Daytona to St Augustine

The first photo is the Ponce de Leon Hotel and the second is a street in St Augustine which is lined with live oaks with Spanish moss hanging in them.

It rained off and on all night last night. We got away about 9:15 this morning after some light morning showers and the showers continued off and on throughout the morning. At least the wind has subsided. We arrived at Palm Coast Resort Marina about 1:00 with a light drizzle coming down. That ended soon after we arrived and Muriel and Shelly and I walked to the European Village nearby. Many of the shops were closed because it is Monday. We did manage to get ice cream and Muriel located a place she wants to get breakfast in the morning.
We all got up early Tuesday so we could get showers and dressed to go to the restaurant at 8:00am for breakfast before we left for St Augustine. We walked the several blocks to the European Village to find that the restaurant was closed on Tuesdays. Muriel prepared an excellent breakfast on the boat. We got under way about 10:00 to arrive at St Augustine about 2:00 with low tide and no current at the city marina. The current ran with us all the way to St Augustine, sometimes so strong that we were making six knots at idle. We did manage to arrive at low tide. We docked with very little current. Soon after we got docked we purchased tickets for the tour “train” and made the tour of the town. The tour was quite informative. We were able to learn what we wanted to see. On Wednesday morning we went first to tour the Ponce de Leon Hotel which is now occupied by the Flaggler College. Our tour guide was a young lady who is a senior at the college. She was very good. The extravagance of the building is unbelievable and nearly all the original beauty has been retained and very well maintained. The old ball room is now used as the dining hall for students. The windows in this room are the original Tiffany glass windows. It is the largest collection of Tiffany glass windows in one location. It is valued at $40,000,000. Some of the chandeliers are considered to be priceless. The building was built in the 1800’s and is still very much original and very sound. It had some of the first light bulbs in the south.
From the Ponce de Leon we went to the Presbyterian church which Flaggler built after his daughter died. Just like the hotel it was beautiful. Our next stop was the winery for a tour and wine tasting. Muriel bought a couple of bottles of wine which we returned to the boat and then we went on to the fort, Castillo de San Marcos for another tour. After we returned to the boat Bill and I set down with a fellow we met yesterday on the dock. He lives on the St Johns River and we wanted to discuss places to visit with him. After that Shelly and Bill and I had to go use our free miniature golf tickets, not my favorite thing to do. We plan to leave in the morning and head on up toward the St Johns.

Melbourne to Daytona via Harbortown and Titusville

We left Melbourne this morning about 9:00 in dead calm. The water stayed very calm until about the time we arrived at the Canaveral Barge Canal. We came to the Harbortown Marina to get fuel, the least we have paid for the be entire trip, $1.689. We also expected to able to get a bus to the Space Center but there is none available. The slips have very short fingers which makes it very difficult for Muriel and Shelly to get on and off the boat. We made a reservation to stay at Titusville tomorrow and we will hope to be able to rent a car at a reasonable price to get to the Space Center. The weather is still very pleasant, light winds, warm days and pleasantly cool nights. There are some showers forecast for the next few days but nothing which sounds bad.
This morning we got to visit briefly with C-Life and Bella Luna before we got underway from Harbortown. We made a short hop up the Indian River to Titusville where we entered the Titusville Municipal Marina. Soon after we got checked in Muriel and Shelly and I walked into town to look around. Our bimini top has been leaking profusely since I washed it at Marathon so I was looking for something to treat it with for waterproofing. We walked passed a boat canvas shop and stopped in to ask if they had anything or could recommend something. They do not stock anything but they can order a waterproofing liquid which is formulated for Sunbrella. They said “do not use Scotchgard because it will cause Sunbrella to turn yellow.” Sure glad we stopped there because Scotchgard is one product I was looking for. We ordered some of his product which should get here tomorrow.
We will pick-up a car in a few minutes so that we can tour the Space Center tomorrow morning and back track to Cocoa which we missed on the way here. As we walked back into the marina we got to watch several manatee browsing right along the seawall.
Well….we enjoyed the Space Center and we got there as it was opening for visitors but by the time we got back to the visitor’s center it was too late to view some of the movies we had wanted to see and we had to get back to turn in the rented car. It was a beautiful day for our visit, sunny and not hot. We plan to get under fairly early tomorrow, Thursday, and get on up to Daytona so that Blue Max can meet-up with their friends there. We will spend the weekend there and then move on up to St Augustine and Jacksonville where we intend to turn back south into the St John’s River.
The waterproofing arrived today so we will probably get to treat the bimini while we are docked at Daytona.
We got away from Titusville about 8:00 with a pretty heavy looking shower moving across our path to the north of us. It had mostly cleared out, moving to the northwest, before we got there. We had good weather the rest of the way to Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona. We will stay here through the weekend while Blue Max visits with a good friend. Golden Lily is here and Goin’there is here in town so we will get to visit with them again. This is a very nice facility in every way. I have already selected the spot where I will be able to spread out our bimini to treat it with waterproofing.
Golden Lilly was here to help with docking when we arrived at Halifax Harbor. After a short visit we agreed to go to dinner later. Jim drive us down to Ponce Inlet to an early bird special he knew of there. It was a fun time.
We got to meet Blue Max’s friend before they left for the weekend. He is a fellow they know from home. He was born in Ireland and after living here in the states for most of his life he returned to the town in Ireland where he was born and became mayor of the town. He has now returned to the states to live and has a home here in Daytona. On Friday morning the girls went to the beach with Barbara from Golden Lily and I removed the bimini and laid it out on top of a poly sheet on the side walk and treated it and had it back on by the time they returned. Greg from Gon-Cruzin stopped by just in time to give a hand with getting it back on the frame.
On Saturday morning we walked to the farmer’s market a few blocks up the road. Muriel bought an assortment of fresh veggies so we will be having good vegetables for a while. We met Golden Lily at the market and they invited us to ride to the beach with them after noon. Muriel and Shelly went with them but I stayed on the boat and changed the oil in the port transmission again. It continues to have a dark color which I think is due to excessive wear in the discs. When they returned Jim, Bill and Shelly and I went in their car to the Harley shop so Shelly could look for a shirt. She could not find anything she could afford so we rode on out to look at the Daytona Speedway. It is quite large but not as impressive to me as the Charlotte Speedway.
Today, Sunday, Muriel is doing laundry and we intend to get back over to the beach again this afternoon. We intend to leave here Monday and head on up toward St. Augustine.

