New Smyrna Beach to Ormond Beach (via Daytona)



Today we left New Smyrna Beach early in the morning and cruised up the intra coastal waterway to Daytona Beach.  

It was a gorgeous morning there was very little traffic on the ICW.   


There was wildlife everywhere as we cruised north from New Smyrna Beach.   Fish jumping trying to eat bugs, dolphins eating fish.  

There (in Daytona) we got some gasoline for the dinghy.  I don't know how we made it back from the lighthouse yesterday because there was almost no fuel in the tank.   That would not have been any fun.  

We do have tow boat service so if we do run out of fuel we have a way to get help that doesn't cost us anything extra.  Still, that wouldn't be an option we would enjoy as cold and dark as it would be.  (Katie says she could row if we had to, I'm not sure I believe her....)

While there (Halifax Harbor Marina) the dockmaster (salute to Coach! A great guy!)  offered to let us park our dinghy while we went out with friends for lunch and did some shopping.   

Our online resources told us that the free dock was inhabited by homeless people and had significant crime problems.  Someone reported their dingy motor being stolen there last month.   Needless to say we weren't excited about parking there so we were glad to have the offer from Coach!   Alas, these problems seem to be a more regular occurrence in our cities.   The human culture is deteriorating.   
:(

Today was a major restocking day.  Big thanks to Howard and Anne Tinkham who drove up from Orlando to see us and go to lunch and took us to Walmart! It is very much appreciated!

We left our boat at anchor in the IntraCoastal near Daytona Beach while we were out to lunch and shopping and then filled our dinghy with all of our booty to the point of almost overflowing.    

Unfortunately we didn't take pictures today.  It would have been funny to have a picture of the water splashing over the front of the dinghy because we had so many 24 packs of diet Coke that we were weighing it down.  

Tonight we are in Ormond Beach Florida anchored in the Intracoastal Waterway just off the channel in an area that is barely deep enough and is not an official anchorage.    The charts were fairly close and we had tide in our favor.  We are actually getting better at anchoring now that we've been doing our own thing for a while.  I can now back down on the anchor properly and dinghy out a stern anchor to keep us in a line even if the wind is pushing us from side to side.  This also aids greatly when the tide switches directions.   It keeps the boat pointimg a single direction rather than spinning on its axis and potentially pulling the anchor.  

It is decently windy tonight so we're getting some chop and it is rocking the boat.  That said it's nothing terribly complicated and it's not like It would be sleeping on a trampoline.  (Sometimes it's been that way). 






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