Eschaton travels 200 miles

Hello fellow cruisers,

We hope you've had your windbreaker on, because we've come 200 windy miles since turning north. In our last entry, you saw that we were in Vero Beach, where we spent a couple of days on a (shared) mooring ball. (see picts) While there we walked over to the beach several times, fortified ourselves with seafood and icecream both times. We also were able to worship at Christ-by-the-Sea UMC,which was within a few short blocks of the marina. A wonderful experience.

Next we travled to Melbourne, then to Titusville. In this area the ICW is more like a river: not much tide sensation, and varying between congested homes-- some grandiose and others kinda humble -- and then in other places vegetation alone. Still no manatees or alligators. And tho we do see dolphins, they have thus far been too quick to catch by camera. We keep trying! Pelicans, however, are slower and plentiful. They dive into the water for fish, and every time, we think a human has fallen in! What a splash! In Titusville, we had a very sheltered marina, and mirror-like calm water as we left on Wednesday. In fact, what you'll see here are puffy clouds refected in the very calm water as we traveled across a bay the next morning. There we also passed what Nan called 'idyllic islands'... the kind you want to take the dinghy to, and just let yourself get marooned there! Gilligan maybe?

As we travel the ICW, we are sometimes able to see the ocean--or at least the dunes just this side of the beaches-- if we stand up on the upper deck. In other places, that stretch of land to our starboard(that's our right side as we go north) is very wide. In one section, we could see the red lighthouse on the beach side very clearly. (We think this is the Mantanzas light, but can't find it on any maps. CORRECTION: this is the New Smyrna Beach light.)
We spent 3 nights in Port Orange, just south of Daytona Beach at a small, no-frills marina. We were able to walk across the 3 block island to the beach briefly, but as
predicted, the next morning the rains and thunder and lightening and wind came,
lasting a full 48 hours. Not fit for travel! So we hunkered down and waited. This
little marina has one claim to fame: it has "Pat's Riverside Cafe" which is a local landmark, tucked away in a very unassuming building. Kinda like Pat's kitchen, and
tolks just drop by for breakfast and/or lunch. You sit our under the tree playing checkers while you wait for a table... unless it's raining. And the food: huge portions of incredible food!

On Saturday, we knew wind was predicted. We also knew that the channel at mile marker (MM) 795 had shoaled in, and that it was very shallow at low tide, which, of course was just when we got there. We were ready and watching, and we'd slowed down so that if we did go aground, it would be done gently. The channels are usually 8-12 feet deep, and in some places a little more, a little less. But it was scary to see 2.4' on the depthfinder, when we draw just less than 3'!!! Somehow we kept going and almost immediately we began to see more water. Whew! I wish we'd taken a pict of the extra buoys there, but we were both kinda busy worrying. All this in strong winds with gusts even stronger. We did take a pict of the mudflats (that's what we called 'em in NH)... almost higher than us, as we moved up the channel.

We arrived in St Augustine on Saturday night, welcomed by a pirate ship (look closely). They looked like happy pirates and didn't threaten us. :) Since then we have been in a marina just SE of the famous Bridge of Lions in downtown St. A. From here we have literally worn ourselves out seeing the town. As soon as we got here,we walked to the St. A lighthouse (further than we thought!), and then today we rode our bikes across the Bridge of Lions (under $77 mil renovation!) to worship at Grace UMC, then spent the day at a Seafood Festival, went by the Fountain of Youth (that's not it; what you see is in the parking lot), some beautiful southern streets, the breath-taking Mission of Nombre de Dios (site of the landing of the first Catholics), and then the Castillo (Castle) de San Marcos, a massive fort used by Spaniards, English, and Americans, to name a few.
Tomorrow we head for Jacksonville.

YES! we're having a great time. And each day is an adventure.

As the sign at Titusville said, may you have favorable winds and following seas.

Blessings.
nan and jack