Fort Lauderdale to Jensen Beach

 Cruising with the HISC from Fort Lauderdale to Jensen Beach Florida

Ok, we're loaded up. Boat is prepped, Water tanks full, Fuel Full - Two more 5 gallons tanks ready to put onboard, 10 gallons of gasoline for the outboard and Generator, Fridges - both Full, Wine, Rum, Whisky, Meals for 5 days and more. Bedding, Towels, and more, all on the boat and stowed. New item- The Ice Maker is on board, but not plugged in, it makes Ice in 7 minutes so just plug it in when needed. We even stored our Tower of Bricks game for the Rendezvous on Saturday. The Navigation electronics are in place and tested. 

We both have our 'Bags' packed, toiletries too, Meds ready to pack first thing in the morning. Did we forget anything??? Of course but we won't find out until we need it.

Plan to leave the house at 05:45 to arrive at the dock at 06:15, close enough. We arrived at the dock at about 06:35.

That's a good start.

Unusually quickly,  we put the fuel cans on the stbd deck,opened all the through hulls and got the engine running.  I prepped the dock lines while Peggy prepped for leaving the dock. We were off the dock before 6:55. WooHoo

We had a minor issue en-route to Atlantic Bridge. Pegs thought we had picked up a bag on the prop but we were OK. Running the prop in reverse at highest rpmdid the trick. We did have some smoke coming out of the exhaust. But I put that down to unburnt fuel. It cleared by the time we arrived at the bridge.  Then easily on to 14th street bridge and around the corner to the HI Inlet.  Summer Wind arrived at the same time. Once out of the inlet we turned NE,  heading 3nm offshore for a pump out. That's when the 2nd issue appeared. We planned to do a pump out before arriving at Lake Worth. However,  gremlins snuck into the black water tank and into the Macerator pump.

I keep a spare onboard but did not relish replacing it with the tank half full. As I thought about it,  I noticed there was a slot on the end of the pump driveshaft. A few turns and try the pump again..... Another score for the day. 

It was an awkward sail, wind around 15° which caused us to take some long tacks and that before the forecasted pm storms.  Chris was about a mile ahead of us, gotta love AIS. We both agreed via #68 that it was best to motor the rest of the way to Lake Worth. I set an Auto Guidance route on our chart plotter and set the Autopilot on the bearing of the first leg. The Garmin will control the Raymarine AP, but not if the track is from auto Guidance.

It was a long, but uncomplicated run up to Lake Worth. 

I did splurge for this trip. Introducing my new Tilley Airflow Broard rim hat. It already has a story.

As we approached the lake Worth Inlet,  Peggy turned us into wind while I lowered the mainsail. Of course, my new Tilly hat decided to go for a swim. $87! Hat overboard !!! Peggy turned the boat hard to stbd while keeping the hat in sight. Great time to practice our MOB action. Pegs turned past the hat and headed back up to wind with the victim just off the stbd bow. The hat was easily reached with the boat hook and retrieved ,wet but no worse for wear.One of the features of the Tilleyhats is that they float. Cross that test off the list.

Chris, on Summer Wind, reached the mooring field a few minutes before us so we stayed out of his way as he picked up their mooring,then Peggy turned us towards our designated mooring and we caught it first time despite the fast flowing current.  We'll done Pegs ,good job at the helm.

A quick chat with Chris about the trip and the plan for the morning, then it was time for a break to cool down,  I heard a whiskey and ginger calling me and a glass of wine for Pegs. 

We ran the AC on battery for a couple of hours and we both had a hot shower,  the benefit of running the engine earlier.

Dinner was a meal Peggy had prepared at home, Shrimp Fetucini followed with Mango bread and some dark chocolate. 

As Luke on the sailing brothers YouTube channel says.... DELICIOUS. 

Chris and I texted about the lack of 'weather' tomorrow, Friday. Looks like we'll motor most of the way up to Port St Lucie. 

