We left St. Augustine on Thursday, March 20. We passed the Ponce de Leon Inlet and continued on the AICW to Jacksonville Beach. We docked at the Beach Marina. We knew we would need to pick up some groceries so before deciding where to dock Tony spoke to the dockmaster and he assured him that there were 2 grocery stores with in walking distance from their marina. One store was  1.1 miles from the marina but on the other side of the AICW over a bridge. The other was 1.3 miles but in the direction of the bridge. This is the day after we had walked over 5 miles going to the lighthouse, the Castillo de San Marcos and to dinner. We put on our walking shoes and foldup cart and off we went. The next day Sharon did laundry, while Tony washed the boat and went to lunch at the restaurant at the marina. After spending two quiet days, we left and headed up the St. John's River to downtown Jacksonville. We left the AICW to go on the St John River. As we were approaching we saw a huge freighter moving up the river. We followed him towards the city. Just before the first bridge in Jacksonville, we watched as 2 tugs slowly turned the freighter to go up a channel. We were looking for the Metropolitan Park Marina. It is located on the river side of the stadium where the Gator Bowl and Jacksonville  Jaguars play. It is one of the free docks provided by the city of Jacksonville.  All you have to pay for is electricity. Total cost for two days was $17.12. What a great deal.  The only drawback is their are no dock attendants to help you tie up. We walked about a mile to the downtown.  Most of the activity is at a complex on the river called the Jacksonville Landing.  There are several restaurants and shops.  We took the riverwalk back and saw a lady with a Starbucks cup. Of course I had to ask and she told me they sold my favorite brew at the Hyatt.  On Saturday (March 22nd) we walked to the Hyatt and sat in the lobby having a coffee and people watching.  In the afternoon, Jim and Pat from Ariverderci, fellow loopers, came in as well as Miss Brisa. The captain, Leon, helped us  dock and depart from Marineland. So Tony helped them dock. Turn about is fair play. Leon and his wife have traveled on their boat all the way from Alaska. They have been gone three years. What an adventure they have experienced.  They will soon have their boat pulled out of the water and plan to drive back to Alaska. Tony also helped dock (twice) a boat from Halifax, Nova Scotia.The slip they tied up to first was rocking because of the wake of boats traveling on the St John's River. Jim and Pat came to our boat for docktails. Sunday we continued up the St. John's River to the Ortega River. We are presently docked at the Marina at Ortega Landing. This is where Summer Recess will stay while we come back to Michigan for a week. She will get some engine work done, the air conditioning unit in our state room will have a circuit board replaced and a TV antenna so we can watch tv where there is no cable. We should have done this earlier but not being able to watch NCAA B-ball was the final straw. We will return to Florida on April 1st.

