For some reason, Ponce Inlet is one of my favorite places on this trip. The water clears near the inlet and we start to see mangroves. The lighthouse, beach and park are lovely and there are lots of interesting places to explore in the dinghy if you had some time. At low tide, the sandbars emerge creating new places to explore.
We have great memories of being there with the Fishes on our way back last year. This year, we booked at the Inlet Harbor Marina which offers face dockage right off the ICW. They were very nice on the phone. It is a small marina with a larger restaurant. We had a package being sent there and they took good care of it, calling us to tell us it had arrived. They were intrigued because our package, from John and Beate, was in a Chewy dog store box.
“It’s in a dog food box, and I shook it and it sounds like dog food,” they told us. I would have loved to hear the conversation about these mariners who order dog food to be sent to marinas along the way.
We left St. Augustine in the dark and headed down the waterway. We followed the Matanzas River to the Halifax River. We passed by Daytona Beach and the 4 bridges in a mile, including the Main St. Bridge that opens on signal. We got right through without waiting.
Shortly thereafter, the scene changes from tall buildings to mangroves and white sand patches.
We arrived around 3 pm in the ebb current which was swift. We turned and came up current to the dock and had no problems docking in front of a catamaran. We were the only two boats. We could see Sea Love Boat works further down the creek. There were no boats in the anchorage across from them that we could see. That is where we anchored last year and the Fishes got their anchor wrapped around some structure on the bottom.
We picked up our Chewy box! It was a great care package packed with John and Beate treasures. Asheville popcorn, some great new boat lighting and a bar of chocolate amongst some more healthy treats. Even some easy to tend plants.
We did not have much daylight so we set out to walk to the beach and then loop around the peninsula. It ended up being a rather long walk. It was windy on the beach and rough and people were kite surfing in the inlet. A great dredge operation is happening with giant piles of sand being brought up and bulldozers smoothing it out. We returned to dinner on the boat. Plan to head to nearby New Smyrna Beach tomorrow. We have not been there but Bruce likes it and we are considering a side trip.
