Titusville - the rains come

The photo doesn't do it justice

Ann is back to painting again and it's a joy to see her work around the boat. She sets up on the cockpit with all her pastels laid out and paints whatever inspires her. I like her work - and I'm not biased :)

We have a change of weather with lots of rain in the forecast. We were so lucky to have a good spell of weather to reach Titusville by November 1st. There's a whole bunch of boats still north of us that's not so lucky. Many of them had insurance that required them to stay north of Florida until November. We don't have that restriction so we came down early.

Groan, another walk in the rain... 

I took Hoolie out and we all got wet but at least we weren't in a dinghy. Still, wet is wet and we're now drying off inside the cabin with the A/C on to keep the humidity down so we can dry off. We've been busy as beavers even since we've arrived here so on Tuesday, we're just going to take it easy. One of the advantages of this marina is a mechanic next door in the adjacent marina. I'll take advantage of that to get the aft shaft seal replaced on Thursday. Then, I need to start getting the boat secure for our trip north for the holidays with extra lines and fenders. I wonder if it's cold up north?

Titusville - We visit Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge

The few birds there were, were still beautiful

When they were looking for a site to launch satellites from, they wanted a launch over water so not to endanger populated areas. Launching to the east was a requirement since the rotation of the Earth in that direction added to the rocket's velocity and allowed bigger payloads. Cape Canaveral was the natural choice and they bought all the land nearby. However, they did not need all the land for launching rockets and thus was born the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.

I think he's drying his feathers

Whenever we're in Titusville, we always take a drive through Blackpoint Wildlife Drive. It's through the heart of the stopover point of birds headed north or south. Of course, this time of the year, they are headed south and it's usually full of migrating birds, but not today. I think the weather has been so warm that the birds are still up north. Perhaps that will change over the next few weeks. We will try again next weekend.

The yellow flowers were all over

Meanwhile, I need to talk to the mechanic next door about once again replacing the aft oil seal on my Volvo D2-55 diesel. It seems to go every 2000 hours. That will occupy me this coming week as we get ready to leave Fleetwing for two months while we return to New York for the holidays.

Titusville Marina - Now and then

Titusville in 2013 - where are the boats?

We've been leaving Fleetwing at Titusville for the holidays since 2013 and the place has changed a lot since we've been coming. The price of a month's dockage has gone up from $10.00/ft to $10.50/ft which is not too bad. The biggest change has been in the occupancy rate. "C" dock used to be empty but not more and there's no room anywhere in the marina. You have to make reservations months in advance if you want to stay for more than a few days. The photo at the top is the marina when we first started staying there, not a lot of business.

Titusville in 2019 - no room at the inn

Then I started publicizing the great rates and other attractions like a dog park next door and walking access to town. Management changed too. Titusville hired and outside marina manager and he's done great things in smoothing out the operation of the marina. The WiFi now works and the bathrooms and showers have been renovated. There's an air-conditioned captain's lounge now along with an LCD TV and in the next few months, new washers and dryers. 

All of the improvements along with the low price has attracted cruisers wanting to save a few bucks compared to higher-priced marinas farther south, especially if they are looking for a place to leave their boat for a few months. The only downside is that the entrance is open to the southeast where occasional strong winds enter, rocking boats on "C" and "B" docks. The docks are fixed since there are no tides and it's just a matter of securing your boat with adequate lines and fenders.

As I write this, we have 20 kt winds but we're fine here on "A" dock which is the best protected of all the docks in Titusville Marina. We feel secure in leaving Fleetwing with the extra lines we have in place and fenders positioned strategically. Meanwhile, we rented a car and after today's laundry and provisioning, we'll explore the Merritt Wildlife Refuge on Sunday - but only after donuts on Sunday morning from our favorite donut shop on the entire east coast!

Titusville - at a dock over the holidays

Hooie loves his  beach at Bethune Park in Daytona

It was a great day, we reached our dock for the holidays. When we first started out, the Titusville Marina was virtually empty. You had no trouble finding a dock. We found it to be the perfect place for a holiday layover. The price, at the time, was only $10/ft for a month's stay and it was a secure location, not directly on the coast and not subject to extreme tidal surges.

