Daytona, Cocoa, Dragon Point - heading to Vero

We had a good push from the current most of the day heading to Daytona. Sometimes the plan works and sometimes it doesn't. This plan did. We had a good day on the water, some wind but not bad. FFF even had their sail up and made great time.

Matanzas Fort

The fort from the ICW side.

Dolphin playing in our wake!

Beautiful

 

Our friends, Jim and Pam on Silent Faith, live in one of these canals. We called, but they were not here. Maybe next time!

We got to Daytona at 2pm. We traveled a little over 7 hours and went about 47nm at 6.4 kts. That's a long day but that's what you have to do since there are not many good anchorages north of where we are.

Shay always looks  for this boat. It getting sadder looking every year.

And then you make a hard left!

FFF at anchor in Daytona

We followed FFF into the anchorage since we'd never been there before and it looked like it could be tricky. As you can see from the pictures of the anchorage, you have to make a sharp 90 degree turn just after the bridge, line up with the markers behind. Then as you get close to land make another sharp 90 degree turn into the anchorage. We anchored between the crabpot floats and had a good night.

We plan on anchoring at Titusville tonight. We left the anchorage at about 7am. FFF had their sail up again and actually turned off the motor for a while. Sailors really like it when they can turn off the motor and sail for free. They were doing so good they decided we'd pass by Titusville and go on to Cocoa. It's a good thing we did, the wind is supposed to pick up tonight and we noticed the anchorage is very open to wind.

The caravan leaving Daytona!

Yes, stinky Bird Island is still there!

We passed by Rockhouse Creek anchorage. One of my favorites! Wish you were here Margaret!

FFF knew they could have a problem with the Addison Point Bridge. They were having a marathon and the bridge was closed from 7:30 until 3:00. So they calculated how slow they would need to go and set off. The bridge was tall enough for us to go thru without raising, so we just went along as usual. But that meant we were going slower than the sailboats, so we kept getting passed until we were at the end of the line. We also had some fast boats rock us as they went by.

The caravan passing thru George E Musson Bridge at New Smyrna Beach.



 Live shrimp and cold beer. What more could you want?

There are all different kinds of homes along the ICW. This...

...And this.

This is us passing thru the Haulover Canal.

Fishing at the entrance to the canal.

 

We got to the bridge at 2:30 and passed by all the sailboats that had passed us earlier. Shay thought about going on the radio and asking them if they had heard of the tortoise and the hare. But we knew they would be passing us again after the bridge, so we just kept our mouth shut. When the bridge finally opened it took about 15 minutes for all the boats to get thru. David said it was a madhouse. We hear one boat say it had been there since 8:30 that morning. Not good planning on their part. The fast boats wanted to go thru first and the sailboats were ok with that, at least they wouldn't get rocked as they passed them.

Power plant

Pretty, but not for us.

 We got to the anchorage at Cocoa about 4:30. we had traveled almost 10 hours and went about 60nm. at 6.1kts. That another long day and we were tired. But glad to get to Cocoa. FFF had already planned to eat lunch the next day at Thai Thai. They eat there everytime  they are in Cocoa. If they can fit it in they will eat there the next day and then maybe move a little farther south.

This picture shows the Canaveral/Barge Canal. As you see this goes all the way to the ocean. We've not used it because it's a 10 mile trip from the beach to the ICW and you have to pass thru a lock.

Our trip

We ate there this spring and did not like it, but people kept telling us how good it was, so we decided to give it another try. Salty Turtle came into Cocoa to anchor and came over to our boat for a visit. We had not seen them since they left Morehead City and were glad to catch up. They were going to Thai Thai so we said we'd see them in town.

Today is David and Emma's 24th anniversary, so it was a great time to eat at one of their favorite restaurants. We met Vic and Gigi from Salty Turtle and ate with them. David recommended mango curry chicken so that's what I ordered. Neither Shay or I could remember what we ordered last time so I was worried. The last time we were here we said we would not come back. But here we are. And I'm glad we did! I loved my dish. It was just spicy enough and I made a "happy plate"! Shay got chicken stir fry and his was "ok".

After we ate we walked around the town and went window shopping. Cocoa is a great place to stop. It has a great old fashion hardware store that claims to be the biggest on the east coast. It does take up server buildings and has all kinds of stuff-old and new. We ended our excursion with ice cream, as requested by FFF and then had a wet dingy ride back to our boats. The wind is getting up and we were heading into in, so we got splashed.

We checked the weather and the wind is supposed to get blustery tomorrow, so we will move to another more protected anchorage in the morning.

Up and leaving the anchorage at a little after 7. We knew a lot of boats would be looking for protection from the wind so we decided to travel faster than we had been, so we could get to the anchorage sooner. We traveled 2.5 hours, went about 16nm and averaged 6.2 kts. We went in at Dragon Point and went up the Banana River past the low bridge and anchored about 9:45. We have never been here before and its a great place, as you can see from the pictures. We had lots of dolphins greeting us as we dropped anchor. We could hear them blowing out air, but I was busy and couldn't take pictures!

The remains of the dragon

The remains of a house.

"The Castle".

This place got its name for a dragon sculpture that is at the entrance. You can see what's left. We have heard rumors that another one is in the works. That would be great!

This is a beautiful anchorage. The blustery wind got up to 27kts sometimes, but we were well protected here.

Heading into our anchorage

Our welcoming committee!

Salty Turtle

Five Flop Flips

 

 

Our trip

I got a text from a friend and found out we were anchored just a few minutes from her house. Shay called her and got a recommendation for a restaurant that all three boats when to that night. We would have loved to visit longer with Yvette and family. Congratulations Cameron on getting inducted into the National Honor Society! And thanks for the recommendation for Doubles. The Havana salad was great! Hope we can spend some more time with you next time.

We really enjoyed this place. We will be back!

 We had an early morning shower and rainbow. Look what we found at the end of the rainbow!

We've checked the weather and rain may be heading our way tomorrow. So we decided we'd get an early start and head on the Vero. Gosh, when we get there we will be stationary for a while. That's where we plan to stay until after Christmas.

We pulled up our anchor and started about 6:30. The sunrise was beautiful, as you can see in the pictures.

Pirate ship along the way.

We knew the weather was calling for rain and it looked like it on and off all day. So we decided to try and get to Vero before the rain and before all the other boats got there and got all the mooring balls. So we punched it and off we went.

 

We saw lots of pretty houses and lots of pretty beaches along the way. Not sure why someone would "park" their boat like the last two pictures?

 

We kept seeing rain off in the distance but were lucky and didn't have any. FFF had told us to let them know when we got rain, so they would have time to put on their rain gear. They are not as enclosed as we are.

 

We got to Vero at 12:45, traveled 505 hours at an average of 6.4kts, and went almost 35nm. We went to the dock to fill up with water and had to wait a while for them to find us a mooring.

 

 This picture shows our trip. 

 

We are lucky, we have one to ourselves for the time being. They told us to expect to "raft up". That means we will probably have another boat tied up to us. We have been fortunate in the past, no rafting. Hope we can continue this year.