Heading towards Stuart again

Although we felt confident with handling and sailing the boat, we decided not to go further south towards Ft. Lauderdale. There are simply too many bridges to clear on the inside. To go on the outside did not appeal to us, because of the still a bit rough ocean conditions. So we decided to head back north. Maybe we will stay another night at anchor near Stuart or Ft. Pierce, or heading in to the yacht yard right away. Lets see on how we are doing time wise, and how well we will pass the shoals near the St. Lucie Inlet State Park and at Cross Roads. Unfortunately, the tides were not in our favor again. Low tide at Cross Roads were predicted for 2 pm. About the estimated time of arrival in that area.

We timed the start of our day according the opening schedule of the first bridge, we had to pass on our way to Stuart. If you are northbound on the ICW, starting in Lake Worth, you will need to jump in to the cycle of the bridge openings right away. The opening times are laid out so, that one can straight go from one to next next opening just in time, as long as you can travel with at least 6 knots over ground.

It is Sunday and already in the morning hours, you find lots of boaters and water sports enthusiasts on their way on, and along the shores of the ICW.

For the first time we even saw an approximately 40 ft sailboat on the ICW, with all their sails fully raised! We felt much more confident to go with the iron wind from below deck ;-)

Traveling on the ICW in this area is fantastic. You can see the celebrities million dollar homes, and within a blink of an eye, you find yourself in a beautiful peace of nature, with nesting eagles, lots of wild life in, and along the water way. We even had a couple encounters with dolphins. Still after many encounters we've already had, again it is a very special moment, when seeing these special mamals.

Of course, we did not miss the picturesque Jupiter Light House right next to the Jupiter Inlet.

I decided to try to go more towards the green markers at the State Park and towards the red marks at Cross Roads. This proved to be a much better way to pass these shoals. We still touched the sand at Cross Roads and the depth sounder showed scary digits at the State Park, but we actually never came to a full stop. It was 2.30 pm when we entered the Manatee Pocket and approached the gas station for a pump out. Like on many other previous occasions, the marina's pump out installation did not work. And we left the fuel dock again.

We approached the home dock and found that we could pull in long side at the T-dock. An easy maneuver at the end of our three days excursion. Perfect!

Sailing

The night was quiet. The wind blew with 10 to 16 knots from the SE. But there were almost no waves  building up at the anchorage. The anchor held just perfect, almost to good. It took us three approaches to break it free.

At around 9.00 am, we were back on the ICW again, heading for the Lake Worth Inlet. We finally wanted to set sails on that day and getting used to the boat. After 45 minutes, we reached the inlet. Again the tide did not work for us. The outgoing tide and the SE wind caused steep and short waves for about 500 yards from the end of the jetty in to the ocean. The waves got up to 5-6 feet. It was a rough ride and even some of the locked drawers down below opened up and started to spread their contend.

We never felt really uncomfortable. The boat is handling well and manages the waves with no problem. We only had to get a firm grip on the boat. Once we were out on the ocean, the conditions did improve a bit. But there were still short waves of about 4 to 5 feet. We started to set sails and once all sails were set, we felt like the ride got noticeable smoother. This is generally the case, when sailing. The boat is much more stable under sails rather than under power. The wind remained breezy. We never saw less than 15 knots and got up to 19 knots. I had the engine on in neutral all the time. This was just a precautionary measurement. If there would be still something wrong with the fuel, I would notice it well before I would rely on the engine power. All went well. The engine ran just fine.

It was nice to see that everything worked fine. The new electronics worked fine and the new autopilot did a fantastic job!

After almost 3 hours of sailing, we decided to return to the anchorage, heigh we knew from last night.  
When I tried to steer in to the wind to lower the mainsail, I noticed a strong vibration, when accelerating the RPM on the engine. And even with 2600 RPM, we only got 1.8 knots speed out of it. What the heck was wrong? We managed to push against the wind and waves and lower the main sail. With an ingoing tide, the push from the was helped us to pass the entrance of the inlet. But we still did not manage to go faster than 2.5 knots, even when accepting the frightening rattle from the engine when revolving between 2500 and 3000 RPMs. I tried to decouple the gear. All of a sudden, the vibrations were gone and the engine ran smooth like ever before, even at 3500 RPMs! What the heck again? Is there something wrong with the propeller? Did a half of the zinc got of and causing the vibrations?

