The winds have died down and we were eager to get back out cruising and to arrive in Florida. We left our anchorage in GA and spent our first night in Florida at a free dock in Jacksonville. The next day we took a mooring in St. Augustine, FL for 2 days. The moorings were $20 per night which gave us access to the marina’s facilities and their dinghy dock. This little town was one of the most lovely we have visited so far on the trip. We enjoyed the cobble stone streets shopping at little boutiques and enjoyed some great food while being surrounded by old Spanish architecture.  Check out the episode below to see what we mean.

After leaving beautiful St. Augustine, we had a great anchorage in Rock House Creek which is just off the ICW which was surrounded by mangroves and sandy beaches. While sitting on the bow of the boat we could see the ICW and an inlet to the ocean. It’s surreal when we sit back and see how the scenery has changed from northern evergreens to mangroves and Palm trees, to see the abundant amount of different birds and to enjoy dolphins and other marine life everyday.

We spent another 2 days on a mooring in Titusville, FL for $15 per night. My (Cyndi) parents came for a visit for a couple of days. Now that we had a car, we headed into Orlando to do a little shopping and some provisioning for our trip to the Bahamas. The visit was way to short but we had a wonderful time together.

After leaving Titusville, FL we meet back up with Living on the Edge in Cocoa, FL. We spent 5 days in Cocoa with 2 days on anchor and 3 days on a free dock. Our first night we got a bus and headed down to Cocoa Beach for the afternoon and jumped in the ocean for the first time on our trip and stayed into the evening to watch a rocket launch. We rented a car and did some serious provisioning, Shel and Barry checked out the Kennedy Space Centre and we also got to check out a surpisingly good vegan restaurant along with some little stores along the streets.

It’s warm, humid and hot as we leave Cocoa to head more South. There is still no weather window in sight to cross to the Bahamas but we are still excited to check out the next anchorages and towns along the way. It was Thanksgiving here in the US and we are so thankful to be heading South for the winter and to be able to enjoy beautiful Florida on our boat. We were greeted with dolphins all day. We couldn’t keep up with how many were surrounding the boat swimming along the sides and in the bow wake. The playfulness of these beautiful creatures is so fun to watch and always brings a smile. It’s something that never gets old.

We arrived in Vero Beach, FL expecting to take a mooring at Vero City Marina. We read that the mooring field could be busy and to expect to raft but we didn’t realize how very true that was as when we arrived most moorings had 2-3 boats rafting up and no free moorings at all. We decided it was a little too crowded for us so we chose an anchorage just south of the marina where we enjoyed a beautiful peaceful evening. The weather is now warmer so we now get to enjoy late evenings outside enjoying the stars and the salty air.

It’s one of the last day of cruising until we get to our crossing point. There’s chatter of a weather window first thing tomorrow morning or wait until another possible window 5-6 days out. We fill up with fuel and water so we are ready when we get the window to go. We choose to stay in Florida a little while longer as the window was too short. We stayed a few days in Manatee Pocket in Stuart, FL where the weather seemed to get warmer each day. We enjoyed our stay here as we got to sit back and take in the scenery and weather of Florida. We spent 5 days here and then headed towards Lake Worth Inlet as Thursday, December 1st was the weather window we were waiting for. Our cruise to Lake Worth was a beautiful one - lots of large homes with perfectly manicured landscapes, the water in Jupiter was a beautiful blue color and our anchorage gave us lots to sit back and look at. There were cruise ships, megayachts, and an abundant amount of boats anchored and the hotels and condos in the foreground lined the beach of West Palm. 

Make sure to join us next time as we cross a rather rough gulf stream over to the beautiful Bahamas!

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