Leg 34 - Eau Gallie East Anchorage
We were up to a sunny day and the beginning of our return to the north. Today’s weather was partly sunny, winds from the east south east and temperatures in the high 70’s to low 80’s. I topped off the water tanks and hosed down the decks to spruce her up for our trip. In the meantime I met someone from Harrisburg PA who stopped and chatted with me. They are returning north as well and are looking for a new marina. Of course I recommended Parkside – we can always use more sail boaters. We shoved off and headed to the fuel dock for a quick pump out. Then out into the wild ICW. And boy was it wild. Since the weather was nice and it was a weekend the powerboaters were out in full force. Unfortunately they don’t slow down as they pass (either direction) and the wakes from the larger craft bounce us all around. Only and handful of people would slow down so it was a very bumpy ride for most of the day. The wind was mostly from the east which allowed me to raise both the jib and the main and motor sail all day long. Since the wind was very inconsistent so we kept the motor running. There were times when the wind would drop to less than 4 knots but mostly it was 10-15 so we were moving along between 7 and 8 knots with the engine running at 2400 RPM. Because we were moving along so well we reached our initial desired anchorage in mid afternoon so we kept on going and finally ended up north of the Melbourne anchorage we were going to go to on the way down. In total, we actually traveled 46 miles today. By going this far, tomorrow’s day will be shorter as we plan to return to Titusville, but this time stay on one of the mooring balls. Then the next day, Monday, we will attempt to get to New Smyrna. Well we arrived at our anchorage and the anchor windlass worked just fine. Then we returned to the cockpit for drinks and cocktails before dinner. Finally dinner was grilled pork chop for me and grilled shrimp for Sue along with corn, brown rice and a nice salad. We sat and watched the sun retreat on the western front and the moon blast out of the east all full in it’s own glory. I think I read that this was a ‘pink’ moon. That’s all I know. Since it is a bit warm down below (78 degrees) we will sit in the cockpit before turning in. Oh, also, I wanted to say that the other day Grace treated Sue and I to the Navy UDT and Seal museum in Fort Pierce. Wow, what a wonderful museum to visit – thank you Grace.
Leg 35 - Titusville
Well, Happy Easter. It was a calm night. Not too warm but really not very cool either making sleeping a bit challenging. We awoke early and started the coffee. We were planning on bacon and eggs for breakfast but decided to just have something we didn’t have to heat up the galley anymore that it was already warm. Katie called and we chatted for a while enjoying catching up since we last saw her in the Grand Canyon. Then I decided to take a swim in the 81 degree water. It was very refreshing and cooled me down. We recovered the anchor with no issues and we were on our way back up the ICW. The winds were too light to deploy the sails until early afternoon so we just motored around 6 knots. The traffic on the water was much less today than yesterday. Maybe everyone was in church. I finalized our new plans yesterday and this morning I confirmed our reservations in the marinas along the way. I contacted Titusville and we decided on a mooring ball versus going back into the marina. While it is cheaper it allows us to grill for dinner. Most of the stops in FL will be in a marina as there really aren’t many great anchorages along the way. So we arrived at the mooring field and Sue took the wheel and I went forward, armed with the new boat hook (remember, I lost one while trying to haul in the anchor by hand). The first attempt didn’t go very well so we decided to try a different one. We were going into 15 knot winds that were blowing about so that made it rather difficult but Sue finally got me to the ball and I held onto it (two other tries I couldn’t hold it). We then tied up two lines and went back to the cockpit to relax and enjoy the wind. Temperatures were in the high 80’s but the breeze felt good. I took another swim to cool down and then showered quickly to wash off the salt water while Sue got drinks and appetizers together. Tonight we are having grilled chicken and leftover vegetables along with another fresh salad. Early to bed to get ready for tomorrow. We plan to get to New Smyrna and stay in port for 2 days. Everyone says it is a nice town so we will go explore. After New Smyrna we will be at Hammock Beach marina, 2 days in St Augustine, Sisters Creek Anchorage and then Fernandina Harbor marina. That’s all that is planned so far.
Leg 36 - New Smyrna
Overnight the winds shifted and the storms that were providing a great show most of the evening now headed towards us. Sue was awoken to a flash of lightening and got up to rain coming in the center hatch. She closed the hatch and cleaned up the watery mess all the while I slept. I never heard a thing. Later in the evening/morning she was up and reopened the window so when I got up I was just wondering where the rug went. Oh well. Breakfast was a quick cereal again as we wanted to get underway and going before it got too hot. It was a simple task to deploy from the mooring ball and we were quickly back on the ICW heading north. We went through the Haulover Canal bridge where Sue finally saw a manatee munching on some grass on the edge of the water. After that we raised the jib and started going north with a WNW wind of 6-10 knots with temperatures in the low 80’s and overcast skies. Thank goodness for the overcast skies or it would have been much hotter. We arrived in New Smyrna after almost 5 hours traveling to the very nice New Smyrna City Docks. We were placed in the floating docks and it was an easy back in to the slip where we could watch the activity in the small port town. After settling in we quickly focused on defrosting the freezer. With that job completed there were a few cleaning activities to complete before we could really relax. We need to do a few a day to keep up with our housekeeping. We decided to head out to dinner at the restaurant at the point on the water. After dinner on the way back to the boat we watched some fishermen fillet their catch of the day. They would throw the scraps into the water to the waiting beaks of some Brown Pelicans, Great Egrets, and Snowy Egrets. Out by our docks there was a Hammock with over a hundred birds roosting – or fighting for a good place to spend the night. It looked like a decorated Christmas tree. Then back to The Office to relax and head to bed. Tomorrow we shall check out the town – especially since the dew point should be much lower as should the temperature.