Day 11 April 12 On to New Smyrna. 26.5nm. Total miles 323

CRUSTACEAN’S WAY

For now is the best time to go,

As adventures can’t wait you know,

Some travel in planes quite fast,

And the scenery goes by in a blast.

But our trawler is really quite slow,

And we’ve got everywhere and no place to go,

So we savor each day,

And take time to play,

For this is Crustacean’s Way.

We’ve had our times of shared fun and laughter,

Those moments we’ll keep for ever after,

Through it all we smiled with you friends,

And hoped it would never end,

These joyous times shared with you all,

But now we must heed Poseidon’s call.

So to the boats we cast our fate,

With Captain bold,

And strong First Mate,

The lines are thrown,

The deck is clear,

And the price of fuel is all we fear.

So goodbye for now,

We’re on our way,

Until we see you again,

We’ll savor each day………

On Crustacean’s Way

Woke to a beautiful sunset in our anchorage this morning.

Continuing our journey north, we left the mangroves, pines and palms along the Indian River and entered a Haulover Cut and turned to go up Mosquito Lagoon.

Mosquito Lagoon was named due to its production of up to one million mosquitoes per yard of marsh. In 1950, a series of partitions created freshwater areas which decreased the mosquito population since salt water mosquitoes can not reproduce in fresh water. Luckily we had no issues with mosquitoes here!

Mosquito Lagoon and the surrounding area is part of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. An area of salt and freshwater marsh that is filled with wading and shore birds, ducks and turtles. Also must be good fishing as we went by lots of fishermen!

As we leave the Wildlife refuge behind the Lagoon fills with mangrove islands to the east and the shore begins to fill with homes. As we approach New Smyrna we could see the high rise buildings on the Atlantic beach and the shores became more developed.

We anchored just south of the town bridge and took the dinghy to the town dock to meet Duane, another friend from college. At the dinghy dock we met two other couples, both Loopers like us. We were able to help out one by taking him back to his boat to get his inflatable dinghy pump which he need to get his dinghy back to his boat.

Walked around town with Duane and explored the Indian mound and coquina block foundation of the Turnball Ruins/Old Fort at the city waterfront. See the picture below for the history of the site.

Also explored some of the older homes by the river and had lunch and did a short grocery run. Duane braved a wind blown ride back to the boat and we relaxed and enjoyed the waterfront view while catching up with each other.

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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