To be continued... continued

The Pelican. Have you ever watched a pelican fly? Truly a master of efficiency and ground effect aerodynamics. I've watched them drop/dive like a rock into the water and consistently come up with dinner. that in itself is fascinating to me, but their grace and smoothness in the air is equally enthralling. How many hours would it take human pilots to achieve a smooth formation like this one? They make it look soooo easy.


After wandering about and enjoying St. Augustine, Scooter's crew opted to head further down the waterway. Up and at'em, dinghy stowed, motor hoisted and locked on the mount, holding tank pumped, cooler iced down, and mooring pendant dropped, Scooter rumbled into the ICW channel; headed for...South. We plan a run of 40 to 50 miles per day, more if necessary, less if it works out that way. This leg was not as productive as we had hoped, 'cause the tidal flow was agin' us. Jamming the throttles up makes mostly noise; really doesn't do much for the headway, so we run along at a modest RPM setting; get there when we do. So, we ended up at Palm Coast marina in... Palm Coast FL. OK place, convenient for a fuel stop and stuff. It was handy 'cause we would not have been able to make any decent anchorage areas with the daylight that we had left. Travelling on the water in Florida on a nice weekend day is not  a wise move; lesson learned!

Out of Palm Coast fairly early; soon as the fog and drizzle cleared, and on down to New Smyrna Beach,  FL. Lotta boats and boatyards; pink, blue, and yellow houses jammed next to the water. Took some hunting and poking around, but we finally found a spot to drop the "hook" for the night. the "hook" in nautical parlance is other wise known as an anchor. there are lots of different style anchors; generally differentiated by the shape of the flukes, or parts of the anchor that actually dig into the sea bottom. Ours is a Bruce anchor, also known as a claw; looks kinda like a Manta Ray in flight with a long, straight nose; no tail. Truly nautical boaters refer to anchoring as"on the hook". Same folks refer to it as"  on the hard" when the boat is placed on land for repairs. Make whatever you want out of all that.

Anyway, this am found us easing into the ICW by green 45 in the rain, drizzle and fog that a passing cold front was burdening us with. it was sort of cool watching approaching boats ooze out of the mist like a foaming shadow. radar picked them up first, then .the eyeballs got it, and pretty soon, there it was. Three and a half hours, 28 miles, and we were in Titusville marina awaiting the cold temps and blustery winds forecast for tonight, With luck, tomorrow will see Scooter on the hook 35 miles short of Vero Beach, Florida.

Stay safe, warm and happy. Catch you on the flip side.