Thursday 24 January 2020
Wow! What a difference in just 12 hours. I got up in the middle of the night and the water in the marina was flat dead calm. In the morning the only disturbance was due to the tidal current, fish jumping, and diving birds going after the aforementioned fish.

We topped up the water tanks in preparation for an early departure tomorrow and then walked across the causeway to the rows of beach stores on the Atlantic side. Yesterday Ken and Sherri mentioned that New Smyrna is known as the shark attack capital of the world so we weren't inclined to go surfing. The sea was still pretty high just not as bad as a couple of days ago when the Taylors took us for a drive along the beach.

We also found Ken and Sherri's brick in the sidewalk on Flagler's Avenue and right beside it was one put in there by Dave and Annette Williams. That a picture of it on today's blog.

Today was a good day to get out. Not too cold but not too sunny either. We actually got to see a little of the touristy part of the community.

I had an interesting discussion with the staff at the marina about the possibility of the town putting a mooring field in on both sides of the fixed bridge. The objective would be to add income for the city plus to clear out all the derelict boats that are anchored out there. Most of them with three of four anchors deployed and no engine so they clearly aren't moving anywhere. So you have to ask yourself, what are they doing with the waste from the head? The answer is obvious... The only way in Florida for a municipality to stop anchoring is to have a mooring field. Florida law says that you cannot anchor within a couple of hundred feet of a mooring field. Still, local residents shot down the suggestion. You'd think they would prefer the mooring field to boats that are slowly sinking and dumping waste into the water. Indeed you can see five masts sticking up out of the water even as I thumb this.

Barb and I had lunch at a funky sort of restaurant called Yellow Dog Eats. Food was good and the prices very reasonable.

Tonight we will dine on curry-laced soup aboard and I will OD on cold medication and a glass of beer with a rum chaser in hopes that all of that will kick the cold that I have been wrestling with since the cold and windy trip up from Wabasso Bridge.