After spending a great week there, we headed out of Stuart at 7:15 a.m..The winds were predicted to be 10-15 out of the SW so we decided to cruise down the inside today. After finding out there were 31 bridges facing us, we had taken down the outriggers yesterday afternoon and secured them on the bow. By doing this we would now only have to wait for 9 of those 31 bridges to open...a big timesaver (we are 35 ft tall with outriggers, 24 ft without). A couple of the bridge masters (as they like to be referred to as) even thanked us for making the effort.
There was a ight chop, and of course the winds were a bit stronger than predicted, 15-20 knots. But at least the weatherman got the direction right. We passed a couple of inlets and could see what the conditions were like on the outside......it was a good decision to run on the inside.
The day was.......(here it comes)...... beautiful on the water. We saw manatee's swimming along side the boat. Amazing what you can see when the water is so clear! The homes in this part of the Florida were amazing. The canals lined the ICW like streets (my kind of neighborhood!), and were filled with some of the most beautiful homes Ive ever seen, all trying to out do each other with swimming pools, statues and landscaping. Some had yachts that were bigger than their house!
The day was.......(here it comes)...... beautiful on the water. We saw manatee's swimming along side the boat. Amazing what you can see when the water is so clear! The homes in this part of the Florida were amazing. The canals lined the ICW like streets (my kind of neighborhood!), and were filled with some of the most beautiful homes Ive ever seen, all trying to out do each other with swimming pools, statues and landscaping. Some had yachts that were bigger than their house!
The only problem of the day occured when the captain needed to change out the GPS chart chip for the next leg of our journey. He inserted the chip into the radar/chart plotter and it wouldnt read the chip. He tried a couple more times, still no chart. This is not good. I went down below and hopped online to see what I could find out. The Navionic's website could only provide us with a toll free help line, so we gave them a call. Well this was a total waste of time in my opinion. The only "help" the help desk could offer was, if we first faxed them a copy of the purchase receipt and our contact information, then mailed them the defective chip, they would evaluate the chip and try and determine the problem. What!? I explained that we were currently on the boat, did not have access to a fax machine, and were cruising down the ICW and just needed help getting the (damn) chip to work! Okay, on to plan B. Chip was able to get the chip to work in his depth finder/chart plotter, which got us to our destination for the evening, and showed us that problem wasnt the chip, it was the chart plotter.
We pulled into the Sands Harbor Resort and Marina around 5:00 p.m., and after fueling up (at only $2.34/gal!!) we got settled into a slip for the night. We washed down the boat, showered and talked about what to do for dinner. But before anything else Chip was determined to figure out why his chart plotter decided to get an attitude and not work. I came out of the shower, got dressed and when I came up to the salon I found him sitting at the table with his chart plotter partially dissected, flashlight and magnifying glass in hand, curiously looking into the slot where the chip goes. Aha! He noticed a couple of the metal strips inside the slot were slightly bent, possibly preventing the plotter from reading the chip, so I handed him anything I could find that might help.....pointy steak knife, tweezers (hey, steak knife tips make great screwdrivers, so why not this?). He did alittle surgery (I felt like a nurse handing the doctor his tools....scapel (steak knife)....forceps (tweezers)......wiping his brow), and finally after two attempts, the chip went in and the plotter read it! Yeah! We were off to check in and have dinner.
This place was great, hotel, restaurant and a marina at only $1.50 per ft for dockage.
We pulled into the Sands Harbor Resort and Marina around 5:00 p.m., and after fueling up (at only $2.34/gal!!) we got settled into a slip for the night. We washed down the boat, showered and talked about what to do for dinner. But before anything else Chip was determined to figure out why his chart plotter decided to get an attitude and not work. I came out of the shower, got dressed and when I came up to the salon I found him sitting at the table with his chart plotter partially dissected, flashlight and magnifying glass in hand, curiously looking into the slot where the chip goes. Aha! He noticed a couple of the metal strips inside the slot were slightly bent, possibly preventing the plotter from reading the chip, so I handed him anything I could find that might help.....pointy steak knife, tweezers (hey, steak knife tips make great screwdrivers, so why not this?). He did alittle surgery (I felt like a nurse handing the doctor his tools....scapel (steak knife)....forceps (tweezers)......wiping his brow), and finally after two attempts, the chip went in and the plotter read it! Yeah! We were off to check in and have dinner.
This place was great, hotel, restaurant and a marina at only $1.50 per ft for dockage.
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