Awoke to a mass of pelicans feeding near the boat – breath-taking. Then off with the tide, heading south through marshes and forests with houses discreetly hidden in the shade.

Florida has a totally different feel from much of what we have seen to date. One difference: in the Carolinas and Georgia most of the boaters were transient, on their way south. Here, most of the boaters we meet are locals, with none of the courtesy of ICW travellers, so we are constantly being bashed about in power-boat wake.

Anyway.

As we moved south, we started to pass through some areas of ‘extreme’ housing – see photo board for one example. Many of these are screened top to bottom, to keep the bugs out.

We ended the day anchored off Daytona Beach – famous for its car racing. We went ashore to explore and stretch our legs. Daytona has a sort of Great Yarmouth-meets-Blackpool seaside town quality about it. There is some cracking surf piling in on the Atlantic beach, which was being enjoyed by some of the locals strolling and surfing.

Twitching report: white ibis feeding, bald eagles, spotted sandpipers, turnstones, royal terns (they are so cute); we’re only reporting the new or special now.

ICW Mile 832 – 40 statue miles today.