Monday – 14 December
Water to the left of us water to the right…..Here we are…. stuck in the middle of the ditch.
If you looked out to either side of us you would have seen what looked like vast expanse of water. If you look at the charts you would see very shallow water off the channel. So for another day we focused on the magenta line and the narrow channel of the ICW in an attempt to successfully avoid going aground again. Florida really is teasing us!
We both agree that pelicans are cool birds. And here there seemed to be a pelican convention.
We had another pretty uneventful day today with only two nail biting or adrenalin raising moments. The first was at the George Massonn Bridge where we had to wait for a scheduled opening for a few minutes with a few other boats. Just as the bridge was about to open, a funky current took over our bow and Bob had little to no control as we spun hard to port. Giving it more throttle he was able to regain control while we watched the other sailboat waiting with us do a similar dance. It seemed to take the bridge a long time to open as we milled around trying to avoid another spin. When the bridge finally opened, we proceeded through with no further issues.
Our marina for the day is located just after the bridge. We radioed ahead and Christina busied herself getting the fenders and dock lines ready on the foredeck.
The markers got confusing with a bifurcation marker leading Bob astray. He ended up doing a U turn in the middle of the channel, trying to get his bearings while checking the charts and the markers with the binoculars. We finally figured out which way to go and continued on. Before we were able to catch a breath, it was time to turn into the marina.
We should have taken the hint when the dock master had asked, and then asked again if we really wanted to go into the slip stern in. He let us know that the current and wind would be to our stern so we would be plowing into it.
Bob executed the initial entry into the slip well, and Christina handed the dockmaster the spring line. Then things went funky and the rest of the maneuver into the slip was not the most graceful. Christina fended off our next door neighbor and then jumped off the boat onto the dock to continue to push our boat away from the dock we were being pushed onto as Bob continued to maneuver the boat into the slip backwards, We were thankful for the bow thruster, but, even with that, somehow we got twisted up getting into the slip.
No harm was done, and we eventually got securely tied up. Christina wonders if she needs to get back to lifting weights so she can more effectively push the boat off the dock against the current in the future.
Finally we were able to catch our breaths and got settled in. We took a stroll through the old part of of New Smyrna Beach which has experienced a revitalization with some awesome restaurant offerings. Christina wants to stay another day just to try a few more out!
But no, we head out tomorrow for Titusville, Florida for our last night as a transient before arriving at out initial final destination of this part of the journey.