March 22-30

Our next port o' call was Melbourne where our friends, Jane and Sean, live on Gandalf, their Kady Krogen 42 during the winter. It was a brief (too brief) visit as the sky was threatening to unload rain at any moment. We packed some quick catching up into a few minutes, had a beer, and took off for Sabbatical on her anchor just outside the harbor.

We began our next leg on March 23 at 0900. We thought we would have plenty of time to reach our next anchorage off Titusville without an early start. Despite strong northerly winds on our nose, we did make reasonably good time but when we reached Titusville, we decided to try for a more sheltered anchorage behind the NASA railroad bridge to the north of Titusville. Apparently, the persistent northerlies had blown the water south and the shallow entrance to the anchorage proved too shallow for us to get in. What should we do now? We calculated that we could make New Smyrna Beach just after sunset if all went well, despite the wind and current against us. We pressed on and found a sheltered spot behind Chicken Island in Sheephead Cut in the middle of New Smyrna Beach. The next morning we got into our slip at the New Smyrna City Marina and called Donna and Frank Fischette, old friends who winter here. Frank and I had a tee time for golf and Donna and Annette would spend the day doing their thing in the shops and on the beaches of the area. We visited their condo on the beach and had a nice Italian dinner at a small restaurant nearby.

The next day it was golf again for the boys and shopping and sightseeing for the gals. We had dinner at a great seafood restaurant, Blackbeard's, and played our special game of Marbles on board Sabbatical. We had a great time laughing and recalling days past. Reluctantly, we left the next morning, March 26, for Halifax Harbor behind Daytona Beach where we anchored early in the day and spent a relaxing day reading and napping.

St. Augustine's anchorage south of the Bridge of Lions was our next stop. We had never anchored south of the bridge before, but found it a good place to be, close to the dinghy dock at the municipal marina and not too crowded at this time of the year. We were a bit leery of the anchorage based on our experiences north of th bridge, but the wind and current problem seems much less here. We were treated to another great sunset over the city.

Gerry and Lynda Hawke are Canadian sailing friends we met last year on the Great Loop trip. They are in a condo this year in St. Augustine for the month of March. We were able to get together with them on Thursday. We shopped a bit and then went to Sabbatical for some drinks and conversation. They were very pleased to be aboard a boat again. Later we went to dinner at Harry's, which is a New Orleans style restaurant overlooking the harbor. We have been fortunate to meet so many wonderful people on the trips we have taken by boat. The Hawkes are certainly among those that we consider our friends. We hope to see them again someday.

These last two days, March 29 and 30, we have remained at anchor at St. Augustine. On Saturday, we went ashore so Annette could explore the shops of St. George Street. I walked for exercise mainly out to the westside and back. Back on the boat, I finished the Ken Follett book and watched March Madness on TV. We were happy to learn that Mom had had a successful operation on her hip and was doing well in a Rochester hospital. She had fallen and injured herself while unloading groceries. She will recuperate in a local health facility and should be home again in about two weeks or so. This morning we saw the sun briefly and are currently experiencing high winds that are supposed to persist for a day or two. We plan to remain here until Tuesday.