DAY FOUR -- MELBOURNE TO DAYTONA BEACH

                            DAY FOUR -- MELBOURNE TO DAYTONA BEACH 

            Weighed anchor a bit before 8:30 and ran non-stop to our destination -- the Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach. (So named because the river/lagoon that runs from here down to Ponce Inlet is called the Halifax River.) The run through Mosquito Lagoon and up past New Smyrna Beach was very nice. The Mosquito Lagoon area is completely undeveloped and gives a sense of what this part of Florida was like "back in the day". It is part of a national wildlife preserve that resulted from federal government purchasing a huge tract of land in the early 60s to set up the space center at Cape Canaveral. 



            The area around New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet had a nice mix of development and untouched beaches, swamps and mangroves. There is an older bridge at New Smyrna Beach that we got to see open for a nice vintage yacht that was running ahead of us. Most all of the bridges on the intracoastal have been rebuilt to a standard 65' clearance, so it was fun to see an old one in action. 


            Just a couple miles past this bridge is Ponce de Leon Inlet, which features a handsome old lighthouse. We briefly deviated from the intracoastal for a few miles to run closer to the inlet to admire the lighthouse and see how the ocean looked (rough).


            We pulled into the Halifax Harbor Marina just before 2:30, filled up with diesel, pumped out the holding tank, and were in our assigned slip by three. We cleaned up the boat, worked on the blog, and went up to the marina restaurant for a drink. It's a huge marina -- owned by the city but run by a private operator. I took a picture on the way back to the boat after cocktails. See if you can find Craunological II in this photo!


P.S. Based on our having taken on 112 gallons of diesel at the Halifax Harbor Marina, and covered 164 miles since we filled up at Stuart, we averaged 1.46 mpg over the last two days. I think part of this improvement was our running with the ebb tide for the Mosquito Lagoon and New Smyrna stretch, where the current ran close to 2 mph.

Janet's take: today not much to see on the long run until New Smyrna. And that is a lovely coastline. Today was a shorter cruising day. But coming in earlier gave us time to do some housework, catch up on communications, and compose a list for replenishing necessities on the boat. A very nice day on the water, and not as hot and humid as the past few days, which makes Janet a much happier first mate.

Comment on your comments: We love hearing back from our friends and readers, but almost every comment we have received is from "anonymous". I don't know which buttons you need to push on your phone or laptop to identify yourself automatically, but if you don't want to bother figuring that out and want to be known, you'll need to sign your comments.  

Comments

  1. TedMay 26, 2022 at 6:54 PM

    Love the geography lessons and the photos are a nice addition to your great descriptions of the adventure. One added benefit of your trip is you may miss some of the news here on the mainland.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 26, 2022 at 7:06 PM

    Your descriptions of what you’re viewing are wonderful. I too love the photos. I’m very excited for you and can enjoy this vicariously through your blogs. I’ve told you before but it’s worth repeating So admire your courage and spunk to undertake this voyage. It takes courage to venture into a new and challenging adventure. Keep up the blog.
    Connie

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 26, 2022 at 8:28 PM

    I agree with the above 2 comments. You’ll have a great adventure book when you finish.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kim PMay 27, 2022 at 1:33 PM

    This is great! We love the dual entries for the day! And the pictures 📸.

    ReplyDelete
  5. DamonMay 28, 2022 at 10:02 AM

    Fyi - there is a "Comment as" above the comment area. It defaults to anonymous, but if you click on that you can choose name/url and just enter your name (and skip url).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ted & LindaMay 28, 2022 at 3:04 PM

    Greetings from Cocoa Beach !! Really sad we didn’t get to meet up with you guys while you were in the Melbourne area this week. Both of us seem back to normal after 3-4 not so normal days. We are enjoying your trip via your blog & will continue to keep up with your great adventures this summer. Wishing for smooth seas & pleasant weather for your trip !!

    ReplyDelete
  7. TimMay 31, 2022 at 1:06 PM

    Looked up 2nd earl of Halifax--quite a character--for whom all the Halifaxes are evidently named

    ReplyDelete
  8. PaulaJune 5, 2022 at 4:11 AM

    We had some good times together in NSB (except for Hurricane David 😳). So excited to see you on the 8th!

    ReplyDelete

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