Thursday April 12: At Anchor Near St. Augustine

First order of business yesterday was to take a bike ride around New Smyrna Beach. It is again a town that has redone it's original downtown. More and more live oaks and the Spanish moss are being seen - evidence that we are indeed moving north. We are within 60 miles or so of the Georgia border. Typical stores were on the main drag - except for the very large pawn shop. It had some fun signs - and we found 3 dvd movies for $2 apiece -what a bargain!

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The birds on the island near us this morning were putting on quite a show - especially the snowy egret (at least that's what we think it is). Very fine feathers that were puffed out - sort of like a peacock but with these wispy type feathers all around it. Last night's chore was to finally get Cheryl's bike unfolded and see if it indeed worked. Peter found a great deal on two folding bikes but with other priorities never quite had time to unfold the one that was deemed to be Cheryl's bike. So with the tires pumped up and everything in it's place, Cheryl checked it out on the dock. After all we needed to ride to breakfast this morning!

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Up early for the sunrise and then off to breakfast. The dock master suggested the Drugstore which we thought a bid odd but he said the food was good and it was an old time drugstore with a lunch counter. Definitely lived up to our expectations! Kind of like stepping back into the 60's. Now that we all have bikes, it was an easy ride around town.

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Cheryl decided she really likes her bike - even if she does get some strange looks from the locals! Back to the boats and it was time to be off.

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Most of the travel today was interesting as the waterway has narrowed so there are either marshes with wildlife or else homes - sometimes a mix of both. The ICW is more narrow along this stretch (past and north of Daytona Beach) and there is always the reminder to stay in the channel as it is shallow not that far out! as da; fld l;a d;adk l j;lkd jia;e fj ao jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee e erw eeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eee eeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Pelican were diving all over the place today - kind of like kamakazies with their head first slam into the water. Definitely fun to watch. Our anchorage tonight was a challenge to enter. It is a canal dug a number of years ago with the intention that there would be boat docks lining the canal for the homes along the shore. Never happened so there is now just a canal that is still fairly deep. It has shoaled at the entrance and trying to come in at near low tide didn't help. We bumped bottom a couple of time as we entered - no stopping Peter and Cheryl though as they just powered up the engine and went for it! Once in, it's a great place to spend the night especially with the 15 mph winds still blowing. Very peaceful in here though. Steve even caught a blue crab on his fishing pole! Didn't know we were far enough north yet ....