Space Coast to Palm Coast

Left Stuart on a beautiful, sunny day, with every intention of going up the ICW to Fort Pierce where we were going to anchor for the night and then head out in to the Atlantic to make our way to Cape Canaveral, however, upon reading our guide books, were discouraged to find that we would have to make our way back several miles inland to the ICW again at Cape Canaveral to find any anchorages.  The guide book discouraged cruisers from using almost any of the inlets along the Florida coast, suggesting the next available inlet wouldn't be until the St. John's River....a distance of 150 miles away.  After some agonizing, we decided to stay on the ICW for a little while longer, make the most of the day and carry on to Vero Beach and re-asses there.

We arrived at Vero Beach in time to catch the bus to the beach, where we bought an ice cream cone and wandered along the street, eventually ending up at the boardwalk where we watched some young boys boogie boarding on the waves.  We then caught the last bus back to the marina, had dinner, and headed to bed.

The next day we went back down to the beach to retrieve George's sunglasses he had forgotten at a men's store we had visited the evening before, and since we were down town anyway, went for breakfast at The Lemon Tree!  After treating ourselves, we caught the bus back to the boat, and were back on the ICW by 10:30 that morning.  Another beautiful, sunny day with light winds behind us.  We were able to put out the jib as we motor-sailed up the Indian River, so made good time and were anchored outside of Eau Galle by 4:30 that afternoon.  The Indian River looks like there is lots of water for sailing, however, it is a good example of something, literally, being 'a mile wide and an inch deep'!  Except for the very narrow channel dredged for the ICW through the middle of the river, it averages less than 6 feet of depth, so no good for our sail boat that has a draft of 5'6", which means we have to be able to move in a straight line.....something that sailboats don't always do very well, as they rely on the wind to move them.  Hence, the ubiquitous 'motor-sail', where we rely on the motor to keep us going in the direction we have to go, and a sail or two to help push us along and decrease the work of the engine!

The following are some scenes along the Indian River.

The following day we got away fairly early, again under sunny, light winds, and essentially motored up the rest of the Indian River, where we took a mooring in Titusville.  The last couple of days we have been on what is called the 'Space Coast', and passed Cape Canaveral today on our way to Titusville.  Most of the communities along this stretch of Florida owe their history to the hey-days of Kennedy's Space Race.

Ended up leaving literally, at the crack of dawn the following morning, as we had both woken early and couldn't get back to sleep.  We passed through the Haul Over Canal and entered Mosquito Lagoon as the rising sun burned the mist off the land.  This morning was Saturday, and we were sharing the waterway with all kinds of fishermen!  This is really fish country!  Everywhere one turns there is someone fishing!  Off a pier, off a boat, in the shallows, off the shore....you name it, they are there!  As we made our way up the Mosquito Lagoon and toward New Smyrna Beach, we began to pass what appeared to be campsites....much like some of our campsites in Canada where people have their trailers set up  like a cottage.  However, it is always summer here, so I was a little confused.  Until I saw a sign outside one of the camps, which announced it was a 'Fish Camp'....of course!!  A place for people to go fishing....not camping!

entering the Mosquito Lagoon with the Haul Over Canal in the background

Mosquito Lagoon scenes:

on the right is a 'fish camp'

Because we had such an early start, we arrived at New Smyrna Beach City Marina at noon, so after registering, we set off to walk around the immediate town.  The marina was not near the beach, unfortunately, and it felt too hot and too far to walk in to the area of town which 'catered' to the tourists, so we contented ourselves with walking along Canal St. and poking our noses in to a couple of the art stores along the way.  The stores showcased local artists, so it was very interesting to see the different work.  We passed an ice cream shop, (which we visited the following day!), and carried on to a Thai restaurant for lunch.  After enjoying a good lunch with some great Thai iced coffee and iced tea, we made our way to Renewals, the local used book shop.  This was a great spot, where the owner had renovated the back of an old home to live in, and left the front living rooms as they were and filled them with book shelves and used books!  We spent a very enjoyable 45 minutes, browsing through the shelves and came away with four new books to read while we make our way back up the coast!  Back to the boat, we settled in to the cockpit and spent the evening enjoying all the activity around the marina!!  As it was the weekend, there were all kinds of familys and groups renting pontoon boats and going out for a day of fishing, swimming, and/or just generally enjoying life on the water!  There were also a number of fishing charter boats coming back with their catches!  They would clean the fish right at the dock across from us and feed the skins, bones, and heads to the pelicans who very patiently waited in the water for the tasty treats to be thrown in!  The fillets were then bagged for the clients who happily went off with their prize!

Renewals Used Book Shop

Amberjack fish ready for filleting!

Cleaning and filleting fish...and feeding Pelicans!

Pelican making off with a very big prize!!

