Mike
12/01/2007, New Smyrna Beach, FL

Daytona to the Mangrove Swamp - Friday, November 30

Thursday was dark and dreary in Daytona ... warm but cloudy. Carl came over in the morning and after some deliberation, we decided to make a short run on a rising tide to get past the shoals at the Ponce Inlet. Sapphire and Discovery left at about 10:15 and enjoyed a non-eventful cruise to a small bay off the Indian River just south of New Smyrna Beach. Our anchorage was on the east side of the river and was bordered by a wall of mangroves. There were dolphins playing all afternoon.

Carl and Marilyn came over for snacks and drinks at about five and the snacks ended up being dinner...again. We had a few smallish shrimp that needed to be boiled and a little spiral cut ham that was not enough for lunch.... Which we cut up and baked on a Triscuits with a cheese topping. Marilyn brought a thin crust pizza with a pesto / cheese topping that was wonderful.

We read and watched an episode of the Soprano's before turning in.

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Mike and Kathy
11/30/2007, Daytona Beach, FL

St. Augustine to Daytona - November 29


Today was a wonderful day. It was in the 80's most of the time and we had the current at our stern. We were debating whether we should stay another day in St. Augustine, so after coffee I went to shore to dispose of garbage and buy some ice. When I returned it seemed like a good time to leave so we caught the 9:30 bridge opening and headed south. Our plan was to stop at the old Fort on the Matanzas River, but we arrived way too soon and decided to keep going.

Let there be no doubt, we are not in the marshes anymore. The homes lining the ICW north of Daytona for 30 miles are what I've been expecting; over-done starter castles ... one after another. . .palms and flowers, and screened-in outdoor rooms.

I had my shirt off by 10am and got out the suntan lotion just to add the smell of coconuts to the already perfumed air.

We just kept driving and ended up in Daytona Beach anchored next do Discovery... who were kind enough to have us over for cocktails. "Packet In" another Michigan couple, was also there and we met them for the first time. They are originally "White Bay" people under the reign of Terra the Terrible.

We had a nice rain after dark, so the salt has been rinsed off the boat again.

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Mike and Kathy
11/30/2007, St. Augustine, FL

Wednesday, Nov. 28

We said good bye to Carol and Steve last night. They are leaving "Restless" somewhere around Melbourne for two months and need to be there in two or three days, so they were up and gone early today. As it turns out they moved across the river last night at about 1:30 because the wind and the current were making our little anchorage too crazy. I was up from 1am to 4am just watching things.

It is another cloudy day today with occasional sprinkles but the temperature was about 70 so it was bearable. My main project for the day was to make sure that we have a depth sounder in the cockpit that functions. The LCD screen has been showing parts of the numbers since last summer but we could always figure them out. During the last few days... the problem has worsened to the point where we don't know how much water we have under the keel. We do have a lead line...so we will never be in trouble but electronics are nice.

I have a repeater in the nav station that displays all the cockpit data so I simply moved it back there and wired it in to the helm station. During our Christmas break I'll send it in for repair.

We read and Kathy gave me a hair cut before going to town for a hike and a little shopping. The town has some beautiful old buildings, including the USA's oldest wooden schoolhouse. We didn't find much to buy, but enjoyed some of the shops. We also walked to the Castillo de San Marcos (the fort), but Mike didn't want to pay money to go inside. We aren't the best tourists. It was a very nice town to wander around.

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