Melbourne to St. Augustine, Fl

April 12, 2015

Eau Gallie Yacht Club

 

We cast off our lines at 6:55 a.m. on a partly cloudy morning for a 44 mile trip to the Eau Gallie Yacht Club There was a chance of thunderstorms later, temps in the low 80s, and winds continuing out of the southeast at around 10 mph.  It was a pleasant trip north, and we arrived at Eau Gallie at 11:45 a.m.  This yacht club has a lovely pool area, and many families with were at the pool, on their boats, or playing in the water around the marina area on very large boogie boards.  Unfortunately, the skies eventually became overcast, and we had rain showers for about two hours in the afternoon.  Rather than attend the club’s Sunday Brunch, we opted instead to have a casual dinner at their Grille at 6 p.m. The food was very good, and we watched the ending of the Masters Golf tournament on the many large T.V.s around the bar area, and upon returning to our boat, we continued to watch some of our favorite T.V. series’ DVDS, “The Big Bang Theory”, a gift from our friends, Lou and Judy Ianniello.

 

April 13, 2015



A view of NASA from our anchorage

 

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket and Dragon Spacecraft

 

We pulled off the dock at 7:40 a.m., and our original plan was to head to Titusville to an anchorage some 38 miles away south of the NASA Railroad Bridge. However, on our way north we decided instead to anchor at Addison Anchorage, some 8 miles closer to the site of today’s planned space launch of a SpaceX 208 foot Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, which will be on a re-supply mission to the International Space Station and is scheduled to go off today at 4:33p.m.

 We began to follow the launch proceedings live on NASA TV starting at 3:30 p.m.  The announcer warned that there was a possibility of a hold in the launch, if a small storm cell approaching from the southwest got within 10 miles of the of the site.  The countdown continued: “45 minutes and counting”, “30 minutes and counting”, “15 minutes and counting”, “10 minutes and counting”, “5 minutes and counting”, “3 minutes and counting”,  and at 2 minutes we were going to head out the door to the foredeck for an unobstructed view of the launch.  This was going to be spectacular, for we have never had an opportunity to see a live rocket launch!  Then it happened, “HOLD, HOLD, HOLD” came over the TV at 2 minutes and 39 seconds to launch.  NASA scrubbed the launch and rescheduled it for the following day, because the storm cell got within10 mile of the launch site.  What a let-down, and, by the way, it didn’t start to rain for over 2 hours after the scheduled launch time!  Boy, were we disappointed, but though there is really no comparison, Pat was comforted by the thought that “Dancing with the Stars” (one of her favorite shows) would be on tonight!

 

April 14, 20015

 

 First "Boat of the Day"

 Second "Boat of the Day"

 

 Marina and Campground along the ICW (A little slice of paradise!)

 

 This boat gives "anchoring" a bad name

 

 Third "Boat of the Day"

 

Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse

 

Halifax River Yacht Club

 

Today we awoke in to temps in the high 60s and lifted anchor at 6:45 a.m. bound for the Halifax River Yacht Club in Daytona Beach.  This is one of our favorite Clubs because of its beautiful facilities, excellent food, laundry facilities, extremely helpful dock master, and George’s favorite – hand-made potato chips as bar “munchies”.  It is also the place where we met our “Angel”, Les Levy, who urged us to call his friend and fellow HRYC member, Doug Brown, owner of Atlantic Publishing in Ocala, who eventually became the publisher of both of our books!  “Reflection” was met at the dock at 1 p.m by Dock Master, Pete, and greeted with a warm and gracious “Welcome Back”!  Pat set out immediately for the laundry room to do several loads, while George took care of things aboard.  We had originally hoped to meet our Banana Bay Marina friends, Jon and Susan Blake, here for dinner tonight, but they were involved in running a MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Association) Rendezvous at the huge marina next door.  So, after our chores, emails, etc. were taken care of, we headed off to the Dining Room by ourselves for dinner.  All was quiet and lovely, until about a half an hour later, when two people dressed as “Bikers” pulled up chairs, and sat down at our table!  Who could it be, but Jon and Susan, in full regalia – complete with fake tattoos – (at least we think they were fake)!  They stayed very briefly, but just wanted to say “Hello”, since they were attending the Rendezvous’ Biker Party next door.  Those of you who know this couple, and their wonderful dog, Crew, will appreciate this surprise as being typical of them, and they surely surprised the other people in the Yacht Club Dining Room, since they certainly were definitely not in typical yacht club dress! It was great!

April 15, 2015

 

 "Boat of the Day"

 

 The ICW along Palm Coast

 

 Historic Fort Matanzas built by the Spanish, now a National Monument

 

Sand Dunes at Matanzas Inlet

The weather for the next few days has become of some concern, since heavy thunderstorms have been predicted both here in Daytona and in St. Augustine, which is our next stop, and is the location where we are meeting our close friends and neighbors, Lou and Judy Ianniello.  They will be flying into Fort Lauderdale on Thursday morning, and from there will then drive to Marathon to pick up our car for us, and drive it home to New Jersey.  They are due to come aboard that same evening, and then over the next several days Lou and George will move the boat to Fernandina, Florida on Friday, to Brunswick, Georgia, on Saturday, and on to Savannah on Sunday, while Judy and Pat at the same time drive the car to meet them at each of these locations.  In Savannah we also plan to all meet up with our friends, Andrew and Clare Zeigler, who live there, at the Savannah Yacht Club. Who says boating doesn’t take planning? So, just to make sure that we will be at our meeting point on time, and to try to avoid the storms, we decided to leave before dark this morning at 6 a.m. for a 55 mile trip from Daytona to Rivers Edge Marina in St. Augustine.  The weather was tranquil, so we made great time, and even after a fuel stop up the river, we were safely tied up at our dock by noon. The rain didn’t hit us until 5 p.m., and we settled in for a quiet evening with sautéed catfish and salads for dinner.