Eau Gallie to Titusville

Subtitled: Ran her aground two days in a row!

Eau Gallie (French for "water kitchen", I think) Yacht Center is tucked back in along a Eau Gallie river. When we came in (Sunday) our biggest issue were all the paddleboards and kayaks out on a lovely day. When we parked the boat, there was dredging equipment in the center of the river. 

We didn't get an early start on the day. Firstly, Russ made plans to have breakfast with an old HP buddy, Jishnu, who now lives in Melbourne. We ate at the Oh! Biscuit, which was a wonderful little place. Then we brought Jishnu to the boat for a tour, and hung out a while. 

Meanwhile, one of the little businesses at the marina is Karen's Canvas. And, of course, we still needed one. I wandered into her office asking if she had the time to make a pattern. I fully expected her to be booked (like every other canvas company we've dealt with), but she was happy to, except she couldn't get to use until 11:30 today. 

It wasn't until after noon that she stopped by, apologizing for her tardiness -- she failed to "Spring Ahead." She made the pattern and we headed out. Just as the winds came up and the clouds covered the skies.

That's Karen, of Karen's Canvas, making our bimini top

The dredgers, while off on the weekends, were now in full swing. The barge was down river and blocking some of the channel out. Russ, on my bow, told me to stay to the right, nearer the green channel marker, to give them room. At about the same time the fellas on the barge started waving their hands, indicating we needed to be closer to them, we bumped. And we stuck. I couldn't get her to move. Russ took over and jammed her into reverse, freeing us from the mud. We managed to slip by, a bit embarrassed, without incident the second time through.

Note to self: Next time HAIL the barge, and ask them where they want us. They are dredging, after all, so it makes sense it's deeper near them. Duh.

Once out on the ICW things went more smoothly. The winds, nearly 15 mph, came from the north, so we were heading into them. Which made the ride a little bumpy, but not as bad if we had to deal with them from the side. It did, however, slow our progress. We barely held 8 knots.

We called the Titusville marina to let them know we were indeed on our way given our late start. The guy on the phone sounded a bit flustered -- weather here is windy, we'll put you in a large slip so you can choose what side you want to dock on, and we'll have a couple of guys out there to help. All of that information put me in a mood for the rest of the journey, while visions of the Pink Shell and nearly running into someone's swank yacht filled my mind.

After turning westward and starting down the little channel to the marina we hailed them. They, again, warned us of the winds and gave us directions to our slip. It was against a wall, they said, and the wind is going to try to blow you into it. No pressure.

Armed with that, I kept Cat-n-Dogs on the north side, expecting the wind to blow me into the other side of the fairway. I crept up onto the slip, slowly making the turn while Russ threw a line to a dock worker. And missed. I slowed our approach further. Second time hit the mark, and they helped pull us in. But, really? None of this was hard at all!  Brought her up, full stop, engines off. Easy peasy.

Home for a couple of days, the Titusville Marina

Thus proving, once again, I just can't worry about a possible future and a bad outcome. When it was all done, coming in was way easier than going out.

'Nuff said.