5,000 miles on a Lagoon Power 43

This is the photo-journal of a 5,000 mile cruise on a Lagoon Power 43 in the winter of 2003/4 - from Long Island Sound down to the Florida Keys, a brief taste of the west coast of Florida and the Bahamas, then back up the east coast.

Leg Four – St Augustine to Marathon, Florida Keys - 386nm

Saturday, November 22, 2003 - St Augustine to Cocoa, FL

Woken just after 6:00am by various boats firing up their throaty diesels in the marina and heading out fishing, so got up to catch the sun rising conveniently just behind Glenn and Pam's Manta 42, "Anything Goes", sitting peacefully in the anchorage on the other side of the channel.

Amazingly (after our late night and Glenn's inclination to sleep until 9:00am), Glenn is up on deck already and they head out at 7:00am, stopping only for a quick handoff of a copy of the Multihull Sailor's Guide with a thank-you-for-dinner note from me scribbled inside the front cover.

09:08:15 - in contemplating the day, I had been tempted by an outside run offshore, but it's a long shot to the inlet at Fort Pierce and we seem to be slipping back to a slightly late start.  Eventually got myself together and headed out of the marina to try to catch the 9:00am bridge opening at the Bridge of Lions but missed it by a few minutes and had to sneak under, holding my breath.  I did, however, check out the height of the boat before leaving today – 22' should leave a few inches for safety.    

10:12:26 - typical as we head further south down the ICW in Florida, there's quite a bit of stopping and starting for sailboats, slow powerboats, and no wake zones.

10:23:15            29 39.730 N       81 13.075 W      186 M   18.2

10:38:15            29 36.021 N       81 12.029 W      167 M   7.8       

10:39:56 - early coffee today, with the boat on autopilot during a relatively open and straight stretch of the ICW, to try to clear the cobwebs remaining from last night's very pleasant over-indulgence...

12:38:18 - made the first low bridge at Daytona Beach, but the second is lower by a foot or so and I've decided to wait for a couple of sailboats to catch up and go through with them on an opening.

14:53:15 - long no-wake manatee zone as we pass by mobile home sites and fishing camps, holding us down to 7½ kts for the last 45 minutes, but now we're about to head into Mosquito Lagoon, north of Cape Canaveral, and into more open water.

17:38:15 - decided not to stop early and hedge my bets for a possible departure through the Cape Canaveral Canal and offshore tomorrow as the inside run is straight, with few bridge restrictions for the Lagoon Power 43 and I can always head out at Fort Pierce if I feel like it.  So ran on to just after sunset to get to a good anchorage spot well off the ICW, close to Mile Marker 905.

* calculated by nm / engine hours, thus including all warm-up, cool down, "idling" time, anchoring, etc.

Sunday, November 23 – Cocoa to Lake Worth, FL

09:02:12 - partly cloudy morning, mild, light breeze from north, calm water.  Flying start to the day with open water ahead of us for a while, though a late start again versus the plan contemplated last night.  Fortunately, the 17-18kts cruise speed of the Lagoon Power 43 will still allow a good day's run.

10:22:49 - running down the Indian River at a slightly lower cruise speed of 15kts to keep the wake down a little and ease life for all the small boats out and about this Sunday.  Snatched a coffee and bagel as we were approaching and going slowly through Vero Beach.  Weather now sunny and warm, winds from the south (forecast east) at 10kts, 55nm to go to Lake Worth.

15:23:17 - Jupiter Inlet an unbelievable congestion of boats, mostly small, mostly poorly handled, and a pontoon boat selling "water weenies" anchored center channel amongst it all!.  Long periods of no wake zones – either traffic or manatee related – behind us and lots more to come.  Our ETA Fort Worth when scooting along first thing this morning was just after 3:00pm, but we'll be a good 90 minutes later than this.

17:04:47 - here at last, after what seems like an age of slower trawler speeds today..!  Decided to run a little further south in the anchorage area of Lake Worth to avoid the congestion nearer the mouth of the inlet.  So anchored in 10ft just to the south of the deep water section, behind a huge ketch.

* calculated by nm / engine hours, thus including all warm-up, cool down, "idling" time, anchoring, etc.

Monday, November 24 – Lake Worth to Buttonwood Sound, FL

06:22:20 – woke up at 5:30am, so we'll manage to get a reasonably early start for once and should have a good day  in terms of boatspeed as we'll be running south offshore.  About to weigh anchor.

07:45:54 - running south along the shoreline in 50ft of water.  Partly cloudy, wind 10-15kts from SE, seas 2-3ft off port bow.  Have backed down to 15-16kts boatspeed to keep things comfortable.

08:56:22 - just passing Boca Raton Inlet.  Seas had dropped a little half an hour ago and we had got back up to 17-18kts but with the wind clocking further to the south conditions are becoming lumpy again so we've had to drop speed back down a little to around 16kts.

