Events Non-mechanical:

Travel - left Sebastian just before 08:00; great sunrise photo! Followed AICW [Atlantic IntraCoastal Waterway] for only 36 miles to Cocoa Village Marina, Cocoa, arriving at 11:40. Really nice marina and staff who guided us in and helped tie up; had a bit of wind both departing and worse arriving but managed fine; have learned to use the 'piling-kiss' to assist in docking - one can let the rub rail on the boat 'touch' the piling and help pivot into the slip, particularly in a wind [I used to think I was a failure for touching the piling!!].

Photos on the water: typical bridge on the AICW, about 65' clearance; people have asked how do you know where to go under it? It is almost always the center span which is the highest [65'] and there are 'bumpers' at the foundation of that span [to protect the pilings and tell boaters where to go] and there is a navigation light suspended below the roadway. A photo of a fairly typical crab fishing boat, with their baskets stacked aft; one of a fast cruiser creating a large wake which can really rock us - so you know what I'm talking about when we say we are being 'waked'; one of a side-channel - their markers can make it confusing regarding which markers to follow - have to follow the chartplotter line and do some deductions sometimes; one of the power transmission line poles, which are about 100' high, with a green marker beside them.

The Cocoa Village Marina is indeed a nice facility, not huge like Sunset Bay or Marina Jack. The office has a yellow 'caution' tape across the front desk to keep people out of the lounge [unfortunately, because it is a really comfortable looking area] and office; but staff are not wearing masks, etc. Walked downtown to the hardware store - Travis Hardware - what a great place - is recommended on their tours as a place to stop; old building, huge, most things in bins, everything you can imagine; I told the guy I would like to just walk around and he said many people do just that. Bought a 24" straight edge of aluminum stock, 2" wide, to use for assessing the belt alignment - see below since this is only for 'non-mechanical' and that is 'mechanical'!

We were just saying this has been the first really pleasure-boating day we have had - short time on the water, wind and waves behind us, and no trouble docking, staying at a great marina.

MECHANICAL:

Belt - no new evidence of shredding/shaving on the stbd belt, and that may be due to us keeping the rpms to only 1600 all day; wanted to check the alignment so bought the straight edge mentioned above and checked the alignment of the belt from the flywheel to the alternator; found a 3 mm difference; I don't know enough about this but that may be enough to create the problem; also measured the 'squareness' of the alternator pulley [are both sides equally square to the alignment line] itself and there is a 1mm difference between one edge and the opposite edge [comparing the distance at one side to the opposite side of the pulley] - again don't know if this is an acceptable difference.

Oil leak - see photo where there is a small 'puddle' of oil directly under the center of the flywheel; that is a new finding, although I had noticed some oil staining along the hose earlier; traced the source by following the hoses and they revealed it was tracking from the inboard side of the stbd oil pan cover bolts - several had staining, but the 2nd one from the forward end of the engine was likely the source with oil around it; tightened all the bolts on that side [what I could reach anyway] and cleaned up the oil stains, etc and hopefully that solves it. No other evidence of oil leakage nearby. The engine oils on both are fine BTW. No evidence of any other problems either.

Supper tonight will be from the Snug Pub, take-out only, which is fine with us. Typical but enhanced British pub food: Marg is getting Grouper Dijonnaise [Grouper on bed of vegetables with a dijon cream sauce and a side of cauliflower mash] and I am having the Chicken Dublin [chicken with peas, caramelized onions, in a whiskey cream sauce over mashed potatoes - yumm, yumm]; plus, I am having their reputedly remarkable Bread Pudding. Plus, a Guinness. I will walkover to pickup - it's all of 2 blocks away.

Tomorrow, we head for Daytona Marina. Will leave early, since winds always pick up after lunch, and try to get there by 2pm.

Please stay safe, keep distancing, but keep in touch.

PS: Two additional photos.

We have a dockmate that appears to be checking us out. For possible docktails?? 🍹🍹🍹

Comments:

Ernie R  •  23 May, 2020:  You cannot stop after just 36 miles!! At this rate we will catch up with you! Be safe!