NORTH TO JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL

Trip Day:          12           Latitude:            30°17.39' N                                 Locks Today:    0

Miles Today:    30           Longitude:       081°25.88' W                            Locks Total:     6

Total Miles:    465           Location:           Jacksonville Beach , FL    

Headed out in our trusted dinghy to have breakfast at Athena’s Café on the square.  This is the view of the boat on the mooring as we returned. 






This area of ICW has greater tidal change than our West Coast—last night there was a drop of 6’ in water depth at tidal change.

Checking tide tables is essential.

Our kind of dock - GATOR flags flying!

After a couple of hours the winds allowed us to motor-sail.  We flew the mainsail and the screecher and had a smooth run for a couple of hours.  This area of the ICW, along the    Tolomato River, is undeveloped marsh lands with a deep channel.  There were plenty of    fishermen on small boats along the shores.  . .  .speaking of   fishing, Ron has yet to provide a fish for dinner.

Tonight the boat is resting in the  Palm Cove Marina (MM 748) in Jacksonville Beach—748 miles from Norfolk, VA which is mile marker 0 on the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway.  We are accepting an offer of hospitality to stay ashore at Pam and Dave's home - Pam is Kathy H's sister - who live on the ICW in Ponte Vedra.  We will enjoy dinner with Kathy, Ken, Pam and Dave while we gain our land legs.

                                                  *   *    *   BIRDS OF THE DAY *   *   *

US ARMY BIRDS OF PREY             

TRAVELING BACK IN TIME AS WE MOVE FORWARD

Trip Day:          11         Latitude: 29°53.79' N                            Locks Today: 0
Miles Today:    53         Longitude: 081°18.63' W                      Locks Total: 6
Total Miles:    435         Location: St. Augustine, FL

We witnessed an amazing sunset last night and a beautiful sunrise this morning as we lifted anchor and got underway.

OSPREY WITH HIS PREY

We lifted anchor and left our cozy spot with light winds and glass calm water to head north.   Passing through Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve was a touch of original Florida with ample bird and water life scenes. 

Entering St. Augustine through The Bridge of Lions

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States.  It was first settled in 1565 as a Spanish military outpost.

 

GATES TO OLD TOWN

VIEW OF CASTILLO DE SAN MARCOS FROM OUR MOORING

BIKER WEEK - DAYTONA!

Trip Day:          10        Latitude:            29°11.71' N               Locks Today:    0

Miles Today:    47        Longitude:     081°00.20' W             Locks Total:      6

Total Miles:    382        Location:           Daytona, FL         

  

Last night we were Skyped by Ron, Dee, Maren, Addisyn and Cash—awesome technology !

 

What a pleasant stay we had at Titusville Municipal Marina!  It’s very clean and run by knowledgeable and friendly people.  There were resident manatees who visited boats and begged for a drink of fresh water.

 

Our early morning travels took us along a section of the ICW which is a wildlife preserve where the white pelicans, herons and egrets are thriving.  One pink flamingo was sighted.

 

The Haulover Canal Bridge passed us into the Mosquito Lagoon which was a beautiful stretch of totally undeveloped waterway with mangroves, cabbage palms and scrub on both sides.  This area has not been touched for generations and it is lovely.  It is a shallow area with lots of  grass beds and many small fishing boats were in search of redfish and trout this morning.    

The catamaran we have been traveling with took the channel into New Smyrna Beach while we continued north on the ICW.  It was an honor meeting Rich and George on their Island Packet Cat “Gari”.  George is a retired Annapolis Navy man and Rich is a charter boat captain who professes to be a boat bum, but has given us much guidance and information about what lies ahead on the East Coast.  Hopefully our paths will cross again in the Chesapeake Bay area.

HAULOVER CANAL BRIDGE SENTINEL

PONCE INLET LIGHTHOUSE

Our anchorage tonight is at  Daytona Beach which has 23 miles of beautiful beaches.  Auto  racing has been connected to Daytona Beach since the early 1900s when Louis Chevrolet and Henry Ford used the hard-packed sand to run their cars.  

JEAN RELAXING

HAVE YOU NOTICED? .  .  .

There has been a definite avian presence in each of the daily logs. So, we need a saying,

" A bird a day _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ". 

Captain Ron has promised a prize for the best completion of this saying. Send your replies. Contest Rules: No limit to entries, judge's decisions are final but bribes are accepted. Must have a minimum of three entries or contest will be null and void.

