12 April 2026 - Sunday
Depart: NASA Causeway bridge anchorage 8:45
Arrived: Daytona Beach FL; Shady Place anchorage 3:45
Distance: 48 nm
Conditions: Sunny, Breezy, Winds 12 - 15 kts
As soon as I was out of bed and dressed, I went to see if we had a decent sunrise for a blog picture. I was pleased with the result!
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| S/V Kalypso at sunrise |
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| NASA Causeway Bridge at sunrise |
I thought we would be underway before 8:00, but Clark heard a beeping sound emanating from the boat and had to investigate. As I passed by the guest stateroom, he was hanging upside down with his head in an opening in the floor resetting the ultrasonic unit we have to keep growth of the bottom of the boat. I cannot hear that high-pitched tone, so I had no idea there was an issue.
We did our standard procedures for bringing the anchor us. I take the helm. Clark brings up the anchor and works with the saltwater washdown to clean the line / chain as it comes up. He gives me navigation instructions including obstacles / depths to be ware of, and I maneuver the boat to get us going once the tackle is up. Today that was towards the NASA Causeway bridge to continue our travels north.
As we approached the bridge, with Clark now piloting the boat, I saw several groupings of pelicans fishing from the bridge. These 'ducks' were all in a row!
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| Coming up on the bridge |
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| Group 1 |
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| Group 2 |
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| Group 3 on alternate side of opening |
After we exited the bridge, Clark had a surprise for me. He decided to calibrate the autopilot pump he installed in Marathon. The calibration we did there was not great due to current and stiff wind conditions. He decided that this segment of the Indian River with little wind and basically no current would be an ideal spot to recalibrate.
As we did in Marathon, we followed the step-by-step instructions with the first procedure being to calculate the deviation table for the compass readings. For this operation, we have to travel in a circle at slow speed. Clark got out of the channel and started the procedure. The instructions say we have to operate the boat for at least 2 minutes, but nothing was happening. Clark had missed a step!
He restarted to procedure, and the boat ran in a circle for several minutes and did not look like it would complete, so he restarted the operation once more. Fortunately, we had minimal fast-moving boat traffic as we did not want to have the operation contaminated by someone's wake. Clark haled one very accommodating vessel who came by at idle speed!
Finally, on the third attempt, we had success as the procedure completed and a display popped up - 3 degrees deviation! The chart plotter showed a curlicue pattern for our efforts.
After about 30 minutes of mucking about, I thought we were done, but Clark then moved on to step 2 in calibration instructions to "Align Heading". For this we had to match the GPS setting on the boat to that of the Autopilot. Fortunately, this was done quickly.
The third, and final, step in calibration was to have the autopilot "AutoLearn" to allow the unit to adjust rudder gain. This one was interesting as the boat zigzagged its way down the ICW. Anyone watching today's maneuvers would really wonder if we needed sobriety tests! Finally, Clark declared us done with a successful outcome! In fact, so far, he seems rather pleased with the results.
Further along the ICW, we came to a railroad bridge that looked like it would offer an opportunity for a "looking-down-the-tracks" picture. Clark suggested I set the phone to take a number of pictures with the hope that one would be aligned.
I had to guess when to take the tracks picture as it was directly into the sun, and I could not see what I was looking at. I thought I was taking multiple pictures and hoped one would turn out well. Well, that failed, as I managed to take 44 pictures of my feet and only one poorly-aligned picture of the tracks.
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| Total fail on RR bridge picture! |
Continuing today's travels, a while later, we approached the Haulover Canal. I was immediately on manatee lookout as we have seen many of them coming through here in the past. Unfortunately, today was not the day for seeing manatees.
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| Canal ahead! |
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| Slow down! |
Because it was a sunny Sunday, folks were all along the shore or in small boats fishing.
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| Beach at end of canal good place to launch kayaks |
As we motored past, I noticed that a truck had just arrived and was unloading kayaks for a group.
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| Unloading kayaks |
All along the edge of the canal, folks sat on rocks, coolers, or chairs they had brought with their fishing poles in the water. Many sites had port-o-potties conveniently available.
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| Parking lot |
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| kayakers |
Clark said it was a "small boat slalom" as he wove his way down the canal between the multitude of small boats - each one with a fishing line out.
Fortunately, we can get under the Haulover Canal Bridge without lowering antennas, etc.
As we exited the canal, I took note of the landscape. Some of the trees seem to have seen better days.
Outside of the channel, the water was obviously very "skinny". As a friend used to say, "You can see the birds ankles when they are wading in the water!"
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| Egret wading in shallow water by the canal |
Turning too soon after coming out of the canal could prove very hazardous to propellors!
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| Rocks! |
Further along today's route, our travels took us through "Mosquito Lagoon" where we started to see several RV parks clustered near each other. They all looked to be full, so it must be a pretty lucrative business to be in.
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| Lathrom's Landing RV Park and Fish Camp |
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| Nearby "Bait and Beer" with a dock |
Continuing on, about an hour later, we passed lots of folks enjoying fun on the water's edge.
Although not everyone, it would seem, was having a good day today.
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| Boater pulled over Blue Flashing Lights ahead! |
Along the way, we passed Sea Tow boats, Tiki Hut boats, various small craft, and, among other things, a dredging operation (not operating today being Sunday).
As we saw one floating "object" coming towards us, we pondered what it might be that we were looking at.
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| Nice ladder to the roof! |
It did not look like it would do well in rough waters!
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| Outboard on a pontoon platform with a "box" on top! |
Finally, we reached Daytona Beach where Clark planned to drop anchor and found a sailboat race in progress.
The anchorage had a number of boats already occupying space. Due to the racing, the boats appeared to be a bit tighter packed than Clark liked.
After the sailboats cleared out, he considered moving the boat, but I talked him out of it. Hopefully, we won't have reason to rue our (my) decision to stay put! If we all swing the same direction at the same time, we should be fine.
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| Our Neighbors |
I poked my head out early to see what the sunset might look like and got an almost black and white picture.
Closer to sunset I poked my head out again and got the shot shown below.
Next target anchorage will be in the St. Augustine area if all goes as planned.
