The town docks have a new sign posted which is favorable for cruisers... see photo.

Alarm went off at 0600 and I hit the snooze for 15 minutes... tired this morning... Lily woke me up at a little after 0400 wanting to go outside... I think I had just gone back to sleep when the alarm went off...

Even getting up a little later we got away for the dock at 0700 and headed back to ICW. The weather forecast was for fog and rain... low winds though. The pre dawn sky was not that great this morning. You could see the low hanging fog. WE did not get it right away but about 30 minutes later we got pea soup thick fog for about 2 hours... thankfully the sun finally burnt it away... can complain though as this was the first real foggy day we have had the entire trip.

The small boats were back out in larger numbers for a Monday... and we had a few boats pass us and we passed a few sailboats today.

Had a little trouble from a bridge tender today at the Fort Pierce North Bridge. We do not need an opening as I normally put the antennas and mast down... however, today we arrived at the bridge just as it was opening for a large boat that had just passed us heading south. I followed him through the opening and I hailed the bridge tender after we cleared the bridge to let him know and I wished him a Merry Christmas. He responded with a lecture on how I was supposed to call him on the radio when I approach asking for an opening.... it was the law he said... I replied I did not need an opening and only required 21 feet clearance... he came back with I needed more than 21 with those antennas and mast... I replied I would have lowered them if the bridge had no already been open.... he replied... Yeah sure you would of lowered them... he was way out of line in my opinion and I made a phone call to the FL DOT and filed a complaint. About an hour later I get a phone call from the district manager for the bridge asking what had happened... I explained and the manager was outraged at what the bridge tender had done and said he was going down there personally to reprimand the bridge tender and thanked me for calling in a complaint. WOW... I was shocked that I got such a quick and positive response... figured it would go no where... jus make me feel better...

We were going to anchor in Fort Pierce but I was miles past it by the time I finished my first phone call to the FL DOT so we decided to continue on to Stuart. We arrived and were anchored at 1925 just west of the Sunset Bay Marina. Our location for the night N27°11.561', W080°15.999'. We traveled today for 11 hours and 25 minutes covering 85.2 nautical miles averaging 6.9 knots.

We had a great visit with Peter and Charlotte Behr... dinner with great friends.

We left from the marina this morning at 0700 headed out with current running against us... hate mornings when you start out at a slow pace and the current stayed with us until we reached Mosquito Lagoon and then the current was basically no help just not slowing us down.

Forecast was for 50% chance of rain and 10-15 knots winds... saw only one short shower and the winds were from 20 knots to 30 knots all day and it was creating a short chop. Did not effect the ride... just noisy with wind and the short choppy waves.

We really were anticipating seeing a lot of boats again today since it was Sunday... but we were surprised to see very few boats at all. The same trawler that has been passing each day passed us again today. He actually commented on the VHF about it... wondering how we keep getting ahead of them.

We had planned to go to Cocoa and have lunch and then continue on a till sunset and anchor. However, plan changed and we will be having dinner in Cocoa and spending the night here at the town dock.

We arrived and were securely docked at 1400 at the Cocoa Town Dock. Our location for the night N28°21.294', W080°43.324'. We traveled today for 7 hours covering 45.6 nautical miles averaging 6.5 knots.

Tonight we will have dinner at Ryan's village Pizza... love this place !

I woke up this morning before the alarm went off... 0515 and wide awake. Susan and Lily still sound asleep... no sense in laying in bed... up and prepared to leave. Dropped the mooring line and was underway at 0615.

Destination for the day... New Smyrna Beach.

We had the half and then it switched to on our nose till we reached the south end of Daytona Beach and it boosted us to 7.5 to 8.0 knots until we reached New Smyrna Beach and it was back on our nose for the last few miles.

Tons and tons of boats out today... Saturday and the small boats and wave runners were everywhere.

We found out from Peter and Charlotte Behr that the free docks were full so we reserved a slip at the New Smyrna Beach Marina just a half male back from the free docks. Never have stayed here before... seems like a nice place.

Our location for the night N29°01.917', W080°54.776'. We traveled today for 9 hours and 15 minutes covering 59.0 nautical miles averaging 6.4 knots.

We will get to see Peter and Charlotte Behr tonight... that is the best part about New Smyrna Beach.