Moving north

While at Vero Beach we rented a car and went to Walmart to restock. We also went to the Publix grocery store to get fresh meat and produce. Every Saturday there is a farmers market over by the beach. We went over and bought some grapefruit and oranges and they are excellent.

After being at Vero for a couple of days "Song of Pogo" came in. This is the sailboat with Otis and Marty from Annapolis. We met them last year at the Dismal Swamp Canal visitors center and had been in anchorages and marinas with them all the way to Vero Beach on our way south. They had crossed over to the Bahamas on the same night we did in December. They went and stayed in the Abacos while we went further south. We also ran into "My Time Two" with Charlie onboard. We last saw him at Vero in December. He went to Ft. Myers on the west side of Florida for the winter.

We stayed at Vero Beach for eight nights and then left with "Song of Pogo" heading north. The first night we anchored overnight off the ICW at Eau Gallie. The next morning we left and went up to Titusville. "Song of Pogo" is going to stay at the Titusville marina for a month while Otis and Marty go care for his 91 year old father. We stayed for four nights at the marina to allow a really strong line of storms pass over. One night we had wind gusts to 50 knots with a whole lot of rain which was needed badly in this area. The was the first time we had been in the Titusville marina and it is very nice. There are over 40 manatees that hang out in the marina area. At night you can hear them rubbing up against the hull. We have seen more manatees in the ICW this trip than all of last year.

After the storms passed we left Titusville and headed for St. Augustine. We anchored overnight at Daytona. There is an area off the ICW just west of marker red 44 that shows on the chart at 13-15 feet. In reality it is only 5 - 7 feet. There were quite a few boats there and we were able to find a spot in 7 feet of water where we were out of the channel. Lots of boats going by on the ICW made the place very rolly. At least after dark it did smooth out when traffic died down. The next day we went up to St. Augustine where we are now on mooring M32 on the south side of the Bridge of Lions. We will stay here about a week and then continue up the ICW to Fernandina. We want to also go back to Cumberland Island and do some day hiking. Once we have a good weather window we plan to go out St. Mary's inlet and head to either Cape Fear or Beaufort, North Carolina. We will then be staying in the New Bern/Oriental area for awhile.