Time to clean up the galley and secure the boat for the expected rains this evening. 

Mango & Date Bread

Mango & Date Bread Recipe

Bread for our Memorial Day Cruise

A Sailing Buddy, Chris, has a Mango Tree that causes gentle thumps when the fruits fall in the grass, yes, he's in South Florida and has nice Grass even during the current drought. He offered some Mangos in exchange for my Mango Bread recipe. So here goes.

Takes about 20 minutes to prep for baking and then about 45 minutes at 350º F.

Ingredients:

• 300g APF ( All Purpose Flour )
• 8-12g of Ground Cinnamon ( it's not easy to get that right, so it's a rough amount )
• 12g of Baking Soda
• 5g of fine salt
• 50g of Granulated Sugar
• 100g of Agave - Note! Not the watery 'Ogranic' kind. I use the 'Organic' that only has Agave Nector and nothing else! It's a easy flow syrup.
• 2 Large Eggs
• 3/4 Cup of melted butter 
• 3 Cups of peeled and chopped Mangos - they should be nice and juicy.
• A decent splash of Lemon Juice, just a quick squirt.
• 300g of pitted and chopped Dates ( Raisins or Currents if you don't like Dates)

My Directions.

Mango & Date Bread

1. Start by melting the butter, I put it in the Microwave for 50 seconds high and then let it cool.
2. In a large bowl: Combing the APF, Cinnamon, Baking Soda, Salt and Sugar
3. In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, beat the eggs and melted butter.
4. Mix the egg & butter mixture with the flour mixture, just enough to pick up all of the flour.
5. Add the chopped mangos ( and that delicious juice )
6. Add the lemon juice and the dates ( or raisins / currents ) 
7. Stir it all to mix well but don't turn it into a lump of goodness knows what it looks like, make sure it's just enough so that you can still see the ingredients.
8. Prep the 2 bread pans, I use Avocado Spray, then scoop out the mixture into the two pans, that's about 600g to 650g in each pan.
9. Mush the mixture to level it out just a bit, don't make a brick.
10. Pop it into the oven and check it around 45 mins, I use my digital thermometer in place of a tooth pick to see if the inside is still sticky. If it is, then a few more minutes, normally they are good within the hour.
11. BE PATIENT !!! Let them cool for at least an hour - at least try! If you cut them thick, then they toast pretty good but that's only if there is any left by breakfast time.

Hope you guys enjoy this one.

Total time about 1hour + and then an hour to cool, then don't blink, you'll just see everyone licking their lips.

Making Ice on Eximius

 We can make ICE on Eximius

At the end of a long day sailing, after push in the morning to get the boat underway, working the lines all day to get the most out of the winds towards where we want to be and then the last effort to get the boat secured - By Lines ashore, Anchor or a Mooring. At the end of that day - that's when a glass of wine or a shot of pussers rum poured over ice really hits the spot. We normally carry the Rum, but ensuring we have Ice to make it chilled is another thing.

Our sailing club has a WhatAp Channel for our club Cruisers, we use it to share our plans if heading out even if it's just to the local lake for a hang on the hook. On that channel, one skipper asked if we knew of a local store where we're planning to moor in Jensen Beach over the Memorial Day weekend. One response was to purchase an Ice Machine. That got me thinking - would that work for us on Eximius.

Two days later, my Ice Machine arrived from Amazon, after reading the manual and giving it an initial cleaning, we put it to the test!

Fill with tap water, plugged in the mains and then turned on, it began buzzing and the fan started whirring. Not too noisy!

Seven minutes later, 9 Ice Bullets popped out of the Ice maker and were scooped into the Ice Tray. How Cool is that! Yep, deliberate Pun.

Over the next two hours it produced about 2 Liters of Ice Bullets. Wow!

On the boat, we would not run it for 2 hours unless we were expecting guests. But it easily makes enough ice for a single drink with ice in just 7 minutes. 15 Mins and that's doubled.

