Day Three - New Smyrna Beach

Other than our departure this morning, today was  a pretty quick and easy transit from Marineland Marina to New Smyrna Beach City Marina. We left an hour and half after low tide and I think at least one of the pods may have been dragging in the mud as the boat did not respond as it normally does. It was more difficult than usual to get the boat off the bulkhead. I don't think we will return to this marina unless they have a floating dock available for us. We didn't seem to have any problems the rest of the day. There was very little traffic on the ICW and far fewer fishermen than expected........especially for the Sunday of a three day weekend. The weather may be partially to blame as it was about 34 degrees this morning and that is downright arctic conditions for Floridians. It warmed up as the day progressed and turned very comfortable for us. 

We passed many nice homes in the Palm Coast and Flagler Beach areas, and many typical Florida homes reminiscent of the 1950s and 60s. The Daytona Beach area had a lot of variety, but definitely had the nicest bridges. Martha particularly like the one with tile mosaics on the pilings. All but one bridge had enough clearance for us to pass without requesting an opening. We asked for an opening of the Knox Memorial Bridge south of Flagler Beach. The bridge tender warned us that the bridge would only open on the east side. Fortunately there was plenty of room to get through, but it was another new experience.

It was again sad to see a number of derelict boats, as well as some that had sunk. Always makes you wonder the circumstances. We saw a lot of dolphin again, and one is swimming behind the boat as I am writing this. It is hard to get decent pictures of them, but this one is cooperating and hanging out in the same spot. He or she must be looking for attention. The pelicans are oblivious.

The marina is very nice and convenient to the downtown area. New Smyrna Beach Most of the shops were closed since it is Sunday. We would like to have spent some time in them and will definitely plan to stop here again on a weekday. We had dinner at a nice restaurant with a lot of outside seating. They had outside heaters and blankets if you needed them. It was a garden setting with typical Florida trees and foliage. Martha enjoyed the surroundings.

Tomorrow we head to Cocoa near Cape Canaveral. SpaceX has a launch scheduled at 8:40am. Unfortunately, we will not be there by then, but maybe we will be able to see something from here.