St. Augustine to Ortega River April 10

Our next trip, the city dock in St. Augustine, was an easy pleasant ride on the ICW. Stayed only one night as we were already behind due to weather.While traveling, David noticed throttles were not holding RPM. He could still operate the boat, but at slower pace.We went off the ICW and up the St. John's River, 26 miles. WE had great views of Jacksonville and its vibrant downtown. Our destination was a great marina, Pier 32 on the Ortega River, which had new facilities, pool, hot tub, and walking distance to Publix. The area also had great food in walking distance, such as Chick fil-a, Panera and local restaurants. Our absolute favorite was Mesa, a local Indian place with very friendly. Jacksonville was one of the most friendly towns... we even met a couple at Mesa who invited us to dinner and drinks at their home and yacht club. David spent more time at Pier 32 as I left for a planned girls trip. he worked with the Catapiller mechanics for several days on his throttle issue. It basically was the sonar interference.

The Nor'easter Easter

Thanks to modern weather instruments and alot of dock talk, we were warned that a major weather event was headed our way as it hit the whole Eastern seaboard. The waves off of St. Augustine were 7' -12' with 30-40 mph wind gust (It was a sustained wind of 25 mph!) We opted to stay at Palm Coast Marina for the duration, instead of moving on to St. Augustine and Jacksonville. This marina is off the ICW and very well protected from the high winds and tide. The winds sounded like a thunder roaring around our boat and the rains became heavy overnight. Our Easter Sunday started peacefully as we watched our church service on YouTube and had a larfge breakfast. We were also celebrating David's birthday, always a treat when it is a day you can relax and enjoy family.

Even though were still under a Gale Storm warning, Pierce and Mary Winston drove our car to Jacksonville Airport and even with the weather delays, they were able to make their flights back.

Fun Day Friday

With the car at the marina and two fresh new crew members, I was able to take the car to our next port, New Smyrna Beach. I felt like a 16 year old with driving privilages with so many places I wanted to go!  I had a crazy list of needs and wants in my head after being on the boat for several weeks. Like vintage clothing shopping for a upcoming party, new pillows, and a long Target run. And Publix of course! I did reign myself in and stayed away from the Chik-fil-a drive thru. When I met the crew back at the marina, they were all smiles and had a beautiful day on the ICW. They saw what is called a manatee “boil” where there are more than you can imagine rapidly surfacing.

We ate a late lunch at the River Deck Tiki, nothing special but fun!

Then Mary Winston and I drove to the beach where there was alot of activity~shops, tourists and cars on the beach!

Titusville: Rockets in the skies and creatures below in the sea

While on our short way to Titusville, we had wonderful views of Cape Caniveral and the rockets and launch pads, with binoculars!

This is what we could see! There is a scheduled Space X launch after midnite that we should also see (if we can stay awake!) While staying inside, I almost missed one of the best dolphin swim alongs! There were 2, sometimes 4, jumping in our wake.

perfect weather to wash the boat and Rugby. After his sudsy bath was over, I was hosing off the swim platform and a rather large gentle manatee came up to enjoy the sprays!

We are excited that Pierce was able to fly to see us and pick up our car from our friend,

Warren B. After Pierce arrived, we had grilled some sausages and sat outside enjoying the full moon reflecting on the boats and water.

 MW was on her way (via Orlando) and we took some snappy naps so we could be awake when she arrived and catch the Space X Falcon Launch. It is so nice to have Pierce and his savvy tech skills as he had the Twitter feed countdown for us to watch live. It was spectacular and bright as a sun, yellow, white and orange, rapidly accelerating into space. Even Mw could see it from her Uber from the highway! She actually got a great picture! 

Cocoa Beach

The only thing I every knew about Cocoa Beach, Florida was that it was Jeannie's home near Cape Cavernal. As we cruised, we had great views of NASA’s rocket launch pads (probably because they are enormous!)  The little Village of Coca Beach is very colorful, whimsical, and somewhat stuck in the 60's! There's a pirate museum,  shops for kitchy souvenirs, hookas, and candles... and lots of references to space. The town shut down around 4 PM and the Mexican dinner place was closed on a Wednesday, so we ate our own version of burritos on the boat. While visiting the marina office, a nice woman recognized me from meeting in Paducah! They are a lovely Canadian (Tony & Arian) and our paths continued to cross over the next few days. The weather was sunny and hot, but the beach not close enough to walk to.  The trip here from Vero yesterday was a straight shot, a very wide part of the ICW, and well, very boring! I spent most of the 56 mile trip inside where I could catch up on writing this blog! I had to go back to when our "Spring Break/ March Madness" started! It's nice to slow down~

CALM trip to Vero Beach

This morning we watched the previous day's Today Show (hard to get live network media) and we saw that there had been severe storms in many places accross the country, guess that is what we encountered. Our trip to Vero was pleasant with smooth calm waters. The ICW was beautiful with lots of mangroves and undeveloped areas on one side and on the ocean side, beautiful homes. The boating traffic was lighter, mainly fishing boats, and no more party yachts. We have also seen fewer loopers traveling as Florida is such a large playground, we are spread out. We docked the boat at the Vero City dock in a cove near the bridge. Several people were leisurely cruising on kayaks, dinghies and picnic boats. Very relaxing and calm. We walked to dinner to the Riverside Cafe, a place where my dad once took me.

Bahamas water flowing my way

April 3 Jupiter Beach Inlet, on the Indian River,has the most turquoise water of the ICW and flows from the Atlantic into the rivers. Several boats depart this area for the Bahamas, so it feels like the islands were so close when the vivid clear blue water was around us. For us, it was an easy decision not to go, as it is a whole different experience! Even though getting there would easy for David to navigate, there are other obstacles like documents (even for the dog) and lots of planning to do. Maybe another day and another boat. We planned our next stop to be an anchorage at Peck Lake which is a park on the ICW and close to the beach with few homes and traffic. When we arrived, the tides were lowering and many boats were on anchor, which leaves fewer spots to freely swing on anchor. We could not find water over 3' and nearly got stuck around 1' depth. So we went onward, looking up the next available marinas, most were in Stuart. We noticed a huge dark sky which looked loaded with rain, so we quickly picked Marriot's Hutchison Island resort. They were able to take us and as we approached the waves swelled, the winds gusted and the rain started. Our docking was difficult but we were relieved to be in a marina. We ended up having dinner at the Tiki Bar by the resort pool, not our finest experience, but still appreciated!

All this way to see a BFF

April 2 I was worth staying an extra day, we cleaned the boat, walked to Publix (the unmarked swanky one near the Breakers) and got organized. There are several people I hope to connect with when we travel, but timing is everything. Our friends, Jodie and Mark P., were in Lake Worth checking on their retirement nest and it was possible for us to have them over for some cocktails and enjoy the views of boats in Palm Harbor Marina. We talked and caught up till the bright moon rose in the sky, and would have kept it going like the old days, but Jodie had work in the morning. Visits with an BFF from my college days, makes this whole journey even more special.

The Golden Coast

We expected heavy traffic on Saturday on the way to Palm Beach, and the giant yachts, fishing boats and jet ski jockeys did not disappoint! More surreal wealth was displayed, mainly enormous homes and mega yachts. And then there is cute mobile home community called Briny Breezes, which proves the American Dream is attainable!

While entering our marina by the Flager Bridge, I accidently tossed a fender into the channel, which David masterfully guided the boat to intercept as it floated away and several boats got in our way! Later we enjoyed watching the FL Atlantic /SDSU while having pizza at Lynora's in downtown Palm Beach.