GUY & JUDY Southbound '08 Guy & Judy Home Page Come along on our Southbound vacation. This is NOT a cruising adventure, but a vacation aboard our sailboat, s/v Island Time. We may get to Bahamas, but with only 10 days total time (Judy's vacation schedule), we will probably just hang out at different locales. s/v Island Time (Bahamas 2001) Planned departure date: Friday, May 23 2008. Keep in touch; I'll try to update the page every day or so. I'm updating via my old SONY laptop using my cheapo LG cell phone as a modem. Speeds vary but are as low as 105k and up to 416k. Wi-fi is available at some marinas but not at along the ICW. Who needs it anyway. AND some places charge a bunch. BOAT INFO With new bottom and old 3 blade (Huge) prop, we're making 7kts at 2800 rpm whilst towing the dink. It works best on a very short painter, just on the down slope of the bow wave. Of course, the 3 blade costs us a knot (at least) when sailing. When apparent wind get over 13-14kts, we ca still sail at 6.5-6.8 kts even towing. Fuel consumption is .8 gph or 8.75 MPG. With 26 in tank and 2 5 gal can, we're at a range of 320miles. Of course motorsailing makes the range much greater. Port side lazarette with Honda Generator, 2 5 gals of diesel, spare propane, tools, fittings and cleaners. This compartment is vented to the outside and has been caulked all around in the event of leak. It has been tested waterproof. I prefer this arrangement over lashing cans on deck. Of course, I can only get 2 -3 spare cans of diesel. Gas can for dink is lashed to stern as is small 2 gallon reserve tank for generator fuel. Dink motor is hung from Garelick O/B Bracket... easy to remove from dink with Garhauer crane. Dink is 9' 2"' AVON Ribbie (2002). With 9.9 Evinrude (1986) it'll go 20kts; great for exploring. For crossing to Bahamas, dink is hauled on foredeck with spare halyard and lashed down. Friday, 23 May Departed 1045 from Bouchelle... wx fair, pc,rain MP 845.5 (ICW STATUTE MILE POST) ---Anchored for the night at Cocoa MP 897 Beautiful night on the hook. Snubbed anchor chain. JR cookin up a storm. She loves to cook on the boat (and does so more than at home). Wind generator cranking 15-20 amps SATURDAY Departed Cocoa 0945 ---Docked at Eau Gallie Yacht Club (MP 914) @3:30 first night $00.00 Afternoon thunderstorms are great for napping. SUNDAY Eau Gallie YC Sunday brunch at Eau Gallie. Happy happy girl. Took the dink for a long exploration of residential canals here. Where does all the money come from??? Huge 8-10k foot home one after the other. MONDAY We departed Eau Gallie for Vero Beach. (MP 952) JR loves to drive the boat. Capt. Guy hates to eat on the run...right! Great day. 81 degrees, 15kts out of East; sailing all the way to Vero. "Win the lottery for me Guy..." one of the gazillion beautiful homes in and around Vero... this one at Wabasso. JR with glass of wine and NatGeo... she finally looks relaxed.   Settled down for night at Vero Beach Yacht Club. $00.00 for first night, $17.50 for additional nights. City bus stops here every hour and takes us all over. Vero Beach Muni Marina is popular cruising stop. Often there are over 100 cruisers moored here. Peacful sunset. TUESDAY We're gonna take the dink for some exploring around the back waters and canals. And we took the city bus to the beach for some shopping.   Look,the ocean. Of course, JR had to do some bidness on the cell phone. We took the dink to a seafood place for raw oysters, shrimp and a great jazz band. WEDNESDAY So, Vero is a great place to hang out. So we are. Moved from the Yacht Club ($17.50 per night) to a mooring ball for $12.12 a night. JR with a floattie and rum drink, wasting away the afternoon. BLT's for lunch whilst on a mooring ball...WOW! ME too THURSDAY Vero back to anchorage at Eau Gallie... motored all the way due to NNE wind. What's left of the old green dragon at Eau Gallie FRIDAY Sailed to Cocoa, fl all the way. Judy working on tan as we sail at 6.4kts towing dink All ashore... there are shops here! What, no bags yet? Island Time flying her colors. Captain Guy relaxing. Tomorrow (Saturday) we're heading to Titusville and will anchor only a few miles from the launch pad of the shuttle, scheduled for 5-ish pm.. I'm talking only a few miles. Can' wait. STS-124 Launch is set for May 31 at 5:02 p.m. EDT. goto www.nasa.gov for details SATURDAY Well, we sailed from Cocoa to Titusville at a leisurely 2-3 KTS. We left early due to bridge closures for the launch. We were able to anchor in Titusville close to the marina. The launch pad was only a few miles away. The pix below are at launch +5 and a few seconds later.  After that and a quiet dinner we settled in for the evening. Capt (er Chef) Guy making jambalaya and andouille ... yum yum. SUNDAY Well, no more pictures as we sailed back to New Smyrna at 4-5 kts. A good time was had by all. While we didn't get to Bahamas this time, we really enjoyed 10 days aboard. We anchored out most nights and were blessed with cool breezes all week. Didn't miss the A/C at all. Island Time worked as expected and it was completely stress less. Admiral Judy needed a break from her hectic schedule of late and just relaxed, drank, ate and napped. Since we docked a few times at yacht clubs, our docking fees were zero or in one case, 17.50 (plus electricity). Vero mooring balls are 12 night. Anchoring is free, Other than the great expense of maintaining a vessel, the trip was very low cost.   Guy