April 2010 Vero Beach – Melbourne – Cocoa – Daytona – Palm Coast – Jekyll Island – Hilton Head Island Issue #21

By on April 30, 2010 in Kindred Spirit III

    
This month started with a bang!!!  Kate and Steve, full-time cruisers aboard S/V Santih, are friends we met in Charleston 4 years ago.  They are on their way north from Miami and stopped for the …

Landfall in Paradise- Fatu Hiva

By on April 29, 2010 in Emily Grace

Emily Grace has dropped anchor after 21 days at sea and is enjoying blessed silence in the Bay of Virgins on the western side of the island of Fatu Hiva. This island was made famous by Thor Heyerdahl's book of the same name and the Bay of Virgins …

Boomtown Casino to Home

By on April 29, 2010 in M/V Gumbo

We left Boomtown at 7:30 this morning had a good trip back to the home slip in Houma. It did get quite windy during the morning and for the rest of the day. The South winds which are helping to blow the off shore oil spill towards the shoreline somethi…

April Update

By on April 29, 2010 in Makai

Sad to say, we have not been able to spend too much time on the boat during the first quarter.  A combination of bad weather, rough water and a busy work schedule did not work in our favor.   Being house bound with the business did give me time to return to an old passion […]

Friends and Family in Frigid Florida

By on April 29, 2010 in Sojourner

As we prepare to rejoin Sojourner on a permanent basis, we depart Orlando with many great memories of a Florida winter that wasn’t at all what we anticipated.  We thought keeping Sojourner on the east coast would facilitate more time on her, and we had visions of sharing weekend cruises and overnight anchoring-out adventures with […]

We have arrived in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia!

By on April 29, 2010 in Lone Wolf

       Lone Wolf at anchor in Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva.28/4 11,30.pmWe have made it acoss the Pacific!It’s dark, so I can’t tell you what Nuku Hiva is like, but it looked very dramatic in the moonlight. We are now anchored, bow and st…

Pass Christian MS to Harvey LA

By on April 28, 2010 in M/V Gumbo

Following a shrimp boat out of Pass Christian harbor.Construction of Mississippi River Gulf Outlet floodgateEntering the Industrial Canal locks on the East side of the river.New Orleans Skyline from the riverGumbo tied up at the Boom Town Casino, Harve…

Faro to Gibraltar

By on April 28, 2010 in Mad Sunday

With Travis safely arrived back home we turn our attention to the next passage – Gibraltar.  We have consulted the weather and the forecast is for nothing more than a force 3/4 for the entire journey, so we up-anchor and set our course directly fo…

The Future is Now.

By on April 28, 2010 in Wendy Ann 2

Becky and I went to the boat for four whole days last week. It is simplest to say that we had about the best time it’s possible to have whilst boatbuilding on a shoestring. I absolutely love the rare occasions that B is able to pull herself away from…

April 23-26, 2010 Daytona Beach

By on April 27, 2010 in Grateful
We left Titusville on a very calm morning and had another nice cruise. The NASARailroadBridge was open as it usually is. We have read that on April 28-30, the bridge will be closed for repairs.

The HauloverCanal is a connecting canal between the northern Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon (makes me itch just to write it). On many sections of the ICW it is prudent to stay in the channel unless you have a shallow draft boat.

We passed through NewSmyrnaBeach and the Ponce de Leon Inlet. It is not recommended to use the inlet unless you are a local as there are shoals. At the same time it seems the locals were anchoring and getting ready for the weekend – reminded me of Hudson on the St. Croix.
We saw beautiful and interesting sites on our way to Daytona Beach.

We arrived at Daytona BeachHalifaxHarbor by 2:30. Our slip assignment was the first one on J Dock. Great access to the bath house/laundry and we met most of the folks who had boats on the rest of the dock. Actually, Porter is the ambassador and paves the way to conversations. The marina is very nice with a big waterfront park next to the marina.
During the weekend we rented a car – one of those $9.99/day deals. By the time we called and got the car, we had to take an upgrade – DARN!!
We drove around enjoying the neighborhoods and then had to go past the Dayton International Speedway – which is HUGE. Mark had to drive me out to The Ponce de Leon Lighthouse (Ponce Inlet Lighthouse). It is the tallest lighthouse in Florida with 203 steps to the top. Mark elected not to go to the top but rather enjoy more of the interesting museum on ground level. I stepped to the top and was rewarded with a wonderful panoramic view.

The storm that had spawned the tornado in Mississippi passed 15-20 miles north of Daytona on Sunday evening. We delayed our trip one day because we thought the weather was going to be rainy and stormy. As it turned out Monday would have been a perfect day to travel. We used it to do chores on the boat instead.