Our journey south started at 8am on Sunday, Dec. 3rd. We smoothly got off the pier with the help of Barb and John (Mojo) and had the current plus wind in our favour. We made great time travelling north to Jacksonville and we reached our favourite anchoring spot near Blount Island by early afternoon. It was a peaceful first night at anchor.
The next morning, Dec. 4th, we got going around 7:30am to catch the outgoing current and we went straight out onto the ocean. We definitely prefer to be on the “outside” instead of travelling along the ICW. It was a perfect day to be out there – the wind was from the north west and the waves were quite small (less then .5m). There wasn’t much wind so we motored but made great time. We rolled into St. Augustine around 1pm, stopped for a quick minor fuel up (30 gallons) at the municipal marina and continued on our way to another favourite anchorage – Matanzas inlet.
On day 3 we got going around 8am and as we started to leave our anchorage, we watched a sailboat run aground right in the area we were about to transit. This part of the ICW is known for shoaling and it is constantly being dredged and the navigation markers shift positions to accommodate these changes. The sailboat was just in the wrong part of the channel and that was it! As we approached the entrance to this part of the ICW, a trawler was coming north so we stopped to let them pass the grounded sailboat. Just when the trawler got close to the sailboat, they ran aground!! Oh boy!! Fortunately they were only stopped for a few minutes. They managed to back out and correct their path so they continued past us. Now it was our turn! We slowly entered the channel and found 14ft of water – no worries. We passed the stuck sailboat, gave them some feedback on water depths and then prepared to make our way around the dredging equipment. Just as we turned slightly to the left, we ran aground!!! Luckily we were going slow and Mark easily backed us off and we made it through the rest of the bend easily. The rest of the day was uneventful and we stopped for the night in Daytona.
Our plan for day 4 was to stop north of Titusville in an anchorage called mosquito lagoon. As we got close to this spot, the wind picked up to over 20knots so we decided to continue south to Titusville. It had been a really good day – the wind was from the north and we were able to motorsail a good portion of the day. The end of the day was a different story. We decided to anchor south of the Max Brewer bridge in Titusville – a place we’ve never stopped before. There were already 3 boats anchored so we went behind them to turn and face into the wind (which was still blowing hard). Just as we started our turn, the water depth went from 6 ft to not enough! We stopped dead and were quite nicely stuck!! It took some smart thinking on Mark’s part to get us going again. We deployed our jib and let the strong wind pull the bow sideways as Mark gunned the engine forward. We got off, quickly let the sail go so Mark could steer us around this one sailboat (it was a close call for their dinghy 😁). We ended this day anchored in front of the other boats in about 11ft of water.
After that exciting end of the day, we decided to have a very relaxed motor south on Thursday, Dec. 7. We only moved about 16nm to Cocoa. One thing I haven’t mentioned until now if that we have been doing all this travel on a “permit to proceed “. Foreign flagged vessels travelling in the USA can either do so with a cruising licence or a permit to proceed. A cruising licence can only be issued as the boat enters the USA. We had a mess up last spring when we returned from the Bahamas (too long a story to tell) so couldn’t get our cruising licence. Our permit to proceed allows us to keep moving along but we are supposed to report (in person mostly) to the CBP offices along our route. That is a very challenging request since many of these offices are at airports and nowhere near the ICW. When we arrived at Cocoa, Mark called the CBP office at Cape Canaveral (the closest one to our location) and was told we had come in person to get our next permit. So we made the 8nm journey back north on the ICW, tied the dinghy up at a restaurant pier and then walked the mile or so to the office. The whole process took about 3 hours and it was dark by the time we got back to the boat! But we now have our permit to proceed until we return after Christmas!!!
We spent the morning of Dec. 8th exploring the quaint downtown of Cocoa. There were lots of interesting little shops and one of the largest hardware stores I’ve ever been in. It was great to get off the boat and walk around for a couple of hours. We picked up some takeout lunch from a little bakery and headed back to the boat around 11:30am. We had made the decision that morning to head to Loggerhead marina a day earlier because of weather. So after our walk around Cocoa village, we pulled up our anchor and moved about 20nm south to our last anchorage. We had a great afternoon trip and it was a very calm, peaceful anchorage.
Today we only had another 20nm to get to the marina and it was an easy motor down the ICW. We arrived around 1pm and are now securely tied to the dock. Tomorrow (Dec. 10) we’ve rented a car and will drive back to Reynolds to pick up our car. We have a few things to do to get the boat ready to stay here in Vero Beach for the holidays. We’re hoping to head back home on Dec. 12.
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 