Saturday/Sunday

Wind basically on the nose for the trip to Eau Galle causeway on Saurday. Did get to use the staysail, but it was tough trying to keep it from flapping. Winds were s/sw. We anchored and shortly a trawler appeared and anchored right next to us and there was plenty of room to be elsewhere. Burt saw the guy and mentioned he seemed a bit close, but the guy wasn't concerned and thought all was fine. Storm clouds rolled in. Wind and rain was coming. Burt got into his rain regalia, got our 2 bumpers out and placed them strategically for a potential bump. Then he got lines out and laid them on the cabin top and stood in the cockpit to watch the storm. It rained and blew for awhile and then stopped. Boats swung all over and the trawler got pretty close. After it stopped raining the trawler upped anchor and moved to another spot behind us. Nothing was said. Of course that was the end of the storm and it was pretty calm from then on.

Early start today (Sunday) after a filling breakfast. NW winds for the motor home. Cats radar off as I had to go wake her up to take her to the house. Been spending the rest of today taking stuff off.

A good trip overall as nothing broke and we got some great sailing in on the way to St Augustine.

Friday.

Met our friend Charles at the marina, and he and Burt had several chess games today.

We also rode in his motorhome to the Village Inn for lunch...they have great pies there. Lunch was fine but those pies are just terrific :).

Inexpensive ice cream bars at the marina...we've had several of those.

Wifi has been working pretty well....hooray.

Picture is of a manatee that was lounging around in the marina this morning. Actually there were probably 3 or 4 there.

Thursday. 43 miles

Took off Wednesday and made it to Daytona for a 48 or so mile day. Current against us the ENTIRE day....made a max of about 5.3 knots. Winds also mostly on the nose...so used the main/staysail. Anchored in the south part of Daytona away from all the other boats...near marker 46. Calm evening but heard the wind generator off/on most of the night.

Picture is of one of the bridges in Daytona. Hard to see but there's a design on each column.

Today current with us til the Ponce Inlet then against us the rest of the way. Once again a staysail/main day. In Mosquito Lagoon current slackd off and we got up near 6 knots.

Impulse ended up with transmission problems just after they got thru New Smyrna Beach....last we heard they were being towed back to New Smyrna to a marina, altho they had hoped their towboat US membership would get them towed all the way home.

We are here in Titusville and once again selected our mooring. This time we then went in and paid and had showers. At least this time I got connected to their wifi network...color me excited altho it's not very fast. The speed ranges from 48 Mbps to 1. This is with the Alpha wifi extender.....at least I only have about $30.00 into this setup.

Tuesday

Made it to Sailors Exchange today - quite a marine consignment store. There's so much it's just overwhelming to look over. And they negiotiate.

Have been meeting up with the other ECSA members. Last night we all played miniature golf - stupid but fun. Picture shows Burt pointing, our friend Dave (crewing on Judith III), and Patty from Sandalwood (her husband Clay turns out to be a killer chess player).

Burt had several chess games with Clay, who beat him soundly.

Yesterday Joanne from Impulse and I conquered the bus system and went to Walmart. All in all it took about 4 hours with all the waiting around. But then the day was wide open so why not.

Burt wants to start heading back tomorrow with the rest of the ECSA crowd. Think we'll plan on spending several nights on the Titusville moorings though - the rest are continuing on.

So glad they have the mooring field here now. No anchoring worries for us or watching out for other boats. Current really rips through here.

Amazingly it's been a bit cool in the morning....great sleeping.

Days tend to start out with little wind and then slowly pick up. By early afternoon the wind generator is really humming. This goes on til a bit after sunset and then things have calmed down for the evening.

Saturday.

We are WAY out and it's quite a dinghy ridge into the dock. We're not quite sure why we were put out here as there are plenty of open moorings closer in.

Walked with Don/Joanne from Impulse to the Winn Dixie yesterday and wore her out....it's a good long walk each way....maybe 2 miles. Then we took them to Georgie's Diner for their large chef salad.

Yesterday after getting back to the marina we stopped in the marina lounge and I discovered a message from some Jacksonville friends - MaryBeth and Kevin. When we walked back outside, whala there they were. They had to come to St Augustine yesterday on an errand so decided to try and connect up to say hello.

Today we had gyros with Don/Joanne at Athena.....they were excellent as usual. Then we had a walk down the tourist strip. Joanne and Burt tried out all the candy/ice cream samples while Don and I watched. Some of the ECSA boats had arrived by the time we got back to the marina dock. I think of the group (about 9) only 3 of us are on a mooring. The rest will be at the marina.

With the moorings, if you stay and pay for a week then the 7th day is free.

Thursday. 48 miles.

Another motorsail day, this time with some main and and jib/staysail. Winds flukey. Most of the time saw in the 5 knot range but toward the end there were some 8+ knots. It was interesting trying to keep the sails from flapping with all the turns.

It's a fish on top of the building in the photo....should have had Burt take the picture!

We are far, far away from the marina building where the wifi is housed. I tried but knew it would be a lost cause to try and connect to it. But I'm picking up someones signal and it's not protected at all....hooray.