TerBarb South – Part 7

On Tuesday, Jan. 22 we clear the docks at St Augustine at 8:30 am. The day turns out beautiful with temperatures in the mid 70 degree range and light winds. However, just prior to us leaving the slip they move two barges in front of us which makes for a tight exit. Remember I say that they were working on the Bridge of Lions and our slip is directly facing the bridge. They move the barges over to land and load up materials they will need for the day including piping, steel, and concrete. They do this in the morning and again at lunch time and the final trip sometimes in the evening. We waited for slack water to clear the slip as the current runs in this marina. We carry current almost the entire trip today. The sun is shining, winds are light out of the east and the temperatures are climbing. We are tied up at Halifax River Yacht Club at 2:10 pm. We stopped here on our last trip when they were in the process of building a new club house. Well, the club house is finished and boy is it beautiful. During demolition of the old club house they found several historic pieces (old wine bottles, old sailor cap, siding and vents from the old building {1896}, etc.) which they placed in display cases inside the new club. Again, the hospitality shown was outstanding. We walked around the streets of Daytona, which is where the Yacht Club is located and noticed changes from the last time we were here. A lot of the antique stores have been replaced with upscale stores, restaurants, etc. Which makes the town nicer to walk around... We also found a store to get fresh picked Indian River oranges. Great fruit.

On Wednesday, Jan. 23 Bob & Pennie Knapp came over to pick us up and we headed for Daytona International Speedway. Bob worked as a supervisor at the Speedway until the end of December and still had connections. Boy, did we get the IVP treatment. First was a tram ride around the race track, then it was off to Victory Lane passing the grand stands and across the finish line. Since there were people in front of us on the tram we only came in third, but we cheered anyway. Next we got a special tour (just us) of the media room and Brain France’s personal suite. He father was the driving force for bring stock racing off the beaches (including running “white lighting”) into the mainstream of racing. We rode in a simulator racing car (rocking and rolling, spinning out and going across the grass). Actually, we were in a make believe car, viewing a movie while the care rocked back and forth. But it was fun. Next was a movie on the history of NASCAR. We had a great day and the weather was terrific. Back to the marina for an excellent dinner at the Yacht Club. Bob & Pennie also brought us some lemons (very juicy), oranges (sweet and delicious) and a palm tree. Thank you for the great day, Bob & Pennie!!

On Thursday, we have another beautiful cruising day to Titusville. The sun is shining (70 degrees) and light winds out of the NNW at 10 mph. Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River are flat for the most part. We were reading 3-4 feet of water in the channel in quite a few places and there are a lot of “Slow Speed, No Wake Zones” This was especially true on the south end of Ponce Inlet through New Smyrna (Miles 840-846) and again at Miles 851 to Mile 857. For the most part we are also stemming current, but it is a beautiful day to go for a ride. Titusville Municipal Marina is doing major dock work and do not have room for us, but in the same cove is Westland Marina. This is a good old boy place and reminds us of Farragut. The harbor master really knows his stuff!! We are in a space that was unbelievable to get into. The entrances was maybe 2 feet wider than Ter Barb, we need to pivot around in our own length and back in between two boats with maybe 2 feet on each side. The marina manager was very impressed and several of the live aboard residents said that Bob ruined their day. They expected him to bounce off boats and pilings. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

The weather during the past week has been beautiful. Sunny skies, light winds and temperatures in the mid 70 degree range. Thank goodness for that as both air conditioner/heating units decided to stop working within days of each other. The front system will need a new water pump and we had to call someone in to fix the rear (main) system. We need a new mother board (main circuit board) and a new control panel. You don’t even want to know what this cost, but it is part of the trip, and we will need the heat when we start heading north in a couple of weeks. We are staying here at Titusville for a while. First off, NASA is supposed to shoot up the space shuttle on Feb. 7^th and we are looking forward to see this. Bob’s brother, Butch, is supposed to come for a visit after he returns from his cruise on Feb. 11^th. So we will stay for a while. Plus there is a food store, drug store, pizza place 2 blocks from the marina, a park right next to the marina so we can ride our bikes (need to stay in shape and healthy) and a farmer’s market on Friday about 3 blocks away (next to the post office.) The marina does not have WIFI, but there is a bakery about 5 blocks that has tables and WIFI. That is where this will be sent from.

Hope everyone is well. We hope your weather improves. Try to stay warm and healthy. By the way, last night at 2-2:30 am a manatee floated under our swimming platform and caused quite a bit of noise, waking us up. All kinds of new experiences happen every day. Plus there is a very nice couple on a sailboat with 3 kids (4, 6 and 8 years) who remind us when we had quite a few kids at Farragut. They all have there life jackets on and are paddling around the marina in a dingy.

Talk with you all later.