4/19/19
Halifax Harbor Marina, Daytona Beach FL
Position: 29 12.265N, 081 00.549W
Posted by Bill

We spent our last day in Bimini hanging at the Beach:

On 4/11 we left Bimini at 4:30 AM because we had to be past the entrance to the marina before 4:45 due to tide. It started out a little rough but as forecasted, the wind and seas died and we had a very calm crossing. You don’t get to see the Gulf Stream look like this very often:

We arrived at Lake Worth inlet and braced for the culture shock. Even though this is the 4th time to the Bahamas and back, we still were in awe of the difference of the cultures. Back to wealth and overcrowding, and boats running around rudely everywhere. We anchored in the north anchorage at position 26 50.328N, 080 03.360W. We went ashore to Publix for groceries and had some great Mexican food before returning to the boat. We were hoping to make Vero Beach but had too many bridges to get through to make it in a day, so we went to Hobe Sound and anchored at our usual spot across from Tiger Woods house at position: 27 00.367N, 080 05.754W. On the 13th we traveled to Vero Beach and spent a couple days there. On the way there we were waiting for a bridge opening in pretty windy conditions and a sailboat came up that was disabled and wanted to get through the bridge under sail. They had a couple of miscalculations waiting for the opening and ended up running into the bridge and wedged up against the bridge fender:

There was nothing we could do to help them and we really felt bad. We were left wondering why they wouldn’t just anchor and get a tow boat to take them to a place where they could get the motor working.

In Vero we took on fuel and water, and pumped out the holding tank and moved on to Cocoa on the 15th, anchoring in position 28 20.943N, 080 43.169W. We enjoyed our favorite places to eat and drink and opted to stay 2 days. We saw 3 days of high winds coming up on the forecast and decided to hold up in a marina for the blow. On the 17th we moved up to Rock House Creek in Ponce Inlet and anchored in position: 29 03.672N, 080 55.877W. The wind died and the no-see-ums swarmed us an hour before sunset. By the time we ducked below and closed all the hatches we had a small swarm inside the boat and they tortured us all night! It was horrible. The next day we went in to Halifax Harbor at Daytona Beach and arrived before lunch. We went to a great Mexican restaurant for lunch and happy hour at the Chart House, 2 of our favorites here. The winds arrived early but after we were already tied up, and today they are expected to go over 40 knots. This is a well protected marina and we are glad to have gotten slips here.

In closing, we see lots of boats and boat names. This one is pretty creative:

Only in southern Florida…