To Daytona

After some pondering about visiting Titusville, I decided to head north for Daytona at 11AM.  

At 6PM, I decided to anchor south of Daggert Island, about 8 miles short of Daytona. Lovely sunset all by myself.  There was some local boat traffic, but quiet after dark.

The next morning (Saturday), I weighed anchor and headed for Daytona, anchoring exactly where I anchored last December.  I went shopping, had lunch at Checker's visited Surplus Unlimited, a marine store that was closed the last time I was there.  Visited a couple of Amazon Bin stores and had a long walk back to the boat at Bethune Park.

Sabastien to Cocoa Beach and Titusville

We motored for 7 hours to get to Cocoa Beach.  We tried to stay at the public dock, but it was under construction.  We anchored nearby.

Visited S F Travis CO, an amazing hardware store.  Then we crossed the bridge to visit Harbor Freight and West Marine.

While walking back, I gave $20 to a panhandler, which upset Chris.  We were looking forward to seeing the Dragon Crew 10 launch, which was scrubbed due to hydraulic problems with the launch pad.

The Bier Garden, which I had wanted to return to, had closed its kitchen, so we ended up at Ryan's Pizza and Pub.  

On Thursday, the 13th, we walked through Cocoa Beach and then returned to Ryan's Pizza to update our iPad, computer, and other devices.  

The shuttle arrived, and Chris departed. I then returned to the boat and headed off to Titusville.  Access was limited, so I returned to Bellum after spending the evening at the north end of the bridge.  

As previously mentioned, Titusville was disappointing.

Fort Pierce to Sabatian

At 9:30, we went to the marina to refuel with diesel and update our Wi-Fi devices.  We made it to the bridge for the 9:30 opening.  We motored to Sebastian.

We walked through town and had some Gelato.  There were many motels and rental villas.  The city was a popular spot for sports fishing.

W

Gun Sur Mer to Fort Pierce - The Crossing

We got up at 5:30 to depart the Bahamas.

It was dark, and I had Chris on the foredeck with a flashlight to guide us out of the walled canal.  He told me there was plenty of water depth, but he didn't seem to notice how close we were to the canal walls.  And he wouldn't turn around to talk to me, making it impossible to tell what he was saying.

Once outside the canal, we set sail in a beam reach.  In an hour, I realized that the boat's speed would not get us to Florida in daylight.  So we started the motor.

Breakfast was underway, featuring Kimchi Ramen, which was cooked on site.

We decided to sail for Fort Pierce.  Port Carnival was good if we wanted to go on a night sail.

We tried the Starlink, but it wouldn't work until we were 12 miles from the shore.  Eventually, it worked - when we got to 12 miles offshore, about the same as Cellular.

We came into Fort Pierce Inlet in the dark.  Chris was my eyes.  

We anchored outside the Safe Harbour Marina at 19:30 and dinghyed in to meet with Mark and Jane.  We went out for supper at the marina.  Mark joined us for a beer, and Jane stayed aboard to sleep on Aida.

The next day, we used Mark's car to do groceries and helped Mark put on the Stack Pack and Main Sail on the Aries.  

Monday was rainy and we stayed aboard Bellum.  Bellum goes for a good wash.

West End to Ginn Sur Mer

After clearing customs, we departed on a 33-mile run to Ginn Sur Mer.  Ginn Sur Mer was a waterfront development that was never completed.  We were the first boat to arrive, but many other ships followed, including an electric power boat and numerous Power Cats.

We added some chafe protection for the solar panels against the backstay