Saturday: Hanging Out at Marineland

Yesterday and today we spent checking out the area around Marineland Marina.

There was a very nice bike path that started at the main highway and wove back through an old campground.

The paths took us through many trees with overhanging branches with many of the trees labeled. One was a coffee tree whose beans gave decaffeinated coffee. Seems like they called it a fake coffee tree or something - I don't really remember.










The back end of the campground was the waterway we were on just yesterday as we made our way to the marina here.

We saw the tiniest little turtle ever! Right on the sidewalk by the picnic area. I moved him into the grass as we almost ran over him with our bikes. Yikes! That would have been bad! He's SO CUTE!









Across the street from the marina is the ocean side. It was so close that we could hear the waves breaking on shore from the boat. It's a really fun beach with lots of rocks.






Unusual for this part of Florida as most beaches are just sand.






A late lunch at the Snack Shack topped off the afternoon. The history of Marineland is interesting as it was the first of a kind - and opened in 1938!

For more information on it, click here.






This morning it was a kayak eco-tour run by a company that operates out of the marina here.

Kayak around the salt marshes for 2 1/2 hours??? Sure - why not as long as I'm in a tandem kayak :-)



First instructions by our guide Danny and then we were off!

Peter and Cheryl were not to be left behind! You'll note the jackets and long sleeve shirts. It wasn't for protection from the sun ..... so much for the warm weather :-) Anyway, it was quite nice and Danny was very knowledgeable about the plants and animals that are in the salt marshes as well as the importance of keeping these areas protected.

It was really a nice time.

One of the coolest plants were the "dead man's fingers" that were pretty much everywhere.











Doesn't it just look like a hand in the water? Fun stuff.

After the kayak this morning, we said our "see you later" to Peter and Cheryl. They are storing Surona in the St. Augustine area until they return south next winter from the frozen tundra of Midland Ontario.

In the meantime, we'll hook up with them in Canada in their stomping grounds of Georgian Bay this summer. We'll be on Guppy and they'll be on Deja Vu. Or you never know when they'll show up - a phone call saying they are in the area and over they come :-)

As always, we had a great time traveling with them - Steve has been twiddling his thumbs most of the evening as he's not sure what to do since we aren't playing Euchre with these guys ....

Thursday April 11: Marineland!

After we left Serenity Island, Surona was literally dancing across the waves under sail! This was the first opportunity Peter and Cheryl had to actually sail instead of motoring or motor sailing (using both motor AND sail).

It was going to be a relatively short travel day so we quickly passed them by and headed on into Cocoa Village Marina for the night.

This is such a great little town and we try to stop anytime we pass by. There is a great Thai place for lunch, the large 7 building hardware store as well as many small shops along the redone downtown.

I was even successful in finding a canvas shop that had a piece of the sunbrella canvas I needed to redo the front hatch cover.


It's a hard color to find (Captain's Navy) so I was pleasantly surprised when the owner found a small piece after not finding a roll among the many colors of sunbrella on hand. What luck! Really sad though - I bought a couple of yards last time we were in Cleveland and somehow have managed to misplace it. Once again the mystery of how in the world can I lose something on a 36' boat???

Regardless, it was a nice stay at this marina and the weather continues to be great for traveling.

Wednesday was a long day of 51 miles - at 7.5 mph so about 7 hours of travel time. The wind was really blowing out of the south which is fine until there was a turn to the east!

This is a railroad bridge near Titusville (and the Kennedy Space Center) that is automated. There is no one manning the bridge - just a camera and controls somewhere!

The web site assures boaters that plenty of warning would be given if it is going to close but it just seemed weird to see it go down about 20 minutes after we went through knowing it was being lowered by someone who knows where.







We saw a dozen or so manatee that day. It's hard to catch them on film (probably shouldn't use that saying anymore as it shows our age!) as they come up for a quick breath and then dive back under the water. You can see the back of one just going back under in the picture on the right.

This particular canal which connects two very large but relatively shallow parts of the ICW is a good place to spot the manatee as they have begun their summer migration north.

We ended up at a nice anchorage near New Smyrna for the night. Dolphins were around the boats occasionally as were a couple of loons.

It's so nice to see them again - even though they still have their very bland winter colors of grey, black and some white.

They are so much prettier when we see them in Canada in their summer colors.

Today was another long day planned of 50 miles to Marineland, FL. Site of the original dolphin show built in 1938. We've stayed here before and really enjoy the area.

Most of the travel was through marshland but the high-rises on the Florida beaches were always visible. The weather continues to hold for us although it looks like there might be some storms over the next couple of days.

Daytona has such colorful tile on a couple of their bridges. Next time through, I'd like to stop there for a day.

With a goal of reaching Ferandina Beach on the Monday though we really needed to keep moving.


There were a couple of actual houseboats we passed on the way. The marina is defunct so I don't know if anyone really lives in these but they look to be in good shape!

Anyone looking for a houseboat??








Finally by 4 pm everyone was settled at the dock here in Marineland.

After a week and a half of travel covering 420 miles, it was time to take a break. We're staying here again tomorrow :-)

A nice bike path and wonderful beach is the draw. Plus we're just tired .....

Monday April 8: Serenity Island

The 42 mile trip to Serenity Island was a welcome relief from the past couple of days travel through heavily developed shorelines of southern Florida.

All along the waterway were the spoil islands created by the dredging when the Intercoastal was first dug. Now they are home to many of the birds that live in the area - especially the osprey and cormorants. Although the islands look inviting, the water surrounding them is often no more than a couple of feet deep.

Occasionally the use of an island as a nesting site - especially by the cormorants -  really takes a toll on the island vegetation as their poop is very acidic. Eventually this island will be just dead trees.

