Back to Jacksonville

After Bill's birthday celebration, we prepped to leave Vero Beach for our return to Jacksonville. The weather was not very cooperative and we debated whether to leave ahead of the stormy weather or wait for it to pass. We decided to go ahead and leave on Tuesday. We went from Vero Beach to Titusville in off-and-on rain and anchored for the night. On Wednesday we left Titusville to go to New Smyrna but decided to go on to Daytona once we had arrived at New Smyrna. Arrival there was questionable about five miles out. Bill called me to inform me that he had an alarm going off and that the engine temp gauge was pegged. He shut down and dropped his anchor and we came along and rafted to him to ascertain the problem.

We determined that he had lost his circulating pump belt and, since we had checked supplies before leaving on this trip, he had a spare belt. I went over and Bill and I replaced the belt.

We got back under way and decided that we had enough time to make Daytona. This would put us further up the coast away from the incoming storms as well as give us a location with good marine services should we need them. We anchored for the night in relatively strong wind but all was well. On Thursday we left Daytona planning to go to St. Augustine where we could supposedly get a free dock at Cap's Seafood restaurant.

Passing under the Bridge of Lions (under reconstruction) in St. Augustine

We had a favorable current all day and when we arrived at Cap's we determined that there was no way we could put our boats on the dock they had. A few miles further north was our "Plan B" anchorage but once we arrived there, we decided that the current would be favorable all the way north and that we could make Jacksonville by dark. The consensus was to go ahead to Jacksonville and tie up at the "Jacksonville Landing" in downtown Jacksonville (free) for one night. Our tidal currents did, in fact, remain favorable and we came into Jacksonville just at nightfall.

The next day we left the Landing at sunrise -

and made our way to Ortega Landing where we will be keeping our boat for the next few weeks. This is a new development where one would purchase a membership in the Marina. The condos and clubhouse are still under construction but it will be a very nice facility when complete.

After we got settled in, I washed down the boat for the first time since we left in December while Stacy met others on the docks.

We organized a dinner on our aft deck and invited two other couples from Virginia to join us.

Bill brought over a cake for Stacy's birthday (early since we were heading back to Athens on Sunday).

Stacy tried to cut the cake and finally determined that it was a toilet paper cake that Bill and Ellen spent much time in creating.

We all had great fun and heard many stories about the other couples' travels in New York, Canada, and Michigan where we are headed.

We are now in Athens as Stacy's mother had surgery this morning (Monday). So far, everything seems fine. Stacy will be staying with her during her initial recovery while I travel back and forth to the boat to do maintenance in preparation for our northbound trip starting in April.