Ft. Lauderdale to St. Augustine

After close to 6 months in our adopted state of Florida we've almost made it to the Georgia line. We left Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday April 5th with the hope to make Cape Canaveral by Friday for a rare rocket launch. We covered a lot of ground in a few days but had the anchor down with 45 minutes to spare before the launch.

When we left Lauderdale we were running in mostly concrete lined canals with more mega yachts or high dollar real estate for about 40 miles. After that the ICW opened up a bit and became more wooded and scenic.

One thing we noticed as we headed toward North Palm Beach that day was that the palm trees had disappeared from the shore line and been replaced with pine again...looks like we're finally moving north. We began to see more Osprey also and most nests had young being tended to.

After a long day we made it to North Palm Beach and Old Port Cove marina. This place had a good rate on slips and even gave a bottle of wine with their welcome kit. We were probably the smallest and oldest boat on the "big boat" dock. After getting tied up and washed down I went for a walk and noticed a boat a few slips up called Sunday Money...previously owned by Dale Earnhardt Sr. and his wife. Next to that one was the smaller of 2 boats named Hi Banx owned by the France family who own most of NASCAR...we were in the high rent district for sure.

HiBanx & Sunday Money

 
Another boat in the marina was on the "really" big boat dock named Honey. This one was owned by Tiger Woods. Good to see he has someplace to relax since he's not golfing so well.

Honey on the far dock

After 2 nights in North Palm we moved on to Vero Beach mooring field for one night and then anchored in a spot just off the ICW with a perfect view of the NASA complex and the launch pad for the SpaceX rocket on a supply mission to the International Space Station. The launch was really great to see in person and impressive to "feel" the rocket about a minute after launch.

After a bumpy night at anchor due to winds we moved a few miles further to the city of Titusville mooring field for a couple of nights. Titusville was a busy little town during the heyday of the space race and is trying really hard to make a comeback. They have a few "downtown" blocks with some nice restaurants and even a brewery...we always look for the brewery's.  There is also a park dedicated to the space industry.

Brewery in the old hardware store

After Titusville we headed to New Smyrna city marina for a couple of nights to re-charge. We had been on a mooring or anchored for 4 nights and our house batteries need a good charge and I sleep better tied to a dock!! New Smyrna is one of the hidden gems on the east coast of Florida. The old downtown is bustling with shops and restaurants (and a brewery). We didn't even get over to the newer side of town near the beach and easily could have stayed there longer. One surprise while at New Smyrna was a visit from my Nephew Jeff and his wife Caren (Niece-in-Law??). They had just returned from a weekend cruise that went out of Port Canaveral and decided to stay in the area an extra day.

He's not really that short.

After New Smyrna we headed further up the coast to St. Augustine where we are spending this weekend. Just before passing Daytona Beach we spotted our first Bald Eagles of the trip. I expected to see them more in the river system and was surprised to see this one just hanging out on the beach...I guess that's what you do in Daytona.

We also passed by the bigger and newer Hi Banx as we were passing through. As they say...must be nice. I still prefer to have our smaller boat that doesn't need a crew or a small fortune to operate.

We'll save St. Augustine for another blog but will say this is a really cool town with a ton of history. The "plan" is to leave here tomorrow for Jacksonville before heading up to Fernandina Beach and Brunswick (as in Georgia!!) by Wednesday or Thursday. After that we have no real schedule, just follow spring as it moves north.

I've had some gentile reminders that we're not blogging often enough. I have no real excuse except that we're having too much fun to sit down and write something. It's a lot of work being this creative!! We have added a new feature for those of you that can't get enough of our adventures...we now have a Twitter feed!! I'm trying to get out a little blurb on the days we are traveling so you can go to the blog and follow along if interested. we are @mvchasing80

That's it for now....next post from Georgia....or South Carolina....