Georgiana, Indian River, Florida

 A beautiful sunrise that was very welcome after a long night.

                              

                                    

Last night was a series of challenges.  Just before pulling into our anchorage at Rockhouse Creek, the port engine alarm went off.  Paul (thankfully he was at the helm) immediately looked, saw no oil pressure and shut off the motor.  I stepped in to drive while he ran inside to check the engine.  Oil was everywhere! 

We continued the short distance with one motor and dropped our anchor just as the other engine alarmed.  We set the anchor and Paul began the task of diagnosing the problem. 

However, we drifted onto a shoal shortly after and became mired in the sand.  We were almost at total low tide and unable to pull ourselves off the shoal. 

Our plan – to wait for the tide to rise and reposition ourselves.  Meanwhile Paul would diagnose and hopefully fix the engine problems.  I cooked dinner.  By the time dinner was ready, Paul had fixed the port side engine ( the pipe for the oil pressure sensor had cracked and emptied the oil from the engine,  and thankfully Paul had a spare).  The starboard engine was a quicker fix after dinner.  Neither engine could be tested though since we were still in the sand.

At midnight the anchor alarm sounded.  We were off the shoal!  Now we just had to reposition.  A monohull had set anchor behind us, the moon was behind clouds and the shoal was dead center in the creek.  The engines worked perfectly and on our third attempt to set a new anchor closer to the shore (and far enough from our neighbor) we managed a good hold.  I volunteered to stay awake until sunrise and monitor the situation while Paul and Ximena slept a few hours. 

An early start gave us a good head start to the day.  While I napped intermittently, Paul drove and took photos.  

We anchored for the night just south of Cocoa Beach on Indian River.  

The plan - to start early and head for Vero Beach or Fort Pierce and find a transient slip so our engine can be assessed.  Although the engine is running, there may be internal damage.  

For now, we are tired and headed for some serious sleep.  We are in a good spot with the anchor alarm set and are confident in our choice of spots for the night.