Melbourne & Daytona Beach

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day to depart Palm Beach!! We didn't have enough time to explore everything and would have loved another few days ashore, but we needed to stay on course with guests arriving and departing at various times in the coming week. 

We couldn't get over the sherbert colors everyone loved to wear in Palm Beach!

We departed our slip at 7:45am, however when we approached the first bridge they told us they were closed for construction and the bridge would open at 9:15...who knew?! So back to our slip we went and enjoyed a lazy morning while we waited.

Here I'm on the back deck of the stern having morning "coffee talk" with my early bird friend Kerry back at home (5am her time) as we depart our slip. We've been friends since kindergarten and can chat for hours... Cracking ourselves up. 

The bridge finally opened for biz and off we went!

We passed JFKs bomb shelter bunker on Peanut Island (photo below) at the Lake Worth inlet. You can take a guided tour and see his locker, uniforms, and sleeping arrangements and kitchen. 

       Nothing like a colorful paraglider!

And then we headed out into the open ocean to make up some time and skip some shallow parts of the intercoastal for 25 miles. 

It was following quartering seas and roly poly as can be. Suz was a champ and earned her stripes since she didn't toss her cookies. 

Bish prepped the boat with lots of flower vases and secured them down with museum wax. They didn't budge in the rough seas and sure added that finishing touch.

Once we hit the town of Stewart, the water turned Carribean blue and was just  as gorgeous as can be. 

Fish & Game have got their eyes out for little rascals breaking the law. Who knew there was a fish "po-po" spying on your every "reel" move?

So many birds we've seen nesting at these channel markers... Spring is in the air and little babies abound. We will be cruising next to these markers all the way up to Norfolk, Virginia. 

We had one lone dolphin following us for a bit too. 

Here's the marina entrance with one foot of depth under our props... Brads specialized navigation is in progress! It's a narrow one, but we managed it without any situations presenting themselves. 

Into the marina we go... It intermittently smells like rotten eggs (awesome!) and we will probably be the largest boat here as it's a small town marina. 

All tied up at the fuel dock for the night since it's the only place our boat will fit at. We will fuel up when they open at 7:15am. 

As soon as we docked Bish pulled out an awesome plate of stone crab claws... What a great surprise!  

We then set out on foot to check out the town and Brad took a nap to try and sleep off his poor cold. 

I feel like we are already in the south by the looks of this tree. 

There's an old train track that runs right through town. It's a loud train that we can hear from the marina when it roars through. I mostly enjoyed it blaring by at 3:15am. 

And if you really want to set the night on fire... Hop on down to the local flambé spot. It doesn't get any more chic than this. 

Suz and I sassin' it up in sleepy Downtown Melbourne. It's a simple mom & pop shop town. It's famous residents included Jim Morrison of the Doors, the bassist for Poison (rock on!) and Darrell Hammond from SNL. 

And how the "vape" craze has hung on this long and spread across the U.S. is beyond me. So gross and smoking is still bad for you the last time I checked. 

But then it was time to head to the towns hotspot... Matt's Casbah! Since my stepson is named Matt, we had to go and see if we could buy a t-shirt for him. Sadly they didn't have any, but he's now the proud owner of 7 (yes, seven!) cardboard drink coasters to wow his friends with. Ha! Suz thought he had to have them for his collection. So sweet. 

I openly smuggled them in my purse to the delight of our waitress. We enjoyed their lively band and got a quick bite to eat. 

All tucked in for the night. Heading to Daytona Beach tomorrow...

Well, we started to fuel up at 7:15am, however what we didn't know was that the pump was super slow and would take 2 hours to fill. Here are the boys supervising the fuel-up...

Normally it would take 40 minutes to an hour & there would be two nozzles. This is surely not the case here & there's only one. Some 1000 gallons later, we are heading north to Daytona. 

Here we are off the coast of Cape Canaveral at NASA. No launches today, but so cool to see it up close through our binoculars! 

And some fun places to see along the intercoastal...

I wonder if the fish or gators are biting?

                  Gorgeous views!

Yes...another bridge crossing. Things aren't as formal in these parts and we just radioed a request to pass and the bridge was opened immediately. 

    Our cheering section was on point!

More reminders of the minimal wake zones. We ran at 5 knots in those parts and 16 knots otherwise. 

We arrived at the Daytona marina... Got a great slip. Hard to believe this marina can accommodate 500 boats! 

And then headed out for the evening to grab a bite to eat. We are checking out the local flavors...

We ended up at a great organic farm to table place and it had serious ambience for these parts! 

Brads cold has rounded the corner and is on the mend... No more human Petrie dish. Ha! Tomorrow... The Daytona Speedway awaits!