Once we passed the inlet and reached the turning basin, I stopped and tied to figure out, what could cause the vibrations. Just out of curiosity, I got in reverse and gave it a push. Not as strong vibrations in reverse - and getting less! Back in forward, the vibrations were gone! Then I looked back and saw seagrass floating in the back of Tranquilizer.

Obviously, we caught seagrass when sailing. With the engine on and in neutral, the propeller did not move. That might have caused the seagrass to be caught.

Glad the problem was resolved, we got back to our anchorage and sat anchor again. Shortly after, a powerboat approached us. The captain had a camera and took pictures from the boat. Finally I recognized him - He was the previous owner of Tranquilizer. He turned 82 and lives near by the anchorage in a condo in North Palm Beach. So we invited him to come aboard. He was so happy to see the boat again and he was impressed by the improvements we made.

Later we enjoyed the beautiful evening with some good food, swimming and chatting with our friends back in Europe. It was a fantastic day sailing on the ocean and we learned a lot about the boat and about dealing with problems at sea. We gained a lot of confidence in the boat and our capabilities to sail her.

Sailing off Juno Beach

The new dodger provides shade and still a very good visibility

Deep blue waters only about a mile off the coast

Back at the anchorage

On our own

Finally, we got back from our getaway to the Keys and the Bahamas. It was a wonderful time. And now, the next adventure awaited us. The boat now had a clean tank and we were ready to go.

We moved aboard Tranquilizer again on Thursday 06/11. We wanted to leave the dock on Friday morning early. The weather was fantastic. But the temperatures were in the 90s during day time and it did not cool down much over nights. Knowing that we would not use the generator to run the AC at night, I decided to try to sleep at the dock, without running the AC from the shore power either. Well, let put it this way, we were brave and did not get much sleep because of the heat...

Nevertheless, we were ready to go on the Friday morning. e left the dock at 8.30 am, a little later than planned. The first stop was the near by gas station to top up the fuel cans, stored on deck. A pump out was due as well. At about 9.15 am, we headed south on the ICW. Unfortunately, low tide was just around 8.30 am, and Cross Roads was difficult to pass. With our 5 foot draw, and steering well in the marked channel, we had to fight with a soft grounding. Some wakes of fishing boats helped us, to break loose again. It was not bad at all, but certainly not the thing you are looking for, when you have just started your cruise minutes ago.

We followed the ICW and had to deal with another soft grounding near at St. Lucie Inlet State Park. Again well in the marked channel, we touched ground. This time, no big fishing boats were in sight, letting us hope for some wake to wiggle the boat off the sand bar. So we had to help our self with the engine a bit. Again not bad, but a bit annoying.

After a while, we had to time our way through the 6 bridges, which we had to ask for an opening, until we could reach our first stop in Lake Worth. If you time your trip well and adjust the speed according the opening schedule of the bridges, it is an easy thing. The only thing which can put you in trouble is the current in the sometimes narrow channel (at least for a 41 foot boat, with a 5 foot draft), when waiting in front of a bridge for the next opening. Crossing other boats at the bridge with a 63 foot mast height can be an issue as well, especially, when the bridge operator decides, not to open the sigle span of the bridge completely... It is so hard to judge your clearance when looking at the mast top, while approaching a bridge. We always take a close look at the water level board at the bridges. This helps to get the confidence, that your mast will not hit the bridge.

Some 5 hours after we left the Manatee Pocket, we arrived at our anchorage in Lake Worth. We picked our spot while sounding the area a bit. There is plenty of water and we anchored in 12 feet of water. Even on a Friday, there were almost none party boaters around and we had a quiet place, surrounded by some other sailboats on their way to somewhere.

