Day Two Mayport to Daytona Beach, FL

Day two dawned with a beautiful sunrise.  It was truly amazing.

Then there was the equivalent of the forboding music from Star Wars when the Death Star arrives on the scene blocking out the sun...du, du, du, dudadu, dudadu, du! du du! dutadu! dutadu!  And what arrives to block out the sunrise today but this massive, and I mean massive freighter! 

It must have been something like this that went past us last night when I was showering.  The boat rocked violenetly!  Fortunately the shower is small enough to spread one's elbows to prevent banging around too much! 

With little fanfare we managed to launch at exactly 7:30am just like the day before and out into the Atlantic we went. 


Seas 2-4 feet, swells every 10 seconds from the northeast, off shore showers developing in the morning to move inland by mid-day.  What the hey, we have an outside passage to make to St. Augustine and away we go.  Soon after leaving the mouth of the St. John's river and turning South we pick up the most beautiful rainbow that followed us for quite a period of time.  We could clearly see its end, but there was no pot there.

 We battled seas that were every bit as advertised all the way to St. Augustine Inlet where we decided to go inside.  THAT was a great idea.  Whoever said 'we don't need no stinkin' Intracoastal Waterway' and proudly proclaimed it as a 'ditch' is crazy!  (Oh wait, that was me.)  Well, it is LOVELY!  St. Augustine Inlet is beautiful with a cross beakoning weary sailors home.



And then, you guessed it, more gas.  St. Augustine has a fine municipal marina with cheap fuel and courteous service.  It was a wonderful stop for me because it allowed me to partake of two past-times on this trip all at once...eating Cheez-Its AND pumping gas!  How much better could it possibly get?!

From St. Augustine we settled into a beautiful run down the Intracoastal Waterway to Daytona. Why anyone would want to go 'outside' and miss this stretch of Intracoastal is beyond me.  It is absolutely beautiful.  And I now have a new appreciation for the truly rich.  They live differently from the rest of us!  You should see some of the houses North of Palm Coast, Florida on the island side!  These are houses that one probably can't see from the street.  From the Intracoastal we had a unique vantage point and were so amazed we forgot to take pictures!

Proving once again that something truly awe inspiring and a big deal the first time around becomes boring very quickly, my second bridge opening was more an annoyance than a thrill.  The bridge tender was a really pleasant lady though, so that helped.

With Daytona in the distance, Candy was thinking an early finish to the day since we pushed so hard yesterday.  That sounded good to the rest of us so we pulled in to Halifax Harbor Marina at around 2:30pm.  We'll take it easy tonight, get an early start to the day tomorrow and see what the day brings!

One thing for sure, it will be a long one.  We'll need to make up for taking a BIG break today.  We needed it though. 

More later!