Manatee Pocket to Jacksonville Landing

On Thursday, April 22nd, we left Manatee Pocket, near Stuart, FL, and traveled six hours to Pine Island, an anchorage just off the Intracoastal about half way between Stuart and Cape Canaveral. Along the way we crossed paths with Bob & Katie aboard “Rolling Stone” who we recently met in Marathon. They were going in to Vero Beach for the evening so we chatted on the VHF for a while as we continued on to our anchorage. About 8:00 p.m. that evening we saw a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral.

It took us four hours on Friday to reach Melbourne where we rafted to “Knot Tide Down” and had a nice lunch with Bill & Anna at Squid Lips. We last saw Bill & Anna at Bonita Bills in Ft. Myers Beach in late March and will likely see them again this summer in the Chesapeake.

Lunch at Squid Lips (what a name!) with Bill & Anna.

Saying goodbye – for now – to “Knot Tide Down.”

We were off again by 2:30 and anchored by 6:00 p.m. just south of Titusville at Addison Point, covering more than 60 miles. A long day for us!

Saturday was another 40 miles and five hours to New Smyrna Beach. It was a very windy afternoon and we stayed on the boat until about 5:30 when we finally put the dinghy down and went over to the Grille at Riverview. We walked down Flagler Avenue and were lured in to Traders Sports Pub by the smell of freshly popped popcorn. After munching on a few bowls we walked on down to The Breakers on the beach for a drink before returning to the Grille at Riverview for some great appetizers. Then it was back to “Life’s2Short” for the evening.

Saturday morning sunrise at at Addison Point, note the space shuttle hangers to the left of the photo.

On Sunday we met up with a local couple, Greg & Carol, who are in the process of getting their boat, “Sea Gee,” ready to go cruising. Greg has been following our blog and sent us an e-mail telling us to let him know when we were going to be in town. They took us to Chases where we enjoyed lunch while overlooking the beach and talking about some of our experiences as full-time cruisers.

Heading in for lunch at Chases with Greg & Carol.

What a great Bloody Mary bar!

By mid-afternoon storms were encroaching so we headed back to “Life’s2Short.” The first round of storms stayed north, hitting Palm Coast and Daytona Beach around 3:00 p.m. The second wave started just before dark and didn’t end until the wee hours of Monday morning. We mostly ended up with rain, but there was some nasty lightning and a few vicious gusts of wind thrown in for good measure! All-in-all, it could have been much worse.

We headed north again on Monday and traveled 45 miles over six-and-a-half hours to Palm Coast. It was a very windy day and we fought the current the entire way. From Dayton north we followed a boat named “Allegria” and, after talking with them on the VHF, learned that they were also going to Jim & Danette’s house in Palm Coast for the evening. (We originally met Jim & Danette when they were cruising in their boat “Peace” on the St. John’s River in November of 2008, and we stayed at their dock on our way back down the east coast in March of 2009.)

An island rookery covered with pelicans as we come in to Daytona.

After we got our boats secured, we all gathered on the patio for happy hour. Unfortunately, Danette was out of town visiting her parents, but we had a nice time chatting with Jim and getting to know Greg & Susan.

Jim, our host in Palm Coast.

Greg & Susan aboard “Allegria.”

It was still very windy on Tuesday as we departed Palm Coast for St. Augustine, a mere 22 miles away. We fought the current hard the first two hours but benefited from it the last hour. We anchored north of the Bridge of Lions and went in to town about 3:00 p.m. for a late lunch. As we were finishing lunch we saw a huge red and white boat come in from the Atlantic and soon learned that it belongs to the New York City Fire Department. The boat was built in Panama City and the crew was in the process of taking her home.

The FDNY fire boat passing through the Bridge of Lions.

Isn’t she a beaut? We were told she can pump 50,000 gallons of water per minute!

We returned to “Life’s2Short” around 7:00 p.m. and quickly decided we needed to re-anchor. Between the strong current and the gusty winds, we were swinging far too close to the sailboat that was anchored behind us. As the windlass was pulling up the anchor, it seemed unusually heavy. When the anchor was within sight I found out why: we had picked up a bunch of someone’s chain off the bottom and it may even have still had an anchor attached to it! However, our first priority was getting away from the sailboat, so we freed the chain from the anchor and moved a safe distance away.

Another line of storms moved through between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. that evening but they looked worse on radar than they ended up being, which was fine by us!

A view of downtown St. Augustine from our anchorage.

The Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.

Wednesday we were off by 8:00 a.m. to catch the current of the incoming tide between St. Augustine and the St. John’s River. “Life’s2Short” even set a new record of 11.6 mph! Of course, when we hit the St. John’s and started going against the current, our “speed” was cut in half. Fortunately, we didn’t have far to go at that point and we were anchored at Reed Island by 1:30 p.m.