There really wasn't much wind but these four sailboats took advantage of it. They were traveling together (you can hear them chatting on the VHF) and were headed for Cocoa Village - about another 30 miles farther up the waterway than we were going.

It took me quite a while to get past them all!




We arrived at one of our favorite places to anchor about 2 pm: Serenity Island. Doesn't the name just say it all?

 Surona was about 45 minutes behind us and due in shortly. Must be time to get the kayaks out for a quick ride to the island.

Imagine my surprise though when I walked into the cabin! Steve had cleaned up the dash and somehow Gorilla Guy and his friends took over the clean spot!

Who was the ringleader in this takeover of the newly cleaned spot???

I tried to question Cactus guy but he wouldn't take his sunglasses off - and Gorilla guy wouldn't look me in the eye when I tried to question him so he was not to be believed!

Strange goings on is all I will say :-)



So I'm leaning over the swim platform lowering my kayak into the water and almost lost my glasses in the drink - I think I would have seen some snorkeling in Steve's future but luckily they landed just on the edge after bouncing one time.

What luck! Must be time for me to buy that lottery ticket :-)

The kayaking was nice and many of the islands in this area have very long sand bars formed by the action of the wind and the waves. Eventually this little strip of sand that's left was covered when the tide was up.

Good thing a few of the island have 7 feet of water around them so we are able to get close enough to anchor by them.






Surona joined up next to us for the night. Cheryl was cooking tonight so we joined them in their aft cockpit to watch the sun go down.

Great dinner and good cards afterwards :-)

The end of another nice day of traveling with friends.

Sunday April 7: Ft. Pierce - SOS Deal

 The anchorage at Hobe Sound last night turned out to be very nice. We were concerned about the wind direction and strength when we first anchored but it seemed to be settling down - except of course when Peter and Cheryl made their way in and the wind came up (they travel about 6 knots and we travel a bit faster so we arrived and anchored first).

It made it quite difficult for them to pull up to us and get tied but like the pros they are, success in the end :-)

The anchorage wasn't terribly large but only 2 other boats stayed the night. You can see how close to shore we were.

There was a bit of work to be done though. Steve took apart the anchor windless to try and figure out why it quit running. The breaker had tripped so definitely some issue inside. The gears actually looked pretty good - probably the motor then. Time for a new windless.

Fortunately we can have it sent to Matt and Wendy's (we'll be there later this month) so we can pick it up then and have it installed before we start traveling through Georgia and farther north. In the meantime, let's just say Steve is getting lots of pulling exercise :-)

It was up early and off for a short 3 hour run to Ft. Pierce. Rain clouds were around but we were fortunate and managed to miss them.

And we are now in the land of the tall bridges so Surona will not be delayed waiting for the bascule (lift) bridges to open.

We've been to this marina before but they had a SOS (Save On Sunday) special that allowed us to dock for $52 for the night. Very inexpensive for this part of Florida - which is why we like to just anchor out if we can! A huge renovation is being completed with new barrier islands being built and the size of the marina being doubled. Lots of construction going on for sure.

The park next to the marina is really nice and is used every Saturday for a Farmer's Market.

Many fishing boats go out of this area as the Ft. Pierce Inlet is one of the best in the region (many of the smaller inlets shoal continually making it quite dangerous to go in/out unless you really know the waterway).

One boat had caught several large Amberjacks (like 60 lbs!!) and half a dozen other large fish.

It was appetizers on the flybridge (compliments of Peter and Cheryl) and then dinner below as Steve had made pizza.

I still marvel at how wonderful it is that we are so fortunate .....

and a great sunset again to boot .....

Saturday April 6: Anchored Near Jupiter

Yes - Thursday night was karaoke night at Joe's! As you can see, Peter and Steve made the list - twice even. They tried to tell Cheryl and me that it was by popular demand but we weren't buying it.

However, I do have to say Peter and Steve have improved since their initial attempt a year ago.

Regardless it was a great time in Hollywood - once again :-)

It was a very stormy, windy evening and night on Thursday. And the clouds and rain were still around when we left the dock on Friday.

We had hoped to be able to go up the Atlantic for 50 miles just because it's a nice ride and always fun to be on the ocean - but not when rain and thunderstorms are predicted for much of the area through which we were going to travel.

Inside up the Intercoastal it was then - and with it the 18 bridges from Hollywood to Lantana. Some of them we fit under with our 21' air height but Surona had to have nearly all of the bridges raised - most of which were on a timed schedule.



But we made good progress and arrived at our anchorage in Lantana about 3:30 or so.

The sunset was great and the wind died as anticipated. It was a really nice night.

Of course, Steve had his fishing pole out not long after the anchor hit the water. Success with a nice catfish - which turned into appetizers on the flybridge.

Steve found a hitchhiker shortly after we pulled up anchor this morning - a VERY small crab! It must have been hanging on the anchor line. Kind of hard to really see the legs because it is so tiny :-)

Today was spent driving past marinas full of yachts. We were going through Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, and $$$ville. Crazy amount of money around southern Florida!

Strangest thing we saw today? This house - which looks like it's being torn apart inside. It's sitting on a barge in the Lake Worth area.

No signs. No people. Just a house.


So in the last 5 days we've traveled about 1/3 of the way to our destination of Ferandina Beach. There we'll attend a get-together of trawler owners. Should be fun!

In the meantime, we're anchored again tonight north of Jupiter in a very small waterway. Steve is fishing, Peter is napping and Cheryl is no where to be seen - hopefully she's working on the spaghetti sauce - it's dinner on Surona tonight :-)