dropping water onto the flames.   We are downwind of the fire and the soot and smoke is making its way down to us with the help of strong winds.  We will have to give the boat a good rinse before we leave in the morning in order to keep from tracking the soot into the interior of the boat.

It was a good decision to stay inside today as the winds were up to 25kts with gusts to 30kts.   Must have been really serious out in the Atlantic.  Nevertheless we covered about 120 miles which is good progress given all the bridges and slow traffic to pass.

Tomorrow the winds will be out of the northeast early blowing pretty hard.   I believe we will start out inside the "ditch".   As we pass the inlets we can can peek out and see if it is passable later in the day.   We will be in Stuart tomorrow at the Loggerhead Marina of Stuart.   Hopefully we will get to have a brief visit with family then.

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Although we can make much head way offshore and it's much less tedious than cruising down the ditch, I enjoy the scenery along the way in the ditch. I find it quite the learning experience traveling inland. First of all, I didn't realize how many people live along the ICW and how boating is not just a recreational activity for some but for many. Commercial traffic is also heavy. I grew up in the wild waters of Prince William Sound, Alaska. It never occurred to me that there was an inland nautical scene. Secondly, traveling through the ICW is a great learning experience. I desire to get my captain's license and traveling these waters can be pretty intense. Who knew? I thought, oh easy...but there are many things to constantly pay attention to such as dramatic depth variations, other vessels, navigation aids, bridges, locks, swift currents, weather, etc. All of these things we have to constantly be aware of. Today the sun beamed so brightly off the water, I found it difficult to discern between navigational aid and regulatory aids...making it trying to stay in the channel. A good captain has to juggle many things at once!

I'm not really sure where we are...I feel like we are in the middle of nowhere. It smells like a burning forest. However, I'm on the water, so I'm not far from home.

---Kelly Jo