Seeing Daylight for the First Long Cruise

We had planned to bring our 460 Sundancer to New England this past summer but the Covid thing happened and thus our plans never happened...maybe next summer. Meanwhile, we have had our boat better than 9 months and have only accomplished day trips, well, OK one overnight but even that was cut short with crappy weather.

It's now in the iPad and will be uploaded to the Chartplotter tomorrow. YEA!!!! Leaving Boynton Beach on October 9th and will spend two days on the hook in Biscayne Bay at Elliott Key. Columbus Day Weekend Regatta but will bug out on Sunday before it gets too crazy. Next stop is Islamorada for a night and then on to Marathon for a night. Two nights in Key West followed by two nights in Sanibel/Captiva. Two nights in Ft. Myers and then up the river to Lake Okeechobee for a night at Rowland Martins Marina. Early morning launch NE bound to the St. Lucie River and a night at Hutchinson Island before heading south again to our Marina in Boynton Beach.

We're excited and have begun to prepare the boat for the journey. I will be putting out some notices at our Marina to see if anyone wants to join us but I think most of the boaters there are still working so I'm not holding my breath. If anyone would like to accompany us with their boat either for the full trip or for a leg or two, please let me know. We always enjoy meeting new friends and fellow boaters.

Ahhh the life of a retired airline pilot!! We won't be in Ft. Myers until Oct 15 or I'd wave as you go by...

45Gunner said:

We had planned to bring our 460 Sundancer to New England this past summer but the Covid thing happened and thus our plans never happened...maybe next summer. Meanwhile, we have had our boat better than 9 months and have only accomplished day trips, well, OK one overnight but even that was cut short with crappy weather.

It's now in the iPad and will be uploaded to the Chartplotter tomorrow. YEA!!!! Leaving Boynton Beach on October 9th and will spend two days on the hook in Biscayne Bay at Elliott Key. Columbus Day Weekend Regatta but will bug out on Sunday before it gets too crazy. Next stop is Islamorada for a night and then on to Marathon for a night. Two nights in Key West followed by two nights in Sanibel/Captiva. Two nights in Ft. Myers and then up the river to Lake Okeechobee for a night at Rowland Martins Marina. Early morning launch NE bound to the St. Lucie River and a night at Hutchinson Island before heading south again to our Marina in Boynton Beach.

We're excited and have begun to prepare the boat for the journey. I will be putting out some notices at our Marina to see if anyone wants to join us but I think most of the boaters there are still working so I'm not holding my breath. If anyone would like to accompany us with their boat either for the full trip or for a leg or two, please let me know. We always enjoy meeting new friends and fellow boaters.

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Love doing the Florida Mini Loop. Have done it twice and might do it again this Fall/ Winter. Possibly St. Augustine for Thanksgiving with the boat club.

Safe trip and if you can, post some pic's.

Will post pictures at the end of the trip. Stay tuned.

45Gunner said:

We had planned to bring our 460 Sundancer to New England this past summer but the Covid thing happened and thus our plans never happened...maybe next summer. Meanwhile, we have had our boat better than 9 months and have only accomplished day trips, well, OK one overnight but even that was cut short with crappy weather.

It's now in the iPad and will be uploaded to the Chartplotter tomorrow. YEA!!!! Leaving Boynton Beach on October 9th and will spend two days on the hook in Biscayne Bay at Elliott Key. Columbus Day Weekend Regatta but will bug out on Sunday before it gets too crazy. Next stop is Islamorada for a night and then on to Marathon for a night. Two nights in Key West followed by two nights in Sanibel/Captiva. Two nights in Ft. Myers and then up the river to Lake Okeechobee for a night at Rowland Martins Marina. Early morning launch NE bound to the St. Lucie River and a night at Hutchinson Island before heading south again to our Marina in Boynton Beach.

We're excited and have begun to prepare the boat for the journey. I will be putting out some notices at our Marina to see if anyone wants to join us but I think most of the boaters there are still working so I'm not holding my breath. If anyone would like to accompany us with their boat either for the full trip or for a leg or two, please let me know. We always enjoy meeting new friends and fellow boaters.

Click to expand...

