Onward to Georgia

Saturday, 6 April – Melbourne to Titusville – 41 mi

Blue sky, 61 degrees. Winds picked up quite a bit. ICW was quite choppy. It’s actually tiring to pilot a boat in heavy winds. Our approach to Titusville was full of reminders of our trips in Carlos to see the Space Shuttle Launches. We saw the Vehicle Assembly Building,

and we passed under the Titusville bridge – where we had biked to the top to watch the shuttle launch.

The Titusville Municipal Marina is just north of the bridge.We walked from there to the closest grocery store – Save a Lot – where you need to bring your own bags. It looked familiar, then I realized we biked through the Save a Lot parking lot to get to the grassy lot where we parked Carlos. All good vibes. A nice, blue-hulled Mainship pulled into the marina. We were admiring the blue screens and canvas when we recognized the couple – Gus and Row Ambler – whom we met in Clewiston, the ones who just bought their boat. They are still working, so they are planning to do the loop next year, keeping it at the Titusville Marina for the year, while working on it on weekends, commuting from their Orlando home.

Sunday, 7 April – Titusville to Daytona – 48 mi.

Winds died down significantly. Still a little breezy, but blue sky and 71 degrees. Unlike, yesterday, there were many sailboats on the ICW. This section of the ICW winds through islands, making it more interesting than an open bay. The shore is dotted with homes and campgrounds and boat slips.

The barrier islands have flocks of birds. But this is a slow section, since there are many “no wake” or “mimimum wake” zones, due to the presence of manatee. We caught an air show in New Smyrna Beach. Choppers, antique planes doing loops and fly-byes, and lots of watercraft filled with onlookers. There were even paddleboarders and kayakers.  Met another couple who had already done the loop, flying their gold burghee. They had followed us from Titusville. We docked at the Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona. A familiar place, since we stayed here in October when we were traveling in the other direction.

Monday, 8 April – Daytona to St Augustine – 54 mi

Blue sky, calm, 73 degrees. Kelsey stood on the fuel dock as we passed by on the way out, collecting our restroom keys and outgoing mail in a net at the end of a long pole - pretty cool way to save us from walking all the way around the marina to the office.  It's so much nicer when the winds are calm, more relaxing. This is a very nice section of the ICW. Much to see, with colorful homes on the water, creative ways folks built docks and tiki bars. And some live in boats on the water. We saw a tug called "Anger Management"
pushing a huge ship - the largest I've seen on the ICW to date. Sometimes we found ourselves in a boat parade waiting for bridge openings. We docked at the Conch House Marina. We
walked to Stuart's Market for some groceries. Very small, old fashioned little grocery, but it had everything we needed, including a nice deli. Had dinner in a tiki hut at the Conch House restaurant.

Tuesday, 9 April - St Augustine to Fernandino - 61 mi.

Blue sky, a little foggy, 66 degrees. This section of the ICW meanders so much, both from one river to another, as well as snaking around within some of the wider stretches.

We almost went up the wide St Johns river, instead of across it to little Sisters Creek where the ICW continues. We saw another tug pushing a barge with tanks that looked like parts of the space station.

And a boat full of people water skiing right in front of us in the channel. The last mile near Fernandina Harbor Marina was tricky. The charts showed 12-15 ft depths, but we had to find our way around unexpected 3-4 ft shoals. Fernandina Beach was a pleasant surprise. It's on the National Register of Historic Places. It has a trolley to take you about. But the old downtown area is across the street from the marina, so it's easy to take a walking tour. We finally took the bikes off the boat to explore it. Saw a bat mobile,

drank at The Palace - the oldest bar in Florida, and we biked to the Atlantic ocean. We met another couple on the loop - Ozel and Maryann (and their Portugese water dogs) from Rockport, TX - in a

Mainship 390 Trawler. Discovered that 2013 is the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon's first visit to Florida.

Wednesday, 10 April - Fernandino, FL to Darien, GA - 54 mi.

Blue sky, calm, 68 degrees. Met another couple on the loop - Joe and Debra on Freewheelin, from Stuart, FL. Nice folks. They spent some time at The Palace last night as well. A little excitment today...While in a deep ship channel just north of Fernandina, we were approached by the Coast Guard. The machine gun in the hands of the guy up front was a little intimidating.

They were about to escort a naval vessel down the channel, and they were clearing the area. They escorted us to the ICW turn off "at best speed possible." We reached 15.2 knots with the Coast Guard

vessel at our side. That was a unique experience. The ICW meanders as much in southern GA as it does in northern FL, snaking up several connected rivers.

We docked at Two Way Fish Camp - a really old fashioned little marina up the South Altamaha River. There's a small general store with a 12 ft stuffed alligator and a bar and restaurant called Mudcat Charlie's that featured "the best Georgia shrimp." We tried some, and it was pretty good.