Day 3 Titusville to New Smyrna Beach

32 Miles Titusville - New Smyrna Beach, Fl
Sunday April 17th - Shortly around 8 am we weighed anchor. Todays trip took from the Indian River through Mosquito Lagoon which has a lot of natural areas. Off in the distance on bird island we spotted a few Roseatta Spoonbills which a lot of people mistake for Flamingos, Snow white Pelicans, White and Grey Herons, Egrets and many other birds.  Many small Islands are also used for weekend camping, we saw several small boats beached and on shore we could spot several tents.The trip was also interesting because there are many "Slow Minimum Wake" signs but a speed limit posted of 25 MPH,,, hmmm does this mean when we went through Fort Lauderdale we could have maintained our 8 MPH speed??

Roseatta Spoon Bills

Fishing in Haulover Canal

Our stop today was the New Smyrnna Beach Municipal marina. We started our visit with a walk to find a bank. We didn't find the bank but enjoyed walking through town. It was interesting for us to discover most businesses were closed on a Sunday. In the evening we met our good friends Al and Fran. They had a cousin Jenny visiting and we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner at their very nice club. Thanks Fran, Jenny & Al for a great night. It's always great to catch up with friends!

Beautiful Stone Bridge

Day 2 Fuelling Up and Titusville

52.8 miles Cape Malibar - Titusville, Fl
Saturday April 16th - Weighed anchor and began our journey north. Our plan today was to anchor just outside of Titusville Marina but first we needed to refuel at the Canaveral Barge Canal. With fuel prices rising they were the best price at $3.87/gallon after taxes. Pricing for fuel in the vicinity is varied we found prices as high as $4.50 a gallon. Our tanks were showing us in the red but we only took on 230 gallons, Dick believes we had another 70 gallons left in the tanks. Like most cruisers we've throttled back to l700 rpms and our fuel consumption has reduced. As we were heading down the Canaveral Canal we came across our friends aboard Monk's Vineyard and Second Star. They were heading for fuel.

Linda & Gerry aboard Monk's Vineyard

Michael & Jana aboard Second Star

Later in the afternoon we dropped anchor just outside of the Titusville Marina. We could hear music playing from the park nearby but dinghying in just wasn't an option. The winds had picked up enough neither of us were comfortable leaving the boat. Shortly around sunset the winds settled down and we enjoyed watching the full moon rising as the sun was setting. Nights like this are what make boating worthwhile!

Full Moon in Titusville

Sunset in Titusville

And We're Off!! Day 1 of the 'Great Loop'

60 Miles Travelled Hutchinson Island to Cape Malibar
April 15th 2011 -  It's here our first official day of the Great Loop! What is the Great Loop? Check out the photo below, it's at least a 6000 mile trip and should take us about a year to complete and it began with a bang. Well not really a bang, but more like a jolting from our alarm clock waking us at 7:00 am! Excited we began preparing the Summer Wind for departure, but one look at the sky and we knew there was going to be a delay. Sure enough a front came barrelling through. The weather forecast today was calling for spotty showers so we decided to head out after the rain stopped. At times we were threading the needle of the weather showers but at times we were caught. We were prepared to steer from below if necessary but the showers didn't last long, it was just a nuisance. That evening we anchored in Cape Malibar near Melbourne Fl. At first it was a little choppy because the winds decided to pick up a bit but by evening everything settled and we enjoyed a great night on the hook. Both of us fell asleep relaxing in the evening, after the rendezvous we enjoyed the peaceful night.

Travelling the Indian River

Sand Bar Reaching out into the Intracoastal

First Night Sunset at Cape Malibar, Melbourne, Fl