Mike
12/03/2007, Cocoa, FL

Titusville to Cocoa - December 2

We left Titusville about 10am bound for Cocoa. When I turned on the engine, it turned over nicely but did not start. I tried 5 or 6 times, but stopped before I ran down the battery. The same thing had happened, to a lesser degree the yesterday. I gave it one last try a minute later and it came to life. Sadly, before we had gone a mile, our overheating buzzer sounded. Yesterday we were fine running at 1900 rpms but today all we could manage was 1000 before overheating. So we spent about 4 hours at 4 miles an hour. It was a perfect day in the 80's. I am thinking that the two problems are not related... hoping is more like it. I called Ken from "Second Wind" (sister ship) who knows much more that I about this engine and his position was that I needed to clean our heat exchanger. I will probably wait now until the morning because the engine is still hot and I have to lay on top of it to get to the exchanger.

For the last two days we have been traveling mostly in the Indian River which is a very large body of water between the beach and mainland Florida. At times it 2 miles wide and goes on a far as the eye can see north and south. The ICW here is a marked channel in the middle that is about 40 yards wide. The markers are about ½ mile apart so you just keep aiming for the next one. There is plenty of wild life. Today we saw a couple of osprey along with the pelicans that are becoming our favorite birds. Dolphins are rolling most of the time ... we are almost at the point where we are taking them for granted.

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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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