We slipped the mooring in time to make the 7:30am opening of the Bridge of Lions Bridge. There were 7 or 8 sailboats bunched up leaving St. Augustine but, over the next several miles, we gradually opened up.
It was another cloudy morning but not too cold. After we were underway a bit, I checked the temp and it was 53. I think that was the high for yesterday. At exactly 8:21am, the Sun came out for a few minutes for the first time in 6 days. A few hours later, the skies cleared and we had a beautiful day with temps near 70.
As it warmed, we started peeling clothes and cleaning up the boat from the cold weather. We polished then removed the back two clear panels from our cockpit and eventually opened up the whole but to air /dry out. Laura drove for a bit while I polished / cleaned the rest of our clear vinyl and worked a few other boat jobs.
We jockeyed for ICW position all day with other sailboats and were passed by many powerboats. On the nice days, the waterway is very busy with boats heading south. We're hoping it will let up soon as some boats reach their November / December destination. We're going all the way...
Winds were helping a little later in the day and I rolled out the jib to push us a little against the tidal current. Here we are approaching the first Daytona Bridge - Ormond Beach
Three years ago, we stopped in Daytona and took the dinghy into Caribbean Jacks - a well known restaurant on the Halifax River. I happened to try their Mahi BLT sandwich and was hooked. The combination of blackened Mahi-Mahi, apple smoked bacon, the spicy sauce and potato roll were awesome. Laura and I have tried to duplicate this sandwich and never quite get it right.
Soon after anchoring and putting the boat to bed, we dropped the dinghy and motored 2 miles back to Caribbean Jacks where we tied up for happy-hour and dinner. I don't think the picture does the Mahi BLT justice but here's what 1/2 of one looks like. We also had the New England Clam Chowder which was very good too. Lots of clams and not too salty. Yumm.
Since we hadn't been out to eat for a while, we decided to splurge on dessert. Check out the ingredients in the Banana's Foster and the picture below.
The dessert cost almost as much as our entre' but it was very tasty. The sauce with Banana liquor and Rum was so good.....
We arrived back at the boat just after sunset and I hauled up the dinghy to end a very nice day on the water. Laura noticed two bright stars and found out they were Saturn over Jupiter. She was able to get this picture with her Nikon.
Pretty cool, right?
Tomorrow we will shoot for Titusville then take a few days to sail down the Indian River to Ft. Pierce then Stuart. I was back in shorts today! Yea!
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