Once again our attempts at an easy voyage where hampered. We awoke with news of coastal fog. St. Augustine have 1-2 mi visibility, but it was unclear how it was at the entrance. Around 9 am we up anchored and headed out. Now, recall, that this is an inlet with breaking waves on either side, small buoys (no radar signature) and nothing on the chart to go by with the GPS. As we headed out we saw the first two reds to port, but as we headed out base the land we were not able to see the first green, which marked the southern shoal. It was pea-soup fog and without any way to navigate, we turned tail and headed back to town. We anchored for 45 min and tried it again, at which time the fog had lifted enough to see the buoys and make a safe passage out. Very light winds with a slight sea of 2-3 ft rollers.
It is a straight shot down to Cape Canaveral and then around the cape to St. Lucie (our original destination). At 4:30 am the captain, paranoid by the previous fuel problem, notices a very slight variation in engine sound. Getting up, he went to the engine room to check the filer bowls (they are clear so you can see how dirty the fuel is). The fuel was clean, but bubbles where coming up from the drain plug (any kind of bubble in the fuel will stall a diesel engine). After having Ginny stop the engine, he tightened the drain plug, only to learn after restarting the engine that the bubbles were even more and the engine wouldn't run at all!!
Once again, on the floor of the engine room, the captain cut the fuel line to the generator and rerouted it to the engine (the generator and engine use the same type of fuel filters, so they can be interchanged). After that the engine ran fine, except for small micro-bubbles in the bowls, apparently coming from the tank. The engine ran fine, but upon investigation the leaking filter bowl, a large break in the drain plug was seen - a new bowl would be needed.
Our original destination was St. Lucie, which is the inlet that allows boats to go to Lake Okeechobee and the western part of FL. There is one marine store there, however it was unclear where we could anchor. After a little research and a little googling on the iPhone, we learned that the town, Stuart, FL, was one of those leaders in anti-cruising legislation, prohibiting any typ eof live-aboard anchoring, i.e. you can't sleep aboard. You can, however, anchor your boat for 10 days if you stay in a hotel in their town!
We looked for other options and found that there was a marine store at Ft. Pierce (20 miles north of St. Lucie) and that it was 1 block from the water. Also the cruising books noted an anchorage right of the intercoastal waterway that isn't marked on the chart. We decided to go for it. The anchorage is right in front of a marina and about 10 ft. off the intercoastal waterway.
We lowered the dingy from the deck and reattached the motor. The fuel line was leaking to the engine (a constant problem due to a faulty quick connect that you can buy anymore). We went ashore and started to buy our parts. Tieing the dingy up became a problem since the marina wanted to charge $15. Turns out other cruisers in the anchorage used a fishing pier on the other side of the bridge. It is shallow and pelicans are everywhere!!!
During the dingy excursions the fuel problem became worse so the captain looked for some solutions, which involved buying some parts, trying them, trying them a different way, all with the same result - nothing worked. We had to wait one day for the new fuel filter bowls to come in and decided to install a valve system that would allow us to switch between fuel filters while the engines are running - so when your engine starts to go at the entrance to St. Mary's, you just switch to the clean filter. So now there are three projects: fuel bowl, fuel valves, and the outboard engine. We are not on our second day in Ft. Pierce and hoped to leave that evening. The outboard still didn't work and Roger suggested that we wait another day, since the weather seemed good through Sat. With the pressure off, the bowl was installed and the dingy examined. The captain took off the fuel pump (he had to learn where it was) and cleaned it - this entailed removing parts that probably aren't meant to be removed - your supposed to buy a new one. Still no solution. We called a marina in town and they said they might be able to look at it the next day, but no guarantees. After figuring out how long the row was going to be to the marina to deliver the outboard the Captain had the faint idea to make sure there wasn't a problem with the tank. He disconnected the hose and stuck it straight into the fuel - everything ran just fine!! Not sure where the problem was, but after tightening all of the tank fittings, some hidden leak was closed and everything ran great.
The final day (day 3) the fuel valve assembly was installed, we has lunch at the marina an fueled the boat and left for the Bahamas that evening....
All was not lost, as Fr. Pierce was a nice town on the waterway and we saw many Dolphins and Manatees. Good place to stop and do repairs.
Local wildlife at the fuel dock:
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