Another sunny day, even milder than yesterday smiled on Serenity and her crew. Leaving a mooring ball is infinitely easier than leaving the dock - no lines, power cable or hose to contend with (and no fighting). Much more civilized and serene, that's for sure. Gave us time to appreciate another beautiful sunrise.
If one picture is worth a thousand words, what are 2 beautiful pictures worth?
As soon as the coffee was made, we were en route for today's destination, New Smyrna Beach. Some dolphins stopped by to play in our bow wake, but were gone before I could snap a picture. Hopefully tomorrow we 'll see more who might have time to play a while longer.
Before long, we encountered our first bridge of the day, Knox Bridge. The nicest lady bridge tender gave us a "lift" and wished us happy holidays. We responded Merry Christmas and she sounded relieved to wish us the same.
As the day progressed, the line of boats needing a "lift" increased until we were like a little parade going through, each waiting for the others to catch up and chatting on the radio about "skinny" (shallow) water.
The day passed peacefully. Though there is not a whole lot to see, some of the scenery is definitely defined as "waterway" specific....
...it's not too exciting, but lovely to look at as we glided by...
...and very different from Long Island Sound scenery...
Shortly after 3, (and a lovely on board lunch), we arrived at our destination for the day - New Smyrna Beach Marina. We unwittingly walked into their marine rush hour. No less than 5 boats followed us in to their assigned slips.
Not only is this the marina where we stayed when bringing For Us home from FL to NY in 2010, but we were in the very same slip (the captain remembered this). Actually I should have remembered (I eventually did) because we were directly opposite Bird Island, where yes, birds came and went in large, low flying groups.
I emphasize low flying since as you know, birds terrify me and being so close to these dive bombing creatures gave me a sort of clutched feeling. After our chores (which involved filling the water tanks, connecting us to shore power, hosing off the boat and shutting down the engine), we decided to settle in with wine and evening snacks. Not so fast! The captain wanted Mike and I to put the bimini top over the flybridge up before we go too comfortable. OMG, I never laughed so hard in my life. I only regret that there wasn't a film crew nearby to film Mike and I installing the bimini this afternoon. Picture us standing on the flybridge in the freshening breeze, the canvas flapping, the metal supports collapsing while trying to hold everything in place. We eventually had to crawl onto the house, where Mike lay on his back with his arms up in the air trying to force the zipper ends together so I could zip the canvas on. The things we said, taken out of context, would make a great script for a porn flick. We're still laughing just thinking about it. I'm sure our marina neighbors were very entertained. We congratulated ourselves that we didn't attempt this yesterday while on the mooring ball in much breezier weather.
All that work made us hungry, so acting on a tip from a Krogenite who has a condo in New Smyrna Beach, we took a ride in a electric golf cart to dinner at the Spanish River Grill. Despite being located in a strip shopping center, we had a delicious dinner. The car ride was entertaining - it's an expanded golf cart with sides that zip onto the frame. The canvas has plastic "porthole" cut outs. You climb in, sit very close to the person next to you and hold on for dear life. I took a picture of the silly thing, but not sure you can decipher it too well...
Crazier than the car is that it's free. Yup, as in zilch, nada, zip. The car runs from 10 in the morning until 2 am and will take you anywhere - on demand no less. The drivers rely on tips and are actually volunteers for some sort of thing. I wonder if this is a Southern thing.....
After a long day, we headed back to the boat and were delighted to be treated to 2 wondrous sights - a rising full moon (hard to see, but I still had to share)...
...and boats decorated for Christmas...
Some boats had blinking lights, santas and snowmen aboard, greeting all who passed by...
In this place of sunshine and palm trees, it's hard to believe Christmas is less than a month away! The shops are decorated to the hilt, but somehow, the warm weather belies the season at hand. I'm going to try to get a couple of bows and a plastic wreath for Serenity to wear before we leave early next week. I hope everyone had as wonderful day as I did. Back tomorrow with more of our ICW adventures.
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