Day 399
53 miles to Ft. Pierce
3,939 Loop miles
True North is back to her full crew! Hooray! Let the Looping begin again! Greg and Karen arrived back on the boat last Wednesday, May 2. The repaired radiator (heat exchanger) plates got installed on Thursday. An expected half-day job turned into an all day job for the mechanic because when all was done, Greg started the engines and fluid squirted out again! Baffled, the mechanic took every plate back out and re-installed. (a tedious process). He also checked the position of some valves. We tried the start up again and then took the boat out for a little run and all was good. Just in time to get cleaned up, grill chicken, and have an enjoyable dinner with Christine.
The plates
We were all itching to get on the move, so with iffy weather, we decided to "run on the inside", which is Looper or nautical lingo for traveling the intracoastal waterway (ICW) instead of outside in the ocean, which was our initial preference.
There are numerous bridges that span across the ICW and with our antennas up, we would have to wait for each one to open, normally on the hour and half hour. We lowered the antennas (this time at the dock, not out in Lake Michigan like we did at the start of our Loop), and were able to fit under every bridge between North Palm Beach and Ft. Pierce.
This bridge had to open for the sailboat in front of us
The other aspect of traveling inside is all the no or slow wake zones. So we can't take advantage of True North's ability to get up and run. But just like when we went 10 mph down the majority of the river system back in the fall of 2016, the crew found that not so bad. That speed enables us to take in the views. The housing along the intracoastal runs the gamut from several older, single story ranch homes to mansions to estates. There were lots of boats to look at docked in front of those mansions and estates, too. We were also glad to see spaces filled with trees and mangroves - land set aside for preservation.
Fellow travelers on the ICW
We are used to dolphins playing in our wake, but this was the first time for a paddleboarder
We left Old Port Cove Marina in North Palm Beach on Saturday at 8 am and were all tied at Ft. Pierce City Marina by 2pm. We bypassed the fuel dock and went right to our slip. Another advantage of traveling 10 mph. You have to be thankful for the little things . . .
We plan to leave Monday morning for Titusville.
Unique and Random Photo of the Day:
When we arrived at Old Port Cove Marina back on April 18, we were so concerned with figuring out the entrance to the marina, getting our lines and fenders set up, and looking for our assigned slip, that we missed this yacht at the end of one of the docks. We only noticed it when we took the boat out for a test run after the repairs. It is Tiger Woods' yacht Privacy, and its home marina is Old Port Cove.
And no, we never saw him!
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