Tuesday, November 13, 2018

St. Augustine to Vero

We left St. Augustine at 6:25, heading to our next anchorage, probably Mosquito Lagoon. Doesn't that sound like the place you want to spend your night? We usually stop in Daytona, but have decided to make this a longer day to make things work out better tomorrow. Got to keep thinking ahead. It will also help us pass thru some shallow water near Rockhouse Creek at a higher tide. So there will be more water and less chance of bumping bottom.
The fog followed us down the ICW
I really like this dock. Like the shape and especially the name.
Fort Matanzas. There are shallow areas near here. No problem
Work near Rcokhouse Creek. That's good, get rid of the skinny water.

Ponce Lighthouse
 
Looking in Rockhouse Creek anchorage. I like this place, but wouldn't want to try it now. Too much going on.
 
Looking out to Ponce Inlet
 
We had plenty of water along the way. But it is a very hot day with the sun directly in our faces. Well, what do we expect? After all, we headed south to get away from the cold weather.

We got to Mosquito Lagoon or as FFF calls it, "Mozzie Lagoon" at 5pm. We traveled about 10.5hrs at 7.1kts to travel almost 75nm. We just dropped anchor along the side of the ICW. We ended up having a good night. It was breezy and no mozzies.
Just us and our buddies here.
We left at 6:45 the next morning heading to Eau Gallie. We had lots of no see'ums this morning and were hoping for a speedy exit. But no, we had a very messy chain to bring up and wash off, so it took a while of getting eaten alive.
We had a pretty sunrise

Then this showed up...


Thank goodness, this didn't follow us down the ICW. It mostly broke up as we were leaving.
Once we left the anchorage, We had a great day. No problems. We saw dolphins long the way. We passed thru Haulover Canal  to a beautiful calm waterway.
Looking down Haulover Canal toward the bridge.
SeaSalt 
Teach a man to fish, but that doesn't mean he'll catch any. He sure looks like he's enjoying it though.
I bet he's fishing too. And he probably catches them too.
Nice and calm.
We got to Eau Gallie at 1:20. We traveled 6.5hrs at 6.9kts for a total of 45nm. We are anchored here so we can go ashore and visit friends. We went ashore with SeaSalt and had a walk then had dinner with their daughter and her family. We enjoy spending time with them and catching up.
Anchored, safe and sound. We hope.
Back to the boat to get ready for bed and the next day. We'll get to Vero, our final destination for the season.

Up and leaving the anchor at 6:45. We have a short trip today. I told Shay this could be our last travel day on Escape. We are putting her on the market soon. We're ready to start the next chapter of our lives. We are building a condo that will be finished next spring. Our daughter is getting married next spring. Lots of changes to our lives. But "it's all good, man".

We had a great travel day. We saw a large sea turtle, he must be lost. We had lots of dolphins and I even got a video.
They do like to splash.
Glamping along the ICW??
I think this address is 34A, Red Triangle Pole.
Island, just off the waterway.
Looks like a great place to relax


They must be getting in a hurry.
We got to Vero at 10:55. We traveled for about 4 hrs, at 7.4kts for a total of 31nm. We are in a very nice, very swanky marina. Not our usual kind of place. We thought this would be a better place to be since we will be making several trips back home.

Our Canadian friends on Ocean Haven are on the dock just in front of us. We met them at in the mooring field last year and enjoyed spending time with them.
Home away from home for a while.

We'll be here for a few months. It's a beautiful place and we know we'll have a good time. We will miss seeing all the folks at the municipal marina, but we can always ride over there to visit.

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Fernandina to St. Augustine

We left Fernandina at about 6:30 heading to St. Augustine.
This is on one side of the ICW...

...and this is on the other side. I guess eventually they will both be full of houses.
I don't think I've ever seen boats under these cover before. Especially under a cover slip and on a lift.

I have developed at fascination with bare trees. I guess that's better than bare men.
Pretty sky

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Working on the Bridge of Lions

We had a good travel day. Calm water, blue skies, sunshine and fluffy white clouds. We saw lots of dolphins. We saw something unusual this year. There were several very small boats shrimping between the ICW and the docks along the way down. We got to St Augustine at 2:15 after traveling almost 8hrs, at 7.0kts for a total of about 55nm. We went to shore to check in and took a walk and ate at PizzAlley. They have a great happy hour deal. 

Moored and ready to head to shore.


Big barge headed up the waterway
Beautiful sailboat, Freedom. It takes guests out for a sail around St. Augustine

Beautiful church


Flagler University
Us, exploring the city
Beautiful sunrise the next day

We got up early the next morning to head out. As you can see, it was a very foggy morning. We had to travel several miles until it cleared up.





A new friend, Byrne, took these sunrise pictures of Escape while we were anchored out a few days ago. They are beautiful. Thanks, Byrne.