March 18-April 24, 2018
From the peaceful, laid back days in the Keys, we were thrown into the new reality of a sunny, warm, busy Sunday afternoon in Miami. Boat after boat sped by us, almost as if in competition of who could go the fastest and throw the most wake. We were heading for what we had heard was an amazing, protected anchorage. On the way, we see new friends Jim and Gloria. Sadly, they are stopped and waiting for a tow, they picked up a large line wrapped around their prop. Not able to help, we continue on to the anchorage. We pull into No Name Harbor, only to find the anchorage very busy, with boats anchored uncomfortably close. We find a small spot we think will work and drop anchor, knowing most of the boats here are not staying the night, and if we can hang in for a few hours we will have the place to ourselves. Not able to let out much scope, in a surprisingly deep anchorage, we are not able to set the hook. We pull up the anchor and retreat. We find out Chad’s friend Scott is in town to visit his son Matthew (recall Chad and Scott’s great adventure to get our new boat from Bayfield, WI to Frankfort, MI http://maunabiker.com/index.php/category/sailing-the-great-lakes/). Scott and Matthew wave us in to No Name Harbor, and then move on to meet us at the marina we settled on instead of the anchorage. Scott had a reunion with the boat (and us J ), and we got to spend the evening sharing stories of both new and old adventures.
Ready to move on from the craziness that is Miami, we head to Hollywood. Calmer than Miami, but still a very active town, we spend some time walking the beach and doing some boat maintenance. We found a fun brewery on the beach, and got to meet up with Scott and Matthew again before Scott heads back to Michigan. Ready for a peaceful night, we move on and find an anchorage outside of the little town of Lantana. Our next stop is Palm Beach Gardens, on our journey out of southern Florida. People often ask how we do our grocery shopping. Truthfully, most of the time we have been lucky enough to have access to a vehicle or a shuttle when we have to do bigger restocking trips. This time, we did not. So we made the most of it and loaded up our backpacks and even one for Rilee, and we went to the grocery store three times. We got the groceries we needed, and some extra exercise. We rewarded ourselves with a cold brew at a fun little brewery we found.
The next day we arrive at Port Salerno, at the Eastern end of the Okeechobee Waterway. Many loopers take the Okeechobee Waterway instead of going down to the Keys like we did. We waited out some strong wind and waves, and checked out Port Salerno and Stuart. Heading north again, we find a great anchorage near Fort Pierce. It is an extremely protected spot, surrounded by homes. The only problem is there is no great place to take Rilee to shore. This is not an uncommon problem we have found in Florida, and one of the main reasons we haven’t anchored more. We take a long, bumpy, wet dingy ride to Fort Pierce. We have a great time checking out the brewery and ciderworks, and completely tired Rilee out in the process, a successful afternoon! The dingy ride back is not as bad, but we are happy to pull anchor in the morning and head on.
We arrive to Melbourne, docking in 25 knot winds, and are happy to find two other looper boats. We spend the evening telling docktales over docktails. Heading out the next day, we arrive to Cocoa. We are happy to meet up with Chad’s cousin Leyda and her daughter Marissa. We haven’t seen them in a few years, and are glad we get to spend two evenings together catching up. At Cocoa we also find other loopers, and together we all watch a SpaceX launch for a resupply mission to the International Space Station. We also spent some time at Cocoa Beach, and also spent a day at NASA, where we saw our first alligator on the trip!
Heading on north, we pass through the Haulover Canal. Apparently it is manatee mating season, and there tons of manatee all over! We have to be really careful to navigate around the mating rituals. Ready for a good anchorage, we anchor in Mosquito Lagoon. While it is a fairly open body of water, the direction the wind is predicted to come from should give us some protection. It’s a beautiful spot, near the ocean and a great spot to take Rilee to shore. We spend the afternoon walking the beach, careful not to turn to the south, towards the senior nude beach…not a pretty picture. Rilee finds some turtles in the brush (don’t worry we didn’t let her get them!). We head back to the boat for the evening, where we spent the early hours getting rocked, and not gently to sleep. The wind shifted and the waves increased to 3 plus feet, not at all what was forecasted for the night. We left at first light and headed straight to New Smyrna Beach, where they had a free dock. We tied up to the dock and all three of us took a long nap. Waking up, there were fishermen on the dock, fishing over the boat. Afraid for our canvas, we decided to look for a marina for the night. Down at the city marina, while Chad is inside checking on availability, Rilee and I notice a boat drifting towards the marina. Someone on an adjacent fishing dock had tried to move a boat using a book hook, and it broke free. I let Chad know and he and some others ran down to avoid a collision. After all the commotion, we got a spot at the marina for the night.
We make a stop at Daytona Beach, hiding out from some bad weather. Not once the spring break hotspot it used to be, the small downtown was struggling to survive. Heading north, the tides are gradually increasing. From a one foot tide at Daytona Beach, we arrive in St. Augustine, where we first encounter a five foot tide. Every six hours, the tide goes from high to low, or low to high. Thankfully most docks are floating, as it is very difficult to tie the boat in properly with a tide that extreme! St. Augustine, the Nation’s Oldest City, is beautiful and rich in history. We make sure to take in a history tour, visit the Fountain of Life, have lunch in a swimming pool, visit a distillery and winery, and take a ghost tour on Friday the 13th! We are also lucky enough to have family to visit in the area. We head out to Penney Farms, where we spend a wonderful afternoon with Chad’s second cousins Kay and Paul. They live in such a cool retirement community, originally founded by J.C. Penney. Kay is an amazing cook, and we have such a feast for lunch! She sends us home loaded up with leftovers and all other kinds of goodies! We enjoyed the much too short visit, learning all about family history and hearing all about Kay and Paul’s adventures.
Time to move on, we set our sights on a free dock on Sisters Creek. Checking in with some fellow loopers, we learn the free dock is pretty full. Instead, we decide to head for the nearest marina in Mayport. The marina is on the very fast moving St. Johns River, which empties directly into the Atlantic. Through some herculean effort, Chad manages to dock the boat against a 6 knot current (note our normal forward speed is about 6.2 knots, almost leaving us at a stand still) and 20 knot wind, without so much as bumping the dock. We get in contact with our friends on First Forty and State of Bliss, and find out they have had some trouble at the free dock, and are heading our way. We help them dock in the crazy conditions, and we all head out for dinner and drinks, ready to put the day behind us.
Planning our departure the next day, we use the current to our advantage. Now facing seven foot tides, we have to time our travels according to the tides. We had really hoped to anchor out, but Rilee gave us a scare, and we decided we needed to get to a marina with a car and near a vet (turns out she had a kidney stone, and is doing just fine now). We found an awesome spot at Amelia Island Marina, where we spend some time so we can keep an eye on Rilee. We tour Fernandina Beach and Fort Clinch State Park. Sadly, we find the dock at Fernandina Beach has not recovered from Hurricane Matthew (2016), and in fact is so shallow at low tide that even shallow draft boats are on the bottom. Chad found a really cool restaurant on the beach, complete with swings to sit on at the bar…I love it!!!
With Rilee doing better, we head north again. After nearly five months in Florida, we’re moving on out. Adios Florida!
It was nice meeting you today at the Chesapeake Inn. You may have been out when we returned. Hope you have a great summer of sailing.
Ed & Amy Stafford