mile 846-840
New Smyrna Beach could only take us for one night. We were expecting some bad weather. We had a mooring reserved in St. Augustine but it was likely to be windy and rainy when we got there at the end of the day so we opted to stay in Ponce Inlet at the little marina we stayed at in the fall. It is on a face dock in front of the Off the Hook restaurant.
Laura and Dan left early for St. Augustine. We waited for John who helped us out of our slip and we headed for the George Musson bridge which had an opening at 9 am. Then it was not far to the marina. They were dredging in the bad spot of the icw so it was a little confusing how to go around their pipelines but we made it. Docking was easy on the face dock even though there was a lot of current.
After getting Josie tied with multiple lines, we walked around town to the lighthouse and the beach. A man was sitting on a bench with a South African parrot named April. She was 36 years old and had lovely red tail feathers.
The beach was rough and we sat and watched a surfer. We napped a little on the beach and then walked on the boardwalks in the park. We looked for gopher tortoises but did not find any. The dunes and palms are lovely to walk through though.
It would be fun to take the dinghy into the mangroves and out to some of the sandbars around here.
We returned to the boat to have dinner and watch the men’s NCAA final. We will have at least two more rainy days here.