That evening, we bumped in to a couple whom we had last seen at Christmas dinner in Vero Beach.  They, too, had been to the Bahamas and were now working their way back up the coast, however, unlike us, they used to live and sail in this area and new it well.  They allayed a lot of our fears about the inlets!  Essentially, they reassured us that most of them were well buoyed, and if you paid attention and stayed within the buoys, you would be okay.  This was good to hear, as the guide books had really managed to scare us off of all but the 'all weather', big shipping channels for coming on and off the ocean, and those are far and few between, meaning we were feeling like we had to wait for a huge weather window to attempt any outside sailing!  Naturally, we have to still consider the weather, as the channels are always better in calmer weather, and can be tricky, if not dangerous, in any high winds, especially with opposing tides, but now we felt that there were quite a few more options for us if we were able to sail outside.  With this new information, we then decided to take advantage of the last of the good weather that we had been having all week, and skip outside at the Ponce de Leon Inlet right by New Smyrna Beach, and sail as far as Fernandina Beach, which is the St. Mary River Inlet.  We had heard all kinds of good things about Fernandina Beach, so wanted to see it for ourselves, as it was raining, cold, and windy the last time we went through in November, so we missed it altogether!

Monday morning we made our way through New Smyrna Beach and headed out the Ponce de Leon Inlet.  Although there was some big swell coming in from the ocean and we were on an ebb tide, there was lots of water and we had no trouble negotiating the buoys and making our way out on to the Atlantic.  The day was lovely, with 10 to 15 knots from the SE and swells from the SE also, so we rigged a preventer to keep the main out and prevent an accidental jibe as the sea was fairly 'rolly', although not too uncomfortable.  The winds were predicted to build over night to about 20 knots, so we put a reef in the main in the late afternoon so that we would be prepared for higher winds once the sun went down, but as it turned out, the winds, in fact, decreased and probably didn't get more than 10 knots all night.  As a result, although we had a great sail for the better part of the day, once the winds died we couldn't comfortably ride the swell, so we had to motor sail in order to keep up our speed through the night.  All in all, it was a quiet, 'non-eventful' passage, and we entered the St. Mary's River at about 7:30 the following morning, and moored at the Fernandina Beach Marina in the Amelia River.  After registering, we wandered in to town briefly for coffee and breakfast, then headed back to the marina for a shower, and then to the boat for a nap!  While in town, we discovered we had arrived in time for the 51st Annual Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival on the weekend, so it was easy to decide that we had to stay put and test as much shrimp as we could before moving on!  We started by going for lunch at 29 South, one of the many local restaurants, where we had a grilled romaine salad with grilled shrimp on the front porch!  Delish!

Ponce de Leon  lighthouse

Ponce de Leon Inlet looking out to sea

Sunset with the coast of Florida on the horizon

Sunrise at the entrance to St. Mary's Inlet...apologies for blurr - too tired to focus!

Fort Clinch at the entrance to St. Mary's Inlet and Amelia River

Thunderstorm building over the marsh

Storm clouds over the pulp and paper mill

Fernandina Beach is on the island of Amelia and is situated in the far northeast corner of Florida.  We are, in fact, on the border of Georgia and Florida, and can feel the Georgian influence here!  The people have the same 'Georgian drawl' and the place feels more 'laid back' and 'genteel' than the southern half of the state!  There are all sorts of restaurants to choose from, plenty of shopping for those who wish, and the oldest, continually operating saloon in the state of Florida!  As for industry, there are two pulp and paper mills flanking the Old Town...which are the only drawback to mooring here.... and then there is a booming sport fishing and tourism industry.  The town also lays claim to being the birthplace of the modern commercial shrimping business - hence the Annual Shrimp Festival!!  Amelia Island was initially 'discovered' by the French in the mid-1500's, and then taken over by the Spanish three years later who held the island for about 200 years before the British took over.  England held the land for about 100 years before the Spanish took it again for another 30 years, during the American Revolution.  Eventually, in 1821 Spain ceded the island to the United States.  During the last few years that Spain held the island, Fernandina became a centre for smuggling and piracy after the Jefferson Embargo Act, and the town is proud of this aspect of it's history, as there is lots of pirate memorabilia around!

Historic train station at Fernandina Beach

Fernandina Beach Hotel

the Seventh Street Sisters....all made from an old hotel that used to be on this block

a low country sunset!

Thursday night the 'Old Town' held the Pirate Parade to kick off the Shrimp Festival.  Fortunately the rain held off and George and I mingled with the locals as we watched everybody from the local pest control agency to the high school bands parade by for an hour and a half!!!  Afterwards we wandered around the streets and soaked up the ambiance before heading back to the boat for the night!

Shrimp boat at the marina

Some scenes from the parade;

Unfortunately it rained essentially all day Friday, and then was still raining Saturday and continued to do so right up until about 3:00pm!  So, at noon, we put on our rain gear and headed in to town, ready to brave the weather and make the most of the day!  There were lots of artisans and we saw some interesting works of art, and, most importantly, managed to find five different styles of shrimp to indulge in!  We both agreed the shrimp gumbo won for best flavour, with the grilled shrimp and the shrimp quesadillas coming in second!!  There was supposed to be shrimp ice cream out there somewhere, but we couldn't find it.  To be honest, we both felt that they were both food groups that we liked, however we felt they should be kept separate as 'main course' and 'dessert'!!

winning shrimp gumbo!

shrimp salad