Day 9 April 10 34nm Total miles 262

Woke up to chilly weather as a cold front moved in. We had to dress in sweat shirts and windbreakers to stay warm.

Leaving Vero Beach we continued north up the Atlantic Intracoastal as it winds through islands filled with mangroves and pines. Through this stretch the land is less developed and more natural.

We went past the town of Wabasso- renown due to its name. The name is actually Ossabaw backwards. Legend has it that the first settlers selected that name because they were originally from Ossabaw, GA. Now the little town is filled with waterfront homes.

The river widens again as we get closer to Sebastian and it’s inlet. Sebastian is known by surfers and sports fisherman as a great spot to catch some waves and more than a few fish.

Continuing north we passed Pelican Island, one of the first National Wildlife Preserves in Florida (1909) developed to protect shore birds from being poached for their feathers. Past another piece of history when we past by the 1913 Grant Historical House. The house represents the cracker style- built by the owner or local self taught builders and includes one or two rooms, big porches for shade, steep roofs, crawl space underneath for ventilation, and layout to optimize cross breezes. Unfortunately all we could see from the boat was the metal roof of the house hidden in the mangrove, but here is a picture.

One thought as to why early Floridians were called Crackers is due to the early cattle industry. The pioneer ranchers would use long whips of braided leather which made a loud crack sound when driving the cattle. Also there is breed of horse called the Florida Cracker whose ancestry is from early Spanish stock from the 1500s.

Going further north towards Melbourne more waterfront homes and businesses dotted the shoreline. As a side note, Melbourne was the site of an archeological dig in 1925. A human skull about 12,000 years old was found which was named Melbourne Man. The skull proves that Native Americans did live among the ground sloths, saber tooth tigers, mastodons, and woolly mammoths of the Pleistocene Era.

We pulled off the Intracoastal and pulled into the Banana River to anchor for the night. Met another boat that had completed the loop and enjoyed the captain’s cruising tales. A call from Loopers we met in Moore Haven led to us meeting up with them and having a very nice dinner in Melbourne

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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