Running the Coast Again: Retiring to the ICW

The trip from Hingham to Fort Lauderdale was actually great fun.  Diana drove me 20 minutes from Hingham to Hull to catch the 8:40 AM ferry to Boston.  35 minutes later, after a brief stop at Long Wharf, the ferry dropped me off at Logan Airport.  Ten minutes later, a shuttle bus arrived and deposited me at the Jet Blue terminal.  The flight took off on time and landed early.  Jet Blue has their act together or maybe it was just my lucky day.

Ferry to Boston and Logan Airport

The old Coast Guard Station at Pemberton Point
Hull Gut and Peddocks Island in the background

Boston Harbor looking toward Fan Pier

Water taxi waiting to take people to Boston

Hull holds memories for me as it was here that I spent my summers from 1948 (age 5) to 1963 (age 20).  The ride to Pemberton Point spans all of Hull. I had free run of their from the time I was 8 years old.  Just driving through causes me to talk about people and events from long ago.  Note the photo of the Henry J parked at the ferry.  Not in great shape but a car I would have seen as a kid.

Henry J automobile - a rare sight
Built from 1950 to 1954

I called Pam right after arriving at the gate and she arrived at the airport before I had picked up my checked bag.  Unbelievable!

By 4:00 PM, I was on the boat with HMY Yachts representatives Tim and Kim.  Tim helped me understand the new Garmin 8215 Glass Screen and Kim walked me through a thorough engine room check using the 63's Engine Room Checklist.  I also met Pam's friend Cherry who was accompanying us to Charleston.

Explanatory Note: Garmin builds a great product.  However, it is hard to understand why their engineers change the look and feel.  All the stuff is still the same but the top screens are all reorganized.  Marketers must feel they need to have new bells and whistles.  Whatever.  I was thinking about replacing my two pilothouse 7215s with three 8215s, which probably would have cost $30,000.  Not going to happen.  Having two different user interfaces, one at the pilothouse and the other on the flybridge, does not make sense.  So, if I decide to add a third screen it will definitely be another 7215.  Why three screen in the pilothouse you ask?  Easy answer.  Running at night requires chartplotter/AIS, radar and night vision.  Having each on a separate screen simplifies thing and makes the images that much easier to interpret.

Explanatory Note: Why was I doing an engine room check on a friend's boat?  Well, that's easy also. If I'm going out on the open ocean I want to know that everything is working properly. Additionally, I wanted to give Pam the benefit of my very thorough checklist.  I brought my computer to the engine room and working with Kim adapted the checklist for the 54.

Needless to say, Thursday evening was very busy.  I managed to fit in a slice of pizza at Whole Foods while we were provisioning.  Not a great dinner.

Friday: Dania Beach to Fort Pierce

Pam, Cherry and I departed Harbor Town Marina in Dania Beach (just south of Port Everglades) at 6:55 AM and headed for the Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) Inlet.  By 7:25 AM we were out on the Atlantic Ocean. The waves were 2 to 3 at the start of the trip, which appeared on the surface to be better than forecasted.  I say "on the surface" as we had departed early.  Winds, and therefore waves, tend to build as the day progresses and the earth's surface heats up.

Leaving Port Everglades

This proved to be the case and by noon we were in 3 to 5s with an occasional 6.  The stabilized Grand Banks handled the quartering seas off the starboard bow fairly well. However, my fellow travelers not being accustomed to coastal seas were a bit uncomfortable.  Hence, at 11:55 AM we turned into Lake Worth Inlet and proceeded north on the ICW.

The ICW on the stretch between Palm Beach and Fort Pierce is easy well marked water.  The only "obstacles" are 5 low bridges (below the 54's 27 foot air draft) and numerous no wake zones.  Opting for the ICW added about 90 minutes.  Not a bad trade-off for calm water.  The afternoon was spent running the boat from the flybridge.

We arrived at Harbotown Marina at 6:25 PM.  By 7:30 the boat was fueled and "desalted."  Dinner at Harbor Cove was delightful.  Readers will recall that Diana and I were here three weeks ago for 10 days prior to the "wild" trip north..

Sea Rose at Harbortown

Post Script.  Readers know that I have been struggling with the 63's fuel on board and fuel used.  The combination of engine monitors giving overly optimistic fuel flow numbers and two systems (site gauges and tank tender) to measure fuel on board that give erroneous readings have given me fits. So, I was curious to see how Grand Bank's SINGLE fuel measurement system compared.  I was blown away.  The 54's system said we would need to add 217 to port and 240 gallons to starboard.  Actual fuel added was 214 to port and 240 to starboard.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!  DEAD ON THE MONEY! WOW!!!

Attention Outer Reef: Read the above and tell me why I'm having to struggle.  Note: Outer Reef and Caterpillar have worked with me to cure the fuel flow problem and we have made some progress.

Written by Les.