Cocoa to St. Augustine

April 1, 2012

We left Cocoa about 7 am. We had a peaceful night there except when I woke Shay up when I heard a noise. He asked where the noise came from and I told him I didn’t know. He asked from inside the boat, outside the boat, or on the deck. I thought it was behind the boat, but we didn’t see anything. I guess I heard a loud noise from the bridge and thought it was closer.

We had good conditions with light breeze and calm water. We are talking about going out tomorrow, but haven’t made a decision if we will go or how far we will go. We need to check the weather forecast closer.

We keep marking our charts with possible anchorages we see. You can never have too many choices. You never know if the one you have picked out will be full and you might have to go somewhere else

  

An eagle on marker

Construction of a power plant along the waterway

A deserted island along the way

I was ready for Haulout Canal this time. Last year on the way north, Shay saw an alligator. I didn’t see the gator, but I took pictures anyway. No luck, all I had was the bank with logs on it. So this year I was ready, on the front deck with my camera ready. And nothing… well there’s always next time.



The big NASA building. You can see it for miles and miles and miles.



More NASA stuff.



Unusual boat



Another unusual boat

We say lots of manatee in the Indian River North. Shay said he saw at least 4 or 5 at one time. Sometimes it’s hard to tell how many you see, since they are so big and slow. We were also surrounded by butterflies. Swarms of white butterflies kept flying round the boat for miles and miles. I told Lauren they must think we are a big mother butterfly and want to get close to us.

We got to Rockhouse Creek at 2:30. I love this place; I think it is so pretty. I wish we had time to dinghy around and explore. Well, maybe next time. We had an early dinner of mac and cheese, green peas, and bourbon and brown sugar glazed ham cooked on the grill. It was delicious.

During the night the wind got still and we got no see'ums. If you don’t know what they are, they are tiny, tiny insects with big bites. They hurt. So we turned on our fans and covered up and went back to sleep.

We got up earlier this morning, so we could get moving earlier. We checked the weather and realized that St. Augustine would have thunderstorm about the time we tried to moor. So… we decide to stay here another day. It’s a beautiful place and we are going exploring in the dink. We took the handheld depth sounder and took readings of the area for future anchoring. We rode out toward the inlet and had a fast bumpy ride. We rode down the channel toward New Smyrna and then back to our anchorage.


Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse



It’s filling up. When we got here yesterday there was only one other boat and it was far down the creek. Now there are over 15 and some are close to us. There are 2 groups that have 3 boats rafted together. That makes us nervous, since it’s usually only 1 anchor holding all the boats. Shay said that was probably best, cause if they put out 2 anchors they might get twisted and then unset. We had some people drop anchor and then move several times, trying to find a “sweet spot” to keep them safe.
 

Too many boats in Rockhouse Creek

Beautiful sunset in Rockhouse Creed

 
 We have had a cloudy stormy looking afternoon. We have only had sprinkles of rain but some very dark clouds have passed over. Remember this is why we stayed here today, to miss mooring in the storm. Shay said if he had known it was not going to be any worse than this, we would have gone on to St. Augustine. We just have to listen to the weather forecast and rely on what they tell us and sometimes they get it right and sometimes they don’t.

We left Rockhouse Creek at 6:45 am. That’s the earliest we’ve left in a while. We headed north on the ICW. We had calm winds and water. I went down to fix lunch and felt the boat slow down. I looked out and saw a bridge and thought we were slowing down for that. When I came upstairs Shay asked if I felt the boat slow down. I told him yes and I thought it was for the bridge. He said no it was for “manatee sex”. I asked what that was and he said there were 2 manatees all cuddled up and he had to wait for them to submerge. So I’m not sure if it was “manatee sex” or “manatee stupid” since they are not known for there brains.

Beautiful sunrise as we left Rockhouse Creek

We went by some beautiful scenery, with lovely homes and pretty walking trails and parks. It looked like a great place to walk and watch the boats go by. We went by another Voyager 44, just like Ken and Margaret’s. It made me miss them all over again.




Please take care of me

If you live in St. Augustine and have a boat, this is where you spend your weekend.

If you live in St. Augustine and don't have a boat, this is where you spend your weekends.

Bridge "boo-boo"

 

Bridge of Lions at St. Augustine



We heard John and Connie on Riverdance calling a bridge on the VHF radio. We talked to them and found out they were heading to St. Augustine also. We told them we had thought about going outside to Port Royal Sound and asked if they wanted to “buddy boat” with us. They talked about it and decided they’d like to go even further ---all the way to Charleston. We got anchored near the inlet at St. Augustine and studied the weather and charts and decided to head out to Charleston in the morning. We will keep and eye on the weather and if needed we’ll come in earlier. I fixed up some snacks to eat on the trip---crackers, cheese, carrots, and peanut butter. Sounds strange but we don’t want anything too rich or greasy.

We have got everything ready for tomorrow so good-night

  

Sunset in St. Augustine Inlet