                                             Container Ship coming through St. John's Inlet

                                               Tows guiding ship into the dock

                                                   We had a visitor in Jacksonville Beach

                                                                Jacksonville Skyline

                                                          Statue of Andrew Jackson

                                                   Sculpture on the Jacksonville River Walk

Jacksonville is the home of Maxwell House Coffee      

Our second day in New Smyrna (Thursday, March 13) was spent washing, cleaning, and buying groceries.  We had entertainment as we sat on the back of the boat having a beverage. There were several pelicans having a feeding frenzy while the fishermen were cleaning their catch and throwing the scraps to the birds.  Friday we docked at Halifax Harbor in Daytona.  It is bike week and there were large gatherings of motorcyclists all over the city. We rode our bikes into town, which really only consists of four of five blocks on the Halifax River. Since we did not have a car, we did not cross the river and see Daytona Beach.  On Saturday we left the marina after tossing our bathroom keys into a net held by a dock attendant at the office. We continued north passed Ormand and Flagler beaches before entering the Fox Cut, a narrow channel with communities of homes interspersed among marshes.  Docking at our next marina, Marineland north of Palm Coast was an adventure because of the short docks and the need to toss stern lines onto posts as you bring the boat into the slip. Leon, who had his boat the marina, hopped on the Summer Recess after we got a pump out and did the honors. The short docks also posed a challenge to me when I got off and on the boat.  We walked to the beach. We were to surprised to see lines of large boulders perpendicular to the beach. We figured there were placed there to prevent erosion. We also took a hike in the Matanzas River National Preserve.While walking, we came across a turtle sunning himself, we were able to get close for a picture before it decided to move back into the underbrush. On Sunday again Leon and our dock neighbor, Chuck, helped us to back the boat out. Thank God for good samaritans. We made our way to St. Augustine where, with gusty gusty winds, I successfully caught the mooring ball the first time.  We took the dinghy to shore and checked in at the marina. We then began the first of three days exploring this historic town. St. Augustine was founded in 1565 as a Spanish military outpost and is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States. Spanish Renaissance architecture can be seen all over the city. We started by walking down St. George Street where for blocks there are many shops and restaurants.  We, of course found The Bunnery, a great coffee shop.  For our first tour we went to the Colonial Quarter, which traced the history of St. Augustine from the 16th through the 18th Centuries.  We saw a Spanish caravelle being built, a blacksmith shop, an armsmith shop accompanied by a musket demonstration, a soldier's home, a print shop and other interesting exhibits. We then visited the museum in the Government House and passed the oldest wooden school house, made of cypress and cedar. Finally, we saw the Cathedral of St. Augustine. The interior is filled with beautifully carved wood, frescoes, and beautiful stained glass windows.  Sunday night was filled with storms and we awoke to rain on Monday morning.  There was a break in the rain late Monday morning so we ventured, complete with slickers, to shore again. The rains came and went all day.  Our first stop was Flagler College. The buildings are absolutely beautiful. The central building was once the Ponce de Leon Hotel, which was built by  Henry Flagler, one of the founders of Standard Oil, as well as a railroad pioneer with a great interest in Florida's east coast. The hotel was completed in 1888 and the college was founded in 1968. A female dorm as well as a cafeteria and administrative offices are housed in the hotel.  Again there are great examples of woodwork and stained glass windows.  Fifteen buildings were added to the campus in the same style as the hotel.  Across the street is the Lightner Museum. It was the Alcazar Hotel, which was also built by Flagler as an annex to the Ponce de Leon containing ball rooms, saunas and a pool. The Alcazar was purchased by Otto C. Lightner, a Chicago Publisher, in 1946 to house his extensive collection of Victoriana. Everything from buttons to matchbox covers, to cut glass, to furniture, to cigar labels and on and on and on. When we got back to the dinghy it began pouring rain and by the time we got the dinghy back to the boat, drained and covered it, we (mostly Tony) were soaked to the skin.  Monday night agin was stormy, but today we only had intermittent rain. We moved the boat from the mooring ball to the marina.  Our sightseeing began with a four mile walk to and from the St. Augustine Lighthouse. (We had been lead to believe it was just a short walk.) The original watch tower was built by the Spanish in 1737. However, the present lighthouse was completed in 1874 as an aid to navigation with a beacon visible 25 miles away on a clear night.  It is 140 ft. high and 219 steps to the top (Tony climbed up to take two photos). The grounds also has a keeper's cottage. However, the lighthouse was automated in 1955. After returning from the lighthouse, we toured Castillo de San Marcos, the Spanish Fort in St. Augustine was started in 1672 and completed in 1695. One of the most interesting things about the fort was the construction material.  It is called coquino, which is a form of limestone containing millions of small shells.  The coquino occurs naturally on Anastasia Island, which is across the river from St. Augustine. The rock was a wonderful material to build the fort from because it absorbed the shock from cannon balls striking it without  cracking or collapsing. We have thoroughly enjoyed our visit. This has been a highlight of our adventure.  