I am impressed!

This week we'll take it down to the boat and let it try out. Plan is to strap it down in the V-Berth above the hanging locker. I've ordered appropriate hooks and buckles. The location is close to a 110v outlet and it's out of the way - I'll just have to put my clothing bag in another spot.

According to the Specs, the unit uses 1.8Amps at 110V or 198Watts or about 15amps from the Batteries. Easy!

See you on the Water and we'll be cool!

Paul

Securing the Dinghy to the Foredeck

Storing and Securing the Dinghy on the boat

We don't have Davits, YET! So we store the dinghy on the foredeck. It's lashed down with a line that reaches across the inverted dinghy and tied at each end to the Stanchions.

Not an ideal situation, it's a trip hazard when trying to go forward to work on the Anchor, so looking at the options. 

Some boats have chocks to which the dinghy is secured, either upright or inverted. In our case, if the dink was upright, then it would severely restrict visibility forwards from the Cockpit. So we store it inverted and for the same reason, we don't have chocks on which to secure the dink.

Footman Loops

The simple solution would be to install a set of pad eyes or footman straps.

The benefit of using Pad eyes is that they could also be used for other things but the Footman loops are very neat and work great for webbing.

I envisage webbing straps passing over the front and over the aft end of the dinghy, both with tensioners, that would be an easy solution.

View from the cockpit.

Looks pretty straight forward. Total of 4 Footman Loops and two ratcheting Straps.

Just have to figure out where the best place to mount the loops, or the Pad Eyes.

I would like to get this done before our planned trip to Jensen Beach in a couple of weeks.

Keeping it safe and simple.

See you on the water.

Paul

Displaying Aqua Map Route on Google Maps

Exporting & Importing Aqua Map Routes to Google Maps

This is my How to 'Export Aqua Map Routes and Import them to Google Maps'. I don't do it that often that I can just remember how, so here's my cheat sheet.

Why do this?

Simple, because it's cool. And it's nice to be able to share a map of our sailing routes with others. We do have a Garmin Inreach, so we can share our current track and position with others. But when it comes to planning, sharing the route helps everyone play together.

What's needed?

• A device on which to run Aqua Map App. We use Samsung Tablets and Phones.
• An Aqua Map Account, Aqua Map Master Subscription so that you have a GEC Account ( where you can store your routes, tracks etc online).
• An Internet Connection.

Ok, here goes:

Step 1: Create a route - If you have Aqua Map then you know how to do this. Here's a quick primer.

• Open the app
• Click on a the chart where you want to start the route
• Select the Route Editor icon 
• Click on the chart to create a route to that click point
• Click again for each turn you want
• When done, click on Stop Editing
• Click Save
• Now the route is visible on the chart, click on any of the connector points for that route and click the 'i' icon for info on that route. Now you can edit it, give it a name that means something.
• Now you have a route in Aqua Map - Easy

Step 2: Upload the route to your GEC account.

• Click on a connector point of the route
• Click on the 'i' icon for the info on that route
• Click on the Share icon 

• Click on 'Public folder' 
• Select the format ( Google Maps will use either GPX or KMZ
• Now the route is stored in your GEC Account - Public Folder.

Step 3: Import the route to Google Maps

• In a web browser, navigate https://www.aquamap.app 
• Click on Chart Viewer 
• If you are not logged in then you should see something like this screen

• If you are logged in to your GEC account then you should see something like below.
• Note that your GEC account folders are shown on the left side of the chart.

• Click on the folder to which you uploaded your route.
• Click on the route name
• Right Click on the file name and select Download.
• Save the file to a known location.
• Now you have exported your route file to your computer and you're ready to import it to Google Maps.

Step 3: Import your route to Google Maps.

