Cruising on down the ICW - Daytona, here we come!

We woke up in St. Augustine this morning and took advantage of the hot showers and free wifi again (I actually grabbed the SHAMPOO this time.)  As we were gearing up to head out, we saw a pretty unfortunate un-docking.  And lord knows I've had my fair share of docking mishaps, so I'm not going to go into detail, but let's just say there was some screaming like a little girl, and eventually a crunch of a bow that looked/sounded like structural damage.


Nothing like that to get your blood racing and prep you for your own departure.  And of course, we had an audience.  After that first departure, everyone was looking for a show.  We made it out - not perfectly, but safely and received a standing ovation - weird how little it takes to entertain us cruisers.

We spent the day cruising further south on the ICW.  We talked about heading out in the ocean, but the winds weren't favorable, and the ONLY place we can get back on the inside is Ponce.  We didn't want to risk Ponce inlet after dark, so we stayed on the inside thinking we could just anchor whenever we felt like it.  Turns out there's not a heck of a lot of anchoring options on this portion of the ICW.  It's a really skinny channel with very shallow borders.  We stopped once for lunch (never hurts to get a little extra anchoring practice) and then chugged on along.  I have to say that today's trip was much more entertaining than the other day.  Much more scenic.  And fun tip of the day:  when Mark gets bored he likes to "explore."  In the skinny water.  With a 6'4" keel.  We have a very clean keel. :/

We were shooting to drop anchor before sunset, but that did not happen.  We did finally make it to a suitable place with just enough depth - and just inside Daytona, as the sun began to set.  We are tucked in for the night, just north of the double fixed bridges.  Tomorrow we will go on through two bascules and then find another spot to anchor - I hear there's a good spot with dinghy access.  We want to enjoy the next 2 days of 80 degree temps.  After that, there are storm predictions, so we'll see what the weather holds as we plan our return north.  Seems too soon to head back!  But we do need to have time to allow for weather, and if weather/time allows, there are a few spots I'd like to pop into on our way up.  Maybe Cumberland Island?  We'll see.  Happy Friday!