New Smryna and Daytona Beach 2-5 Mar

    We were now on a schedule as we needed to be in Daytona Beach on the 5th for our reservations to leave the boat there for a month while we returned to Yorktown to file our income taxes and receive our COVID vaccines. 

   We headed up the ICW back to New Smryna and stayed a couple days anchored south of the bridge. The weather was good and we were able to do the 5-mile walk across the 2 main bridges there. We arrived at the lift bridge just in time to watch a bridge lift from shoreside.

   The great part of this New Smyrna walk is that at the end you walk past several restaurants and the New Smyrna Beach Brewing company. Since the weather was great, we had to stop and have a beer. 

   We discovered the next day that this was probably not such a great idea as our minds must have been too focused on our need to get to Daytona Beach the next day.  Sue left her phone at the outside table where we were sitting and had to sprint back to retrieve it. But that was not the bad thing. It turned out that I had left my wallet at the same table after paying our bill and, unfortunately, I did not detect that until we arrived at Daytona Beach the next day and went to check into the marina. This turned into a major difficulty as we were supposed to pickup our rental car on the 5th, and I would not be able to get the car with my driver's license being in my wallet in New Smyrna.

   Fortunately, it all worked out. The brewery had my wallet safely secured there. Now we just had to figure out how to get our rental car and drive back down there to retrieve it. I was able to retrieve a photo of my passport from my computer, move it to my phone, show that ID to the rental car company and sweet talk them into giving me the car (that was easier paperwork for them than rebooking it into Sue's name. 

   All worked out in the end and we were able to depart Daytona Beach via rental car on time for Yorktown.  It turned out this was a good week to be gone from Daytona Beach as we departed on the 1st day of Bike Week at Daytona, I'm sure another super-spreader event for COVID in Daytona. 

   We are now back in Yorktown for a month, getting our vaccines and visiting with Gregory. We will head back to the boat on the 1st of April.

Cape Canaveral Viewing Area 28 Feb - 2 Mar

 

   From Cocoa Village, we moved up the ICW and anchored just north of the Canaveral Causeway Bridge, the prime spot for watching the upcoming Space-X satellite launch. By launch date, there were 4 boats anchored by us but there is plenty of room for hundreds of boats here.

   We set up a Zoom meeting for both Chris and Greg's families to watch the nighttime launch with us and were all standing by when the launch was canceled one minute before lift-off. 

  The problem with rocket launches is there are quite often postponements and delays, including for bad weather since Space-X has to recover the rocket boosters offshore. As the bad weather moved in, we were now in an exposed anchor location and forced to leave the area.    

  While we were debating where we would move to, Sue noticed that the boat upwind of us was now very close to us. She contacted them on the radio and alerted them that they were dragging. The owners were just getting on deck and realizing they were dragging. They had been down below changing the oil (that must have been fun in the choppy 2ft waves). Apparently they must of had very little anchor chain out to be dragging as the winds were only 20-25kts.

   We decided it was time to get underway ourselves and get out of their vicinity, so we headed up to Titusville. We stayed there a couple nights, moving from the south to the north side of the bridge as the winds shifted from north to south. When the north winds finally settled down, it was time to head further north, back to New Smyrna.

Cocoa Village 22-27 Feb

    We stayed a Vero Beach an extra 4 days, our excuse was the weather, but it is always hard to leave the conveniences of Vero Beach. But ultimately the wind was blowing from the right direction and it was time to start heading back north. We actually got to put out the genoa and get an extra push on our way back up the ICW.

   Most of the ICW in Florida is straight and relatively deep (10-12ft) but there are always shoaling spots to watch out for. There is an interesting site near Sebastion Inlet where a shoaling sandbar comes right up to the eastern side of the ICW. Fortunately, in the sunlight it is clearly visible.

   After a short day's trip we were back to Cocoa Village and anchored south of the causeway bridge. There is good protection here from the north and west and we had some good sunny days with light westerly winds. 

   Carol and Tara were able to drive down from New Smyrna and join us for lunch. We had some snacks onboard and then headed off to Cocoa Beach for lunch. 

   

   People were relatively well behaved on the beach staying socially distanced and some wearing masks.

   There were 4 cruise ships anchored offshore, just south of the loading port of Cape Canaveral, waiting for the COVID pandemic to end and for cruises to start up again. Hopefully, this summer?

   Fortunately, the Florida weather has warmed enough and there are plenty of restaurants with outdoor seating to be able to enjoy a meal with friends despite the pandemic dangers.  It was still chilly in the wind on the beach, but we were okay in short sleeves seated tucked up next to the restaurant. But, as soon as the guests beside us departed, we moved over to sit in the sunshine where it was a bit warmer.