Wednesday 1/21 thru Sunday 1/25/09
After a quick breakfast we saddled up the KIA and headed out for the weekly Wednesday flea market at the fair grounds near Deland. We picked up a whole bunch of fresh vegetables for about 5 bucks and headed back to the boat. We decided it would be a good time to work on the various locker doors (cabinet doors to land lubbers) that were dragging when opened and closed. I used the block plane I bought at Home Depot to plane the door edges where they were making contact and Polly would re-hang them and check each one out – there were 8 of them. We had also bought varnish to touch them up but that will wait until a later date. Following the carpenter work Polly did a thorough vacuuming of the cabins and I called Enterprise to extend our car rental until Monday AM when we plan to leave this sweet spot.
Thursday we drove up to the Daytona area for a few provisions and to check out a marina (Halifax Harbor) where we plan to spend a few days. The marina is quite large – maybe 500 slips in all – but very nice facilities and organized management. They also have a great restaurant on the property call The Aquarium. The waterfront area of Daytona Beach seemed pretty nice, with a couple blocks of re-vamped buildings with shops and restaurants along the main street, and several parks connected by a bike path and walk ways.
Back at the boat PMB turned the groceries into some burger patties for the grill and also pre-cooked and seasoned some ground beef for tacos or nachos in the future. We often do some advanced food prep and store things in the freezer to minimize work when we dine aboard. I (RCB) used the time to drive to a local bike shop in hopes of finding a better (softer) seat for my bike. We had a date to meet the Morris’ for happy hour at a spot they knew about over on the beach side called, The Atlantis Bistro. We visited for about 2 hours over some very nice two-for-one red wine and made plans to have them aboard FLIGHT for a local day cruise on Saturday.
Friday was spent just hanging around and messing with some boat chores. Polly spent time preparing a few food items that will be our contribution to the marina’s monthly pot luck party scheduled for Saturday evening. The theme for the party was to be “Breakfast for Dinner” – all food was to be breakfast things, including drinks. I was surprised to learn that a lot of people drink rum & tonic and beer as well as mimosas and screw drivers with their breakfast. Loy, the man from the transient boat next to us asked me to drive him to a local camp ground for a propane re-fill. The trip gave me an opportunity to learn that Loy and his wife (retired teacher & social worker) were from Chicago and came down the river system to the Gulf of Mexico and that their sailboat spent the summer stored in Deltaville, VA on Chesapeake Bay. Small world again – we had stopped in Deltaville on our way down the Bay.
Early Saturday AM, Polly went to the weekly farmers market on Canal St. and returned with Pecan sticky buns for our breakfast – yum. Sue & Steve Morris came aboard at 09:30 and we got underway for our trip south on the ICW to Haul-Over Canal and back, about 50 miles total. The canal is a short man made cut that connects Mosquito Lagoon with the Indian River. Many years ago, vessels traveling the ICW were actually hauled out and moved over land from the one body of water to the other. The WX was very nice and Steve was at the helm the entire day except for docking. We enjoyed several encounters with Dolphins following the wake of the boat and Sue actually got a few seconds of video.
We arrived back at the marina about 3:30 and proceeded to get ready to attend the party. It was a lot of fun and true to form with any pot luck meal, the food was exceptional. One fellow brought a waffle iron and had his secret waffle batter waiting to make you a waffle to order, served with fresh berry toppings and whipped cream, if you so desired. It was fun meeting some of the marina regulars and hearing their stories.
Sunday brought beautiful WX and temps that reached the mid 70s in the afternoon. We gave FLIGHT a thorough washing and then rode our bikes to the Dairy Queen for lunch. The Morris’ stopped by in the afternoon to share some pictures they had of their home in Idaho (complete with snow) and we made tentative plans for them to drive up to Daytona after we get settled there. Our evening meal consisted of burgers done on the grill and fresh green beans from the farmers market, after Polly had completed the laundry she had started earlier. Tomorrow we will be out of here.

Fishermen