Glad to hear you are finally getting to use her... have fun and remember it didn’t happen if you don’t have photos.... we did the keys last month and it was awesome.. trying to go to Bimini next weekend.

Congrats on your extended trip. There's nothing like a long cruise to really get to know your boat.

Have fun and post lots of pictures.

Sounds like a great trip! Enjoy the journey.
Havana Shamrock could be at some of those destinations around the same time. Send him a PM to check. (Joe and Martha are wonderful people and a pleasure to be around)
Matchmaking done

Gunner you make it back yet??? Looking forward to hearing about your trip.

We're back. Had to cut the trip a little short due to A/C problems but the trip was an overwhelming success. I have written a trip log which I will try to post here. If the pictures do not come thru I will post them separately.

We have owned our 2000 460DA since December of 2019, a little less than a year. Because of or a combination of issues such as weather, family matters, important appointments, not the mention the dreaded Covid-19 Pandemic, we have managed to do only one overnight trip on the boat. Ironically, that trip was supposed to be a three-day trip but was cut short due to un-forecasted weather that made it too uncomfortable to remain on the water. We had completed countless day trips but lusted for the multiple days, long distance cruise. On October 9th we set off on our adventure that was going to scratch a lot of itches.


Before I go any further, I must tell you that my wife, Ruth, is one of the most adventurous people I know. She is ready to go along with whatever I come up with is the best First Mate any boat Captain could ask for. She is excellent at keeping the boat and me organized, the beds made, the galley and heads clean, handling most dock lines, preparing, cooking meals and cleaning up afterwards, entertaining guests, bartending, and most everything that needs to be done aboard a boat and is a great photographer with her cell phone camera. And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that she is 76 years old and has more energy than anyone else I know. Further, to buy a boat this big at our age gave birth to its name, Sea – Nile.




A 7:30 AM departure was planned on the first morning but somehow we never untied from the dock until 9 AM. We had spent the previous three days loading the boat so we could have that timely departure. We later learned that we had “way too much stuff.” The weather was picture perfect. The ICW was nicely quiet as it was a Thursday morning, the day before a three-day Columbus Holiday weekend. Only three drawbridges stood between the open ocean and us. The first bridge was on demand. The bridge tender was very accommodating, opening the spans just as we arrived. We made the second bridge right at its scheduled opening and the last bridge didn’t give us a problem either. I might mention that this particular bridge tender is probably the nastiest operator in all of Florida. One would think that he had to manually crank the bridge up and down given his attitude. After a brief radio exchange he opened the bridge and we were now on our way to our big adventure… that began immediately after going under the bridge.


The skies opened up with a very heavy rain. We were instantaneously soaked thru to the skin and visibility became an issue. If anyone is familiar with the Hillsboro Inlet, you know that it’s a narrow channel with rocks on both sides. The challenge had begun. The wind had come from nowhere as we headed out to sea. I had the route already programmed into the chartplotter and instead of fighting with the weather to make the boat go where I wanted it to, I engaged the autopilot, making it possible to spend more time scanning for what was around us.


Three miles off shore, the autopilot turned us south into the forecasted 1 to 3 foot seas, which somehow, became 12 to 15 foot seas. The rain had given way to ocean spray that covered us and the boat in a heavy layer of salt. I was able to minimize the pitching by adjusting the speed and trim but the waves hitting us from the side were merciless, causing enough rolling motion to ring the bell mounted directly to the side and behind the helm. We ran in those seas for three hours before entering calmer waters in Miami and as we entered Biscayne Bay thru the Biscayne Channel and Stiltsville.

After nearly 6 hours of running the boat, we arrived at our planned anchorage. Ruth was up on the bow surveying the bottom for a good place to drop the anchor. We moved a couple of hundred yards north and little further east, closer to the Island, until we found a spot she was happy with. Down went the bow anchor. We let out a little more anchor rode than we really needed but I dropped out a second anchor from the stern, tied it off to a cleat, and them sucked up some of the excess front anchor rode until I was satisfied that both anchors had sufficiently dug in. The engines were shut off and it was now cocktail hour.







