May 1, 2020 - May 4, 2020
We left the marina at 8:45 on Friday morning with a boat neighbor’s help with our dock lines. It was smooth going with light winds, sunny skies, and a cool breeze. We made it to Coconut Bay (28 miles away) by 1:00pm and anchored. We waited until stopping to have lunch which consisted of reheated left over pizza from Geogios in Vero Beach. What a treat! I’ve got to figure out what cheeses they use on their pizza. Whatever it is, it is a delicious combination.
Rising early we weighed anchor by 7:00 am. It was a chilly morning with a temperature of 59 degrees. It was the first time we had our fleece jackets out in a very long time. We motored into the wind for a little over 50 miles on the Indian River and anchored for the night at Titusville. Except for the chill it was an easy day with no bridge holdups or groundings. The scenery along the sides went from grand houses to scruffy pines and palm trees. Traveling on a river is much more interesting than crossing the ocean since there is so much more to see. Bob brushed off his grilling skills and cooked some delicious pork chops for dinner. One of the advantages of anchoring out is being able to use the grill.
On Sunday we traveled from Titusville to Daytona Beach which is a very busy and crowded section of the ICW. Jet skis and small boats buzzed around us like wasps. Both big and small fishing boats were out everywhere especially in the Hauloverer Canal and Mosquito Lagoon. It was a tiring and frustrating day with all the boat traffic. No one seemed to be taking any precautions for the coronavirus either. Something tells me there will be another surge of infections in a couple of weeks, but I hope not.
On Monday we set out early once again. Our plan was to anchor North of St. Augustine, but after traveling many miles decided to go the easy route and take a mooring ball in St. Augustine after re fueling, filling the water tanks, and buying ice. I hailed our friends, Judy and Stephen on s/v Bantana (they wintered in St. Augustine) once we settled in. Low and behold it was Stephen’s birthday and we were invited to take part in a surprise dingy parade to help him celebrate. Unfortunately, our dinghy was not ready for use so we couldn’t participate, but it was good to hear our friend’s voices once again. Now that we are back in the states we can keep in touch with them. One interesting occurrence today was the loss of my "Rainy Days" hat. A few miles after the loss a boat full of young people pulled alongside and said they had retrieved my hat and wanted to return it . I stuck the boat hook out and one of the guys put the hat on the hook. I was so excited about getting the hat back. This is the second time the hat has gone into the water and been retrieved. It must have nine lives like a cat!!!!!
Sorry, no pictures this time. I’ll try to do better with my next blog.
Thank you for reading my blog.
