New Years Eve and on..

 Thursday, December 31, 2020. Day 26.

We are preparing to welcome 2021, for a long holiday weekend. In my lifetime, I do not believe there has been another year that has been so happily left behind, throughout the global, as 2020. When we arrived at our anchorage, the temperature was 79 degrees. Yipee!! We came for the warmth. It was very calm at the anchorage, after the ICW, where it had been very windy with rolling water in a very narrow channel.

We celebrated our arrival at Daytona Beach, and to mark the close of a successful day, with chocolate porter. Sunset was beautiful, and then a wonderful New Year's eve dinner: rack of lamb and vegetables, with a excellent bottle of champagne (a generous gift from Jim and Barbara, the former owners of Magic Moments when it was Ariel). We zoomed with my sister and brother and planned FaceTime tomorrow with Chris and Charlie.

Thinking about a lot of loss today. I was reminded of a past New Year's Eve with Mona, who took me in when I was single and without anywhere to celebrate. It was emotional, in a way, poetic, that today, new year's eve, was the day that we said goodbye to Mona.

I finally got to wear my new boat shoes that I had bought at West Marine in Galesville, MD. It was finally warm and dry enough. Roland is going barefoot which is the way he enjoys walking around the boat.

We went to bed rather early, missing the traditional ball dropping in Times Square and planning to greet 2021 in the morning. I learned that the ball drop was originally a marketing gimmick that was inspired by a nautical custom (now that I am a boater, I pursued the tidbit and did some research). Apparently, in some ports, a ball was dropped at a set time to enable sailors to set their clocks to ensure accurate navigational calculations.

January 1, 2021 New Year's Day, Friday, Day 27.

Happy New Year!! Hard to believe the beautiful morning! And so freeing that 2020 is OVER!! In celebration, Roland made huevos rancheros - delicious.

 We cleaned up and got ready to motor to Roland's favorite near New Smyrna Beach, which is a rather short distance. We left at 10:15am arrived at 12:15.pm. The trip down was really windy and several fast boats went speeding by “waking” us. The channel is narrow so not much choice but to get rather close, but if they were considerate they would have slowed down when passing. We were up in the flybridge for a while until the wind got too heavy.

 The final location of the anchorage is really nice, one of the best, but, because it is in season, it is more crowded than when we had anchored in the Chesapeake (when it was really cold and no one else was anchoring). I miss being out here alone.

Our anchorage was between the beach and the I CW so we had incredibly beautiful views all around. On the way down we passed several pontoon boats. They remind me of a floating rectangular above ground swimming pool. Odd looking to me. Great party boats for whipping around lakes and in shallow water.

We had a very relaxing afternoon, although I did spin for 40 minutes. We had a FaceTime call with Chris and Charlie (we even got to see Lizzy and the two girls).

After a wonderful scallop dinner, we zoomed with Roger and Val, Karen and Stephen. Mary Beth and Ed did not make it to our zoom. Because it was a holiday, zoom allowed extra time; we talked for over an hour.

Saturday, January 2, 2021. Day 28. Exactly 4 weeks since we left Galesville, MD.

I was up really early, 5:23 AM. Captain Roland wanted to leave by 8 AM (we actually left at 7:45 AM). Going east, the sun glare was really bad. If I am going to steer, I have to wear a baseball cap that has a large visor. I am not wild about baseball hats, but ….....no choice.

On this part of the ICW, the houses are very close to the water on both sides. We approached our first bridge, midtide, we didn't know whether we could fit under or we would need an opening. It was the George Munson Bridge which is supposed to open every 20 minutes on request. We had the wrong information on the opening times, so we had to hang around waiting 25 minutes before the bridge tender would be opening the bridge.

 I took the opportunity to do some research on the Haul Over Cut near Bal Harbor. It was very clear that it was too dangerous for us to navigate. The currents, rocks and narrow inlet made it risky for those without local knowledge. I am disappointed, I would have loved to see Coral Seas Towers, where I had been a snow bird for 8 years, from the water in Biscayne Bay.

It was warm and we were cruising with the doors open. Hopefully, the humidity won't damage the interior; I love fresh air. When it got even warmer, we opened the hatches in the pilot house. The breezes are wonderful.

Entering a very narrow part of the I CW, we had to be intensely attentive. The instruments here are very important. I don't think this is the most fun part of the I CW, there is very little scenery.

As we are approach a canal near Cape Canaveral, the scenery changes and there are lots of small recreational fishing boats, kayaks and row boats, and numerous folks on shore fishing. This must be the fishing spot of Florida. People are fishing everywhere; anywhere there is a spot to sit on the shore. Their cars are parked near the water, their folding chairs are set up, the cooler next to them, and they are all fishing in little narrow areas of the land wherever there is a break in the trees.

We anchored just north of the NASA Causeway Bridge, also known as the Addison Point Bridge. It was a lovely evening and shortly after we settled in our anchorage, we were joined by another Kadey Krogen trawler, Magnolia. We had met them very briefly, in St Augustine, just a few days before.

Tomorrow is Dinghy Day..... 1/3/21. We will try to launch the dinghy; my next major (and hopefully, last major) concern!