Daytona to Canaveral - June 16, 2008

The trip to Daytona was uneventful.  The trip to Canaveral was not.

The day started out mild but there was an afternoon forecast looming.

South of Daytona is another inlet from the Atlantic Ocean.  I had been told many times that there is a lot of shoaling (shifting sand, mud, etc. that shallows the water) and to pay close attention through the area.  At one point where the ICW and the Ponce Inlet come together, I had a very narrow gap to get through.  On one side were exposed cables and pipes.  On the other, the shoaling.  I managed to sneak through in no more than 6 ft of water.  BTW, my boat is around 4 ft deep so that means I had less than 2 ft under the keel!  But the bottom was sandy and I was going through at idle speed so I wasn't overly concerned should I touch.

The area from Ponce Inlet south to New Smyrna Beach was very pretty.  Huge houses belonging to boats that seemed almost as large.  Beautifully landscaped yards whose bright green lawns stopped only to give way to the bright green water beyond.  If you had to have a land-based residence, I suppose this would be the way to do it.  But for me, for now, I was happy to be looking from the outside as I passed by on my water-based residence.

South of New Smyra Beach the ICW turned into stretches of marsh lands, camp sites and trailor parks.  It reminded me of those remote areas back in Oklahoma that ran between the small towns away from the bigger cities - except with saltwater instead of two-lane highways and dirt roads.  And the boats there!  Many looked as though they had taken a camper and married it to the bottom half of an old pontoon boat.  Very interesting but functional I suppose.  Quite a contrast from the veritable mansions just a couple hours behind me.

Past the marshy areas, the ICW opened up and I had more room to move around so I put the sails up.  But there was still that forecast.  The sails didn't stay up long because there were some strong gusts which made it difficult to keep a tight course and I found that I didn't have as much wriggle room as I had thought.  Add to that the offshore power boats flying past and kicking up massive wakes, rocking the boat more than I really felt comfortable with.  I could see the clouds building in the south and was glad that I got the sails down when I did.  Back to listening to the forecast.

Storms were to build in the afternoon with the areas of greatest activity directly between where I was and where I was going.  Around 3:00 pm it hit.  I already had the hatches and ports closed up and was wearing my foul-weather jacket as well as an offshore life vest.  I had never seen a storm move across the water like that before and had no more than 45 seconds before it was on top of me.  The winds which were previously 5-10 mph had instantly become 30-40 and there had to be some gusts up to 45 if not higher.  The waves which were less than a foot were now 5 foot.  And the rain was coming in sideways; the canvas cover over the cockpit doing very little to hold it back.  Not only was water dripping from my face, but it was salty.  But not salty from sweat - the winds were so strong that they were actually blowing water from the tops of the waves into my face.  Visibility was so poor that I could not see the channel markers until I was about 200 yards away.   At this point I had no option but to put down the throttle and go straight into the storm.  Even if there were a place to anchor I don't think I could have managed to get set.  Besides, this wasn't going to last forever.  Fortunately I didn't pass any other boats but still had every light on the boat lit up (full-deck illumination, as my friend likes to call it) in case someone else was out in this too.

Now, I know all of this sounds bad but once I had settled down from the initial shock of it, the wind and waves and water sort of fell into a nice rhythm; like heavy rock music that you don't want to listen to all the time, but enjoy it occasionally.  And there was a strange calm in that.  And that was it.  About 40 minutes of action then a nice, light rain to wash the decks down.

I had planned to anchor out every night until I got to West Palm because marinas cost money and anchoring in free.  But tonight I called up the local marina and decided I would tie up to the dock for one night since I was exhausted.  Money well spent AND I found a wireless connection so I could write these blogs to catch ya'll up on everything.

Yes, I'm being safe.  No, you shouldn't worry.  Life is good.  It wouldn't be exciting if everyday was a simple stroll from point to point.

St. Augustine to Daytona - June 15, 2008

After 3 nights in St. Augustine I figured that it was time to get back down the road.  The goal is to be in Abaco, Bahamas before July 1 so that I can be there for Race Week, Stranded Naked Party, Bahamas Independence, etc...  I hear that July is THE month to be in the Bahamas, specifically the Abacos.  So, back down the road for me.

