Daytona - a day in pictures

We passed these guys on our way south.  I would imagine that you've noticed our very mature senses of humor, but if not, this should clue you in.  We were cackling.  

We headed south from St. Augustine to Daytona - and while the ICW does not offer nearly the opportunities for land excursions that we'd hoped for, Daytona was worth the trip!  We spent 2 nights in Daytona - technically, near the Ponce Inlet.  The first night was in a quiet, but not empty anchorage.  Once we were comfortable with the setting of the anchor, we threw the dinghy over, tossed the dogs in and headed for a small strip of beach.  There was another family there enjoying the little beach and Libby headed over and made herself at home.  They were sweet and played with her.  Just goes to show how little interaction we were all having with strangers on the trip - Libby is not a very social dog and she just trotted on up without the least bit of intimidation.

Molly would've joined in, but she was too busy running back and forth, up and down the beach to visit with people.  Mark started running with her and could barely keep up.  Her legs are only 4" long, so she clearly had some pent up energy that needed to get out in order to hit the speeds she was.  

We all had a blast being on land.  Have I mentioned that we (all 4 of us) really enjoy the visiting of new places, but being cooped up in the boat for days at a time is not the most efficient way of traveling, timewise?  The actual travel by boat is pretty darn cheap - but I try not to do the math on how much traveling we could do via plane or car with the money we spend on the boat payment/slip rental.  We're learning something new and it's pretty freakin' cool.  

We saw dolphins everyday.  Literally every day.  Yet the pictures never really get any better...

When we finished up on our little beach, we headed back to enjoy the sunshine in the cockpit.  The next morning we headed out for a paddle with the puppies.  We were able to play a little on a sand bar, but mostly just explored via water.  Libby is getting better at playing on the SUPs, but it's still not her favorite thing to do.  Molly, on the other hand, practically jumps off the boat to get onto a board.  She is NOT being left out when someone is on a SUP.

We ended up pulling up anchor and heading over to the other anchorage in the area - after going to the marina for lunch and fuel.  It turned out to be rocky and rolly and full of traffic.  We won't be using that area again - the first spot was much better for a quiet night's sleep.  We did have a chance to play on a giant sand bar in this area too, and the puppies ran and played again while we mosied around and made sure they didn't get washed away in some of the deeper spots. 

The next morning we pulled up anchor and headed out the Ponce Inlet.  If you remember from back in the day of the delivery, this inlet was a bugger.  It's really shallow in areas, but it turns out that if you just take the time to follow the channel markers (and have a chart plotter that you trust) you really can get in and out safely.  When we headed to the fuel dock, I drove, and when we left the inlet and headed into the ocean the next day, Mark drove.  That gave both of us the opportunity to motor through a previously sketchy area without any issues.  Nothing like a good dose of building the confidence up!

From Ponce Inlet we headed north to St. Augustine inlet.  Another area thought to be pretty treacherous.  There are jetties and sand bars and a pretty ripping current in the channel.  We've heard that a lot of people actually call Sea Tow to come and escort them in the channel.  Mark just called ahead to verify the depth and ask for any suggestions. They said to just follow the markers and favor the red side.  We did that at first, but thanks to the crashing waves on the red side, ended up heading straight down the center (it's a wide channel) and came out unscathed.  It's such a relief to come through each event.

The next post will be all about our next 2 nights in St. Augustine - where we hung out for Christmas Eve and then headed on North to Fernandina (for a knee-shaking night that made us rethink this whole boating nonsense).