Friday 1-2-09
Today’s destination is to be New Smyrna Beach, about 44 miles south. As usual we got an early start but not too early to have some help with our lines. Jim and Joan from “Longhaul” were up and about and very willing to lend a hand. Some of their family had come for a visit and were sleeping a bit later than Jim and Joann were accustomed to – they had plans to take a cruise up to St. Augustine and wanted to arrive at slack tide.
Conditions were fairly calm but cool because there were some clouds and with the breeze, we were in long sleeves all morning. The waterway is narrow for miles south of Palm Coast with many homes along the water. This required a relatively slow speed to minimize wake that might disturb small boats at the private docks. Many of the homes water sides were still decorated with Christmas lights and figures and some were quite elaborate. Coming from our cold PA climate we still find it odd to be in warm temperatures and seeing signs of the holidays – it would probably take a while to get used to not associating Christmas with cold and snow.
New Smyrna Beach sounded like a pleasant small water way town and we thought it would be nice to do some walking so we arranged for a slip at the City Marina. It proved to be a good choice, the docks were brand new and of the floating type, part of the renovations done in the past 2 years resulting from storm damage. The marina is smallish but has very nice facilities for boaters and the town was pleasant with shops and a few restaurants situated on Canal Street, just a few blocks from the marina.
Today’s destination is to be New Smyrna Beach, about 44 miles south. As usual we got an early start but not too early to have some help with our lines. Jim and Joan from “Longhaul” were up and about and very willing to lend a hand. Some of their family had come for a visit and were sleeping a bit later than Jim and Joann were accustomed to – they had plans to take a cruise up to St. Augustine and wanted to arrive at slack tide.
Conditions were fairly calm but cool because there were some clouds and with the breeze, we were in long sleeves all morning. The waterway is narrow for miles south of Palm Coast with many homes along the water. This required a relatively slow speed to minimize wake that might disturb small boats at the private docks. Many of the homes water sides were still decorated with Christmas lights and figures and some were quite elaborate. Coming from our cold PA climate we still find it odd to be in warm temperatures and seeing signs of the holidays – it would probably take a while to get used to not associating Christmas with cold and snow.
New Smyrna Beach sounded like a pleasant small water way town and we thought it would be nice to do some walking so we arranged for a slip at the City Marina. It proved to be a good choice, the docks were brand new and of the floating type, part of the renovations done in the past 2 years resulting from storm damage. The marina is smallish but has very nice facilities for boaters and the town was pleasant with shops and a few restaurants situated on Canal Street, just a few blocks from the marina.
The same harbor that the City Marina is on is also home for several charter fishing boats and
late in the afternoon one of them returned with about 2 dozen large (18” – 30”) fish that they hung along a sign board so the fishing party members could have their photos taken with the catch. After the photo session the boat crew spent about an hour filleting the fish. There are many pelicans in this area and as soon as the fish cleaning began pelicans swarmed the edge of the dock where the cleaning tables were located and the men doing the work would toss the head and skeletons into the water for the birds. It was fun to watch.
late in the afternoon one of them returned with about 2 dozen large (18” – 30”) fish that they hung along a sign board so the fishing party members could have their photos taken with the catch. After the photo session the boat crew spent about an hour filleting the fish. There are many pelicans in this area and as soon as the fish cleaning began pelicans swarmed the edge of the dock where the cleaning tables were located and the men doing the work would toss the head and skeletons into the water for the birds. It was fun to watch.
There are also a lot of Dolphins – sightings have become very routine for us and we saw several of them right in the marina area not more than 15 feet from our boat.
We weren’t terribly hungry when dinner time arrived, since we had a mid afternoon snack and two Bud drafts at a little waterfront shack bar near the marina, soon after we arrived. We decided to keep dinner simple with salad and a couple slices of the pizza left over from the night before.
We weren’t terribly hungry when dinner time arrived, since we had a mid afternoon snack and two Bud drafts at a little waterfront shack bar near the marina, soon after we arrived. We decided to keep dinner simple with salad and a couple slices of the pizza left over from the night before.
Pelicans!
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