NASA KENNEDY SPACE CENTER TOUR

Trip Day:            9        Latitude:            28°37.21' N             Locks Today:    0

Miles Today:      0        Longitude:     080°48.59' W              Locks Total:      6

Total Miles:    335        Location:          Titusville, FL

News of the Day:  Happy Birthday Alicia!!! Also holding my mother, Clara, in my thoughts - today would have been her birthday.
  

Today was a wonderful day playing tourist at the NASA Kennedy Space Center. The IMAX movies were amazing on the Hubble Telescope and the International Space Station.  We enjoyed this tour so much that we want to come back in a year with all our grandchildren!

Little known fact .  .  .Ron was a co-op student while at The University of Florida working with Boeing in New Orleans building the first stage of the Saturn V Rocket.  He created a software program in Fortran that was a thermal analysis of the first stage after ignition of the second stage rockets.  This was an evaluation of the feasibility of reusing the first stage. 

We are back on the boat - movie and popcorn tonight!  Have a good evening and a big "thank you" to all who are traveling with us through this blog! 

BEST WEATHER YET - TO TITUSVILLE

Trip Day:            8         Latitude:           28°37.21' N            Locks Today:   0

Miles Today:     47        Longitude:     080°48.59' W             Locks Total:     6

Total Miles:    335        Location:          Titusville, FL


We awakened to partly cloudy skies and winds of 15 knots with a forecast of sunny skies and diminishing winds.  We lifted anchor, along with the other two sailboats sheltered in the lee of our little spoil island, and headed North.

Great sailing conditions today so we had full sails flying and made great speed, passing the towns of Melbourne and Cocoa on the Indian River.  We arrived at Titusville Municipal Marina early afternoon giving us time to wash clothes, scrub the deck and walk to the grocery store. 

  Today was our first experience of boat camaraderie. The catamaran we have been traveling with for the past four days also arrived at the marina.  While Jean did laundry, Ron took a six pack of beverages to greet them (the first time we have met them face to face).  Ron explained that we planned to visit NASA Kennedy Space Center, and they replied that they also wanted to do the tour.  An hour later, Rich came to our boat saying he had found another sailing couple to join us and he made arrangements for a van to pick up the six of us and return us at the end of the day.  So, tomorrow’s plans are all set!

In the meantime, Jean met a retired Newark harbor pilot (who sounded just like Art), who was a wealth of information.  He later came aboard to give us two books on the Hudson River and Long Island Sound, and Delaware Bay.  We exchanged boat cards and he invited us to call when we arrive in "Joisey".

A DRIZZLY, DREARY DAY DELAYED OUR DESTINATION

Trip Day:            7          Latitude:           27°59.31' N                    Locks Today:   0

Miles Today:     27         Longitude:      080°32.71' W                   Locks Total:   6

Total Miles:    288          Location:        Melbourne     

We had Sunday morning pancakes, then weighed anchor at 8:00 EDT in light easterly winds and grey skies.  The weather forecast was for scattered showers and 20 knot winds, but we decided to make a run for it knowing we might have to stop early due to bad weather.

GREY, BUT GLASS CALM

By noon the visibility had decreased to the point we could not sight the markers—it was time to stop.  We anchored behind a small spoil island along with two other sailboats, campers on the island, a family of porpoise, and a flock of pelicans. We’re counting today as 1/2 travel and 1/2 weather.

NORTH ON THE ICW - ADJUSTING LATITUDES UPWARD

Trip Day:             6     Latitude:         27°39.81' N          Locks Today:     0        Miles Today:      41    Longitude:   080°22.43' W           Locks Total:      6 Total Miles:      261    Location:       Vero Beach

Got underway early and had a pleasant 45 minutes.  .   .Jean was at the helm and quietly said “I think we have a problem” as she throttled back the engine.  The engine temperature was hot, not bad enough to smell hot yet , but enough to know there was an issue.  For the next three hours Captain Ron  became Super Mechanic Ron and his sidekick was on the Westerbeke website.  Long story short, our hero cleared a wad of Okeechobee grass (reputedly good stuff) from the seawater intake hose. 

  

Even the St. Lucie River has succumbed to the McMansion madness, but they have a healthy youth sailing program based on this morning’s pram fleet.  

It was raining too hard to take advantage of this unusual opportunity on the ICW!

Vero Beach, FL was first settled in the mid 1800s and Flagler built his railroad in the late 1890s allowing local fishermen and farmers to get their products north to the East Coast.   Most of the Indian River citrus crop is still processed in Vero Beach before being shipped around the country.  It is a boaters favorite and  today the locals have nicknamed it “Velcro Beach” because so many cruisers never leave the area. 

OUR VIEW FROM OUR ANCHORAGE IN VERO BEACH

Not to worry - I have chicken thawed!