Boating with Sunset Delight: 2023: Cocoa to St Augustine FL

1 April 2023

Depart: Cocoa NE anchorage 9:15

Arrive: Daytona Beach, Shady Place anchorage 5:10

Distance: ~ 58 nm

Conditions: cool and breezy

Cocoa anchorage yesterday evening

Clark had a letter to be mailed. He had hoped to be able to stop at the town dock to run to the post office. Unfortunately, the dock was full last night and still full this morning. He called the Cocoa Village Marina near where we were docked, and they said he could do a "touch and go" to hand the letter to be mailed to one of their dockhands. Clark told them we would be there in about 10 minutes.

I always get a great view of Clark in the morning as we are pulling up the anchor.

The "touch and go" turned into a "get near and hand over". We did not even pull all the way up to the dock. I just handed the letter and a gratuity to the dockhand and we were on our way. Docking at the town dock would have taken way more time.

We soon came to the NASA Causeway bridge which is currently under construction to build a new fixed bridge to replace the one with the drawbridge. It is always a fun game as approaching a bridge to figure out if we will have the clearance we need to get under.

The new, fixed bridge gives a full 65' clearance. The old bridge was a bit cozier to go under. We fit with no problem. It always looks worse than it is.

The set of buildings in the picture below get my "Ugly Buildings" award. They look blotchy from afar and up close.

When we got to the NASA railroad bridge, we had a bit of a wait while a tug came through.

Tug coming through

I tried to get the "down the tracks" picture that Clark looks forward to. I did not get it lined up.

Looking back at the RR bridge

The next point of interest was very interesting indeed.

Coming up on Busy Haulover Canal

Kayakers pulled over to the side

It's Saturday - lots of folks here

Lawn chairs - but where are the people

Truck pulling away with a load of kayaks

As we passed through the canal, I pointed out to Clark two manatees in the water just ahead on our starboard side. He was going slowly through here but slowed even more. Sighting one set put me on high alert to look for more. A boater pulled up to the beach yelled to us, "Is that all you got?!" I guess he thought we were going too slowly.

A bit later I found some more manatees off to the side of the waterway. None of them posed for pictures.

Manatee off to the side of the waterway

As I watched a fisherman on the side of the waterway, he actually caught a large fish. I got to watch him reel it in.

After we left the canal, we saw more manatees swimming around.

Our route today took us through New Smyrna Beach at or near low tide. Some folks beached their boats to go play in the water.

People walking where there is surely water at high tide

Boatless People enjoying the beach

More signs of low tide

We saw the typical wrecked boats that we always seem to find on our way home to New Jersey.

I could not decide --
is this boat a wreck or just a temporary
victim of low tide?

I have no doubts about the status of this one.

Clark pointed out Ponce de Leon Inlet as we passed by.

Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse in background

Another busy fisher

I kept seeing the lighthouse
at different angles for miles

US Coast Guard boat at the inlet

After the inlet, we saw more wrecked sailboats. At least they are well visible.

Lighthouse from yet another angle

A more rustic view of the ICW

We arrived at Clark's chosen anchorage just after 5:00. We noticed when we dropped anchor yesterday that the rode was slipping a little. This morning when Clark was pulling up the anchor, it sometimes did not progress in the upward direction. When we anchor, I usually feed out the anchor a bit as we look for a spot to drop to allow us to deploy quickly. However, I did not want the anchor to accidentally deploy itself before we were ready. Clark noticed my plight and ran up to quickly make a brief adjustment to the winch to prevent the slipping. It just needed to be tightened, so it was a very quick fix.

Clark grabbed some sunset pictures as he prepared to turn on his anchor light for the night.

2 April 2023

Depart: Daytona Beach, Shady Place anchorage 9:30

Arrive: St. Augustine, mile 769 anchorage 4:20

Distance: ~ 55 nm

Conditions: Overcast and cool to start, Partly sunny later

Believe it or not we were chilly on the flybridge today. We both needed more than a t-shirt and shorts to be comfortable. We traveled into a northerly wind for a good part of the day, and we could feel it.

We had a lot of boat traffic today in the form of kayaks, paddle boards, and jet skis. Many times we had to slow down to remove our wake so as not to swamp a small boat. We saw one small boat with a very low freeboard get hit by another boater's wake. They came out unscathed, but it wasn't pretty to watch them get rocked severely and soaked with water as a result of the wake. They were in shallow water, and I thought for a moment that the wake had beached them.

Having traveled this way a number of times already, I try to find ways to entertain myself as we motor along. Today I thought about optical illusions as pertains to sailboat masts and bridge heights. It never looks like they will be able to make it under!

will he fit under the bridge?

Woman fishing from small boat at bridge

Made it through one of the two

Made it through the other

Neither the sailboat "Crescent" (from Portland, Maine) nor we could fit under the L B Knox bridge with a vertical clearance of only 10 feet.

Another question ... near the bridge, is that boat pulled up to the beach?

Nope! It's yet another wreck.

Nearby, we saw a family wading in the water and fishing with their lunch cooler near to hand.

As opposed to yesterday where I got to see an example of an ugly collection of buildings, today I enjoyed the pastel colors of the complex shown below.