After a month of traveling we are finally arriving in New Smyrna where our good friends, Tara and Carol live. And, it is finally starting to warm up with temperatures in the mid-70s. The lighthouse guards the Ponce de Leon inlet just north of the city.
Heading for our anchorage off the city dock, we pass through the George Musson bridge.
New Smyrna used to have a convenient free dock and a floating dinghy dock just north of this spot but they were both damaged by last year's hurricane and not repaired yet.
This is the problem with doing nothing about abandoned boats. The general rule is no staying at the free docks for more than 48hrs but this boat was tied to the New Smyrna dock for over 2 years. The city wouldn't move it because they didn't want to take responsibility for properly disposing it. Then when the hurricane came it damaged the dock and sank. Now it will cost thousands more to dispose of it and meanwhile it is a hazard to all the other boaters and blocks access to the town dock.
Here we are anchored off the city docks. We now have to dinghy to the dock at the far right in the photo along the far shore. Its farther from town and the brewery, but closer to the coffee cafe that we stop at along our walks.
We had a nice couple of warm days and visit with our friends but, now a cold front is blowing through. We moved our anchorage spot further down the river where there is more room to swing around and put more anchor chain out for when the strong winds come.
The north winds still reach down to mid-Florida in early February and it is back into winter garb at least for a couple days. But soon the sun will be back out and warming us up. At least no snow and ice like Yorktown is receiving.
A day later and the sun is back out. Still long sleeve weather and the hammock does a great job blocking the cool breeze, but much nicer than February in the north.
Not too many people on the beach in early Feb, just the seagulls.
Sue got to visit with Tara and her Dad. She also got to help Tara provide clothes and showers to the New Smyrna homeless community where she volunteers each week.
Full moon and a quiet night over the anchorage.
The anchorage also provides a great viewing spot for space launches from Cape Canaveral. Not quite as impressive as Titusville (where we saw some launches later) but still excellent. We watched a day and a night launch from New Smyrna, the night launches being more impressive.
After a week in New Smyrna it was time to move on further south. We have other friends waiting for us in Stuart and in Marathon so time to get going.
Rivah would be happy to spend the rest of the trip right here in New Smyrna.