The night of October 9th and the day and night of October 10th were at anchor off of Elliot Key. It had been at least 30 years ago since I had been here last during one of the annual Columbus Day Regattas. I remember thousands of boats, many rafted off with each other having parties that seemed to have gone on all night long. By Saturday afternoon we counted about 50 boats, with only a few of the smaller ones rafted off. Otherwise, pretty much everyone kept to themselves…thank you Covid-19. During our two days we enjoyed a spectacular sunset, a least a half a dozen rain showers, and cursed at a few less than courteous boaters that blasted thru our anchorage at high speed with boat engines that would rival the noise of a jet engine. But most importantly, we reveled in the fact that we did absolutely nothing except relax and enjoy ourselves. When we adjourned to the cabin for the evening, the generator was started and the air conditioning sprang to life to cool down the interior of the boat. The First Mate turned down the bed for a good night’s rest while on the hook…life is good.















The day before we had left on our adventure, we happened to watch the Tom Hanks’ movie, Cast Away. A few hours after we anchored, we noticed what looked like a small basketball floating that we immediately named “Wilson.” Didn’t take long to determine that it was a lobster trap marker, which we used as a reference to make sure we didn’t drift off our anchorage. Got to be a joke that every time we looked for it, one of us would call, “WILSON.”












Sunday morning, October 11th was a beautiful morning after a brief rain shower. The aft anchor was brought in right after the cockpit sunfly was taken down and put away. Engines were brought back to life and the bow anchor was retrieved. We were off again on the continuation of our adventure. We ran south down Biscayne Bay with the Bay having a light chop. The Chartplotter sure made it easy and the autopilot made it enjoyable. We took the channel between Broad Key and Swan Key, which brought us back into the Ocean and Hawks Channel. The Ocean was quite the opposite of a few days before in that it was very flat and calm…even lake like. We’re not complaining, mind you.






About 4 hours from getting underway, we were at the fuel dock of Post Card Marina in Islamorada. The fuel tanks were topped and the black water holding tank was emptied. I always like to have full fuel when going out to the Ocean. My philosophy is “the only time I have too much fuel is when I’m on fire.” It didn’t take long to take care of business and move off the fuel dock to our assigned slip. It was a very hot and humid day. I appreciated the help of the dockhand with setting the lines but it’s not his boat and his way of setting the lines was not to my satisfaction. Nothing negative about the dockhand, its just that I am very particular and exacting when it comes to our boat. Also, when he set the shore power plug, he didn’t stick around to see if we had proper power. Partly my fault because I gave him a tip early and he disappeared faster than Superman looking for a phone booth to change into costume. Resetting the dock lines to my satisfaction was not really a big deal but I had to play with the shore power somewhat to get it to work. The dock staff really tried to be a help and they were all very friendly. By the time it was all done, we were very hot and in need of a break when just in the nick of time, we spotted the Tiki Bar just a very short walk from the dock.


While cooling down at the Bar, disaster happened at the boat. Both A/C systems had shutdown and were not cooling the boat. Obviously a power problem, or so I thought. I went back to the shore power pedestal to disconnect and reconnect the shore power cable. Everything indicated normal and the A/C systems came back on line….but only for a few minutes before they shut down again. My analytical brain kicked into high gear, something I was hoping I would not have to do while on my vacation adventure.


Back on the boat, I went below to the electrical control panel to disconnect the shore power supply. The generator was cranked up to switch over to try the A/C units. Same deal. Came on. Shut down after a couple of minutes. The power source was not the problem. The units had to be shutting down because they were not getting adequate cooling. Up came the engine room hatch and down I went into a very hot engine room compartment. I pulled the raw water strainer basket from the intake. It didn’t seem that bad but I went thru the motion of taking it up to the dock, hooking up a water hose and cleaned the basket. Next came the wet vac to clean out the intake itself. Aside from a few marine shells and a little mud, nothing looked bad enough to block off cooling water. I called my mechanic back home. He offered a few suggestions and I also referenced Google for a few suggestions, none of which worked. The only way we were able to sleep in the heat and humidity was strategic placement of a half a dozen fans I keep on the boat.

