Daytona and New Smyrna

November 19 - 20
Mile marker 778 - 846

We had a relaxing morning with a beautiful sunrise in St. Augustine while we waited for the 9am opening of the Bridge of Lions. 

A little blurry but still cool, white pelican party on our starboard side. 

Matanzas Inlet was reported to have lots of shoaling. However, we never saw less than 17’ and there was lots of dredging equipment along the way. 

I guess the Captain is getting more comfortable with me at the helm. He even snoozed today!

So much wildlife today in the marshes - dolphins, pelicans, herons, egrets. However, the area is getting more built up as we get further south and the marshes and homes are turning into high rises. 😢

The weird city of Daytona. We arrived at our selected anchorage on the south side of the twin bridges and I got totally creeped out - derelict boats, a sunken boat, what looked like abandoned boats tied together and an active sailboat that looked haunted. I said, “let’s get out of here, it’s giving me the heebie jeebies.” So we went back to the North side of the bridges and anchored. 

In the morning Eddie dinghyed me to shore and I ubered to Labcorp for some routine bloodwork. It was beautiful out and I decided to walk the 3 miles back. The area was a little run down, pawn shops, rent to own furniture, boost mobile stores and then a brand new Aldi’s and Harbor Freight. It felt great to be out walking.

This beautiful flower on a cactus was peeking out of an abandoned lot on my walk back to the boat. Still seems weird to me to see cactus in Florida. They just seem like a southwest USA thing to me. 

While I was gone both the local cops and the sheriff told Eddie not to leave the dinghy or boat unattended, even if locked! When I returned we decided to get the heck out of this town and cruised to New Smyrna. 

We anchored just south of the bridge in New Smyrna and took the dinghy to shore to a well maintained free dock at the town’s convention center. We walked around the town starting in their park which had been decorated for Veteran’s Day. A guy who worked for the city told us all the flags were donated.

In the middle of the monument below. 

Odyssey Memorial which honors the first Greek settlers in North America. 

200 flags in the Field of Honors, each one has a tag with a veteran’s name and the years they served. Beautiful and moving. 

 Veteran’s Memorial

We walked around town for an hour or so and then had a delicious dinner at Yellow Dog Eats - eclectic pit beef. Eddie had a sandwich which he raved about. He liked the spicy pickles so much that we brought a jar home. I had smoked curry chicken salad on field greens which was delish!

This is the second town we’ve been in while they were hanging Xmas decorations!