The stretch of ICW from St. A. to Daytona is actually not very exciting at all.  I did have to keep an eye out for the rock pile that my friends on Pirates Lady had encountered but that was about the only thing that kept my attention for long at all.  There was a storm that came up around 1:30 in the afternoon but didn't cause much concern and it was over quickly.

I had thought about finding a place to stop somewhere north of Daytona because it was a long, uneventful day but decided I needed to keep going.  Besides, there really wasn't anywhere to stop anyway.

To my surprise, I made it in to Daytona much earlier than thought.  It really only took about 8 1/2 hours from the time I pulled up the anchor until the time I put it back down again.  By 5:30 pm I was settled down into an anchorage just south of the Seabreeze Bridge, across from Caribbean Jacks.  It looked like Caribbean Jacks might be a restaurant/bar and was only a few hundred yards away but I decided to stay on the boat, make a fried oyster sandwich and get ready for the next day into Canaveral.

Orange Park to St. Augustine

Thursday, June 12 2008 marks a new day in my life.  Today I go from live-aboard sailboat owner to cruiser.  The slip I had occupied until this day is no longer mine; in fact, I no longer have any slip to call home.  Home is now wherever I decide to make it for the day or week or month.

At 8:15, I cast off the lines from Fleming Island Marina but this time I took those lines with me.

A long day of travel ahead, I sailed north from Orange Park, FL towards downtown Jacksonville.  Jacksonville had previously been the furthest I had travelled but now it was only the beginning.  Orange Park is located south of downtown on the St. John's River.  In order to get south to St. Augustine I had to first go north, past downtown Jacksonville and out of the St. John's into the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW).  Once in the ICW it is a long, slow ride south to St. Augustine.  There's not much room to maneuver because the channel is so narrow so the entire trip consisted of listening to the diesel engine instead of the sails.  This had not been something that I was very excited about but once I arrived in St. Augustine approximately 10 hours later

I found that it was very much worth it.

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but at one point I looked down to realize that the water that had once resembled the lakes back home in Oklahoma had now turned a sea foam-green color.

I realized then that I had no desire to go

back into the murky St. John's.  I came up to the St. Augustine Inlet around 6 pm and made my approach to my first anchorage out of the River.

The crew of Pirates Lady, Boomer and Christy,

 have become very close friends of mine over the last several months.  In fact,

 we were planning a trip

 to the Bahamas together.  However, they ran into some 

misfortune in the form of a rock pile along the ICW and were sorting things out in St. Augustine when I arrived.  Unfortunately they will not be making the trip to the Bahamas this year and will be spending a few months sorting things out with their boat.  We were able to spend the next 2 days together in St. A. and I sincerely hope to meet up with them again at another time, in a more southerly latitude.

To be completely honest, anchoring in an unknown location is the one thing about sailing that scares me 

probably more than anything else.  

There was plenty of room in the anchorage just north of the Bridge of Lions so I found my spot and made my way in.  Without too much drama, and after a coupl

e of attempts, I finally had the anchor down and was holding well.  After a short chat with Boomer and Ch

risty, and feeling good about my anchor's ability to keep put, I had a fantastic sleep.

The following morning I lowered the dinghy down into the water and made my first attempt at piloting the 8-foot infla

table.  Any doubts I had about the ability of a 5-horse outboard being sufficient power were very quickly erased.  If anything it is entir

ely too much power.  

I found that I could not throttle-up past half way without burying the stern and letting in water.

The city marina has a great facility and

 your $10 buys access to the dinghy dock, restrooms, showers and laundry facilities.  In addition, the marina is just across the street from the heart of activity in St. A.

The city of St. Augustine is possibly the neatest town that I have been to in the US.  It reminded me a lot of New Orleans but with a Spanish influence instead of French

 and, of course without the debaucheries associated with New Orleans.

  

I had only planned on spending the night in St. A. but ended up staying for 3.  If ever you are planning a trip to Florida

, skip Orlando or any of the other high-tourist areas and spend your time in St. Augustine.  

The shops, architecture and ambiance are fantastic!