Going Coastal

IntraCoastal, that is. After crossing Florida from west to east via the Okeechobee Waterway, we are back on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW), and headed North.

 

Today we are at Adventure Yacht Basin, just south of Daytona Beach and about 130 miles north of St Lucie Inlet, where we turned off the Okeechobee Waterway and onto the AICW. We've been mixing days of travel with 2-3 day stops, which is probably what we'll do most of the way back to Maine.

 

The last blog entry was made from a park at the St Lucie Dam and Lock, and last Friday morning we locked through there to drop about 14 ft. down to sea level and back into salty water. 7 miles of easy travel down the St Lucie River (south fork) brought us to Sunset Bay Marina, which operates a mooring field serving Stuart FL. We rented a mooring ball for 3 nights which gave us plenty of time to explore Stuart's trendy 'old town' section, replenish grocery supplies (we used the marina's loaner bikes), and walk the dogs through nearby parks. On Saturday we had lunch here, and on Sunday we checked out the farmers market which had many more craft sellers than farmers. Overall, Stuart was a nice place to wait out the weekend (to avoid idiot boaters we much prefer weekday travel to weekend travel).

On Monday morning we got Spray's waste tank pumped out and then continued down the St Lucie River for 6 miles to join the AICW at the St Lucie Inlet. This marked the point where we had completed the loop around southern Florida.

 

As we headed north on the Indian River we had strong tailwind but travel was pretty easy, and 30 miles later we pulled into the protected mooring field at Vero Beach City Marina, only to find that all the moorings were occupied (sorta). It turns out that we aren't the only boat headed north out of southern Florida right now but instead are part of a large pack of such boats. When we came south we were behind the majority of AICW cruisers, and I liked that there was always plenty of space at anchorages and marinas, which may not be the case as we head north.

 

Anyways, Vero has a way of dealing with too many boats in the mooring field, which is to ask (require) boats to raft together, often with strangers. We had already arranged with the Siegels, who had arrived aboard aCappella the previous day, to be rafting partners if needed. The marina people were hesitant as they try to raft same sized boats together and noted that Spray's 32 ft LOA doesn't quite match aCappella's 53 ft. I radioed and convinced them that we could make it work and so, using seemingly dozens of fenders (of which only 2 actually touched both boats), we tied Spray's starboard side to aCappella's port side. Of course Riggs saw the Siegels' blonde labs Dylan and DeeDee and went nuts until I tossed him aboard aCappella and he sniffed butts and peed on the boat (making Riggs the new owner of a DeFever 53), and all was OK. Funny how we can't get him to relieve himself on Spray but on someone else's boat - no problem!

We paid for 2 nights on the mooring and headed for the nearby dog park, which draws many dogs and their slaves. That night (Monday) our rafting scheme got tested as a front came through with some serious wind gusts. The lines and fenders did their jobs, and the mooring held, and all was OK.

 

Tuesday involved dog play, dinghy tours, and a nice dinner at nearby Riverside Cafe with the Siegels and with Castiners Kathy and Gene Spinazola, long time cruisers who now winter 'on the hard' near Vero. Great conversation centered on the joys of cruising. Kathy and Gene left each couple with a large bottle of local orange juice, which was a great treat!

 

On Wednesday morning we untied from mother ship aCappella and continued north, this time for 33 miles up to Melbourne, where we pulled into the Eau Gallie River, which has a great protected anchorage next to a nice park and is where we spent New Years Eve nearly 3 months earlier. Amazingly we were the only boat anchored there.

 

After an easy overnight on the hook we made another 33 mile run on Thursday up to Titusville. The weather has been agreeably cooler and drier, with nights in the low 60's and days in the 70's, and northerly breezes.

 

We had stayed at Titusville Municipal Marina for a couple days back in late December. We liked it then and still do. Of note are the nice dog park right next store and especially all the manatees here. We must have had a dozen of them swimming behind Spray yesterday evening.

Today we left Titusville at about 9 am, crossed from the Indian River over to Mosquito Sound, and continued north to Adventure Yacht Basin, a smallish marina south of Daytona. The Atlantic beach here looks great and is only a few blocks away, but unfortunately they don't allow dogs on the beach. We also had hopes of having dinner at the adjacent restaurant, but it is a VERY popular place and had a 1+ hour wait. So we adjourned back to Spray for spaghetti. Color us disappointed.

 

Tomorrow we chug farther north to Marineland, where we will stay for a few days. Stay tuned to see how that goes.

 

 

 

 

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