We left St. Augustine at 0711 on the 11th
with a full day of foul current but near high tide when we went through
Matanzas. Didn't hit Bridge of Lions but got close. No white knuckles
this day. We anchored in North Daytona near the twin bridges of Sea
Breeze. Great anchorage with entertaining views. Mattie was curious
after the engine was turned off.
During evening boat work, Captain Bob got a boo-boo. Old
man with old skin on an old boat. He was kinda proud of his stylish
bandage of a paper towel held in place with painter's tape.
Next day we left at first light to catch a high tide at
Ponce de Leon inlet. On the way to the inlet, we passed a bunch of
dredge equipment. No problem at the inlet. Perfect! Only we almost
whacked the Musson bridge. Got to practice on my bridge vs. current
conditions.
Mosquito Lagoon consists of mangrove islands, spoil islands, and fish camps. Past couple of hurricane seasons has done quite a bit of damage to the islands and especially the fish camps. It was a bit windy going through the Mosquito area and the northern Indian River lagoon.
That evening we chose to anchor in the lee of the Addison Point
bridge. Holding is excellent and protection is good from anything North. Next day we continued our adventure past Cocoa and Melbourne with winds blowing 15-20 kts hard on the bow. Again we anchored in the lee of a couple of spoil islands 5 nm South of Melbourne.
Today we make the short hop to Vero Beach. Nice day where the wind calmed considerably. We had to hustle a bit as a storm would approach us in mid afternoon. We made it with time to spare. We were not going to shore, but plans change.
A cruisers dinner was hastily scheduled when folks
found out that SV Anania (Tommy Tuesday and Sandy) was heading out tomorrow. Pizza at Nina's on the beach was the place. We called it a Cruiseheimers dinner as most of the folks were participants of that SSB net including Jule.
We rented a car, secured the boat, asked Peter to watch
her, loaded the cat in the car, and we headed for our house in
Wilmington NC where our kids and their families were also converging.
We spent nearly a week cleaning, cooking, eating, and enjoying the kids
and grandkids. We all left early on Thanksgiving Saturday so we could
all miss the traffic. Great Thanksgiving!
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