Stuart to St. Augustine

Leaving Stuart, the next week we traveled about 210 miles to St. Augustine. Some days we traveled 20 miles, one day-about 80 ! and still another day--only about 1 mile ! This first picture is of Bob's fish ! Unfortunately, it was only a bullhead.

There were pretty homes along the waterway on much bigger lots than they were further south.

This sailboat saw sad times--it dragged anchor and looks like the owner has forgotten about it.

The scenery changed and looked so much more like what we'd see up north---fisherman in smaller boats.

I think the blimp was returning from the golf tournment.

We made it to Cocoa Beach area and anchored south of the bridge.

This interesting boat named "Freddy Freddy" also was anchored.

We had hoped to see the spaceship return to earth but this was delayed until 8:39 PM so it was too dark for us to see--but we did hear the sonic booms.

The next day, we boated all the way across the waterway to Cocoa, FL and took a dock space at the Cocoa Village Marina. Cocoa is across from Cocoa Beach but we had heard about the historic village which sounded interesting to us.

Our first stop was the Travis Hardware which was said to be the largest

hardware on the East Coast. It was established in 1885 and I don't think

much has changed since then. Note the old step ladder and some of the vintage merchandise. I think a lot of the stuff has been there since 1885 !

Next, we headed down town which

had a lot of small quaint shops and narrow curving streets. It was really enjoyable.

Our next stop was for lunch at the Cafe Margaux. It was delicious and the service was outstanding. We chose to eat outside.

Later we walked around to the park which overlooked the anchorage we had stayed at the night before. In the morning before we left, we took a long walk along the riverside boardwalk before we left.

Passing through Titusville, we could see NASA. A huge building visible for miles. Also pictured is the Titusville swing bridge opening for us.

Here again were people picnicing which was nice to see. This is still in Titusville along the Indian River. The ICW goes through this river for a long way.

Next we went through the Haulover Canal which was very pretty with many people fishing--some from the boats but more fishing from the banks.

Leaving the canal, we entered Mosquito Lagoon. We had learned that there likely would be manatees here and sure enough, there was one alongside the boat.

One of the islands in the Mosquito Lagoon. It was very shallow in this body of water outside the ICW.

Here again were more normal looking waterside homes with docks in front like what we saw on the river system coming down to Florida.

There are four bridges going through Daytona Beach. This one apparantly was a new one. The pilings had images of dolphins and manatees on them. It also was no wake zone because of the manatees.

Here were older homes along the water way.

Here is the Ponce de Leon lighthouse.

Leaving Smyrna Beach where we anchored one night, we passed this drive-by snack shop.

When we were nearing Palm Coast, there was a bicycle trail along the waterway...this bicycler passed us up ! Not too hard to do when you travel at 6-7 miles per hour. We were going against the current here though (need some excuse).

We had hoped to anchor in the Matanzas River near this old fort. But our anchor wouldn't hold...apparantly they had recently dredged and the bottom was all gravel.

So on we went---past this interesting building that advertized itself as Bed and Breakfast. They also had a sign that said "Restaurant Open to the Public" but I didn't see anyone there except the obvious owners.

At last--St. Augustine. On a very windy morning. Here is the downtown area.

And the Bridge of Lions which is undergoing renovation. Note the dog on the boat--I think he wants to get off.

St. Augustine Lighthouse.

The inlet to the Atlantic Ocean...see the surf out there. Glad to be inside and almost to the marina where we'll stay a couple of days.

Marathon to Stuart, Florida

March 16---Day 121
Leaving Marathon, Bob did try fishing. Luckily, I didn't plan on fish for dinner !

Here are some scenes from the water. We were out in Hawk Channel which is on the Atlantic side of the Keys.










Sailboat going south...







This is one of the turtles we saw along the way..









Later, we entered the Intracoastal Waterway (inside route), passing under this bridge.










Birds sunning on one of the pilings under the bridge.







There are shallow spots next to the waterway, so we had to keep a watchful eye...they say not to boat where birds are walking !






These birds each took a post---not too many openings left !





We decided to stay in a marina that night and enjoy the air conditioning...it was beastly hot that day. So we stayed in Plantation Key and enjoyed long showers and all the comforts of home---A/C, cable tv, etc. Did the laundry. The next day it was blowing pretty good so we decided to rent a car and explore the upper keys that way instead of trying to get into each place by boat.





Our first stop was the Wide World of Sports in Matecumbe Key.








Outside of the store, there is a pond with several large tarpon like this one in it.




Inside, in the center of the store, there is the sister ship of Hemingway's boat. Bob had to check out the helm...












There are just a few fishing reels for sale in here !!!








This elevator shows some of the decor of the store.










Even the floor of the elevator had this beautiful wood inlay.

We also visited the memorial to the people who died in the huricane of 1936. Nearly 500 people died or were never found.

Another suggestion was to visit Robbies's Fish camp.. this was supposed to be prime viewing for giant tarpon. There were tarpon but with the choppy water, didn't show well. But this bird was interesting, and waiting for hand-outs...

After anchoring out for 2 nights, we had decent weather to cross Biscayne Bay headed for Miami. On the way, we passed these Stilthouses ---I saw about 4 of them toward the Atlantic side of the bay.

Here we are nearing Miami..sailboat, power boat, plane...this will be a busy place.

We're getting close.....

This sculpture of the man blowing the conch shell is one of the first sights in the harbor.

And then this pirate ship---little did we know we would see it many more times that evening !

Sure enough, when we were anchored near the Venetian Causeway bridge, this boat went by every 2 hours or so !

Here is the view of downtown Miami from our anchorage.

We saw this blimp flying over the golf course where the PGA tournament was going on. According to the news, Tiger Woods' yacht was docked in Miami, but we didn't see it...we kept a watch out with no luck.

We did see a lot of other yachts though...like this one with it's own helicopter and power boat! That must be hard to take...

While we passed this boat on our left, there was a kayaker on the right side...what a stark contrast !

Here we are entering the channel where the cruise ships leave from in Port Everglades (Government cut) to go out to the Atlantic.

Here are a lot of big yachts docked...but not in the mega yacht category. There were plenty of those too !

Here are a couple of the mansions on the waterway. At first we were struck by their opulence, but after seeing one after another, we grew numb to them... What was surprising was the number of these that were for sale, or were going up for auction.

This island in the middle of the waterway is Peanut Island which is now a state park. During the Kennedy administration however, it was the the bunker for the President during the Cuban crisis.

This was one of the prettier bridges that we had to go under--this was in Palm Beach. There were many bridges that we had to wait to open so we could go through...

Here, we're waiting for the south bound boats to go through so we could go..These were heading for the upcoming boat show in Palm Beach...if you look closely you'll see there is a bunch of them behind the bridge. All together we counted 30 going south that had to wait for the opening...there were only 2 of us going north.

Here is another one of those houses with the yacht in front.

As we went further north, the houses seemed to get more realistic--still big but not as opulent. This was as we were nearing Jupiter.

Even more regular houses with a lot more green space and trees.

Here is a fishing boat coming in for the day. You can see the pelicans following to get the extra bait and remnants from the fish cleaning. There was heavy traffic on this Easter week-end, more so with students on holiday.

Finally, the Jupiter Lighthouse. We were glad to be getting near Stuart where we would take a dock for the night and fuel up. Hopefully we can go to church on Easter Morning.