Monday morning, October 12th we woke up early after not a great night’s sleep because of the heat and humidity. At least we had a very nice meal the night before at Ciao Hound, the Italian Restaurant on the premises of Post Card Marina. After some morning coffee and tea, we made preparations to continue the journey south to Marathon.


Once off the dock, we entered the very narrow channel leading back out to the ocean and Hawks Channel. Word of caution here if you come into Post Card Marina. The channel is very narrow and there is no room to wonder even just a little bit outside of the channel. A very shallow sandbar sits to the north of the channel and the water to the south gives way to extremely little water what seems just inches out of the channel. The locals know this and if you happen to have one coming the other way, don’t expect him/her to move to the side to give you space to pass. Its very tight and idle speed is the key to success here.




Into Hawks Channel and heading south, the throttles were pushed up the 1900 RPM, a speed the engines and the boat seemed to like. The engines hummed at sipped a total of 23 gph while the boat was on plane and indicated GPS speed was between 16.5 and 17.9 knots, depending upon the water and the wind. About 3 hours later we were passing underneath 7 mile bridge for the entry in Florida Bay on our to Faro Blanco Marina.









Once inside Florida Bay, it was about a 6 mile ride to the Marina. One must exercise caution entering and leaving this marina, as there is a narrow passage to the marina with fiberglass crushing rocks if you choose the wrong place to go. We had to maneuver around a very large yacht to get to the fuel dock where not less than 3 dockhands were waiting for us to secure us to the fuel dock and help us fill the tanks with diesel. Once fueled, they gave us directions to our slip and were there to meet us to secure the lines again and plug us into shore power. We were informed after being secured that the restaurant was closed on Monday’s and Tuesday’s. I thought that might have been something they may have wanted to mention when I made the reservation but that’s just my logic kicking in. Once settled in, we made our way to the Marina swimming pool. There were 5 other people at the pool and they gave us some suggestions of how to get around the island and where to go for dinner. Worthy of mention was one of the other gentleman was a retired doctor who was from Boston, my hometown. Got to talking to him for a bit and discovered that we both are alumni of Boston College. I graduated 12 years prior to him…talk about a way to feel old.






















That evening we called the “Island Taxi”. They arrived in less than 5 minutes after being called. It was a 5-minute ride to a very nice little, off the beaten path, place called “Castaways.” The food was excellent as was the service. After an enjoyable meal, Island Taxi picked us up and dropped us back at the Marina. It was another tough night to sleep with no air conditioning. We had all the fans blasting away but the moving air does not do anything for humidity. And surprisingly, the Bay waters were very choppy that night causing water to slap the boat all night long. Not what one wants to hear but we were prepared with foam earplugs, which did help.


We were both up early the next morning, not that we wanted to be, but sleeping was not in the cards as it was way too uncomfortable. We did wake up to winds that were blowing about 15 to 20 knots. One of the couples that we had chatted with at the pool the evening before were just getting underway in their 55’ Carver Fly Bridge Cruiser and I could see he was struggling with the wind in the very tight Marina.


We made our preparations, once again, to get underway. We had it down to a routine and each day it took less time than the day before to be ready to cruise. I had to get up on the bow before casting off as we had lines on the two forward pilings. Ruth does not have the strength to grab those lines with the boat hook to lift the lines off the piling. Once those lines were back on the boat, it didn’t take long to complete retrieving the other lines. The wind made it somewhat challenging maneuvering but soon we left the Marina, headed out in the channel and were making our way back toward the 7 Mile Bridge. Once thru the bridge we were in the channel that would bring us back out to Hawks Channel and on our way to Key Largo.


The ride down to Key Largo was a little feisty but nowhere near as bad as the day we had left Boynton Beach. We arrived in the main canal at Key Largo just before 1 PM, which worked in our favor, as there was no endless parade of sightseeing boats, dive boats, and fishing boats. The canal makes a 90 degree turn which makes it very sporting if two boats should be entering the turn from opposite directions as one could not see the other until they are into the turn. And almost immediately after that turn inbound is a fuel dock and we needed fuel. The fuel dock looked to be about 25’ in length. At the front of the dock and perpendicular to it was a big sport fisherman tied up, apparently in for service at the Marina. Aft of the fuel dock was a small boat launch ramp and a cement sea wall. If I was good, I would be able to maneuver my boat into the cramped space without hitting the sport fish or the cement wall. I tried calling the fuel dock on the radio. Another boater was kind enough to tell me they don’t have a radio but they were open.