The scenery in North Palm Beach

Getting a refreshment

Away

Because of the issue with the diesel tank, we had to adapt our itinerary for this holiday. Instead of leaving the dock in the first week on our own boat and heading south, we had to get the fuel issue fixed first. So we decided, not to wait until this would happen. Diving in Key Largo and a trip to Bimini Island, Bahamas were on the list as well.

We moved off the boat on Wednesday, went on the beach and booked our trips to Key Largo and Bimini in the evening. We had a wonderful time in the Keys. The weather was just perfect and the underwater nature offered many fantastic experiences.

A ship wreck

Christ of the Abyss

A hungry fellow

One of many beautiful sunsets

After four days in Key Largo, we had to check-in for the trip to Bimini at the Cruise Ship Terminal in Miami, on Monday morning. It was really an easy thing. The parking was located just next to the ship, checking in took less than 10 minutes. Shortly after 9.00 am, we were all set and entered our cabin on the vessel. Not luxury but it offered all we were looking for. It was clean and comfy for the two of us. The crossing of the Gulfstream was smooth and roughly 3 hours later, we already could disembark the vessel and discover the small North Bimini Island. Also here, everything was well organized. A tram awaited us, to get us to the fantastic beach, with white powdery sand, which never gets hot under your feet and of course that amazing crystal clear water. After three beautiful days, the time on North Bimini Island was over and the ship headed back to Miami.

Leaving Miami through the Government Cut

The perfect beach at North Bimini Island

Crystal clear water

While driving up to our home base, I decided to buy a Honda 2000i Companion 110 V/AC generator. It is meant as a just in case back-up for Tranquilizer. I can connect the shore cable directly to the generator. It has enough power (I did test this!), to run one of the AC aboard, whiteout even installing a start help, which would reduce the amp draw, when the AC's compressor sets in.

A clean tank is a prerequisit

Later in 2014, I decided to build a fuel polish system and did cycle the fuel for a couple of hours through the fuel filter. I removed the fill hose and reached in the tank by using a copper tube. After three hours, the filter still was in a perfect condition. I was happy, because the state of the fuel filter made me believe, that the tank should be fairly clean inside. But I was still unsure, whether the tank and the fuel inside were really clean. Whenever we returned from a daysail, I found some black and brownish stuff in the filter bowl.

During the preparation for the planned cruise in June 2015, I thought, that I would give it another try with the fuel polishing, just in case... But this time, I did remove the tank sensor and entered the tank just next to the pick up line. Everything seemed to be fine, until the copper tube touched the bottom of the tank.

The filter turned BLACK! Once the bowl cleared up a little bit, some quite sizeable flaky stuff became visible. Shortly after reaching the bottom of the tank, the whole filter was full of this flaky something and clogged up badly.

The clogged fuel filter

That was the moment, when I decided not to leave the dock anymore, before the thank got cleaned thoroughly. I called in a professional fuel polishing company to complete this job.

Two days later the fuel polishing company came to the dock. They basically did the same thing I did. They accessed the tank through the sensor opening. But they have a lance to evacuate the fuel and run it through the filter, and on the other side they have a lance, injecting cleaned fuel under pressure. This makes the big difference to what I could do. The pressurized washingwith clean diesel fuel removes dirt, algae and what ever found it's way in to the tank.

It took them about 90 minutes to clean the entire tank. Even with their large filters, their system got clogged up after a few minutes. They had to change the filter three times unless they could finish up the job. Another benefit is, that all water and bad fuel, algae etc. got evacuated.

I could take a look at the amounth of algae which has been pulled out of the tank. It was almost a full bucket of algae and dirt - really scary!

The fuel polishing company provides a three year warranty for their job. If I add clean and ethanol free fuel and treat it with additives, in the near future no growth should occur.

I'm happy that decided to have the tank cleaned. Now I feel very confident, to not suffering from a dying engine because of bad fuel and clogged filters.