Cherish Travels
7-21 April 2009
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| Date | Location |
Log and Pictures |
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| 7 April 2009 | Getting it together |
Pictured at right is the boat we'll be moving to Colonial Beach, a 1970 Burger just purchased by our friend Bill Bowman. Barny Barnhill and I will help him move it from Ft Lauderdale to Colonial Beach, VA starting 14 April 2009 |
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| 14 April 2009 | Ft Lauderdale, FL | Bill, Phil and Barny arrived in Ft Lauderdale
near the same time; Barny from Arizona and Bill and Phil from Virginia.
We headed for the boat Cherish. Immediately Bill and Barny checked out
the boat on the blocks.
The yard was making amazing progress; bottom cleaned and sanded with primer coat applied, fuel tanks cleaned, shafts removed and cutlass bearings replaced, small area of hull replacement prepped and ready for completion. An amazing amount of work in one day. We loaded stores Bill had sent down via UPS. Bill put the Westmoreland Yacht Club burgee on the bow and we all toasted our first drink of wine celebrating the start of the cruise. Tomorrow we'll provision the boat and hope as much work gets done as was completed today. If so, we'll make it underway by Friday morning. We found a nice Italian restaurant called 3's Company and had a great meal. We are now in a Comfort Suites Motel with two double beds and one roll away ... Bill and Barny already sound asleep ... getting ready for day two of the adventure. |
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| 15 April 2009 | Ft Lauderdale, FL | Busy day as yard continued work on boat. Hull work complete. Bottom painted. New cutlass bearings installed yesterday and today the shafts were put back together. Clean fuel now back inside the cleaned tanks. Bill got the dinghy air bags pumped up. Barny and Phil got us connected to direct TV with the Satellite tracking system. Several components inop in the entertainment system so it required a bit of trial and error. We worked on the inop trim tabs and got them moving a bit; still more to do. Big jobs tomorrow include putting new steering system on dinghy, finishing work on trim tabs and getting final stores onboard for the trip north. We found a good restaurant for baby back ribs and Jambalaya. Below pictures show the newly painted hull, one of the very large stabilizer fins and Cherish sitting next to another Burger, a 64 footer, that was moved onto the hard today. | |
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| 16 April 2009 | Ft Lauderdale, FL | Early morning as we checked out of the hotel and went to the yard. Busy day. Barny shopped for food for the trip. I did the driving. Bill stayed aboard and handled 100 items as the boat work finished up. The yard put Cherish in the water at 11 am. We found that the steering cable replacement on the dinghy was going to be a real problem as the cable was frozen in the sleeve. We hoped to fix today but it did not happen, even with hard work. Tomorrow we'll work that and the yard will start the engines and prove their work is complete. We all are truly amazed at the professionalism of the crew at this place. Cortes and Doris the last two crew members arrived and we picked them up at the airport. They are aboard and we're now headed out for dinner. Cross your fingers that we'll get the dinghy cable replaced and be underway by tomorrow noon. | |
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| 17 April 2009 | Ft Lauderdale, FL | Busy day again. The yard started all boat engines and all was good. The keep the crew happy Bill had a new AC system installed in the forward area of the boat, as the current one was not operating correctly. We went again to the shops to finalize stores onload. Barny checked the galley and fixed lunch. All systems ok there, even the dish washer. Barny measured the air clearance so we know we can go under any bridge at least 27' high; anything shorter and they must open. Everyone was busy and it looks like underway tomorrow morning. As we worked, the yard tried to gain control of a boat that lost engines and was trying to get into the haul out slip. Note how close it came to the flag flying on the back of Cherish. The yards major effort was trying to get a new steering system on the dinghy. They did that, but we later learned that the engine needs more work before it will be a working dinghy. We loaded the dinghy on board and practiced dropping the anchor. Bill was very pleased with the yard and has become fast friends with the owner, Craig. Craig played a little game with Bill, bringing a crying towel with him when he brought the bill for the work. In all seriousness Bill was pleased with the fair and honest price for the work performed. | |
