3-21 thru 3-25
This was Vero Beach the morning we left.
On March 21st we headed to Cocoa. We anchored near the Cocoa Bridge with Bob and Nancy on “Rachel J”. We met Bob and Nancy at Vero Beach. Back in Vero Beach, Bob gave us a dinghy ride to the dock, while the glue was drying on our dinghy’s patch. They invited us over to their boat. Before we left, Shay changed a fuel filter on the generator. There’s always something to do or fix on a boat. We took our snack and drink and Bob picked us up in his dinghy. He had towed his dinghy behind his boat today, so it was easier for him to come and get us than for us to get our dingy down and then put it back up. They have a beautiful custom built boat that they purchased from a friend. We enjoyed spending time with them.
The “Rachel J”
We are learning that visiting other boats for “cocktail” hour is a fun thing to do. You take you drink of choice, a snack, and get to know each other. Most boaters love to show off their boat and share their experiences and knowledge. We have learned a lot from other boaters, in the short time we have been on the boat. We are definitely new to this and need all the help we can get. Remember we have met some people that have been boating for 50 years and we have only lived on a boat for about 2 months now. Maybe some day we can pass on some knowledge to others. Well, I take that back. Shay knows a lot about a lot of stuff. Maybe not all he needs to know about boating yet, but he knows lots of other stuff. He has already been helping people we have met. He’s given advice about electronic stuff, TV stuff, and navigation software.
We had a quiet night at a pretty anchorage in Cocoa.
We passed by a large commercial boat that was grounded. It is at least 3 feet out of the water. We’re not sure how long it’s been there and don’t have any idea how they will get it out.
We left the next morning and headed to our next anchorage. Instead of going all the way to Daytona, we decided to stop at Rockhouse Creek. This meant that we could get into Daytona early the next day and have more time to explore. “Rachel J” decided to make the long trip to Daytona.
We saw lots of dolphins on the way. Every time Shay tells me he sees dolphin heading toward us, I grab my camera and start taking pictures. You’d think as many as we’ve seen that I would have a fantastic picture of one jumping out of the water. Well I don’t have that one yet, but I’m still hoping for it. I know there’s a picture of a dolphin jumping out of the water on the Gulf crossing, but I wasn’t there so it’s not the same. Shay saw an alligator sunning on the bank in the Haulout Canal. I snapped a picture, but didn’t get it.
We had an early dinner and took a nap on the fly bridge. Hey, we’re retired; we can do that kind of stuff now. Heaven knows we haven’t had time to do that much since we’ve moved onto the boat. We are anchored with Don and Cathy on “Crossroads”, you can see their boat behind us in this picture.
A beautiful island we passed. Wouldn’t this be a great place to be
shipwrecked?
We pulled into the Daytona Yacht Club the next afternoon. Yes, yacht club. We are a member of a yacht club thru our membership in MTOA, Marina Trawler Owners Association. This allows us to get great deals in some other yacht clubs. This one allows you to dock for free for 1 day. Yes, free. We only had to pay $10.00 for power. That’s just my price. This is a really nice place with a pool, hot tub, gourmet restaurant, and fitness room, in addition to the usual amenities. We walked round town then back to the boat. Later, we ate a delicious dinner at Caribbean Jacks then back to the boat and a quiet night at the dock.
We saw a dock box that I’m sure Lauren would love.
Daytona lights
Daytona skyline
The next morning we left for St. Augustine. There was a lot of current near Matanzas Inlet. We saw the remains of the old Matanzas Fort.
This must be “Bird Island”.
This flag shows how hard the wind is blowing.
When the wind blows, sailboats sail. They don’t always sail, in fact we have seen very few sailing since we have started our trip. Most of the time they motor, like we do.
We thought we were going to be attacked by pirates going into St. Augustine. Thank goodness we were able to avoid them.
St. Augustine Lighthouse
We got to St. Augustine and settled at a mooring ball. This was easy. The pennant was on top of the mooring ball, not wet or dirty like some are. The wind was blowing hard but we did ok.
The next morning Shay met our friend Bob at the dock and brought him back to see the boat. He really liked the boat and had nice things to say about our choice. We went back to the dock and walked around town and then Shay and I ate lunch. Shay had asked another boater for a good place to eat and he told us about a Cuban restaurant that had been featured on PBS television. We enjoyed our meal and decided this was a good suggestion. I tried some hot sauce made from the St. Augustine datin pepper. It was great.
St. Augustine is a beautiful old town, with many historical buildings. This is a perfect town to spend time walking around in. There are small alleys that are full of different kinds of shops—restaurant, clothing, hot sauce, and others. Yes, I said hot sauce. We tried a lot of different hot sauces, barbeque sauces, and salsas. I didn’t find the one I had tried at the restaurant, but we tried some really good stuff. We had dinner with Bob and Linda at Pizza Alley. They had great pasta dishes and we all enjoyed our meal. We walked back to the marina and told Bob and Linda bye. We will miss our friends. Then we took the dinghy back to the boat then had to raise the dinghy to the top of the sundeck, where it rides, tie it down and cover it up so we will be ready to leave tomorrow morning.
Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine
We are going to Cumberland Island tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment