We departed from Palm Coast, FL at 0700 hours and watched the sunrise as we headed out of canals in Palm Coast towards the ICW.

We had a long day ahead of us… planned to go to either Titusville, FL or Cocoa, FL... I really wanted to make Cocoa as this is one of my favorite stops... Ryan’s Village Pizza... seems like that we cruise and plan our stops on what restaurant is located there... Ryan's has the best pizza and they make a giant 24 inch pie... :)

We had very little boat traffic today... we passed one sailboat as we were going down the Haulover Canal and after leaving the Haulover we had a power cat pass us... could hear a lot boat traffic on the VHF but they were behind us.

Had several bridges today but only had to have one bridge opened... L.B. Knox Bridge about 16 statue miles south of Palm Coast... in Daytona there are two bridges and as we approached the Main Street Bridge the bridge tender hailed us and asked if we wanted an opening just to be safe... 22 foot clearance per the bridge clearance sign boards... we need 21 feet... told her I would not need an opening... she came out and watched as we passed under the bridge... think she was worried we were going to hit the bridge but we had room to spare... the next bridge in Daytona is the Memorial Bridge according to the charts 21 foot clearance... same as what we require... as we approached the sign boards said 17.5 feet low clearance with an additional 4 feet at the center... that was 21.5 feet we should make it... dropped to an idle and Susan went to upper deck to check... she gave me the OK... 6 inches to spare as we passed under the bridge... bridge tender was out watching us on this bridge also... :)

It had been windy to day also but again today we had the late afternoon winds pick up to 30 knots as we were passing through the Titusville area and they were on the starboard beam... I had to steer 3 to 4 degrees to starboard to maintain a straight track... so we crabbed our way along for miles until the winds died down... which was just before sunset.

We passed right through Titusville and were bound for Cocoa... the desire for Ryan's Pizza had won over our desire to stop and rest... this would make the day another 2 hours longer but the pizza was REALLY GOOD at Ryan's... :)

We arrived to Cocoa about 1915 hours and passed under the new high rise bridge that had replaced the old bascule bridge that we were used to seeing here and made a 90 degree turn to starboard... our eyes peeled to see if the free dock here had space for us... as we got close I could see just one small sailboat at the 200 foot dock... GREAT! There was space for us... now if I could get close enough to the dock... water is a little thin at the dock and approaching it... depth sounder alarm started going off as we got close but it never dropped below 5.4 feet and I slide into the dock and we were secure at 1930 hours.

The current boost today was not tremendous but it was consistent keeping us above 7 knots most of the time. There were a few spots we slowed down but were shorted lived. We traveled for 12 hours and 30 minutes covering 85.28 nautical miles and averaging 6.82 knots.

The pizza from Ryan's was AWESOME! We ordered a giant 24 inch pie half meat lovers and have sausage... we still have half of it left but it’s even better warmed-up or my favorite cold for breakfast... :)

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 1388.45 nautical miles
Hours: 216 hours 1 minutes
Avg Spd: 6.43 knots
Days not moving: 12

We pulled anchor and departed from San Sebastian River in St. Augustine, FL at 0730 hours. We had a short day of travel today with our destination for the evening being Palm Coast, FL.

Quite a bit of boat traffic today… we passed several sailboats and had several power boats pass us… again the power boats were all delivery captains taking someone’s boat south.

We arrived and docked at Barry and Barbara Kipnis’ home in Palm Coast at 1020 hours.

We spent the day visiting with MTOA friends and had a wonderful dinner in Flagler Beach with Peter and Charlotte Behr, Barbara and Barry Kipnis and Phil and Sarah Lowe… all fellow MTOA members and dear friends! Palm Coast is always a great stop over as we travel north of south on the ICW.

The current was in our favor today all day. We traveled for 2 hours and 50 minutes covering 21.91 nautical miles and averaging 7.73 knots.

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 1303.17 nautical miles
Hours: 204 hours 31 minutes
Avg Spd: 6.37 knots
Days not moving: 12

We departed from Jekyll Island at 0645 hours with our planned destination for the day being St. Augustine, FL. We would be traveling inside in the ICW for the entire day... forecast for offshore in the Atlantic was for 3-5 foot seas increasing to 4-6 foot seas... nothing we really wanted to forego.

