Tuesday January 6, 2009
Visit with Cousin Tom and Lutie
It seemed like a dream but there we were heading down the ICW again in Grace C. When we had arrived at Palm Coast on December 2, 2008 we were wearing winter coats. To be traveling in balmy weather and observing such beautiful scenery is a huge reward. The area around Daytona Beach is skyscraper after skyscraper each competing for your attention. There are tons of dolphins on this leg of the journey. They scamper out and about in front of the boat. Still a big thrill for me. We arrived in New Smyrna Beach about 2:00 pm and Dick called his cousins to see if they would like to join us for a visit. We had meet with them in February 2008 and as the saying goes “a promise is a promise”. Cousin Tom actually expected us about March so he was amazed to see us in January. We radioed the New Smyrna
Yacht Club to see if they had a fee for service for their dinghy dock and they said we could not tie up. We agreed to meet Tom at the Municipal Dock. When we got their he put his head over the side of the wharf and was amazed to see us arrive in a dinghy. He was expecting a sailboat. When we told him they would not let us use the dinghy dock at he Yacht club he said “No we don't want anymore pilgrims around here!”and then took us out for supper. These two pilgrims are very grateful for their kindness. When we got back to the dinghy the water had dropped another three or four feet and it made re entry to dinghy rather ungraceful. When we headed back to the boat in the dark we were happy to see Mom Fosters solar snowflake shining out its multi-colours.
Wednesday January 5, 2009
Mr. Wilson we made it to Titusville
The weather forecast had high winds and storms booked for the end of the day so we headed out early
to Titusville. We had planned to stay at the marina as the weather for the overnight was predicting a cold front and storms and lower temperatures. We thought it would be a good time to fire up the electric heater. We were also curious about the Marina as one of our trip mentors Mr. Wilson uses it for summer storage. We arrived here around 12:30 pm to find Radical Jack tied up. Having successfully tied up the gentleman in the boat beside us said , 'good job you made it in now'. Then we heard a loud sound and watched two weather fronts collide. The wind velocity increased instantly and the rain started to pour. I made a omelet for lunch and when I got back from the shower I discovered Dick had peeled a layer of skin off his thumb trying to get the grater apart to clean. The amazing thing about this trip is you are always built up and on guard for the weather the weather and its the Pampered Chef cheese grater that gets you. :) Wow weird! We walked uptown to get some groceries and spent the evening relaxing in the screened porch watching TV. Mr. Wilson is in the Bahamas and we will check in with him later.
Thursday January 8, 2009
We got up at 6:00 am to make a long day passage. We thought the weather was going to be colder so after we were underway we decided to stop at Melbourne and anchor and then head out to Vero Beach the next day. The weather was cool but sunny and such a pleasure to travel in. The Indian River is wide here and with a west wind we actually put out some sail for a change. There are not a lot of places to anchor here. The waterfront properties along this stretch are luxurious and run along the west shore and the east shore which is Merritt Island. Merritt Island separates the Indian River from the Banana River.
There were numerous fixed bridges we passed under and when we got to Melbourne that is where we anchored for the night.
Friday January 9, 2009
Today we made it to Vero Beach.