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.

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...

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...

Day 64-65. May 25-26. On to Peck Lake, Jupiter, FL and then on to Indiantown/ Okeechobee Waterway. Miles 63.5/ 29.1 Total Miles 1122.1/1142.0

Day 64 We started early to get ahead of the holiday boat traffic. Weighing anchor at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, we traveled on the Intracoastal Waterway past the iconic Pier 66 Tower and Bahia Mar Marina. We then turned north and passed the older sections of the city - Las Olas( older homes), Galt Ocean Mile (one mile of condominiums on the beach), and the famous miles of beaches on the Atlantic. I used to live here in the early 70's and the biggest change I see is the older smaller homes on the water are being replaced with larger versions and a few more condo towers have been built. As we go further north towards Commercial Blvd, North Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach and its Lighthouse at the cut, there is less reconstruction. The next town we traveled through was Boca Raton with its Spanish architecture, Camino Real and its landmark tower. The sand bar at the cut was just beginning to fill up with Memorial Day revelers as we went by. Next were t...

Crustacean Travels

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