Daytona to Titusville (Day 54) to Indiatlantic (Day 55)

Tuesday, November 19th (Day 54)

It was a sunny but cool morning as we pulled up the anchor and motored south from Daytona.  I had on sweatpants and sweatshirt but was able to change back to shorts in just a couple hours.

This trip south seems to be all good tides for us.  Sometimes in the past, it has seemed like the tides are always against us and slowing the boat down.  For example, we will approach an inlet that is on a flood tide so it slows us down.  As we get near the inlet, the tide changes to ebb and also slows us down on the other side.  On those days, we average less than 5 knots.

But this trip, we are getting pay-back and this morning was a great example.  On the way to New Smyrna approaching Ponce Inlet, the tide was going out and we averaged 6.5-7 knots. As we approached the inlet, the tide changed and pushed us out the other side to New Smyrna.  I don't think we ever dropped below 6 knots all morning.  That's good for us.

After New Smyrna it's a little less than 20 miles down the Mosquito Lagoon.  Winds were light but from the right direction (from the side or slightly behind us) so we rolled out the jib which increased our speed to 7 knots.  I pulled back the throttle to bring us back to 6 knots which was all we needed to make our next destination by late afternoon.  Putting the boat in neutral with just the sails pulling slowed us to under 4 knots so that wasn't good enough.

A little while later, I decided to do some exercises so cranked up Billy Joel (great aerobics music) and configured the back deck for a little room.  Laura snapped this picture while she was driving.  Not easy doing aerobics while the boat is moving.

We were passed by many boats (as usual) but two sailboats stayed behind us all day.  I was impressed that they stayed about 1/4 mile behind us because our speed changed a lot as the wind increased or decreased.  We had a little sailboat train going.

All 3 of us entered the Haulover Canal (going to Cape Canaveral) and went through the bridge together.  At the other end of this section, we again turned downwind and all of us rolled out sails again for the 5 mile run to Titusville.

We pulled in the jib as we motored under the Titusville Bridge and quickly turned right and anchored the boat behind the causeway.  5 minutes later the other two boats that were following us all day pulled in behind us and also anchored.  We had sailed together all day and never even spoke on the radio to each other.

As it was only 3pm and we were anchored for the night, I decided to remedy that.  I was able to read the name of the boat closest to us with our binoculars so called Equinox on the radio.  They answered right away and we switch to a working channel on the radio.  I mentioned what a great day it was with the nice weather and being able to get sails out.  We talked a bit and I noticed they were towing their dinghy so it was easily available. I invited them over for cocktails and munchies.  They immediately accepted and we set a get-together for 4:15pm.  They also told me the name of the boat traveling with them so I called and invited them too.  It's party time!

I showered then cleaned up the boat a bit and it was still 1/2 hour before the party so I pulled out my guitar and practiced a few songs.  I saw them heading our way in the dinghy so put the guitar away and helped them aboard.  This is a lot of what cruising is about.  We had never met or even talked before the last hour but now we were talking about all of our experiences and having a great time.  Here's the deal.


Rich and Ruthie on Equinox left Rhode Island in early October.  Rich mentioned they have seen us about a dozen times starting with Chesapeake City (over 1,000 miles ago).  They are recently retired and are looking forward to the Bahamas this winter or farther into the Caribbean.

John and Ken on Arimus (sp?) are not related but John's daughter is marrying Ken's son next summer.  John left Toronto in September and was actually in the Catskill Creek having his mast stepped around the time we left. Ken joined him in Catskill "for a few days" and is still on the boat almost 2 months later.

Both boats are heading to Vero Beach where they will stay until over the holidays.  Here's a picture of all of us.

Everyone left just before dark.  It was great to make new friends.

I grilled chicken for dinner and we watched another Arnold movie - Junior.  Too funny...

Wednesday, November 20th (Day 55)

We were underway just before 8am with hopes of sailing down the Indian River most of the day.  It was only about 35 miles to our next anchorage so we'd have plenty of time even if we were going slow.  But, it was not to be.  The winds never got high enough to help us along.  Instead, we decided to put a couple more coats of AwlWood on our teak combing around the cockpit.  We have to take off the mainsheet, jib sheet and some of our clear canvas to work on the combing so that keeps us from sailing until it's dried.  After 4 coats of clear AwlWood, I think it's starting to look pretty good.

The winds stayed pretty calm all day and we had a nice, relaxing ride south.  Around 1:30pm, we pulled into the anchorage south of the Melbourne Bridge on the east side.  It was early to stop but there wasn't another anchorage with protection from north winds within the next 20 miles.

After securing the boat from moving-mode, we cleaned up a bit and dropped the dinghy for a ride into the town of Indiatlantic.  We did find a place to tie up in a small park by the water and were able to lock the dinghy to a park bench with out long cable.

So, if you are walking through a town and 90% of the stores are Real-estate, Hair / Nail Salons or Medical offices, you know you are in Florida.  It's pretty funny.

We walked about a mile to the other side of the town to the ocean beach.  Laura was in her element now so I just walked around town a bit then met her back at the beach ramp later.

There was a little more wind on this side and some nice surf coming in.  Here's a picture of the beach with Laura in the background.

It was too early for dinner out but we did find a Cold Stone Creamery to split a dish of ice-cream.  The Sun was baking us on our way back and I mentioned to Laura that we were back in the "Florida Sun".  It is definitely hotter down here because it's higher in the sky.

We took a little ride in the dinghy checking out the beautiful homes along the water.  Back to the boat for relaxing, working on the blog and maybe another Arnold movie?

From here, it's about 45 miles to Ft. Pierce where we will get fuel and water at the city marina.  We're getting a little low on both.  Last fill-up was in Myrtle Beach 11 days ago and we've done a lot of moving since then.

Plans are to head to Stuart on Friday and pick up a mooring for a week or so at Sunset Bay Marina.  The moorings are first-come, first-served so if there isn't one available, we will anchor for a couple days and keep checking for an open ball.