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| 18 April 2009 | Palm Beach, Fl | Underway at 1030 for a 5 hour 30 mile trip north to Palm Beach. Pleasant day with boat running great, except for some minor problems with the VHF radios. Bill started by making final checks and giving us our assignments. The crew was ready, except Barny forgot his coffee cup. Bill drove us expertly out of the Marina and up the waterway. Cortese helped by washing the dirty windows so Bill could see. Barny drove a bit as well as fixed the lunch and planned our dinner on board tonight. Phil and Barny kept track of the bridges and Doris took care of the log. We all had our jobs and it was a relaxing trip. The last pictures below show the mass of boats that pass by at every bridge opening and a very special "car on the water" boat that drew a lot of attention. We're going to eat aboard tonight and work on the VHF radios to fix that problem, then leave in the morning for another day on the water. | |
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| 19 April 2009 | Ft Pierce, Fl | Underway at 0700 we made 73 miles to Ft Pierce arriving at 4:30pm. A glass of wine at arrival was the precursor to a trip to the Tiki bar at the marina where we had drinks (gombay smash) and some food. A good evening. We started the day with the crew on the bow receiving our directions from Bill. Barny fixed breakfast and lunch, Cortes manned the navigation table and Doris and I drove a bit. We had time for Cortes and Doris to read the Saturday papers that Barny picked up at the store. Sunday papers had not arrived before we left. Doris also had time to relax and enjoy the ride. It was a long day but a good one. We are trying to make St Augustine on the 21st so we can have one night there before we must proceed. They are closing the bridge of Lions at St Augustine on the 23rd for 4 days. If we don't make it we will have to wait until the 26th to go further. The outside travel is precluded because the winds have whipped the Atlantic to 6 foot seas, not a reasonable choice in our travels. Cortes walked across the harbor and got a good picture of Cherish moored at the fuel dock at Fort Pierce. | |
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| 20 April 2009 | Titusville, FL | Tried to get underway from Ft Pierce early, but port engine would not start. Bill had to use emergency shut down last evening as engine would not stop normally. This morning we found that we had to manually reset the shut down device; however, it took a phone call and an hour to determine the fix. Lesson learned and we were underway at 7:30am. This evening the port engine shut down normally so the problem was a fluke. Bill is a bit more relaxed as you note from the underway picture with no one at the helm. "Bob" the autopilot is driving. Actually, that was a simulation, and Cortes stepped up to the helm as soon as I took the picture. In the pictures you note that Cortes had to be sent to the "manatee" watch after driving, to relax a bit. Barny spent a while relaxing in the pilot house in between making lunch and dinner. Our dinner was chicken saltimbocca, with fries and mixed vegetables; a great meal. We planned a stop at Titusville marina but got stopped for an hour the other side of a broken bridge. It was finally fixed at 6 pm and we moved just outside of Titusville and anchored. No use going into a marina so late when the anchorage area was safe. While waiting for the bridge to be fixed Bill and Barny studied the charts. In the final picture, you see us studying the anchor. We made it work and are now safely anchored off Titusville. We'll be underway early headed for St Augustine, FL. Current plans call for a stop in Charleston, SC on the 26th and Georgetown, SC on the 27th. | |
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| 21 April 2009 | Palm Coast, FL | We were underway by 6:45 am, at first light. The anchorage at Titusville was a great stop and the anchor is working great. We started the day heading for St Augustine. Bill decided he wanted to do a few maintenance items, so we changed plans and made reservations at Palm Coast Marina, 25 miles south of St Augustine. The travel day was quiet and comfortable. Doris really enjoyed the fresh air as she snoozed on the after deck sofa. We enjoyed the views of the waterway and thought about the sunset last evening. We arrived at Palm coast at 3:30 pm, fueled, had the traditional glass of wine and were working hard on the maintenance items by 4:30. We fixed a broken autopilot, got the windshield wipers working, traced the bilge pumps, and did a load of laundry. Doris was ready for bed early. The rest of us took Barny to dinner to thank him for being the chief chef and bottle washer on the trip. We ate at Barbara Jean's restaurant and had great meals; meat loaf, chicken fried steak, and pot roast. Barny has fed 3 meals a day underway. A great guy! We found out that another bridge is being fixed so we must make 60 miles tomorrow by 1 pm to pass through a bridge area that will close at that time. We'll be up early again and at St Augustine decide whether we must go outside on the Atlantic to go around the bridge closing or continue the ICW. We are enjoying the ICW so hope we can continue that path. Our overall plan includes making Georgetown, SC by 26 April and Norfolk, VA by 1 May. | |
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