Day 204: Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Port to Port: Titusville to New Smyrna Beach, Florida
Underway: 9:46 am Motor Off: 4:40 pm Miles Traveled: 34 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First pink flamingoes crowded on a small island along ICW; first time seeing a beach where cars can drive on the sand.
Mile 879 to Mile 845: Brrr! Last night was cold. I think it got down to 38˚ – the coldest night in a long time. I’m sure glad I’m not here on a one week spring break vacation. We had to run the heater for a few minutes this morning to get it warm enough top get dressed. Thankfully, it was sunny out though. We didn’t see any icebergs but the ice in our water cups did not melt until afternoon even though they were sitting in the sun in the cockpit.
We didn’t rush getting going this morning – we wanted to let the sun get a little higher in the sky and the temp to get above 45˚. When we were showered and ready to go, Boris started on the first pull (yah Boris) and we were heading north again. The first few hours were cool but the wind held off until we were done with the first big bay but then started howling straight from the north. Cindy almost had to wear my fowl weather jacket because hers wouldn’t fit over all her layers. We also saw a surprising amount of large cruiser traffic heading north – only about 10 boats but still a lot of traffic compared to what we are used to. Only one of them didn’t slow down to pass us with a small wake – next time that happens I’m taking names and recording it online for posterity.
Passing through the Haul Over Canal was interesting. It was protected from the wind so we got a short break from the waves and cold. There were lots of shore birds along the edges and the manatee also decided this was a nice place to rest – there was a small cove with probably 15 huge manatee sunning themselves in shallow water. Hard to get a picture of but pretty amazing to see.
It was not a perfect travel day but the sun made it tolerable and we made it to New Smyrna Beach early enough to walk through town and down to the beach. We had planned to anchor out – we were charged up and cleaned up and had plenty of food – but the wind was still howling and our choices for anchorages were very limited. We tried one but kicked up a little mud trying to anchor and decided to just bite the bullet and pay for a slip. It’s only money, right?
We were glad to have a chance to wander around New Smyrna but we resisted the urge to eat out – the smells coming from some of the beach restaurants was enticing – but we made it back to Aurora and had leftover beef tips and rice. We figure that between eating leftovers tonight and not going out to breakfast tomorrow morning, we should save enough to pay for our slip tonight. At least that is what we a telling ourselves. Hurry up spring, we are ready and waiting.
