We departed from Cocoa Village Marina at about 0650… winds were down a little from when we arrived so backing out of the slip and maneuvering out of the marina was not an issue and soon we were back in the ICW and heading south. We had a long day of travel today… evening destination to be Stuart, FL.

Winds were forecast to be 15-20 knots with gusts to 25 knots but we found the forecast to be incorrect and saw winds less than 15 knots all day. It was nice for a change to have the incorrect forecast to be favorable.

The days cruise was uneventful… few boats passed us in both directions… we had the typical currents both with and against us… believe we may have had a bit more in our favor today.

The exit from the ICW into St. Lucie River was a little hairy… near low tide and by the time we reached there it had been dark for a while… and it was shallow nothing under 6 feet but I prefer to see double digits when it comes to depth.

We arrived to the Stuart City Docks and were securely docked at about 1950 at N27°12.133’, W080°15.216’. The docks must have been damaged during the recent hurricane as the dock lighting was not on and the dock had a sign temporarily closed with barricades blocking the dock.

We traveled today for 13 hours covering 84.56 nautical miles averaging 6.53 knots.

We departed from New Smyrna Beach at about 0650… very windy morning… 20 knots plus with gusts to 30 knots. Not a lot of exposed areas today to travel… well, actually there was… Mosquito Lagoon the NNW winds were blowing straight down it and it got a little choppy with 2-4 foot waves but as a following sea it was not an uncomfortable ride. Then we passed through the Haulover Canal into the top of the Indian River where we had the wind almost on our beam for the first leg before Titusville. At Titusville our path turned to more southerly path and again we had the 2-4 foot following seas for the rest of the trip to Cocoa, FL.

We had been given a certificate for a free night at Cocoa Village Marina and were going to use it for tonight’s stop. Made for a shorter day but with the wind it was nice to stop at a marina. Plus we always stop at Cocoa going north or south to get pizza… Ryan’s Village Pizza… we love it.

We arrived to Cocoa Village Marina with winds still blasting out of the north 20-25 knots. It was an interesting approach to the marina with the winds on our beam and to make the entrance you have to make a 180 degree turn downwind and then back with wind on your beam again… the slip they had us going in was one that we were able to turn into the wind bow first so that helped docking tremendously. We were securely docked in slip #7 at about 1350 at N28°21.489’, W080°43.538’.

We traveled today for 7 hours covering 44.85 nautical miles averaging 6.41 knots.

Our destination for the day was not far so we slept in and did not depart until 1000. I doubt we would of gotten away much earlier since it had been pouring rain until about 0900 but now it the sun was out and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day… a bit windy but all trip today was all well protected waterway.

The two days we spent in Palm Coast were great… got to see a lot of MTOA friends that we had not seen a quite a while and the hospitality you receive when you stop here is unsurpassed and we really hated to leave.

Today we traveled to New Smyrna Beach to stop and visit with more MTOA friends… Peter and Charlotte Behr and Ron and Mary Barringer. We will have dinner and spend what I sure will be a lovely evening with them.

We docked at the newly renovated New Smyrna Beach City Docks… we arrived at about 1615 hours and docked at the new floating dock installed with the renovations. It is very nice… about 50 feet long which is just perfect for us. The docks are located at N29°01.530’, W080°55.155’.

We traveled today for 6 hours and 15 minutes covering 39.59 nautical miles averaging 6.33 knots.