Spent Overnight in So. Daytona; Now in St. Augustine

Wed., April 14:  We were anchored in Titusville waiting for Bum's Rest to arrive. They stayed on the other side of the bridge, about six miles south of us. As they were coming through Max Brewer Bridge, we pulled anchor and headed for Seven Seas Marina in South Daytona.

We pulled a reefed main sail. Winds were NE at 18-22 knots. At 3000 rpms, SOG was 6.5. The wind was gusting and too much for us, so we pulled in the main sail. And it was like that all day. We put the sails out and pulled them back in half a dozen times on the way to Daytona.

We went through Haulover Canal. It's very pretty. I missed that on the way down because I had hand surgery in Ocala. So I was happy to see new scenery (although, Chuck would tell you I don't have my nose out of Nora Roberts' circle trilogy long enough to see anything!)

We saw some manatees. They were on both side of the Haulover Canal bridge. After we went through the canal, the ICW turned to the left and opened up.

I took this picture, but you can only see the back of the manatee. See the hump in the middle?

We raised both sails. It was too much with the gusts, so we reefed the main. Our speed hit 8.01 knots with 20 knots of wind. That may be our fastest speed yet! Maybe it's the new head sail.

Bum's Rest docked at Seven Seas Marina and we went another three miles to Aquamarina Daytona to get fuel and pumpout. Seven Seas doesn't have pumpout and we needed it. Didn't have to worry about that in the Bahamas!

It was beautiful, so we turned off the motor and sailed back to the marina, sans the motor. We saw dolphins on the way back and noted a nice big anchorage right before Aquamarina. We docked at 5:30 p.m.

Patti cooked a delicious seafood chowder with the rest of the mahi mahi and some shrimp. I took over the rest of our sliced Italian bread. Delicious.

Thursday, April 15:  Alarms went off at 6:15 a.m. and we readied the boat for another day. I took Jazzy for a quick walk. At 7 a.m., we went to breakfast at Pat's Riverside Cafe at the marina. We arrived after the marina closed yesterday, so had to wait for their 8 a.m. to pay dockage fees.

We eased our way out of the dock at 8 a.m. on our way to St. Augustine. We were heading for an anchorage for two nights because the marina we stayed at on the way down had no slips available.

Memorial Bridge opened for us on request. Right after that was International Speedway Blvd. Bridge, a beautiful bridge with tiled graphics of dolphins, sea turtles and manatees on the bridge columns. Next was Main St. Bridge, another bascule that opened on request. Then came Seabreeze Blvd. twin bridges and Ormond Beach bridge, both fixed 65 ft. bridges. Highbridge Road Bridge was a bascule opening on request. Flagler Beach and Palm Coast bridges were 65 ft. fixed. Crescent Beach bridge was a bascule opening on request and S.R. 312 twin bridges were 65 ft. fixed. Florida sure has a lot of bridges!

At 9:45 a.m., Chuck pulled a reefed main sail. Winds were 20-22 knots. SOG was 6.2 knots. We motor sailed at 2900 rpms. We're in Northern Florida and there's a chill in the air already. I wore shorts and had bare feet, but needed a fleece by mid-morning. The captain was wearing a sweatshirt and shorts and added a windbreaker. It's cooler at the helm because you don't have the benefit of the dodger blocking all the wind.

We pulled our sails in because the ICW is narrow at this point. Winds were 15-20 with gusts to 30 in the afternoon, so I took the helm for a little while so Chuck could secure the solar panels and strap down the bimini.

There's been a shift in the channel between mm 82 and 81C, so Tow Boat U.S. gave us guidance over the radio: Stay 100 ft. off the beach and you'll be find. We had the keel down 15 turns with the bell on it, so if we "bumped" we would know it before going aground. We made it through fine. Whew!

There were white caps and it was rough, so we decided to not anchor and stay at Oyster Creek Marina in St. Augustine on the San Sebastian River. We're on a T dock and it's nice here.

I started making beef stew while underway, but the restaurant here smelled really good, so we're eating there tonight and I'll reheat it with cornbread tomorrow.