Quiet Cruising April 4-5 2021

 Sunday April 4, 2021. Day 119. Gail and Michael’s Anniversary.

I got up early and texted congrats; 40^th! Their celebration: cruising with us from Charleston SC to Galesville, MD. All new territory for them, and help for us. I was already stressing about adding two more folks to the crew, but they are boaters, and will be a great help. I was optimistic that I would adjust, but a bit concerned that we would have the time to clean the boat, clear the second cabin, and have space for all my stuff.

The alarm was set for 6:30am so that I could run from 8:30 to 9:30; Roland wanted to leave Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach as early as possible, to get to our next destination, timely. Also, I wanted to take advantage of the marina water to wash my hair and take a very long shower, before we filled the water tank.

While I was running, Captain Roland visited with the Kroger Express folks from Chicago, and George and Rachel from “Rachael” dropped by. George had lots of helpful advice as he had just moved up to his Krogen 48 from a Krogen 44.

George was kind enough to come back at 10:30am to help us off the dock. The de-docking was a challenge, the slip was too short for George to really help with the stern lines on the pilings, the lines were way too heavy for me to maneuver at the end of a long boat hook, so again Roland had to run to the stern to return the lines to the pilings. It was not an easy de-docking.

I had a plan that I wanted to execute. When Michael and Gail are cruising with us, I was hoping they would handle the lines, leaving Captain Roland available to coach me at the helm, through docking and de-docking. I really wanted to be able to dock and de-dock Magic Moments. Our PO, Barbara, handled this boat on her own. Well, I’m not ready for that, but, I would love to learn to handle docking, and I thought that would be my opportunity. The Captain is game, and I was sure that Gail and Michael would be willing to support me.

Yay!, the ICW was quiet. It was Easter Sunday, and with the cloudy forecast, there were very few boats on the water. What a pleasure: peaceful, sunny, cool, and the water was beautiful. The winds were 10 to 15 knots. Nice. Saw some dolphins playing in the water, and pelicans diving for fish and sunning on pilings, as we cruised by.

I steered for a good part of the day, went under several bridges (all fixed therefore no need for requests for openings) which speeds up our travel, Yay! It was great to have a day without bridge delays.

We needed an anchorage to protect us from winds from the northeast. Captain Roland picked a location right outside of Honeymoon Lake, in the Indian River, just north of Palm Shores. At 3:45pm, we anchored. It was beautiful, sunny, warm and pretty quiet, except for the occasional rocking of the boat from boats going by. We had a great grilled dinner, so there were fewer dishes and therefore, I got to work on my blog. We planned an early start on Monday; it would be a long day.

Monday, April 5, 2021. Day 120.

Up early to prep for an early departure. Passover had ended last night, so we had poached eggs on toast for breakfast (one of my favorites), and then we pulled up the anchor at 7:46 am, and today’s cruise began.

 It was a cool morning, and I could feel the temperatures going down each day as we proceeded north. It was sunny and beautiful as we headed towards our first bridge, Merritt Island-Cocoa Bridge. It was fixed, no need to open. So quiet, so few boats: perfect!

We passed the sailing vessels “Martini” and “Island Lady”, who have been “buddy boating” for quite a while (or seems so listening to the radio exchanges). Roland imagined that they met sailing solo, and if all went well, would each sell their small boat, and buy a bigger one together. It was fun to pass them and say “hi” on the radio. We, of course, slowed down to pass them, thereby reducing our wake (which is very little anyway), but it is the considerate thing to do. As a former sailor, Captain Roland is very respectful of other boaters. Too bad he is so unusual.

I steered for part of the day and by mid afternoon we were cruising by more populated areas, homes, docks, fishing people, fishing birds, small craft like kayaks, and dolphins (early this morning) and even a manatee this afternoon, long docks, and pontoon boats (which are so popular). A favorite boat name for today: “Spirited Away”.

George Munson Bridge (a/k/a the Coronado Bridge), near New Smyrna, Fl., was our first and last bridge request of the day (Yay!). We were planning to anchor at the intersection of Ponce DeLeon Inlet and Rockhouse Creek, hoping it would not be too crowded.

We arrived at 3:30pm and, fortunately, there was room. We had anchored there going south, and I enjoy revisiting some of the lovely places that we had remembered going south. The anchorage was just as nice as I had remembered, actually, it was much better this time because there were not loud party boats on the nearby beaches.

Hopefully: light wind tomorrow and we will be able to take the dinghy down, and explore the beaches.