Vero Beach

Our trip today won't be so long, since we traveled so far yesterday. We left the anchorage about 7 this morning. We figure it will take us about 5 hours to get to Vero.

More sailing sailboats. Don't see this much on the ICW, but we saw several today.

 

Big barge. The tall poles are used to anchor. When he gets to where he wants to stop, he just drops them down into the bottom and he stays put.

We know they are having boats raft together on mooring balls and we have planned to raft with Rocking B.We have several friends already at Vero so we arranged to have people on Rocking B so they could help handle the lines.

We called about an hour before we expected to get there and they were out shopping. So, we slowed down to give them time to get back to the marina to help us. Vero has a great free bus service and its great for us boaters, but today it was running a little late, so we slowed down even more.

Shay had put on fenders and lines so all I had to do was hand off to Gigi, Vic, and Earl. They made the process so easy. It's not easy to go up to a boat and get lines tied to it without getting on it. And I don't jump from one boat to another, so thanks guys!

 

Yeah, we are next to the ballfield and the dog park.

Our trip

We left Morehead City on October 31 and today is November 20 so we have been traveling about 3 weeks. We usually take about a month to do this trip. Why were we in such a hurry? Anyway... We have traveled 683.76nm, got 2.07nm/gallon of diesel, used 3.044g/hr and averaged 6.356nm/hr and put a little over 108 hrs on the engines We need to slow down, spend more time at places, and use less fuel!

We are staying in Vero or Velcro, since people like it so much they get stuck here for a while.  We are looking forward to the Thanksgiving meal here Thursday.

We know lots of people here now and lots more will be coming thru. We are moored near Roger and Lorrie on Reality, Vic and Gigi are here on Salty Turtle, and Earl and Cathy are here on Seeker. We look forward to  spending time with old friends and meeting new ones.

We will be here at least thru Christmas. Then we are not sure what our plans will be. Washington , DC or Green Turtle Cay?

Dragon Point, Merritt Island

We left the anchorage before 7 this morning. It's going to be a very long day, so we need to get an early start. We had to wait till we could see the crab pots between us and the ICW. We are expecting a windy day with gusts around 20-25kts so we are dreading Mosquito Lagoon. It is a big open body of water and can get rough if its windy. We  have been thru when it was bad, but today was ok.. Probably one of our better passages.

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse

Rockhouse Creek, beautiful anchorage.

Do you think it might be a little nippy? He is sitting on an electric blanket, with 2 pair of pants, long sleeve shirt, heavy coat and face shield. And yes, the blanket is plugged in and on high! Got to keep my captain happy!

Lots of splashing from dolphins today.

 

This is an unusual sight, a sailboat actually sailing!

At Haulover Canal, looking toward Space Center

 

When we left the anchorage we were planning to go to Cocoa to anchor for the night. That's our usual spot. But we talked to SeaSalt and decided to go farther down so the next day wouldn't be so long getting into Vero.

We are getting a good push from the wind so we talked about several stops along the way and finally decided to go all the way to Dragon Point and anchor outside, instead of up the river as we have in the past. We will be getting there at dark and it would take longer to anchor up the river. We would like to visit Richard and Connie's daughter, Yvette and her family, but not this year.
I was wanting to get the BIG pizza this year. When I texted Yvette that I was missing the pizza, she said she would have delivered! Next year for sure!

So we had a Very long day for us. It started off cold and ended up hot because the sun was shinning in our faces and the wind was with us so we got very little breeze.

Anchored at Dragon Point

Looking toward Dragon Pt. It got its name cause there used to be a huge dragon on the end of the island. There is talk about rebuilding. Hope they do.

We got here just in time for this sunset

We got to the anchorage at 5:30. we traveled 10.75 hours at 6.7kts, and went almost 72nm. I know Shay is tired.

Our anchorage

 

Our trip

 

Daytona

Up and leaving mooring field before 7am.

Another beautiful sunrise

And the lighthouse as we pass by.

 

We are concerned about the Matanzas Inlet and want to get there near high tide since it can be shallow. We had no problems at the inlet and had a good day of travel.

This is a pretty dock

Fort Matanzas

This looks like unlucky 13.

Shay always looks for this boat as we are traveling by....

...and I look for this house with the pretty railing.

Pretty bridge

Bridge art

We usually see them building bridges, not tearing them down. This was a short bridge in Daytona that had to be raised if the boat needed more than about 25'.

We got anchored at 3:00. We had traveled a little over 8 hours. A long day. We went almost 48nm at 5.8kts.

 

Our anchorage

 

Our trip

We were invited to SeaSalt for meatloaf with potatoes and gravy and broccoli. Delicious meal. Thanks Connie. It's great to travel with such good friends!

St Augustine

We left Nassau Sound before 7am heading toward St. Augustine.

Beautiful sunrise

The water was so still  the reflection looks like a mirror image.

 

We are concerned about the San Pablo Bridge which is about 2.5 hours away. We have been thru here before and the current was so swift that there was a standing wave about a foot tall. There is an island in the middle of the waterway and it funnels the water thru the bridge. If there is a lot of current, it can cause big problems. We had some current today but on standing wave, so no problem.

Power plant near Jacksonville

Looking back toward Jacksonville. We've never gone up the river to see Jacksonville. 

Different looking barge

 

We have reservations for two nights on a mooring ball here. That way we can explore the town and even invite some friends that live close by to come and visit.

I take pictures of SeaSalt...

...SeaSalt takes pictures of Escape

Villano Beach

St Augustine Lighthouse

Huge cross

We got here about 1:15 after traveling a little over 6 hours at 6.8kts. and covering about 43nm. We got a good push from the current today, so our average is higher. That's good, its free.

Fort

Waterfront

Bridge of Lions

You can see we are just inside the inlet. We wanted to go to the south of the bridge, so it wouldn't be so bumpy, but it was full. So we rocked.

And we are right in front of the fort.

And the fort is beautiful

Our trip today.

We invited SeaSalt over from pork tenderloin, baked beans, slaw and potatoes. Connie made applesauce. We all enjoyed the meal and the company.

We took a long hike to West Marine, then back to the boat. A guy Shay worked with and his wife, Harry and Catherine have a house close by and came to visit. We had a good time showing them Escape and visiting. We went out to eat with them and SeaSalt and had pizza. The rest of the day was spent transferring routes and relaxing.

She looks like a big bird getting ready to fly.

Tomorrow night there will be an official start to the season with music and stuff. Tonight we can just enjoy the lights.

We'll leave early in the morning heading to Daytona Beach.