                                                        Bike Week in Daytona

Downtown Daytona

                                                           Pelican Feeding Frenzy

                                                      Large boulders on the Atlantic

                                                     Matanzas River Nature Preserve

                                                        Government House in St. Augustine

                                                      Coffee Shop in St. Augustine

                                                   Blacksmith Shop in Colonial Quarter

                                                            Musket Demo

                                                                  Print Shop

                                                   Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine

                                                              Oldest Wooden School Houise

                                                          St. Ausgustine Cathedral

                                                  Baptismal Font imported from Spain

                                                           St. Augustine Archetecture

                                                         Ponce de Leon Hotel (Flagler College)

                                                          Ponce de Leon Hotel (Flagler College)

                                                             Flagler College

                                                            Lightner Museum

                                                              Lightner Musem

                                                          Bridge of Lyons

                                           Ocean view from top of St. Ausgustine Lighthouse

                                             View of St. Augustine from Lighthouse

                                                            St. Augustine Lighthouse

                                                       Lighthouse keeper's home

                                                       Fort in St. Augustine      

Fort in St. Augustine

The morning (Saturday, March 8th) we left Sunset Bay Harbor in Stuart was cool but sunny. Unaware of the current in the harbor we had a difficult time turning the Summer Recess. After a few nervous minutes we were on our way.  At 10:00 we officially left the Okeechobee Waterway and entered the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway, AICW for short. We were  travelling on the Indian River. About an hour later as we made our way north, we were entertained by a group of Sun Fish, a small one person sailboat.which are used to teach racing to novices to sailing. The boats in groups of five or six, were being pulled by dinghies across the river.  We assumed they were going to a regatta. After passing the Ft. Pierce Inlet, we docked at Vero Beach. We discovered Island Time was here.  We took a walk to the Atlantic Coast and walked along the beach. We left Vero Beach on Sunday. Again a tricky departure from the dock.  As we traveled by the Sebastian Inlet, we saw our first Ice Cream Boat. We also had several dolphins enjoying the bubbles of our wake.  We anchored for the night north of Melbourne. The wind shifted to the northwest during the night and so we experienced some bouncing. By Monday morning the winds calmed and bring up the anchor was easy. We followed Island Time into the Cocoa Village Marina. Do you remember which 1960's TV show supposedly to place in the more famous Cocoa Beach? (Hint: the main characters were an astronaut and a genie) We walked into town and toured the S.F. Travis Company, which is a multi-leveled multi-building hardware store. We purchased a step stool to make for easier getting on and off the boat. We have discovered no two docks are the same. We had docktails with Steve and Gina from Island Time. Our destination on Tuesday was Titusville, which is across the river from Cape Canaveral.  We went into the harbor of the municipal marina for fuel and watched several manatees swim around the basin. This day we were not docking but making our first attempt at attaching to a mooring ball. I picked up ring the first time but had a little difficulty attaching the lines to the bow cleats of the boat.  After a couple of attempts and with the help of the captain, we were secure.  We dinghied  to shore and walked into town.  We discovered a park dedicated to the Apollo space program and also took pictures of the Anne Pritchard Historical House, which is an example of Queen Anne architecture.  As we were walking, we talked to a lady, who had a blow up doll of a soldier on her back.  She is in the process of walking to Washington D.C. Her purpose is to draw attention to the plight of serving service men  and women as well as veterans.  Had a great mocha freeze and strawberry smoothie at Caffe Chocolat and bought some great Rosemary rolls at the Sunrise Harvest Bakery. Tony ran into Pete from Humbug. We hadn't seen them since Joe Wheeler. Loopers are starting to head north so we hope to see more and more of our friends as we move on. Again we had docktails with Steve and Gina on Island Time.  Wednesday brought a drizzly rain. We had no trouble leaving the mooring ball in Titusville. We continued up the intercoastal and came to a narrow canal which goes through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We had to travel at idle speed due to the presence of many manatees. We then entered Mosquito Lagoon, whose name comes from the fact that it is shallow and the mosquitoes provide food for fish. About ten miles south of New Smyrna Beach, the Indian River is very narrow and we again had a long period of minimum wake.  We docked at the New Smyrna Municipal Marina. The downtown is very small but we had a lovely lunch at a restaurant called Jason's Corner.  As late and afternoon wore on the winds picked up with gusts we figured measuring 30 knots.  This morning we awoke to 48 degrees with northerly winds.  We will remain here today.  Friday we will continue going north. My next post should be from Jacksonville.  

                                                                    Sun Fish

                                                     Atlantic Seashore in Vero Beach

                                                              Ice Cream Boat

                                                      Cocoa Village Park

                                                            Summer Recess on a mooring ball

                                                              Pritchard House

Mmmm, mocha freeze!