April 16-17, 2014 Daytona, and then Marineland

Leaving the Titusville mooring field

It was rather calm when we took in out dock lines and left the mooring field around 9.  We followed a sailboat out and into the channel all the way to Haulover Canal.

Haulover Canal and Bridge (from our 2013 trip)

Then through under the bridge and into Mosquito Lagoon for the long trek up to Daytona.  Our previous trip has only a few photo's lending credence to the "boring trip" label.  So no pictures.

Mosquito Lagoon and Northerly headwinds

What began as a rather blustery-less day turned into northerly headwinds which we fought most of the way to Daytona.

Anchored in Daytona  2013.  We were in the same spot 2014 

As we neared Daytona we were able to pass under all the bridges up to Memorial Bridge which lies just north of where we anchor.  Last year we asked for every bridge to open not realizing we could get under a 24 foot bridge with a few feet to spare.  Ahhh, experience is a wonderful thing.

We did anchor very near the same spot we anchored in last year when we came through here.  But this year we were much nearer to the Manatee sign  which serves as sort of a landmark on where to turn into the anchorage area.  It was quite windy until the early morning hours when they began easing off leaving us in almost calm conditions when we woke up at 8:30.

Lying at anchor is wonderful.  Especially when we leave because all we have to do is bring up the anchor.  At a marina we have to disconnect power cables, switch over the electrical system, take in all the lines in a certain sequence dictated by the prevailing winds and currents.  And then maneuver out of a slip and around other boats carefully enough to avoid a costly collision.

We had a little difficulty getting the anchor up this morning because it was buried so deep form the strong winds.  But using the boat to pull it out made it pretty easy.  As we moved back into the main channel there were 3 sailboats about 1/2 miles down the ICW.  When I called the bridge, the kindly bridge tender suggested we amuse ourselves watching some manatees frolic near one of the bridge pilings while waiting for the sailboats to come closer to the bridge so only a single opening would be necessary.  We of course complied.

We repeated the same operation at Seabreeze bridge about a mile beyond Memorial Bridge.  As we made it through the bridges I put the engines at their customary 1200 rpm and after a few minutes was rewarded by being passed by three sailboats. Why the hurry I thought.  Mary, grinding her teeth, is more inclined to try and overtake them by using frightful quantities of fuel.  Luckily I'm usually driving!

We bunched up again at the Knox Memorial Bridge when two of the sailboats made it through the first opening while we and the unlucky third sailboat had to wait a few minutes until traffic cleared before the bridge opened again.  Oh well.  It's not like we were in any hurry...

Over the course of the next few hours we chatted with several boats passing us or passing bye us.  Two of them had just started the loop.  And both were from Michigan.  I think we've met more people from Michigan and Minnesota than all other states combined.

Marineland Marina is located on the Matanzas River.  Its a small but very quaint marina right across from Marineland where they do dolphin research and have some sort of dolphin attraction.

We had actually stropped here on the way to southern Florida about 20 some years ago when the kids were little.  It was unrecognizable now though since a hurricane destroyed many of the original buildings.  We did a new forest hiking trail and then headed for the beach.

Bubbies are every where

The beach was rolling in surf due to the significant winds that have been blowing for 3-4 days now.  And we ran into another Bubbie look-alike scampering on the beach and into the surf.

We got back to the boat around 4:30 and did a few loads of laundry and chatted with a few of the boaters.  We even stumbled on a few who remembered us from previous marinas.

Rough  out there on the ocean 

Tomorrow travel up river to St. Augustine and Rivers Edge Marina to fuel up before leaving for the St. Augustine City Marina which is right in the heart of old St. Augustine and very near the fort.  And on Sunday the Hagens will arrive for 3-4 days.