Palm Beach

Whoo hoo! We made it to Palm Beach. It feels like we're home. We're settled into the Riviera Beach City Marina. Tomorrow we'll pick up a rental car and settle into our condo. As an early Christmas present, I rented Al a Mustang convertible. Hopefully that will help him through his withdrawal from Shelby.

We'll relax for awhile and think about the next adventure.

Leaving Fort Pierce at dawn

The day started out foggy, but calm. The wind really picked up in the afternoon as usual.

Jupiter Lighthouse 

Blue Heron Bridge leads to Singer Island

We anchored off Peanut Island to go for a swim

Lake Worth Inlet

The Port of Palm Beach

Fort Pierce

It was another extremely windy day. That just seems to be the norm lately. At least it's been sunny and warm. We stopped at the Fort Pierce City Marina. It's 52 miles to Palm Beach. We'll be there tomorrow! Yeah!

Sunrise in Melbourne 

Fort Pierce beach

Melbourne, Fl

It was an easy day, and not much to take pictures of. It was windy as could be, and once again we were traveling during small craft warnings. At least the waterway is somewhat sheltered so the waves can't get too big.

We pulled into Melbourne Harbor Marina. We never stopped at Melbourne before, so we thought it would be fun to stop at a new place. The marina is very close to the downtown area with lot's of shops and restaurants. We rode our bikes through the town which was cute. I rode my bike further to the ocean. It would have been a perfect stop, except for the dock master. He was very grumpy, rude, and bossy. I don't like conflict, so I prevented Al from having a fight with the guy. It wasn't just us. This guy had arguments with all the boats that came in after us. The last boat that pulled in today parked right next to us. He was really fighting with the guy. We thought we were going to witness a fistfight. The guy on the boat next to us turned out to be the CEO of NASCAR. 

Sunrise in Titusville 

NASA in the distance

Later in the day the CEO of NASCAR pulled in next to us.

Titusville

We had a short day planned, as we were going to Titusville, to see our friends Row and Gus, from Summerland. They invited us and Hooper to their home in Orlando to have another Thanksgiving meal. Row picked us up at the marina and brought us to her home. It was fun to see their home and have a great meal with them. Hooper loved having free run of their very large fenced in yard, even though their little dog Flash had to keep showing Hooper who was boss.

It was very windy today and pretty rough on the water. The whole boat really got covered with salt. There where a lot of dolphin today, but two really put on a show by completely jumping out of the water together. Hooper was amazed! The amount of manatees we saw today was unbelievable. Can't believe they're considered endangered. Al had to drive the boat very slowly and keep putting the boat in neutral to make sure the prop didn't hit a manatee when we went through the Haulover Canal.

Sunrise at New Smyrna Beach

The Old Fort Park Archeological Site in New Smyrna Beach

Haulover Canal - filled with manatees and dolphin 

NASA Railway Bridge

New Smyrna Beach, Fl

We had an easy day, even though we went further than we originally planned. Now we're getting anxious to get to Palm Beach. It was sunny, but very windy today. The Intracoastal in Florida is so easy. The water is deep and the waterway is fairly straight, so we set the autopilot and  relax. 

We stopped at the free city dock at New Smyrna Beach. There's a nice floating dock with a park on land. This is a great stop.

Waiting for Knox Memorial Bridge to open

Ponce De Leon Lighthouse 

Free city dock

The park right by the city dock

St. Augustine

St. Augustine is a fun place. The town is all decked out with Christmas lights which makes it very pretty at night. The place is filled with tourists who have obviously been partying day and night. There are so many restaurants, shops, historic spots, and people.  Actually, we've never been here when the town was this busy. The marina is full. We're lucky to be docked at a slip way inside. We've watched many boats come in today, both big and small, that don't know how to dock with such a strong current. There's been lot's of yelling and the sound of fiberglass hitting the dock. It's entertaining to watch because they're not close to us. 

We launched the dinghy to take a ride to explore the area. We wanted to take Hooper for a run on the beach, but the clouds came out making it a little cool for that. Instead we took a ride all the way up the San Sebastian River. On that river is the old Mainship factory. Our boat was made at this Mainship factory in St. Augustine. Inside the hanger we saw a mold for a hull. That could be the mold that made our hull. It's a shame to see the place sitting abandoned with the molds to the hulls just sitting there.

Tomorrow we'll head further south.

The old Mainship factory

That could be the mold that made our hull.

St. Augustine, Fl

Yeah! We're finally in Florida!

The morning started out very foggy, but cleared quickly. The ocean looked very calm, so we decided to head out the inlet and take the "outside" ocean route to St. Augustine. That way we could avoid the winding Intracoastal and all the very shallow spots. 

At one point we went through an area that looked like it was snowing. It was actually bugs! The entire boat got covered with some kind of small flying bug. Luckily the bugs didn't bite and left after awhile.

It was a long day and the St. Augustine Inlet and Marina were a very welcome site. Somehow, when going through the bridge we got into a fight with a sailboat. It didn't really make sense, because when we first saw the sailboat, he was on the north side of the bridge headed north. We had no clue he actually wanted to head south through the bridge. After we passed him, he did a 180 degree turn and then accused us of cutting him off. He started blowing his horn and yelling at us over the vhf. It continued on the other side of the bridge, because we were both going to the same marina. He said we again cut him off entering the marina, which again didn't make any sense, because now we were so far in front of him, it would be impossible to cut him off. It just confirms our thoughts that most people in sailboats are crazy! Normally, I would say that Al was in the wrong, because he would enjoy cutting off a sailboat. But this time Al was really innocent, and didn't do anything wrong!

Foggy start to the morning

Nice calm ocean

The boat got covered with bugs

Naval Station Mayport

St. Augustine, "The Great Cross", world's tallest cross

St. Augustine pirate ship

Bridge of Lions

St. Augustine at night