• Make sure you are logged into a google account
• Go to https://www.google.com/maps/d/home
• Click on 'Create a New Map'
• Click on the 'Create' button acknowledging that you'll be using some of your Google drive data.
• Click on 'Untitled Map' and type in a name for this map
• Click Save
• Click on 'import' and locate the file that you downloaded.
• Wow, Done!

I used the Share option on Google Maps to show the result. Here's the link, I'll update the google page and the route over the next few days.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1xPqNdfAjuXdbGOr-whjtXe7VellLhoY&usp=sharing

That sounds like a lot to do, however it only takes a couple of minutes. If you would like a video showing the process, please comment or contact me directly.

Thanks.

Paul

Memorial Day Weekend Cruise - 2025 Pt. 3

Memorial Day Weekend Cruise - 2025 - Planning the trip home.

Making the assumption that we get to Jensen Beach for the Memorial Day Weekend, we're looking at the trip home - From the Jensen Beach Mooring Field back to our Dock in Fort Lauderdale.

The Route from Jensen Beach Mooring field is around 37nm and should take just over 7 hours in good weather.

I really like Aqua maps, the Route explorer provides plenty of info about any route. In this case, it shows 36.3nm, 7:15 total time ( hours ) and we would use 4.8Gallons of diesel if we motored all the way. There's 1 fixed bridge on the route and if we needed to refuel, then it's $4.15 per Gallon.

( YES I KNOW - it's a sailboat, Sailboats do not sail in straight lines ) 

Like the arrival at the St. Lucie Inlet, timing is also important when leaving the Inlet.

We're staying at Jensen Beach on the Mooring Ball Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, departing for Lake Worth on Monday Morning. St. Lucie High Tide on Monday May 26th is 10:40 and the Inlet is about 90 minutes from the Mooring field.  So if we leave the mooring field at 09:00, we'll transit the Inlet around 10:30. ( According to Aqua Maps, it should take 1:39 hours : mins. 

We'll plan to stay about 1nm off of the coast to ensure we're not fighting the Gulfstream's northerly flow. Same as the Route north, we'll duck into Lake Worth on Monday and have a Mooring reserved for that evening. Tuesday morning we'll depart out of the Lake Worth Inlet and turn South, staying pretty close to shore again and we should be at Hillsboro Inlet on Tuesday May 27th around mid afternoon, a good time for the High Tide at 15:10.

So that completes the sailing plans.

Summary of the Return Trip:

• Sunday 5/25-  If the weather looks grotty for Monday, then we'll leave Jensen on Sunday and mover everything to an hour earlier.
• Jensen Beach 08:00 Depart the Mooring Field
• St. Lucie Inlet 09:00 Exit the inlet
• Else 
• Monday 5/26- Jensen Beach 09:00 Depart the Mooring field
• Monday - St. Lucie Inlet 09:30 Exit the inlet
• Monday - Lake Worth - Mid afternoon - Mooring Ball
• Tuesday 5/27 - Lake Worth - Drop the Mooring Ball
• Tuesday - Hillsboro Inlet - 15:00 - 16:00 Enter the Inlet
• Tuesday - Dock - Arrive an hour later.

Looks to be an exciting trip, we'll get to test our new Riding Sail, maybe I'll get the new Batteries installed by then too. 

I'm working on a post about how to export a route from Aqua Maps to Google Maps, that would be cool.

See you on the water.

Paul 

Memorial Day Weekend Cruise - St. Lucie Inlet

 Safe Boating through the St. Lucie Inlet

Credit to the Florida Oceanic Society.

In our planning for the 2025 Memorial Day Weekend Cruise to Jensen Beach, we had to review the St. Lucie Inlet to ensure a safe arrival and departure.

Peggy found this page which shows a Trifold Brochure published by the Florida Oceanic Society, it's a really good, no, not 'good', it's an essential read for anyone unfamiliar with the Inlet.

Eximius has a draft of 5'7" plus another inch due to the gear loaded in the boat.

