Heading North in Florida
Cruising up Florida on the intracoastal waterway is a lot different than cruising in the southern part of the state. Small quaint towns started popping up along the way, with the first one being Melbourne, which is right off the intracoastal in a small harbor. We anchored in the middle of the harbor, surrounded by small marinas, the town, and a cute park. We took the dinghy to the park to walk with Murf, and cruised to dinner at a restaurant, Frigates, right on the water. The next morning we did a run through town and saw some amazing homes.
Melbourne, FL...view from waterfront restaurant
The next stop was Cocoa Village. We stayed at a marina here, and thoroughly enjoyed the area. We walked the town, enjoying the delightfully tacky shops and restaurants and were also close to the Kennedy Space Center. Darryn, Murf and I visited this spectacular museum which is a complex of retired rockets and displays of galaxies, planets, stars etc. It would take a few days to adequately see everything in this museum. We had Murf with us so a half day is all we could reasonably do but it was well worth it. We drove past Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company. It was conveniently located next to the Kennedy Space Center.
Cocoa Village Street View
An old mansion built in 1565 in St. Augustine
Oceanfront in Cocoa Village
Funky vines..Cocoa Village
Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin
Daytona was our next short stop. We biked to the Daytona Speedway and to the famous main beach(impressive waves). Darryn was pretty excited to see the track, he's watched the Daytona races since he was a kid apparently! We also met quite a few "Loopers", the name for the boaters doing the Great Loop. For those that don't know, The Great Loop is 6,000-mile route of the eastern U.S. and part of Canada via mostly protected inland waterways. It follows the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Chesapeake Bay, and the New York Canals northwards, goes across the Great Lakes, south on the Inland Rivers, and then east Gulf Coast to complete the Loop. We are running into many of these "Loopers" and joined five couples on the dock for a boaters happy hour. One couple from Toronto, the others from the US. Its a different boating world on the Intracoastal Waterway!
Daytona Speedway
Once we left Daytona, we cruised to St. Augustine, the oldest town in the US, founded in 1565. It was charming! We stayed at Rivers Edge Marina which was a mile or so from town. We walked into town and enjoyed the cute shops, Spanish historic buildings, art galleries, and restaurants. The Castillo de San Marcos, a 17th-century Spanish stone fortress, was located right on the water. We read about the local amphitheater in a local publication at lunch one day, and saw that Pat Benatar was playing the next night with her husband, famous guitarist, Neil Giraldo. We decided to go and we were glad we did! It was a great concert. Pat Benatar's voice hasn't changed much for a 70 yr old, and her husband was an amazing guitarist.
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine
Painters on a side street in St. Augustine
Murf joining the dogs on the bench
The Castillo de San Marcos Fort...St. Augustine
St. Augustine from the water
Flagler College...St. Augustine, FL
St. Augustine Amphitheater
The next morning we took off down the intracoastal, passing Jackonsville (saving this for the way back down) and headed to Fernandina Beach and anchored for the night. We got up in the morning, lowered the dinghy into the water, and went to shore for a run through town. We were pleasantly surprised to run through the streets of this charming place! Adorable Main Street with shops and restaurants, and streets of really nice, southern style homes. After our run we stopped at a cute little corner restaurant for breakfast. We didn't spend enough time here, so it is on our list for the cruise back down the coast later this year.
Beautiful southern home in Fernandina Beach, FL
A typical front porch home in Fernandina Beach, FL
Fernandina Beach, FL
Fernandina Beach, FL
A few things to mention about our time in Florida. We could be cruising out on the open ocean, but we are choosing to cruise on the intracoastal because it is new and different. We have spent all our previous boating in the open ocean. The waterway has its challenges such as shoaling (currents push sand into bars which makes the water more shallow) making driving a bit tricky. Our draft is 5 feet, so we need to make sure that the depth of the water exceeds 5 feet!! Pretty obvious! So it is important to watch our charts and keep up with the latest blog comments so we are aware of recent shoaling. There are also many bridges, most of which we can get under with our 22 feet of airdraft (height), but others where we have to wait for the bridge operator to open the bridge on the hour quarters or half hour. There is also more traffic on the waterway vs. the open ocean, due to the many fishing and recreational boats. There are homes with docks peppering the entire waterway but there are also a lot of open marshy fields with birds and trees which is quite beautiful and peaceful. So this is why we are choosing to go a bit slower on the intracoastal waterway!