Left our final stop at Pine Island at 6:20 and arrived back at our home - Slip C4 at 4:35p.m. Since there is a full moon the high, and especially low tides were really, really low. Going across the St. Lucie inlet at high tide looked like an almost low tide.

We made the last 2 on demand bridges at Jupiter and made the 3:00 opening at Indiantown. Pedal to the metal to make Don Ross, 3.3 miles away. We made it with 2 min. to spare and then the current was with us, almost 2 knots and we got to PGA with 16 min. To spare. The current was very strong and Tom had to jockey it around (something he does very well). Right before it opened the bridge tender had asked if we could expedite our passage since there were emergency vehicles that were going to cross. There was us and a sport fisherman going south and 2 large yachts going north.

Again due to the swift current we were at the Parker bridge in 5 min.

We came in at low low tide and almost slack. Tied up, power hooked up, turned on the A/C and Tom made some celebratory drinks. Then we'll take some things off and go home, leaving the majority of work and offloading over the next few days.

Thanks to all that read the blog and those who commented, that really made if fun. Till next trip...
Traveled 62.8 nm in 10hr. 13 min.

Left the marina around 6:30 and headed out. The canal is narrow and the water not to deep but we followed our track and got out to the channel.

As I said yesterday in the blog we are in a waterway ( the Indian River to be exact -still) that is very wide but very shallow outside of the channel. As you are traversing the intra coastal and you look at your electronic chart at the helm you are following a magenta line which designates the center. However you need to constantly watch as the depths do deviate, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. Although the chart shows the day marks, the person not at the helm is also watching through the binoculars scanning the water and pointing out where the next mark is. Both are full time jobs!

Reached our anchorage by Pine Island just north of Vero Beach at 2:00p.m. It was little shallow going in and we dropped the anchor in 5.9 ft. of water.

It was nice to sit on the back deck and relax. Tom fell asleep, I read some and then dozed. I was watching 3 guys - one driving a jet ski, one sitting behind him and one in the water trying to get up on a wake board. Each of the riders was having a difficult time getting up, in fact only one was able. When they were done they went to a sandbar and started arguing. Oh my gosh I can’t write the conversation, it was x-rated!! They went on and on for at least 45 min. We were in stitches about what they were arguing about. They covered everything form sports, school, caressing his genitals, you name it. Anyway they finally left and our entertainment was over.

We had a Caesar salad with the flank steak for dinner and finished up the ice cream with chocolate sauce for dessert. Sitting in the cockpit enjoying our last night at anchor. We’ve had a great trip, and seen some great places and done lots of fun things.

At the end of each trip we always say “It’s good to go and good to be home”.

We traveled 47.04 nm = 54.51 statute miles in 8 hrs. 8 min.

Up at 5:45 and hoisted anchor at 6:15. There is a bridge in New Smyrna called the George Musson memorial and it opens on demand until 7 a.m. then on the hour and 1/2 hr so we wanted to get through it before 7. We were successful and are now on our way to Cocoa Beach, our destination for today.

We had light winds and calm water, so much so was hard to see the markers since the water is like glass. We are in the Indian River which will take us all the way to Cocoa. It is very wide, not lots to see, and not real deep. An observation - when you’re in any body of water along the intra coastal you think that if it is wide it should be deep, but the only deep water that you see is if you are in a major river, and even then it gets shallow. You have to be constantly on your toes and not take your eyes off the track and the day marks on the water.
We have seen lots of dolphins both in our anchorages and feeding along the way. It’s really neat to see them surface around your boat.

We made great time and by 1:45p.m. we were at the Canaveral canal and about 11 mile from the Harbor Square now known as Cape Crossing Resort and Marina. When I called the marina Capt. Mike said that our slip would not be where we were before, but across from the condos. I had lines on both sides and when we got there, it didn’t look wide enough and when I tossed him the bow line and Tom started to go forward he went aground. Capt. Mike said there was a hump there and we said we didn’t want this slip, didn’t he have the one we were in the last time. He finally relented and we ended up in the same slip as we had before. Needless to say we were a lot pissed! that he didn’t put us there in the first place.

Once in the slip we asked for a pump out (they have access in front of the slips) and we were able to empty both tanks. Tom emptied two Gerry cans of fuel and then a man called Gumby (he lives on his boat in the marina - Gulfstar ‘42 that needs LOTS of work and helps out for his dockage) drove Tom to a gas station to fill them again. While he was gone I washed the boat and filled the water tank.

Our cockpit is facing west so the sun is coming straight in and making it unbearable to sit back there. Glad to be at a dock so we can have the a/c. Had dinner, ate inside, and then took a walk around and also got rid of our garbage. Tom and I both took showers and then had coffee and ice cream w/strawberries.

