Juno 423: Savannah to Miami

Our plane did make it to Savannah GA as planned on Monday, January 7. That was the only on-time event for a while. The boat yard was late completing work for us so when we arrived, the boat was still on land. Thanks to Sarah's brother Chris who manages a hotel in Savannah, we stayed our first few nights in a hotel while the boat yard completed their work. Juno was finally launched Jan. 10th, and we spent the next two days putting her sails on and prepping for our departure from Savannah Sunday Jan. 13th. However, a few hours after leaving the coast of Georgia, we noticed that the propeller did not sound right. It was one of the items the boatyard had supposedly "taken care of" over the holiday layover. So, we turned back to Savannah and had to haul the boat out to inspect the propeller and after some discussion, Harry realized the boatyard had installed the propeller incorrectly. No worries, the yard with Harry's close oversight, fixed it and Juno was relaunched and now we
were ready to get the trip started, or so we thought. However, a final check of the radar (not working) an dinghy engine (not working) revealed we had yet a few other problems to be fixed before we could leave. Thank goodness for Ebay and a loaner car at the boatyard which came in handy to retrieve a new (used) replacement radar and only a 4 hr drive from Savannah. There were a few more fits and starts but finally we had everything working and we left Savannah Monday January 21 down the ICW.

The ICW, Intracostal Waterway, is a series of canals, rivers, and bays that run from New Jersey, to Florida, and along the Gulf coast to Texas. When the wind is against us, non-existent, or just plain nasty, it is a way to make progress south without going outside on the ocean. As during our trip in October we used the ICW and outside ocean passages to keep moving.

A big milestone was making it Florida on 1/23. This felt like a great accomplishment after so many false starts. Once in Florida we spent three days visiting our friend Dick Tillman on Merritt Island. We were able to anchor Juno in his "backyard" that is on the Banana River. He graciously lent us his car for an excursion to Disney's Animal Kingdom as well as running some errands for parts at West Marine and the grocery.

After leaving Merritt we took the ICW down to Jupiter where we had lunch with the father of one of Sarah's childhood friends. One of the challenges along the ICW, especially in Florida are all of the bridges. The bridges are either a fixed or a drawbridge type. The fixed bridges along the ICW generally have 65' of clearance and Juno only requires 56'. The drawbridges either open on a schedule, typically on the hour and half-hour, or they open on demand.

We had one more equipment delay. Remember that propeller problem back in Savannah? Well, it was starting to sound not so good again. We called around and found a boatyard that was part of the same company as in Savannah. Unfortunately we were a half day beyond it already. The advantage of using this yard though was that they would take us right away. At others, we were looking at a week or more before they would have time to look at the problem. So we backtracked and once more Juno was hauled out. The yard agreed that the sounds we were hearing were not normal, but that they also thought that we could continue without a problem and get it serviced in July when we get back to Massachusetts. Despite this taking two days out of our trip, it was reassuring to have experts confirm that we were good to go.

Now back on the move, we encountered a third type of bridge not previously considered. That is a drawbridge that is broken and cannot open, turning it into a fixed bridge with only 30' of clearance. In the end it didn't hurt us too badly. We simply went outside to the ocean, after a small backtrack. For that leg we had an overnight sail to Miami. During an overnight passage in the ocean, we take turns keeping watch and adjusting the sails. Meanwhile the other attempts to get some sleep. If we each get four hours overnight we are doing pretty well.

In the 19 hrs that we were in Miami/Coconut Grove Feb 4, we dropped in on Snipe sailing friends that were finishing a regatta at Coconut Grove Sailing Club just in time for their award ceremony. It was fun to see some familiar faces including Jim Bowers and Julia Marsh - the former of whom lives about 1/4 mile from us in Winchester! Although we didn't get to compete in the regatta ourselves because of our earlier delays, we made a last trip to West Marine, enjoyed a nice dinner off the boat in a Coconut Grove while watching Tom Brady and the Patriots win another Super Bowl then it was time to prep the boat for our 3AM departure and get a few hours of sleep.