10:20:06 - just passing Haulover Inlet - and another scattering of small fishing boats around the entrance that we have to weave through.  Seas still lumpy, but not uncomfortable for us in the power catamaran.  The distinctive Miami Beach architecture is opening up ahead of us.

11:20:13 - in through Biscayne Channel and the shallow shortcut, past No-Name Harbor, and on round the point towards Crandon Park for re-fuelling.  Decided I needed coffee and a bagel pretty desperately (after such an early start to the day) so brewed up and munched while heading slowly up the marina channel.

12:15:25 - I guess I should have called ahead to check, but there's no fuel service today, as some electrical repairs are underway!  But took the opportunity to go and see John Birtzen, marina manager, just to remind him I may be there needing dockage in February.  So now we're off away from the Miami down Biscayne Bay for the inside run down the Florida Bay side of the Keys towards Marathon.

14:12:33 – squad after squad of cigarette boats flying by.  Maybe this is the famous Poker Run that I've seen covered on TV…

14:35:46 - stopped just after Jewfish Creek Bridge for fuel, slotting in between cigarette boats noisily docking.  Took a total of 302 gallons, when the gauges were telling me we had much less left in the tanks.  Looking forward to getting the FloScan fuel flow meters installed to get a more accurate read on all this.

16:04:28 – ran on a little after re-fuelling (maybe 7nm) weaving through some of the narrow passes between the keys in our own private version of a Poker Run - at least as our wake would suggest - to get to a spot in Buttonwood Sound, on the Florida Bay side just west of Key Largo.

Now that we're in clear and calm water, it's time to head over the side and check out the state of the bottom.

* calculated by nm / engine hours, thus including all warm-up, cool down, "idling" time, anchoring, etc.

Tuesday, November 25 – Buttonwood Sound to Marathon, FL

09:43:41 - had a couple of beers last night to celebrate scrubbing the bottom (both hulls) and being tucked up warm and snug in this anchorage in the Keys.  Then cooked up a pasta dish and had a good half bottle of wine, followed by a couple of large nightcaps and music pumping out of the speakers on the flybridge…

So a somewhat slow start this morning, plus the need to make sure the boat was presentable ahead of our arrival in Marathon.  Also delayed by a couple of unsuccessful attempts to get Internet hook-up.

10:42:18 – calm, sunny day, with no tide running, so ideal for a little formal rpm/speed correlation – as long as I can dodge the trap markers that are becoming more numerous as we get further down the Keys.

12:29:45 - running most of the way over the open waters (and between trap markers) at 15kts as I'm not in a particular hurry and want to get some relaxed reading in.

13:15:26 - through the Seven Mile Bridge to get us from the Florida Bay to ocean side of the Keys, then up the channel into Burdines Marina in Marathon, tied up on the bulkhead that normally forms the dinghy dock, in less water than I would like, with (relatively) big tidal swings ahead due to the new moon, and we have oddly paced pilings to fend off against.

But here we are, safely in Marathon, where the boat will stay for the next month for installation of genset, additional battery capacity, FloScan units, dual Racor fuel filters, Algae-X, Groco macerating raw water strainer, chilled water A/C system, watermaker, VacuFlush heads, programmable LED cockpit lights... to mention just the major projects.

* calculated by nm / engine hours, thus including all warm-up, cool down, "idling" time, anchoring, etc.

Wednesday, November 26 – Marathon, FL

Long session with Steve Grasley from SALT reviewing all installations scheduled for the next couple of weeks, and a lunch chat to cover additional items.

Mid-afternoon, request to move out of the marina (!) to allow the owner's 65ft boat to come in away from the dock outside his home, where the sea-wall is in danger of collapse.  So moved 100ft over to the bulkhead at Faro Blanco Oceanside, where there's a whole 6" more water depth – still rather close to the bottom at low tide due to strong new moon tides currently.

Thursday, November 27, Thanksgiving Day – Marathon, FL

Took a cab to the airport to pick up the rental car, and stopped on the return trip to pick up a trunk full of heavy groceries - water, soda, beer....

Thanksgiving dinner this year courtesy of a kind invitation extended to join the turkey cook-out on the barbecue at the marina.  The slow roast has been getting my juices flowing all day with the aromas wafting down on the breeze...

Great sunset this evening behind the restaurant at Burdines.

Tomorrow we're off early to drive up to Fort Lauderdale and catch a plane back to the frozen north, and then shortly thereafter on over to Paris for the boat show...

Graph of our speed over ground record this fourth leg from St Augustine to Marathon, highlighting the slow pace forced upon us at times by the ICW bridges, increased local boat traffic, no wake and manatee zones:

To continue with the next leg of the cruise, click here.

To return to the ship's log introduction page and list of legs, click here.

Copyright © Ian Vale