Melbourne

We got a late start from Ft Pierce today. We even asked if we could stay another night but they did not have space for us so after visiting with a woman on a sailboat which had Leawood, Ks. on its transom we found that she graduated one year behind us from the same high school. We also met another looper boat we had not encountered previously.
After much discussion as to our destination we departed headed for Melbourne and then I altered that to anchor Friday night and then go on to Melbourne for Saturday and Sunday nights. This is a nice anchorage and Shelly caught at least 12 fish this afternoon, several of which were keeper size but I released them rather than clean them. We still had fresh fish for dinner tonight. It was Mackerel that a group on a charter fishing boat caught yesterday and gave us some for taking their pictures together with their fish. They had caught their limit. Muriel learned a method of preparing fish from another looper at Marathon. We really like fish this way.
We spent a nice night at anchor and woke up to a cloudy morning. We took our time getting started and got some rain showers as we were getting under way. It was a very calm morning with some showers scattered in. It was nice to see how many people were using the small islands scattered along the waterway. We arrived at Melbourne about 12:30 and got settled into a slip quickly. We left the boats soon after we were checked in and walked the few blocks to the downtown area. There was an Irish parade which had just concluded but everything was in a festive atmosphere to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The town was full of people wearing all kinds of green and drinking green beer. We intended to eat corned beef and cabbage at O’Malley’s but the wait was so long we decided on another place and maybe we will return to O’Malley’s tomorrow.
On Sunday morning we did laundry and worked about the boats. Muriel and I took a walk out on to the bridge to scout out locations for viewing the space shuttle launch. After some drinks we walked into downtown again to O’Malley’s to get some corned beef and cabbage. It was very good and the bread pudding was even better. Soon after we got back to the boats it was time to walk out to the bridge to view the shuttle.
The shuttle lift off was awesome even from this distance. We estimated it would take three minutes to hear the sound and that was pretty accurate. We watched as the boosters separated and began to descend and then watched the shuttle engines burn until they went out of sight in the haze near the horizon.
We will leave here in the morning and take about a week to get to Daytona where we will spend the weekend while Blue Max visits with some friends.

The first photo is not the one I intended to load here. It must be a bridge in the Miami area. The next photo is one of the many mansions which line the waterway from Miami to Palm Beach. The third photo is another house with the huge yacht out front. The fourth photo is Rick and Cynthia and us at their house. The last photo is one of the prettiest draw bridge structures we have seen.

