Going Coastal.... Cocoa to St. Augustine

March 25th 2013

While it is still fresh in my mind and I am not too tired to post I would love to tell about Cocoa to St. Augustine, I am sorry I didn't write sooner on the blog but cruising wears us (Bill and I) out. New rule for us no more than 40 to 50 miles a day  and I will share with you why later. 

Leaving Cocoa about 830 am on March 25th, sunny cool around 60 and very windy, water is choppy but no white caps. 

In this picture the shuttle is on display near Titusville, Florida on the Indian River.

This is the space center on the side of the building is giant American flag and the words NASA

the bay we are in is very large about 8 miles it takes Proud lady about an hour and a half to reach the canal. Near Cape Canaveral. We are traveling about 6 knots because of the wind. 

This is the entrance into the canal.

Entering Haulover Canal

Inside the canal feels very isolated but it has rustic beauty large rocks lining the canal banks, these folks are kayaking, there is a park about half way through this narrow passage, looks so fun. 

Spring break and these guys are fishing on rocks outside the canal. Proud Lady is now entering Mosquito Lagoon.

I don't know if you can see but up ahead is a tug boat and a tow boat with about 500 foot of pipe between them they called over the radio and will take this load through the canal other boats will have to hold up on the other side until they pass.

 Not far into Mosquito Lagoon I noticed a sunken vessel to add to my sunken vessel collection.

We arrived in New Smyrna late in the afternoon having traveled about 8 hours the city dock was busy and full, no place to park Proud Lady Sheeps head cutoff was crowded with small sailing craft so we headed up further to Rockhouse creek to anchor out for the night. It turned out to be a beautiful spot across from beautiful homes with an ocean view of breakers to our south, a lighthouse to the north/east. But, Bill and I were exhausted. I made hamburgers on our George Forman grill served with aisan cole slaw. We did our evening boat chores and called in the night early Bill with his West Marine catalog and I with a book that I was able to finish before sleep. Durning the night we got up and checked the anchor hold and position to make sure she held tight 2 or 3 times but the night went well.

Sun rise at Rockhouse creek.

The Atlantic 

Wish I could have gotten a clearer view of this lighthouse.

We left our anchorage about 8 10 am later than we wanted to and headed up the AICW toward Ponce De Leon inlet and toward Datona Beach the picture is Datona in the distance.

A fishing fleet 

The bridge Port Orange 

The terrain changes after Daytona to a more rocky areas some are very beautiful it looks like ancient volcano lava rock.

Then changes again to very marshy.

Over this bank you can see the Atlantic ocean its about 300 pm and we are entering low tide marshy area the wind is blowing in gusts.

Fort Matanzas, SO COOL! A Spanish fort left over from the Spanish occupation. I need to read more history.

A unique Bed and Breakfast.

Here is an example of the marsh land, the tide is out and the wind is blowing the rest of the water out at one point in our cruise our depth finder said 0.4 inches and Proud lady hesitated to move forward but My hero Captain Bill gently guided her in reverse and moved to deeper waters then we moved on I helped him navigate using Navtronics on the I pad.to stay in the narrow channels.. 

Another example of how the tides and wind effect boating in this area. There were some beautiful areas that we wished we lived there. There were areas I said why do people want to live here? 

Our approach to St Augustine see the dry area near Red triangle 20A,  but we stayed in the channel and made it into the yacht basin without any problem. BUT Then,

The current, wind and tide played and role in pushing us against a concrete pier as we entered out assigned slip at St Augustine, Thank God! for the rub rail and it is something Bill can repair himself. 

Proud lady is safe and sound in her slip its about 5:00pm  Our fees are paid we took nice hot showers and dressed for dinner. By 5:45 we were exploring the village for a place to relax and eat. A local fellow encouraged us to eat at JP Henley's Pub and Grub there were over 100 beer selections. I had the best cream soda and a Turkey sandwich with apple and cranberry that was Awesome! Bill ate a ruben and of all the beers he chose Michelob ultra. I would give this place a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 it was good the service was great and we got to relax away from Proud Lady for a short time. By 700 pm we were doing our evening chores and again ready for night. Today March 26th we traveled 64 miles in the cold wind. Thus the new rule not to travel over 40 to 50 miles a day it wears us plum out.

I will get a better picture of the bridge here in St Augustine because we are sitting very near. There is so much to see and do it overwhelms me. So I will write more later, Love ya, JOY