Daytona Beach & Dinner Out with Past Neighbors

Mon March 4, 2019

Titusville FL to Daytona Beach FL 

52.95 miles. ...   5.5 hours

After a nice restful stay in Titusville, it was time to move north again. An uneventful trip is always a good thing.

Interesting house we passed. Not your typical FL water front home.

Shallow water was never far

After a stop at the fuel dock, we slipped into our shot for the night. And right across the fairway from past neighbors and friends Dave and Jane Gammons.

Our slip was nice and close to the shower facilities and by a long wandering path for walking Cally.

Jane and Dave stopped by to say hi. Then invited us to have a drink in their boat. We had read about all the work Dave had done and enjoyed the tour.

Then off to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. We enjoyed their company,conversation and the food. A short stop of only one night but a fun stop.

Dog Park in Titusville for Cally

Fri, March 1st, 2019: Fort Pierce, FL to Titusville, FL

53 miles   …   6:00 hours

Sat, Mar 2 & Sun, Mar 3 – 0 miles traveled

Titusville City Marina was a very nice stop.

Most importantly, Cally had a dog park right beside the marina!! She wore herself out each trip. Actually, she didn’t really know what to do at a dog park the first day. The other times there were less dogs, less interested dogs  in chasing/sniffing her and she got the hang of it. We played ball and she did her retriever thing. Mom is happy!

Our slip is very convenient to the office, laundry, showers, etc. A nice change from the past few marinas where we needed a taxi or Uber to the showers.

When we stop for more than a night, there are chores to do: wash the boat of salt & grime, laundry, grocery run (ok, grocery walk), route planning for runs ahead, blog catching up, etc.

Tomorrow, Daytona (where friends Jayne & Bill await) and then St Augustine. I am looking forward to St Augustine.

Getting closer to the St Johns River!!

Honest John’s Fish Camp!!

Thurs, Feb 28th: Fort Pierce, FL to Melbourne Beach, FL

37.57 miles   …   5 hours

Sights along the way today…

Loved the sculpture of girl swimming with the Dolphin

HonestJohnsFishCamp

Jonathan & Rosa are Gold Loopers getting ready to start their 3rd Loop in April. Jonathan’s family has owned this land since the 1880’s. His great grand father bought the land (homestead purchase) and farmed beans. Jonathan’s grandfather turned the place into Honest John’s Fish Camp. He didn’t like farming! Jonathan and his brother, Robert, run the place.

Not many Loopers can get to HJFC, but we can in the Rossi. Jonathan had reached out to Rip and invited us to come. He sent screen shots of his route across some skinny water. Rip followed perfectly. No drama, easy peazy!

I am so glad we stopped and met Jonathan, Rosa, Wuji Cross (Rosa’s bird) and Gator the Pig. This is Olde Florida.

A special treat Jonathan & Rosa took us on a tour of the 50 acres in the afternoon, even over to the beaches of Atlantic Ocean.

Then, after dinner they took us to see the magnificent sunset!

What a fun place, great couple and wonderful experience!! Now, it will be our turn to host them when they come by in early May during their next Loop!!

Fort Pierce, FL

Wed, Feb 27th: Corset Island to Fort Pierce City Marina

27.9 miles   …   4 hours

We were off the dock by 7:50 am. Might be a new record for us. 9am is more our starting time. Last night was hot on the boat with no AC and partially closed up due to rain. No one slept well; we were all awake early.

A nice day to travel … sights along the way:

This was a fun stop; a place we could enjoy staying for a few days. There was a mini farmers market. we passed on everything but the Kettle Korn and fresh squeezed Lemonade!!

Rip found a place for dessert – Gelato!

Art Studio next to the Gelato Store – I thought this was cool.

Corset Island–a Public Park Boat Ramp / Launch

Tues, Feb 26th: Riviera Beach, FL to Corset Island, FL
25 miles   …   3.5 hours

We didn’t have far to go today, so we didn’t have to rush off first thing in the morning. Rip got a bit of a rest.
We went to a Public Park at Corset Island, just off the ICW. They have a park with boat ramp, trash cans and restrooms. It’s all we need.

After getting in the slip and as I was walking Cally – a 2 hour max notice was seen. Well, we see if anyone kicks us out.
Mostly, we were quite the curiosity. Several people asked about the boat; everyone stared. One guy got a tour of the boat, then came back a couple hours later with his wife so she could see the boat.
No one bothered us - We had a nice quiet night (though there was a fast rain storm during the night) and moved on early the next morning.

Riviera Beach City Marina, Riviera Beach, FL

Monday, Feb 23rd: Dania Beach, FL to Riviera Beach, FL

51.5 miles   …   7 hours

After a wonderful stay with Frank & Susan it was time to move north again. This stretch is mostly about getting to Jacksonville, Fl to see my college roommate (and her hubby/college buddy) and start a cruise up the St John’s River. We have been looking forward to this part of the loop since we started …back 4/20/17.

The amount of money we saw in Extreme Mansions and Ultra Mega Yachts was mind numbing. I couldn’t even take pictures…it was just one enormous property or yacht after another. Some homes had sculpture gardens for adults (or show) on one side and play grounds for the kids /grand kids on the other.

Sights along the way …

Did you catch the “fine print”

The marina texted a site plan (dock layout) with arrow leading from the ICW to our slip. Wish more marinas would do this. Only problem was … the slip didn’t have a long enough finger pier to get Cally off the boat. And, we confirmed that prior to entering the marina harbor because the finger pier was drawn short on the dock plan they sent. Confirmed 32’. Upon entering the basin – it clearly wasn’t 32’. We hailed the marina staff on vhf. they put us on hold. HELLO, we are in our dock fairway in current and cannot hold station easily. What seemed way to long, they directed us further down the fairway to a slip with 32’ finger pier.

 

Next challenge was finding the office, the showers/bathrooms and where to walk Miss Cally. It was a LONG walk to anything / everything. But, there was lots of grassy areas for Cally to walk. our walk to showers, etc was another story. Glad we are only staying 1 night.

Not impressed and wouldn’t go back here.

Vic, a Looper we met back in Canada in Little Current, Ontario from M/V Felix (a catamaran) came over to help us tie up. He was helping a friend deliver a sailboat south. Vic invited us to stop by when in St Simons GA and offered to take us for a provisioning run, etc. they are fun and we will look he & Bette up when we get close to them.