It was a very pleasant, cool, sunny day with light winds – finally! – so we decided to clean the flybridge and sundeck. A few days ago I noticed that one of the diamonds in my “new” 10th anniversary wedding ring had fallen out, which was very disappointing since it is less than a year old. And I figured chances were good that I had lost it doing dishes and that it was long gone. But as Todd started cleaning the flybridge, he was confident that he was going to find it. I was pretty sure he was blowing smoke, but sure enough he did find it! His theory is that we have been spending most of our time on the flybridge so that was the most likely place for it to have fallen out. At any rate, I was very pleased with his diamond-finding abilities. Perhaps next time he can find a five carat stone!

We arrived at Jacksonville Landing about 10:30 Friday morning and our friend Bob, who works as a building inspector in downtown Jacksonville, came by to see us during his lunch hour. Bob was even kind enough to bring us several pounds of local white shrimp harvested by his brother who owns a shrimp boat out of Fernandina Beach. We met Bob in July of 2008 when we first visited Jacksonville Landing and he has visited us every time we pass though. Thanks for the shrimp, Bob, we really appreciate it!

Downtown Jacksonville as we approach The Landing.

Good to see you again, Bob! Keep in touch.

After a late lunch at Cinco de Mayo on the Landing, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the boat getting ready for our guests, Steve & Lisa, who were driving over from Tampa on Friday. About 8:00 p.m., Jim & Sherel off “Sandpiper” stopped by the boat to visit. We met Jim & Sherel in the Exumas in 2008. They have been living on their boat in Jacksonville since the fall of 2008 and Jim is in the process of rebuilding the engines. When he is finished, they hope to go cruising again, probably in the spring of 2011.

A beautiful shot of the full moon rising beneath the Main Street Bridge in downtown Jacksonville.

On Friday we walked a few blocks up from the river to Heming Plaza to check out a downtown market they have every Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They were supposed to have fresh baked goods, produce, etc., but we didn’t find much of interest other than crab cakes from the Augustine Crab Cake King. So we bought some to share with Steve & Lisa this evening.

The Market at Heming Plaza.

Our guests arrived about 4:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. After lounging around the boat for a while, we wandered down to the center of The Landing where a pretty good band was playing and spent a few hours trying to guess the artists. But rain finally drove us back to the boat for the evening.

Steve & Lisa enjoy a leisurely morning aboard “Life’s2Short” on our 11th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Captain!

Shortly before noon Todd and Steve got motivated enough to lower the dinghy to scrape off the barnacles from our time in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon.

About 2:00 p.m. we took off for Clark’s Fish Camp for a mid-afternoon meal. Todd & I had visited Clark’s by boat when we traveled the St. John’s in November 2008 and wanted Steve & Lisa to experience it. We ordered a variety of food and ended up with quite a few leftovers. And then Steve generously picked up the tab for our anniversary. Thanks guys, we appreciate it!!!

A view of Julington Creek from the deck at Clark’s.

We fed some of our leftovers to a turtle and a huge catfish that were hanging out near the deck.

After watching the Kentucky Derby at a nearby restaurant we retired to the bow of the boat where we spent the remainder of the evening playing a fun word game and having an all-around good time! I should also note that Steve placed a winning bet on Super Saver, the horse that won the Derby. Way to go, Steve!

Lisa developed a gas pain that just wouldn’t go away!

Sunday came all too quickly and our friends departed for home around 11:00 a.m. Todd’s sister and brother-in-law, Jennifer & Mark, arrived shortly before Steve & Lisa left and stayed until about noon. They were in town helping Todd’s niece, Shannon, move out of the UNF dorms to an apartment.

We decided to have lunch at Chicago Pizza and then pulled away from The Landing about 2:15. After checking out a few anchorages that just weren’t going to work, for one reason or another, we finally anchored near Alligator Creek, 32 miles and four hours later. It was very windy once we left the protection of downtown Jacksonville and the boat traffic coming back from the shrimp festival in Fernandina Beach was thick, especially once we re-entered the ICW at Sisters Creek.

Today is Monday, May 3rd, and we are again on the move. We refueled at Florida Petroleum in Fernandina Beach (382 gallons @$2.95/gallon) and will anchor somewhere in Georgia this afternoon, probably near Jekyll Island. After that we are going to work our way to Blackbeard Island, introduced to us in the fall of 2008 by our good friends Bob & Stephanie on “September Song,” where we will spend three or four days before continuing the trek north toward the Chesapeake.