Crossing the St. Andrew Sound Inlet was a little rough... we saw the 3-4 foot waves at the outer most section... but once we turned and headed down the Cumberland River alongside Cumberland Island it calmed right down. First time we have been past Cumberland Island and did not see any horses on the beach... was looking forward to seeing them as we always do when we are in this area.

Not much boat traffic today at all... a few local small boats and a couple of sailboats... actually thinking about it there were several power boats that passed us heading south... did not look like cruisers though... more like delivery captains delivering boats south.

Was really funny just after crossing the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, FL we switched from having the current with us to against us at just over 2 knots... slowed us down to 4.3 knots... what was funny was a SeaTow boat approached us and hailed us on the VHF... informing us that this was a no wake zone... the current ripping through the area was making more wake than we were... besides we only making just over 4 knots... any slower and I would of had trouble steering the boat in the current... told the SeaTow captain that I was only making 4.3 knots and if he checked my wake he would see it was minimal... even at full cruise we put out a wake less than a foot high... just funny when we get yelled at for speeding and making a wake... just can't do it... wish I could make a wake at times for pay back to some these sport fish that pass you and they can make a wake... :)

The current was really ripping out and we had some interesting current in two spots... the Pablo Creek Bridge and the B.B. McCormick Bridge... both place the waterway narrows to just the span of the bridge opening and going through the Pablo Creek Bridge the current was over 4 knots against us... we slowed down to 2.3 knots as we passed under the bridge.. the B.B. McCormick Bridge was not as bad but close... slowing us down to 3.6 knots... the interesting part was not just the velocity of the current but the turbulence it creates and the effect it has on the boat... just before the Pablo Creek Bridge the turbulence was wicked... causing SAILS to actually roll back and forth about 20 degrees... keeps you on your toes steering towards a bridge when this is happening... :)

About two hours before St. Augustine we experienced increased winds... most likely what was in the forecast that was increasing the seas to 4-6 feet... had steady winds over 25 knots with a lot of gusts to over 30 knots... and of course this was right as the sun was setting and getting dark... sunset at 1735 hours and we had these winds for the next hour or so... they did slow down to 15 ro 20 knots as headed up Matanzas River toward the Bridge of Lions at St. Augustine. We do not have to open this bridge and can clear it by lowering the antennas and mast... we planned to anchor outside the mooring field just south of the bridge.

We navigated through the mooring field and to a location outside the mooring field and close to shore and as close to the St. Augustine City Marina as possible so the dingy ride to walk Beecha would be minimal. We anchored... ate dinner... I took Beecha to land for a walk and we sat and watched TV... it was 2200 hours and a dinghy approached the stern shining a flashlight in the back door... I got up and went outside and to see what was what... the dinghy had two men on it from the St. Augustine City Marina and they were informing me that we could not anchor here and we would have to take a mooring ball... he said he had one ball left in the far southern end of the mooring field and we would have to take it and then come in to the marina in the morning to register and pay... I acknowledged him and we prepared to pull the anchor and move... :(

After raising the anchor I really did not want to try and navigate through the crowed mooring field so we headed back out toward the ICW and figured we would go a little further south and anchor in San Sebastian River. The marina hailed me on the VHF to tell me that I was not headed in the right direction to get the open mooring ball... I informed him that we were not taking the mooring and were heading further south to anchor. He apologized for having to ask us to leave where we were but that a boat near us on a mooring had complained to them that they feared we might drag anchor into them... I told him not to worry about it... this was first for us... getting kicked out an anchorage... :)

We proceeded back to the ICW and south to San Sebastian River and anchored just outside the channel off of St. Augustine Marine Center at approximate coordinates N29°52.561', W081°18.864'.

Again the current was against us more than it was in our favor. We traveled for 12 hours and 45 minutes covering 80.57 nautical miles and averaging 6.32 knots.

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 1281.26 nautical miles
Hours: 201 hours 41 minutes
Avg Spd: 6.35 knots
Days not moving: 12