I sounded the foghorn several times before anyone came out of the dock store. I said I needed diesel. He gave me thumbs up and disappeared into the dock store. Shortly thereafter, two guys came out of the dock store and so began the three stooges comedy routine. These two guys totally ignored the fact that I was in the middle of very tight canal and started playing with the diesel pump. One disappeared and soon appeared with a third stooge with all three trying to start the pump. It truly was the three stooges as they bumped into each other, yelled in Spanish at each other, and finally each one walked away in a different direction. I yelled out asking if anyone was interested in securing us to the dock and by this time one of the big tour boats was outbound in the canal and asking on the radio if I was staying in the canal or going to move to give him room to pass?


To make a very long, tedious story, short, we tied up and were finally pumping fuel. As soon as I started pumping I had a bad feeling about the fuel. I really should have stopped but I needed the fuel and I was tired from running the boat. Once fueled, we were off the dock and continued our motor down the canal. The Dock Master at our destination had assigned us slip number 49 but at our arrival it was occupied. I called on the cell phone and he said, “No, it was 47.” OK, I wasn’t going to argue. If you have ever been in the main canal in Key Largo, you know the slips consist of pilings and a very narrow, short dock. It was just big enough to get on and off the boat. There was no way Ruth could set the dock lines while I maneuvered the boat so I called the Dock Master once again to request some help with dock lines. He told me that due to Covid-19 it was pretty much hands off. I replied, “Without help, I would not be able to dock.” He said he would be there as soon as he could and he was.


Another situation where it wasn’t his boat so after he left I had to reset the dock lines, put out a few fenders, and hook into shore power. Shore power was not easy and I couldn’t get the plug to marry into the receptacle. Apparently these were new shore power pedestals. I could see other people must have had problems as the rubber gasket inside was pretty mangled. I tried to take it out but it wasn’t going to budge. Fortunately I carry electrical connection cleaner/lubricant and sprayed the crap out the receptacle and that did the trick…we were on shore power. It was now cocktail time.


We walked down and around the dock, passing the African Queen from Bogart Movie Fame, and up the other side to Skippers Bar overlooking the canal. Sipping on a few cocktails and dining on some appetizers we discussed the rest of the planned trip, which was to include Key West, Naples, Ft. Myers, Lake Okeechobee, Hutchinson Island and finally home. We were pretty miserable without air conditioning and decided to cut the trip short and return home the next day to get the air conditioning fixed. We had accomplished our main objective, which was to live aboard the boat and learn more about it, and we had.

That evening the weather had changed with a passing of a cool front. We gathered up a couple of fans, opened the cabin entry way and circulated cooler outside air into the cabin. Sleeping in the cabin was a little more pleasant for the first time in several days.


In the morning, the latest marine forecast was predicting 1 to 3 foot seas for our ride home. We prepared the boat for our trip, brought in the fenders and the lines and we were off. As soon as we began our outbound idle speed exit of the canal, a line of party fishing boats and dive boats fell in behind us. We made the 90-degree outbound turn with no inbound traffic and soon were in the channel leading to open waters. We moved to the right side of the channel so the parade could pass us.


Remember the bad feeling I had about the fuel in Key Largo? It came to fruition to bite me on the butt. I have not had one problem with the engines on my boat, but now, when it was time to head home, I was having a problem. My typical mode of operation is to push the throttles up to 1500 RPM and let the engines stabilize. No problem. I then push the throttles up to 1800 RPM to let the turbo’s kick in and stabilize. Problem. The port engine would not accelerate past 1500 RPM. I knew it had to be water in the fuel. Each engine has dual Racor fuel filters. I was not ready to go below in rough seas to switch from one Racor to the other. I tried bringing the port engine back to idle and then accelerate to 1500 RPM. No problem. Next I brought the throttle up to where it should be for 1800 RPM and this time it accelerated. Whew!!!! Would it stay running? Both engines were then brought up to 1900 RPM, which I found to be a good combination of speed and fuel economy.