We will leave early again tomorrow and get to our last anchorage before home

Traveled 47.01 nm in 8 hr. 13 min.

First off Happy 17th Anniversary to my son and daughter-in-law. Because we have been getting up around 5:45 a.m. on a day we’re traveling, we seem to wake up at that time even when we’re not. Oh well it’s a beautiful anchorage here and we are staying the day to explore. We had a leisurely breakfast of cinnamon rolls and coffee. A nice gentle breeze blowing through the boat.

After breakfast Tom did some maintenance on our power cord while I read more of my book - Memory Man by David Balducci. We put the dinghy in late morning and proceeded to go out to the inlet at Ponce Light. The tide was going out so much so that when we turned around to come back to where we came from it was hard to see the channel - we were surrounded by sand bars all over. Much bigger than the one at Peanut Island.

We pulled our dinghy up onto the shore and walked around to the sand bars. On our way back there was a small boat selling ice cream, water, frozen drinks (they were in plastic Eli,e those freezer pops you get, only these contained alcohol!). We got two frozen ice cream cones, with crushed peanuts on top. Who would’ve thought! Sat for awhile and then back to boat.

W enticed that our water line was pretty scum so we went around in the dinghy, me holding the side of the boat as Tom took our boat brush and scrubbed it. It didn’t take it all off but looks a lot better. Back on the boat, pulled up the dinghy, had some yogurt and relaxed.

Tom has a zoom meeting tonight at 6:30 so we’ll have an early dinner. While we were sitting on our back deck and man came by in his dinghy to say hi - he had just come in the anchorage and has a 2001 Catalina42. They are from Washington state and keeps his boat at a yard in St. Mary’s , Georgia. We exchanged boat cards and we told him to look us up when he got down to FL next year.

Dinner of flank steak, Caesar salad and grilled potatoes. Tom’s meeting ended up being a phone call instead of zoom which worked out better for him.

We sat on the back deck for awhile before retiring. Nice breeze blowing, hopefully it will keep away the bugs.

Left the marina at 6:30 a.m. We had a boost of between 1.5 and 2 knots which helped us along. However we are still experiencing green heads!! Ugh. Not as many as in Georgia but they are still here. This part of the intra coastal is long and narrow, not a lot of interesting things to look at however we are now back into the big houses big screens area.

Just south of the L.B. Knox bridge a power boat was approaching fast but slowed down - it was Tangerine - Ron and Leslie de Moraes boat. Tom called him on the radio and then switched to the cell. They are their way to Marblehead, MA.

It is now 12:18 and we are 15 nm from our anchorage. As I said earlier we have had a nice boost so will hopefully be in sooner than we expected.

This being Sunday there were a lot of boats out and they were zipping in and out. It made the last two hours very hectic. To make matters worse the channel was arrow so it was like buzzing bees. We were glad when we reached our anchorage and dropped the hook at 2:30 p.m. We actually got 13 miles for free and got us in an hour earlier. When we were coming north the trip was an hour more.

This is a busy anchorage until after 5 when all the boats who are anchored at the Ponce in,et return home. We had jet skis, pontoon boats, power boats,and even an air boat that you would see in the Everglades- boy was that noisy. Anyway it calmed down and we had our dinner of grilled chicken thighs, stove top stuffing and mixed veggies.

As I recalled there were little bugs (maybe no see ums)that came out at dusk so we closed up the boat and put in the doors with screens. Had our coffee, did some reading and then to bed. Long day but good day. Tomorrow we will take the dinghy down and go to the beach and do some exploring.

We traveled 56 nm in 8hrs. 28 min.

How great it was this morning to get up and not go anywhere! We had a leisurely breakfast on the back deck of scrambled eggs with onion, peppers and cheese and bagels. Because we had only made reservations for one night we needed to move to another slip. Luckily they allowed us to stay until slack tide so it was slightly easier.

Tom filled the gas tank with the 2 six gallon Gerry cans and then refilled them at the fuel dock. At 11:45 a dock hand came by and assisted us out of the slip and then was at the new one (2 down from where we were) to help us in. Even at slack tide there was current and I had to push us away from a cement piling as we exited.

Into the new slip, hooked up the power cord and relaxed. We read a little bit before leaving to walk through the old part of St. Augustine. We walked St. George's street up and down and found some horseradish dip in one of the shops. We also passed a pizza shop that looked great so we're going to order from them tonight.

Back to the boat and we hooked up the water and I washed the boat (except the cockpit) and filled the water tank. I took a shower after that and then topped off the tank. We sat in the cockpit and had our respective wines.

Ordered the pizza at 6 and walked over at 6:40 to pick it up. It was still warm when we got back to the boat and we sat in the cockpit and ate. No better place to eat a pizza! and it was good too!

Had a nice day here and glad we stayed the extra day.