Grounding in Matanzas

They say there are two types of sailors: Ones who have grounded, and ones who haven't grounded yet. Well, we have officially moved from the second group to the first. It happened just before lunch on Wednesday, May 4th. It was a dreary, cloudy, cold rainy day. We were approaching the Matanzas River Inlet just north of Rattlesnake Island. We had left Daytona Beach early that morning planning on reaching Saint Augustine by dinnertime. We even had a mooring ball reserved for us when we got there. We were headed north up the ICW at about six knots. There was a monohull ahead of us doing about the same speed. So we were essentially just following him.

For those of you unfamiliar with the ICW, it is sort of like a boat highway. It's a channel that is marked with red signs on the west side, and green signs on the east side. If you stay in the channel, you can be assured of a clear passage. Headed north, you would keep the green signs on your right and the red signs on your left. Now, it's not always signs. Sometimes there are red or green buoys instead of signs. The signs are generally spread out so you can see the next sign way ahead of you at about the time you clear the last sign. If there is a particular place that you need to be sure of a more precise route, the buoys will be there (closer together) so you can navigate safe passage. We always, always, always stay inside the signs/buoys.

As I said, we were following a monohull up ahead of us northward. Just as we were coming around the northwest side of Rattlesnake Island, the monohull suddenly turned about 90 degrees to the left. Then he spun 180 degrees and stopped. He was blocking the channel. He had gotten too close to the edge of the channel and grounded himself. Since he was blocking the channel, we couldn't see anything on the other side of him. We went past the next green buoy (on the inside), and then proceeded around him to the right. We could see the next green sign ahead of us on the other side of the inlet, so we pointed the boat that direction. Just as we cleared getting around the monohull, we realized there were two green smaller buoys on the other side of him. We had inadvertently left the channel! About the time we realized this, and started to turn back towards the channel, it was too late. We hit hard and completely grounded ourselves. No matter what we did, she wouldn't come off the bottom. The tide was going down and we were an hour and a half from low tide.

We knew we would simply have to wait until the tide came back up to float us free. The tide change in this spot is large. In the hour and a half we had left to low tide, the tide would drop at least another foot. We called TowBoatUS (of which we are members) to assist us when the tide came up in case we needed it. They agreed to see us in a few hours. In the meantime, we continued with our lunch and watched the monohull repeatedly ram his boat with his dinghy, trying to free it. He did eventually free his boat about thirty minutes before low tide. We also watched a whole pod of dolphins fishing right outside our boat. As the tide dropped, our boat settled backwards on the port side. So the starboard keel was stuck fast with the port side closer to the water. The interior was literally slanted as we walked around. The more the tide dropped, the more the boat settled and dropped her stern. We could see almost a foot of space between our starboard sugar scoop and the water. All we could do was wait.

As low tide came and went, we began to plan what direction to go to get off the ground. Google earth showed that we were in the middle of an arrow shaped area full of shoals. We could not go forward, or directly left or right. We would have to go backward to get into deeper water and then proceed back to the channel. As the tide raised to the level it was when we grounded, the tow boat showed up. Even his shallow boat couldn't get to us from the front, and he had to go around to the back to get to our boat. We had felt the boat lift on the port side as the tide came up and were again level. However, the starboard side wouldn't budge. We waited longer figuring the higher the tide, the easier time we would have to lift free. The tow boat finally decided he should go ahead and try to help us get off the ground. The water was high enough that we would easily float if we could just get unstuck.

It took more than we all thought it would to get us free. She was stuck really hard. Once free, we realized something was wrong. The starboard side engine would not engage in forward or reverse. When attempting to steer, she wouldn't respond correctly. The wheel had to be hard right in order to be neutral. There are two ways to control our boat: Steer her with the rudders, or use the two engines. We had neither. As we simply drifted, we were glad we had had the forethought to have the tow boat there. He tied lines to the front of her and towed her to Saint Augustine. It was not how we had planned our entrance. We called and found a boat yard that had a lift large enough to haul her out (turns out this is the ONLY place with a lift large enough). We also called and cancelled our mooring ball reservation.

The tow boat put us directly onto the dock and left us for the evening to sit and lick our wounds. That's what we did too. We went no where, said little, and let our imaginations run rampant with what kind of damage had been done. Fortunately, she was not taking on water. So whatever had been damaged, it hadn't compromised the hulls. We had already spent all of this year's funds on the other repairs, there wasn't anything left. We knew it would be an insurance claim, but the deductible was still fairly high. What were we going to do?