We got away from Crandon Park a little later than anticipated. We were slow getting biscuits made and then we had to get our key deposit back and Shelly went over to buy bait. We got underway about 8:00. As we passed into Miami C-Life called on the radio. They were just leaving the anchorage at Marina Stadium and caught up at the first bridge which we had to have opened for passage. This was a different stretch of water from any other we have cruised. Most of the way was lined with high rise condos and beautiful homes. We passed through most of what is considered the canyon because the waterway is lined on both sides by concrete walls. We encountered very little traffic most of the way but it is easy to see how the wakes ricochet off the walls and keep the water very churned up. We had pretty good luck with timing on the bridges which we had to have opened and made our anchorage at Boca Raton Lake by about 3:30. Shelly got to fish for a while and caught several small fish, (I do not know salt water fish well enough to even guess what they were). On Tuesday morning we will get a leisurely start and get on up to Singer Island by mid-afternoon.
After our “leisurely” cruise up to Palm Beach from Boca Raton Lake, we had a lot more traffic today and a lot more big wakes to deal with, we arrived at Riviera Municipal Marina at dead low tide. There was plenty of water under us but we were so low relative to the fixed docks that it took us most of a hour to get tied into our slips. Then the challenge was to get off the boat. Rick came to pick us up to go to their house for dinner about 5:00. We had a wonderful visit with them and of course, Cynthia had prepared a great dinner. It was great to visit with them both and share our adventures of the past months. They spent the summer in the Bahamas and had shared some experiences with Jeff and Anne. They had also cruised down to Key West for a festival in the fall.
Rick and Cynthia came to the marina and picked us up about mid-morning and by the time we chatted a bit we did not get away from the boats until nearly noon so we made our first stop the Brass Ring for lunch. Then on to the Super WalMart for a shopping fix. By the time we got back to the marina it was way too late to depart today, 5:00, so we will stay again tonight and leave on Thursday morning.
We finally got away from the marina about 9:15 this morning. We had planned to make several short days coming up the coast but since they delayed the space shuttle shot to Sunday we decided to try to make better time up the coast to get a better look at the launch. We made it to Fort Pierce today and called it quits and pulled into the City Marina. We are quite impressed with the facilities and the town here. After we got checked in we stopped at the tiki in the marina for a beer and someone walked up and grabbed my arm. It was Jim and Sue from our marina in Wilmington. They are here on their boat and have just bought a house here, really in Vero Beach. It was neat to see them. “It really is a small world.”

Key Biscayne to Palm Beach

The first photo is our view of Maimi from Biscayne Bay hear Boca Chita Key. The second photo is Shelly in the very clear water at Boca Chits doing her favorite thing, shelling. The third is

our two boats on the wall in Boca Chita harbor. The fourth photo is the light house at Boca Chita, this is the approach to the harbor. The last photo is the view of the waterway leaving the Anchorage Resort Marina where we stayed on Key Largo.

We got away from Crandon Park a little later than anticipated. We were slow getting biscuits made and then we had to get our key deposit back and Shelly went over to buy bait. We got underway about 8:00. As we passed into Miami C-Life called on the radio. They were just leaving the anchorage at Marina Stadium and caught up at the first bridge which we had to have opened for passage. This was a different stretch of water from any other we have cruised. Most of the way was lined with high rise condos and beautiful homes. We passed through most of what is considered the canyon because the waterway is lined on both sides by concrete walls. We encountered very little traffic most of the way but it is easy to see how the wakes ricochet off the walls and keep the water very churned up. We had pretty good luck with timing on the bridges which we had to have opened and made our anchorage at Boca Raton Lake by about 3:30. Shelly got to fish for a while and caught several small fish, (I do not know salt water fish well enough to even guess what they were). On Tuesday morning we will get a leisurely start and get on up to Singer Island by mid-afternoon.
After our “leisurely” cruise up to Palm Beach from Boca Raton Lake, we had a lot more traffic today and a lot more big wakes to deal with, we arrived at Riviera Municipal Marina at dead low tide. There was plenty of water under us but we were so low relative to the fixed docks that it took us most of a hour to get tied into our slips. Then the challenge was to get off the boat. Rick came to pick us up to go to their house for dinner about 5:00. We had a wonderful visit with them and of course, Cynthia had prepared a great dinner. It was great to visit with them both and share our adventures of the past months. They spent the summer in the Bahamas and had shared some experiences with Jeff and Anne. They had also cruised down to Key West for a festival in the fall.
Rick and Cynthia came to the marina and picked us up about mid-morning and by the time we chatted a bit we did not get away from the boats until nearly noon so we made our first stop the Brass Ring for lunch. Then on to the Super WalMart for a shopping fix. By the time we got back to the marina it was way too late to depart today, 5:00, so we will stay again tonight and leave on Thursday morning.

