M/V MAERIN

We arrived here at Cocoa on Tuesday afternoon after a nice cruise from Port Orange. It was still pretty chilly, but we were quite comfortable in the sunny pilothouse. The lows overnight dipped into the 30’s on Tuesday night, but not low enough to require running the heat overnight, and no more freezing hoses! Water temperatures are still in the 40’s, with the lowest temperature at about 41 south of Ponce Inlet. The highest we saw was just over 47 as we passed the power plants south of Titusville. We have noticed a lot of fish in distress, still swimming, but disoriented and many upside down.

At this writing, we’ve had highs approaching the 60’s, and the highs over the weekend are predicted in the high 70’s. Finally! Welcome to Florida!

We’ll be staying here a few days as we wait for some UPS deliveries to catch up to us. Susan’s our receiving agent for the time being! This morning we received a call from our credit card folks, there were 3 suspect charges made to our account before 9 AM when we received the call, and as we were on the phone with them going through the verification process, there were a total of 16 charges that came through, with the highest up to $1800. The problem has been taken care of, and we’ll have new cards tomorrow delivered to a secure location. They never can tell exactly how someone gets the information, but they have been very effective with calling us about unusual activity. As we began to cruise, we received an occasional call confirming charges appearing on our account, but as we progressed, their screening system adapted to the nature of our charges, and until this morning, we would only get a call when we veered off our typical path. There’s always a crook out there trying to get something they didn’t earn. (or a politician). 🙄

We enjoyed a lunch with Susan & Jim this afternoon, and a short visit to their condo and her mom. We also saw a familiar Selene making its way into Port Canaveral as we had lunch, and an email later confirmed the arrival of Renee & Mike aboard Blue Grotto. They’ll be staying overnight in Canaveral and back outside in the morning as they head south. We hope to catch up to them further south. There are several Selene family members close by, it’s always fun to spot them in our travels!

Friends Bill & Vivian Wood are in the area, we may be graced with a visit from them, depending on their travel, but it’s always great to cross paths with friends in unanticipated locations!

One of the packages being delivered is a replacement interface for the navigation electronics. It enables the shipboard computer to talk to the Raymarine navigation system, and the one on board went T.U., so a new one is on the way. When I replace that component, I will modify some of the network wiring to streamline it and provide a bit more access and redundancy. The failure of this component meant the computer was unable to control the autopilot, so autopilot control was limited to steering a compass course as opposed to the computer providing the course data to a waypoint. In steering a compass course, the autopilot simply maintains a heading. If steering to a waypoint, the autopilot corrects for drift induced by current and wind; conditions much more prevalent over longer distances. So simple compass headings are generally adequate for cruising  the ICW. The changes in the network cabling will provide an easier way to work around a similar problem in the future.

Incidentally, our autopilot is used every time we cruise. “Otto” is an indispensable member of our crew, and probably handles the steering about 90% of the time we’re under way!