The forecasted seas were nowhere to be found. It didn’t take long to find 8’ to 10’ seas that made its way with the passing cold front. Since I had pumped only 45 gallons of bad fuel into a tank that had about 155 gallons of good fuel, the sloshing around and mixing of the fuels worked in my favor. Both engines ran strong for the trip home. The relentless heavy seas pounded us and everything, including ourselves, was covered with sea salt. I was wiping my glasses every two minutes. It was a sunny day at least for I couldn’t think of anything worse than being dripping wet and cold.


By the time we reached Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, we had had enough pounding around. The decision was made to come into the ICW. Yes it was a painfully slow trip the rest of way to Boynton Beach but at least we made it all the way home from Key Largo in the same day. We docked at our slip, packed up the refrigerated food, gave the boat a hosing off to remove some of the salt, and put the canvas covers in place. Over the next couple of days we would return to the boat for heavy duty cleaning and straightening out. Oh, by the way, once on shore power, the air conditioning just kept running. The theory is we sucked up a plastic bag (or similar) into the raw water intake port. It stayed with us for our trip from Islamorada to Key Largo and must have shaken loose on the ride home.


We learned a few valuable lessons from our adventure. The most valuable of the lessons is that we had “rushed” this trip. It gets exhausting getting a boat into a dock and setting up for the night only to break it all down and depart in the morning. We really never had time to explore when we were at marinas because we were worn out. From now on, once finished for the night, whether at anchor or at a marina, we will be there for not less than two nights and preferable three. Hey, we are retired…why should we be in such a hurry?


The next lesson we learned is there are three things that are key to boat traveling. One is air conditioning. Two is a head. Three is a refrigerator. I don’t know why, but Searay has both air conditioning systems cooling from the same intake. I have discussed this with my mechanic and we have decided to install another intake port and separate the cooling for the air conditioning systems so if one should fail, we can still keep the boat cool. With two heads, if one fails or becomes blocked, we still have the use of the other. And if the refrigerator fails, we always have a cooler on deck that can be used to store food instead of cold drinks. We have no problem drinking room temperature water.


In summary, we loved our trip and had set out to have a learning experience, which we did. All in all, the boat performed well above our expectations with only a minor inconvenience. Yesterday I ordered oil, filters, impellers, and zincs as I have now put 100 hours on the boat since our last oil change. We are very close to the date of annual haul out and my mechanic is coordinating his schedule so we can do what we can do in the water and then haul the boat to install the new thru hull and do what he has to do with a sea cock that has frozen. We expect to be out of the water for maybe a week and during that week I will be planning our next adventure, taking our newly learned lessons with us.

Trip Pictures

more trip pictures

What a great recap! Thanks for sharing.

With regard to you AC problems: I have a Sea Flush (http://www.seaflush.com/) that you can use to blow through the through-hull with your Shop-Vac. I've had a similar experience to yours where the AC cut off on HP, yet the strainer is clean. I attach the Sea Flush and blow back through the bottom of the boat and the problem is cleared.

Again, thanks for sharing.

Jaybeaux

Jaybeaux said:

What a great recap! Thanks for sharing.

With regard to you AC problems: I have a Sea Flush (http://www.seaflush.com/) that you can use to blow through the through-hull with your Shop-Vac. I've had a similar experience to yours where the AC cut off on HP, yet the strainer is clean. I attach the Sea Flush and blow back through the bottom of the boat and the problem is cleared.

Again, thanks for sharing.

Jaybeaux

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Thanks for the tip. Ordering a Sea Flush today.

45Gunner said:

Thanks for the tip. Ordering a Sea Flush today.

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As a quick follow up, when you are blowing air back through the bottom of the boat, you can really hear the bubbles under the hull. There is NO mistaking that you have cleared any obstruction.

Jaybeaux said:

As a quick follow up, when you are blowing air back through the bottom of the boat, you can really hear the bubbles under the hull. There is NO mistaking that you have cleared any obstruction.

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Thanks and appreciated. Good to know. Here in Florida, having air conditioning to combat the heat and humidity of summer is a must. Still summer here....hopefully only a few more weeks before we get into cooler weather.