We slept poorly and were awakened at 7:30am the following day with the arrival of one of the boat yard's managers. Still in a sort of daze, we went into the office and filled out paperwork for the dockage along with discussions on costs for a haul out. The boat yard doesn't work directly with insurance companies. We would have to pay them directly and get a reimbursement from our insurance. Before work could start, 50% of the estimated repairs were due along with payment along the way.  With the haul out estimate in hand, we returned to our boat and called our insurance company. We filled out their claim form, sent it off,  and then simply sat, staring out the window. We had the same questions floating in our minds. How bad was the damage? We won't have the 50% up front to begin work. How much would the insurance front (if any at all) and how long would it take? What if the insurance won't pay all of the costs? We have no vehicle and we have no place else to stay. Again the question: What were we going to do?

Looking back on it, I guess we were both somewhat in shock. We had met several people on the dock already, and they had all said the same thing: "Matanzas gets everybody." That didn't make us feel any better, nor did it solve any of our problems. At some point, I finally snapped out of it. I realized that no matter what happens with the funds, she would have to be hauled out. Fees on the hard were cheaper than fees on the water. We had enough credit to haul her out and pay for a month on the hard. If no other decisions can be made immediately, at least lets make decisions that cost us the least. Staying on the boat on the hard would be difficult, but cheap. We would have to use the yard's facilities as we would not be able to use any water on the boat. We needed to get to a grocery store, but it was too far to walk. So we decided to rent a car for one day, enough to get groceries for a couple of weeks, so we could bide our time. I decided if we couldn't immediately make things better, at least lets not make them worse.

Castillo De San Marcos Draw Bridge

That evening we walked the mile to downtown. We saw the monohull that had grounded in front of us. He was tied to a mooring ball where we had planned to stay as well. It was really hard not to have bad thoughts about him. Technically it wasn't his fault, but had he not been in the way, we wouldn't have lost our way. We decided to stop thinking about it. It was in the past, and we must move forward. We had dinner and walked all over Castillo De San Marcos National Monument (a very old fort). Saint Augustine is the oldest city in the nation. We wandered around looking at all of the plaques and monuments. We decided that it wasn't a bad place to be stuck. At least we would have plenty of time to see the city. We arrived back at our boat after dark feeling much better. The boat yard really wasn't all that bad. There were several projects on our to do list that required the boat be out of the water to do. So this could be seen as an opportunity rather than a tragedy.

The tow boat arrived at 10am this morning to tow her to the haul-out slip. The wind was strong, along with the current. Without any kind of steerage, we could not control her at all. Fortunately, tow boats are used to this and knew what they were doing. All four of us (and boat cat Tiger) vacated the boat for them to strap her in and haul her out. We were anxious, all of us. But as we had told ourselves before, our imaginations on the damage were all we had to go on, it was time to really see what was wrong. Usually, your imagination is always worse than reality.

As soon as they had her in the air, we could tell one big problem. We had thought having no forward or reverse on the starboard engine meant all kinds of nasty things with the transmission or something. But it's hard to tell if there's anything wrong without any props. The prop on the starboard side was gone. No wonder she wouldn't go at all. The rudder on the starboard side is bent as well. There are lots of scratches and dings. We don't yet know the full damage, but I will say she looked a lot better on the bottom than we thought she would. They put her on blocks and provided us with actual steps to get onto her. We returned boat cat Tiger to his residence and proceeded to go get the rental car. We don't know how long we'll be here, but we're determined to make a good time of it anyway. We're already talking about the things we can do downtown, or how the kids can leave the boat and ride their bikes during the day. This will simply be another one of our adventures out of the many that will end up in our memories.

Bailing from New Smyrna to Daytona

We started the morning anchored in a quiet spot in Port Saint John, Florida. We were on the northeast side of the Addison bridge on Nasa Causeway. We had spent two nights there because we didn't really want to travel up the ICW on a Saturday. The idiots come out on the weekends, and finding an anchorage can be more difficult. So we enjoyed our Saturday in a nice quiet spot. We decided that we had wanted to travel all the way to Daytona Beach in one day rather than taking two days (as originally planned). So we got up bright and early Sunday morning, pulled up anchor, and headed north.