We are secure in our slip at Titusville Marina in a web of lines

So I started writing about it in my blog and extolling its virtues in my guidebooks. Well, lo and behold, it started to fill up. Now it's rather hard to find a slip, especially for an extended stay. What are the attractions? First, it's the price. At $10.50/ft for a month, it's the least expensive marina on the east coast. Furthermore, although they are fixed docks, they are massive and the tidal range is less than a foot at most. They have newly renovated heads and showers, three washers and three dryers, and a nearby fenced-in dog park. There's an Enterprise car rental nearby with $20/day weekend rates and plenty of places nearby to visit like the Kennedy Space Center and the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Add in free, high-speed WiFi that actually works and it's a real bargain. It's a great place to spend some time relaxing.

On Saturday, we'll provision at the local Walmart (there are Walmarts and then there are Walmarts, this one is an upper-tier one) and Ann wants to explore the new Hobby Lobby. Then we'll be off to see who's in town at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. It's a stopping over point for all manner of birds headed south. You never know what you'll see. It's always fun to see the local wildlife.

Bethune Park in Daytona - at anchor

Yeah! The dredge at Ft Matanzas - but don't stray too far from the dredge, I did and found only 6.5 MLLW

We had another fantastic day of good weather for cruising south. We've never experienced this warmth before. Usually, we occasionally run the genset for heat but on this trip, whenever we've turned on the genset, it's been to run the A/C! Tonight it was 95 in the cockpit but on came the genset to cool off the cabin which was up to 98F. It's now a comfortable 78 and we'll turn it off when we go to bed. The big weather change starts Friday with a high only in the '70s. That's more like the Florida we remember from past trips.

Dayton Beach Seabreeze Twin Bridges - tide was at 0.8 ft
Not going to make 65 ft!

We are at one of our favorite anchorages tonight. It has lots and lots of room in 10 ft of water and a nearby sandy beach for Hoolie next to a park. The charts for the area are wrong, especially SonarChart. They show shallow water but there's 10 ft with very little tide, less than a foot and the holding is excellent.

Tomorrow is a big day - we finally arrive in our home for the holidays - Titusville Marina. We will leave Fleetwing there and drive north for the holidays, returning the beginning of January. We missed Key West last year but our plans include a two month stay this year starting 1/28/2020. Can't wait!

St Augustine - We visit the Lei's Linens

Lei's Linens - a great store!

Ann likes the poinsettia pattern

One place we never miss while in St Augustine is Lei's Linens. She does her own embroidery work on fine linens for table cloths or runners. They are very high quality and Ann always stops by. The products are amazing in the detail of the work with the designs being formed by different colored threads, no prints here. Ann bought a runner for the center of the table for Christmas.

We also stop by the Spanish bakery for fresh bread every time we're in town

Ann is about 1/2 way through an amazing course on How to Draw by Great Courses.  It's taught by a professor at the University of Washington. in Seattle. Normally, the Great Courses cost $50 to $90 each for a complete set for one subject but what is little known is that most libraries offer them for free as part of your library membership. They can then be streamed with Kanopy, an app for both Apple and Android devices.

The local art center was closed but the Bird of Paradise was in full bloom

We are in St Augustine with OnSpotWiFi and we can stream the course with no problem. Ann watched one episode today. If you have unlimited data, via Verizon for example, you can stream it at anchor, we've done it many times and display the course on our 32 inch LCD TV via an HDMI cable. They also have thousands of free movies too for streaming, it's a great bargain - and it's all free by signing in with your library card. You ought to ask your home library if they support Kamopy, we haven't found a local library yet than doesn't support the service.

Ann was out taking pictures this afternoon as part of her "homework" from the course in how to better draw perspectives. Meanwhile, we are still in a heatwave that will last one more day until it turns cooler on Friday. We will leave Thursday morning for our usual Bethune Park anchorage in Daytona. Despite the four day delay at the Alligator River Marina due to the bridge problem, we will still reach Titusville as we planned on November 1st. We both look forward to relaxing a bit form the constant traveling.

St Augustine - at a dock

The Bridge of Lions at St Augustine ws operational but only with one leaf

It was another beautiful day on the ICW. We backed out of the dock at Sisters Creek against a pretty good current but Fleetwing backs well so we had no problem. With temperatures in the 80's, we even left the dodger window open. We've never seen such heat on any previous trip south. The warm weather is due to end on Friday which is predicted to have a high of only 71.

Did someone mention Christmas?

We want to explore St Augustine on Wednesday and just have a layover day. We've been pushing given the good weather. On our present schedule, we are still due to arrive as planned, November 1st - even with our four-day delay due to the Alligator River swing bridge.