We're always mindful of the tides of any inlet that we plan to pass through and the St. Lucie Inlet is known to be a risky adventure. However, our boat came from Manatee Pocket and was routinely sailed out of the St. Lucie Inlet, so we know it's ok, just requires a careful understanding of the conditions and the channel markers.  Having a reliable engine is a plus, having a full suite of electronic navigation and depth information at the helm is also a plus, however, we'll have our anchor ready to launch just in case.

Ok, with the inlet in mind, let's review our plans, but first a thought:- It's often said that the most dangerous thing to have on a sail boat is a 'Schedule' !! Schedules tend to push decisions on whether to go or not, whether to go this way or that, whether to push on or duck. We're very aware of that and so we tend to put in alternatives and decision points but still we're not afraid to recognize that perhaps we should back down and seek an alternative. So the trick is - be aware of the alternatives.

On to the Route Planning.

According to Aqua maps, the route from our Dock to the Marina a Lake Worth for our overnight stop is 37nm, 7.5 hours.

We're not worried about our entrance to Lake Worth as big ships go through that inlet so there's very little risks. However, our exit from Hillsboro Inlet is one to consider. The 'Hillsboro District' dredges the Inlet almost continuously, and, really important, they publish the Chart of Soundings every month. Here's the link to their latest Soundings. 

The chart shows the soundings as well as the date and time they were taken. We lookup the data and determine the actual depth above MLW at that time. Under calm conditions, we can always transit the inlet, we just have to avoid the really shallow areas. But if the Ocean is stirred up near the Inlet, then with waves of 3 or 4 feet, those soundings drop significantly. We have touched bottom several times in the Inlet, the bottom is sand and we can feel if the boat touches it, it just pushes through. But if we dig into the sand more than an inch or two, then we could be in trouble.  So, we plan our transit of the Inlet to ensure we're safe. Ideally we would transit when the tide was rising, much better to know that the depth will increase and lift us off rather then when the tide is dropping and we bare the risk of grounding deeper.  Low Tides at Hillsboro Inlet on May 22nd are at 07:17, so we'll plan to transit to the Ocean around 8am.

As mentioned, the tides are not an issue when we are due to arrive a Lake Worth Inlet. So our next navigation planning is from Lake Worth to St. Lucie Inlet then on to the mooring field at Jensen Beach.

So, high tide Friday May 23rd 2025 is at 6:54am and Low is at 13:50. The tide will be rising after 2pm but the St. Lucie Inlet is subject to shoaling, so we would rather arrive at the St. Lucie Inlet around 5pm.

Setting up a route on AquaMaps from Lake Worth to St. Lucie Inlet is about 40nm and at perhaps 5knots, that's 8 hours of sailing. If we get a bit of a lift from the Guld Stream so, maybe we'll do 6knots, that brings our transit time down to about 7 hours. 

We need to be leaving Lake Worth Inlet 7 to 8 hours from 5pm, ie. We should leave Lake Worth Inlet around 7 to 8 am ( a transit from 8am to 5pm is 9 hours ) It's easy to slow down so that we time our arrival at the St. Lucie Inlet )

If we left at 8am, we should arrive at 5pm but we could leave at 9am and still arrive around 5pm assuming there is some decent ( not too much ) wind.

There, we have our departure time for Lake Worth  - you know we'll be scouring the weather info Thursday night to help make the decision when to head out of the lake Worth inlet or even to go up the ditch from Lake Worth - not my favorite choice.

If we get to St. Lucie Inlet at 5pm, we should be at the mooring by 6pm - time to head out to dinner with the other club members that get there on Friday night.

To wrap up:

Depart the Dock 7am, exit Hillsboro Inlet at 8am

Arrive Lake Worth Thursday evening

Depart Lake Worth Friday Morning around 8-9 am either on the outside or up the ditch.

Arrive St. Lucie Inlet Friday evening around 5pm and to the mooring around 6pm 

Next: plan the return trip.

You get there quicker on a power boat, but you're already there on sailboat !