It was a beautiful day, sunny with a nice breeze. I sat reading in the salon, the kids continued schoolwork, and the captain sat up top in the cockpit driving us northward. After a few hours, we entered the southern area of New Smyrna Beach. It was really pretty (despite the hoards of fishing boats scattered about). We began to see dolphins. They were racing and playing in the wake of our boat. The kids and I all vacated our interior prone positions to relish in the sights of the sea life. Not long after the dolphins had dropped back, we began to see the manatees. The whole area is a manatee zone, so we were going fairly slow. The manatees were everywhere. We could see the swirl of water right before they would break the surface and show themselves. We even saw a whole family of them break the surface right next to us. We were fascinated, and having a great time. The captain even had to steer around one that popped up in front of the boat. As we exited New Smyrna Beach, the sea life went quiet, so the kids and I went back inside to continue our previous engagements.

I was enthralled in a book, as the kids did schoolwork, when our daughter dropped her pencil on the floor. As she reached down to pick it up, she exclaimed, "Mom, look!" I looked over and my eyes almost bulged out of my head. There was water everywhere! It appeared to just be bubbling up from the middle of the floor! There was at least four inches of water engulfing the floor of the galley, quickly on it's way to the salon! Several things then happened simultaneously. Our daughter yelled the water was flowing out from under the galley sink, I yelled to turn off the water pressure, and the bilge alarm finally sounded off as I yelled at the captain that we were flooding. Several thoughts went through my mind at once: the damn wakes from the power boaters have cracked us somewhere, a water tank has ruptured, what do I need to turn off to stop the water, which of the two freaking bilges is going off, and there is no way we are going to sink! Ensuring that the fresh water pressure pump was off, with my feet wet, I ran to the port hull to ensure the salt water pump was turned off as well. My mind warned me a fraction of second before I leapt, but I did it anyway. As my wet feet hit the hull floor, they slid right from under me. I landed hard on my rear and back. My daughter yelled at me to not hurt myself as the adrenaline pumping through my system jerked me off the floor and on to the salt water pump switch. I vaguely recalled thinking, "I'll pay for that later" as I began to lift the panels above the bilges to look for the source of water. Finding none, I grabbed a bucket and tore myself back up to the salon.

Not knowing what else to do, I began bailing water out to the cockpit drains (fortunately right outside the cockpit door, where the bulk of the water sat). My mind was racing as the captain looked down and asked, "Is it fresh water or salt water?" Without any hesitation, I cupped a bunch in my hand and tasted it. It was fresh water. I tasted it twice just to be sure! Interestingly, this actually made me feel much better. If it was fresh water, it would eventually stop as the fresh water tanks emptied. Had it been salt water....well, let's not go there. I handed the bucket to my daughter and told her to keep bailing. I yelled at our son to go and make sure it was the port bilge alarm I was hearing (versus the starboard one, or both for that matter).

I wrenched open the cabinet under the galley sink and started emptying it's contents onto the countertop. Everything on the bottom shelf was submerged. As I emptied the shelf, I saw the source of the problem. A cold water hose, that had been carelessly clamped by the previous owner, had popped off the main line. With the engines to the boat running, we had not heard the fresh water pump running, as it dumped fresh water out of the hose all under the cabinet. Once the cabinet bottom filled up, it then began spilling over onto the floor. It went through two more cabinets on it's way to the floor, so with every bottom cabinet I opened, I was greeted with a new four inch deep puddle of water. With the fresh water pump off, no more water was coming in, but there was still a heck of a lot of water to get out! As my daughter bailed the floor, I began bailing out from under the cabinets. Our son ran to get buckets and towels, helped empty the contents of the lower galley cabinets onto the table, and ran around checking for additional water.

It was all cleaned up ten minutes before the captain informed us to prepare to anchor. Once anchored, I stood looking at the contents of the galley spread out all over the table and counter. I left the doors to the cabinets open to ensure they would completely dry out. I had informed the captain of the problem prior to anchoring, so he immediately went and obtained tools to fix the hose. The kids and I started hanging towels and the cabinets carpets out on the lifelines to dry. Then we made dinner and sat around the contents of the galley enjoying our meal. We put everything back together, and took the opportunity to fix the leaking sinks while we were at it. It was midnight before we had finished our showers and crawled into our cabins to sleep.

As Bob Bitchin' says: "Attitude - The difference between an ordeal and an adventure." So, with that in mind, chalk this up to one of the many adventures that have occurred aboard Liliana. We look forward to the many more adventures yet to come (let's just hope future adventures involve less bailing). 😉


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