mile 898-846
Our next stop was New Smyrna Beach. We had a reservation for one night at the new Smyrna Beach City Marina. We had stayed there in the fall and liked it.
On the way, we passed the space center and traversed the Haulover Canal with the drawbridge at the far side this time. We hailed the bridge tender who said he would open as we got closer. We entered the narrow canal and just had to trust him.
After the bridge, the bay opens but the canal is still quite shallow and turns to the left. We met a large motor boat there entering the canal from the other side. We were able to pass one another port to port.
When we arrived at the marina, Rick was off and John helped us into our slip. David did a great job maneuvering us in. They have concrete floating docks with a rubber edge and short finger piers so you need a forward spring line on the bow cleat. Everett on the boat next door to us, helped us get our line on the starboard rear piling. We were secure.
We thought about walking to the beach but the women’s basketball final was on and David could win the pool with a SC win. We watched the first half on the boat and then headed to the New Smyrna Beach brewery, one of our favorite places on the trip down. We watched the game and spoke with our neighbors at the bar, a couple from Minnesota, and a couple who own a motor cat. All of them live in New Smyrna for the winter.
Rachel and Brent were in action on Easter, greeting all of the regulars that came into the bar. Many thanked them for coming to work. We enjoyed the signature brew, Shark Attack.
While we were there, Laura and Dan texted. They had gotten in at the marina last minute and wanted to know if we wanted to have dinner. We went to The Corkscrew restaurant which was quite good. David and I shared the swamp pasta which was a cheesy macaroni with fish, shrimp and andouille sausage. The dish was tasty but mostly I loved the name.