April 3 -

Daylight savings time had been in effect for just one day so dawn seemed to come late this morning but it was light enough to see by 7:00. The tide was going out and Tom wasted no time getting out of the marina, as the narrow inlet had shoaled over during the past year and there would be no getting out at low tide. It was easy running all day for an overnight stay in Tarpon Basin.

Parts on an old boat can act up at any time and this one is no exception. Today it was the tachometer that started to give erratic readings. While we were anchored, Tom took it apart to check the ground wires and power leads to make sure they were clean and had good connections. They were all OK. He checked the operation of the alternator. No problem there. Diagnosis: the old tachometer was dying. The other tach at the lower station had never worked right and was undependable at best, so now we had to play it by ear, literally, until we could get to Fort Pierce and buy a new one. The sound of the engine determined our running speed.

Next day in Biscayne Bay I stood at the bow peering into the clear, green water. Along with an occasional discarded tire, mahogany-colored sea stars dotted the bottom and translucent Portuguese man-o-war drifted on the surface, their black tentacles dangling below.  A green sea turtle swam by, waggling its flippers through the waves. By 4:30 we were set for the night in Bakers Haulover Inlet.

We’d anchored in that spot before but had never gone ashore, so I donned my neoprene booties and made the leisurely two-minute row ashore. I stepped out in ankle-deep water, pulled the dinghy onto the sloping waterfront, and looped the painter over a handy tree stump. Following a path toward the beach, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was in Oleta River State Park with miles of bicycle trails, a prime swimming beach, cabins, and kayak rentals. We stayed another night and did plenty of walking the next day. I went to the beach in the afternoon for a refreshing swim and a shower afterward - an outdoor shower, but a shower nonetheless, which becomes a luxury when one’s boat has a 40-gallon water tank and does not spend every night in a marina.