11/28/2015 – 12/1/2015, Titusville, FL

Saturday, 11/28/15. We got up early to leave St Augustine, FL. Stopped at the fuel dock for diesel, water and pumpout. 

S/v Hafvalla, the trimaran, also left St Augustine early in the morning

As we passed Fort Matanzas, the current was with us, and the water was very blue. The sky was clear now, earlier it was cloudy. We saw a lot of people fishing, and also some people in the bushes in “a very compromising position”.  Do they not realize that we can see them from the water??? (No, no photos!)

Scenery in northern FL

Strong current near Fort Matanzas

This FL fixture was present last year, and probably long before that.

Bridge near Daytona, with dolphin design

At 4:07 PM we anchored at the Daytona Anchorage, at STM 831.9, with about 20 other boats. We saw Hafvalla anchored just outside the channel, on the other side.

Hafvalla, with shallow draft and attitude you can anchor wherever you' want

I couldn’t resist testing the oven. Tried to make a pizza for dinner. Bad idea. Turned it on, set to 450. Put in the pizza and the portable oven thermometer. It got up to 250. Darn! The pizza took a long time and was pretty dry by the time it was cooked.

Pizza, on the way to the oven. 

Sunday, 11/29/15. Got up and got back in the channel heading south at 6:40 AM. Finally a warm day! Past Ponce Inlet, through the George Musson Bridge for the 8:40 opening. We saw a new building at New Smyrna Beach, and a lot of boats in the Sheepshead Cut anchorage, where we stayed last year. Saw lots of dolphins, a large bird flying with a fish in his mouth (would have made a great photo!), and manatees. Intermittent light rain, and rainbows. Saw a lot of local boaters fishing and enjoying the nice weather.

George Musson Bridge

"Sloop de Ville" in the Sheepshead Cut Anchorage - we loved the name

Holiday weekend fun in No'Flo'

It's all fun and games until somebody sinks the boat...

Someplace pretty at 10:54 AM

We went through the Haulover Canal, near Cape Canaveral, where Chuck saw another manatee. By 2:10, we were tied to a mooring in Titusville, FL. Went ashore for showers and saw our new friend John, who is planning to stay here for a month. We had just met John in St Augustine.

Snack time - made the old school way, in a pan

In the Haulover Canal

In the Haulover Canal

John, our new friend from NY, who we met in St Augustine

We cleaned up and went to our friend Mike Cunningham’s for dinner. Mike and his girlfriend, Trish, have now moved into the house that we saw last spring. It’s cleaned up and fixed up. It has new tile flooring, furniture, and Christmas decorations! Here is a little eye candy.

Perfect view of rocket launches!

Monday, 11/30/15 At Titusville moorings. We visited with John and his friend Kevin, and saw manatees under the docks.

Manatee under the dock

Manatee

Manatee swirling through the water

Then Chuck and I ran out for errands. We went to CVS for prescriptions, went to Kloiber’s Cobbler for lunch (sandwiches and then, of course, we had to try the cobbler). After that we walked to NAPA for oil filters and inquiries about batteries, and finally to the close-by grocery store, where we found nearly everything we needed. Maybe too much. It was hard to carry the heavy bags back to the marina. We decided to stay one more day in Titusville.

Tuesday, 12/1/15. Maintenance day, in Titusville. We had been having trouble with the batteries and the generator. Chuck added water to the batteries a few days ago, but they were not holding a charge. They are about 5-6 years old. The last set lasted 10 years, but they were very lightly used. These have been used a lot, so we think they are nearing the end of their useful life. Chuck checked the raw water impeller and it was fine. We reset the valves on the generator. When we ran it to test it, he forgot to re-open the raw water intake and ruined the impeller. So the “good” impeller needed to be replaced. (Everyone has done this at least once, right?)

While he did that, I cleaned up outside. The birds in Titusville make quite a mess of all of the boats in the mooring field. They did their bird pooping thing all over our topsides, and they also tore up the grey foam that we had on the rails behind our back seats. It was getting old anyway. We should have covered it with fabric a long time ago.

Avian destruction of our foam rail covers

We went ashore, saw John and Kevin, and met Connie from Key West. She promised to give us the location of her secret fishing spot in Key West. We went for a nice walk around the nearby dog park, and Chuck talked on the phone to a couple of diesel mechanics about fixing the generator. He ordered some parts. Chuck loves to order parts.