St. Augustine to Titusville with a stop in Tampa!

Here are some pictures from our already reported visit in St. Augustine. A very old (oldest in U.S.) and lovely city.
The sun came up as we approached the inlet just in time to easily see the bouys marking the channel. And quite an impressive channel it was. Note the breaking waves as we scooted into the harbor.
This was our view from our anchorage. Well our first view before we dragged the anchor (Hey, doesn't it seem like we're closer to the channel than we were before? Oh yeah, we're in the middle of it!) We moved to a space where a sailboat had just left and set anchor again. The wind picked up pretty good and we were swinging every direction and not necessarily in the same direction as the nearby boats so we decided to set two anchors before nightfall. It was a good idea. We swung very little and slept very well.


The picture below on the left is of Flagler College; originally built as the Ponce de Leon Resort Hotel. The picture on the right shows some of the original houses in the oldest city all of which house 'chachsky' shops for tourists.


















We had hoped to get a weather window and sail on the outside again down to Titusville/Cape Canaveral area. But no such luck. So back in the ditch down to Daytona. We did enjoy a beautiful rainbow at Caribbean Jack's, a short dingy ride from our anchorage; a few beverages were enjoyed as well. As evening fell and the full moon rose, this was one of the first evenings in a very long time that we also enjoyed sitting in the cockpit and feeling the WARM Florida breeze.

The next morning we 'hit the road' at first light (about 7am). We only saw Daytona from the water and Caribbean Jack's since we were eager to move on down the ICW, but we were impressed with the view, especially the bridges. This one has an added feature of dolfin mosaics!















We travelled another 50 miles south to Titusville. Not a very eventful trip although we did see dolfins several times that were actually jumping out of the water. I swear I saw one with a fish in its mouth. Really! Sorry, no pics to prove it.

The picture above is a bit more picturesque on the icw. The picture to the left is of dredging machinery along the way. Not too pretty but we are very happy they are working. As it was we were in several stretches where there was only 4 or 5 feet of water below our keel. Plenty really.










This ospray kept a close eye on us as we passed by. We are seeing more and more of them as we head south. They are spectacular birds with black wings, white breasts and a black 'mask' on its eyes. They like to perch high so it's difficult to get a close up picture of them. However, the pelicans are another story. They almost perch on the boat they are so friendly. Their beeks are a bit too large to be friendly though, I think. See what I mean.....





We arrived in Titusville Thursday afternoon with a master plan to take a slip at the municipal marina for a few days, rent a car, and visit Scott's dad and wife in Tampa, just a 2 hour drive west. We pulled into the slip, fed the cat, locked the boat, registered at the harbor office, met the Enterprise lady there, loaded the car with our luggage and laundry, and we were off to Tampa. A couple hours later we were having cocktails and a great dinner of stew and corn bread. Thanks Georgia!

And of course this was an opportunity to make new boards for the hatchway since Scott's dad is the master craftsman with the tools. After much consultation they were able to agree on how much to plane the boards and how to round the edges. But are the boards tapered or not?.....









Now we are back at the marina in Titusville preparing to move on south again tomorrow. We need to be in Fort Lauderdale by Friday, Dec. 23rd. We may or may not make an outside sail. Right now the weather isn't in our favor. So we may be 'ditching it' again. That's okay. We have many, many days ahead for ocean sailing. It's just hard to wait. But it is finally, really warm and we are happy to be here!