Pictures

The first picture is a group of boaters enjoying a pot luck dinner at the Sombrero Dockside Marina where we stayed in Marathon. The second photo is Muriel standing on Highway 1 near the seven mile bridge.

We got away from Marathon just before Marathon owned us. We all enjoyed our time there but it was time to move on to another place. We are on a mooring ball about 35 miles up the keys from Marathon at Lignumvitae Key. Shelly had already caught 9 small fish so she is enjoying it. It was a pleasant night. We got underway about 7:30 and had a pretty run on to the Anchorage Resort and Yacht Club near Key Largo. It is a nice facility and the grill next door had a pig picking dinner Saturday evening. We enjoyed the meal with Blue Max.
Sunday’s forecast is for increasing winds with a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon so I guess we will stay put today.
Bill and I walked across the new bridge to get Key Largo in hopes of seeing the boat from African Queen. After we crossed the bridge we figured out that the address was still 6 miles down the road. So we got a couple of hot dogs and walked back to the boat. Soon after we got back it began to rain, good to be back and good to be in the dock. We decided to wait out the winds again on Monday so we messed about on the boats with small chores and then had a shuffle board challenge after lunch. Bill and Eileen were too much for us, they beat us soundly several times before we had enough sense to call it quits.
We finally got to moving on Tuesday morning and even though the winds were forecast to be stronger than we would have liked but the bays were very nice for cruising. We arrived at Boca Chita Key early in the afternoon and immediately fell in love with the place. It is what we expected all the keys to be like. It is isolated, and during the week it was only lightly used. We did meet some other cruisers in the small harbor and a looper, Foreign Exchange, came in on the second day we were there. It was so beautiful we spent two nights. The island was owned by the Honeywell family in the 1930’s and they built most of what is on the island today. We got to climb up in the small light house they built on the island and a caretaker who lives on the island during the winter was very nice about telling us the history of the island. On our second day we took the dingy and Bill, Shelly and Muriel and I went out to snorkel and we took Bill’s viewing bucket. The bucket worked so well we decided not to get into the cold water to snorkel, (it was 62 degrees). We observed some lobsters and sponge, along with part of an old wreck and a lot of interesting bottom-scape. We also rode the dingy further up along the keys to see a house on a small key. That evening we built a fire in one of the grills on shore and cooked dinner together. Later we taught Bill and Eileen to play Spite, a simple card game we have played for years. On Thursday morning the winds were still blowing out of the east pretty strongly but we watched a couple of other boats leave and decided to go on. We had a pleasant cruise on up the Dinner Key Marina at Coconut Grove, just below Miami. Jeff drove over and met us at the marina shortly after we got settled. He took us around Miami and out to South Beach. The girls enjoyed that! There is a Fresh Market just around the corner from the marina so we stopped in the marina’s pub for some beer and then bought things for dinner at the Fresh Market. Muriel served a great dinner.
It was about 2:00 when we got away from Dinner Key Marina. We encountered quite a bit of traffic crossing the bay to Crandon Park Marina. First we had to stop and wait for a sailing regatta to clear our course and then they rounded a mark and headed back toward our course. Next we had to change course to avoid a barge tow and then there were several pleasure boats on conflicting courses with ours. This seemed like a lot of traffic for such a short run. Crandon Park Marina is has very nice docks but the facilities are still undergoing a renovation so there are no showers and the toilet facilities are shared with a heavily used public boat launching area.
On Saturday Shelly and I walked about 1 ½ miles down Key Biscayne to the Crandon Park beach area. Shelly enjoyed looking for shells she can use for her necklaces. I enjoyed watching and visiting with a very active kite boarding group. There were as many as 30 kites in the air at one time with as many more on the beach. On the walk back to the boat we took a wrong turn along the trails and ended up at a dead end at the inlet just north of the marina. We had to back track which added to our walk when we were both ready to be back at the boat. Muriel spent the time while we were walking to clean the boat. When I returned we washed some more windows and then pulled the rug off the sundeck and washed it on the dock. It dried slowly in the sun on the concrete dock and we put it back on board before dark. It was drier this morning than we expected.
We have decided to get underway fairly early on Monday, daylight savings time started last night, and run to somewhere north of Ft Lauderdale. We hope to be up to the Singer Island area by Tuesday evening. We have talked to Rick Drum, a friend from Bay State Milling. We both retired from Bay State last spring. We hope to get to visit with Rick and his wife while we are there.