Island for a DayThe smoke from the fire is behind it.
The Kennedy Space Center is just out of picture on the left
March 29/08
We are really zipping along, and did 70 miles today! The day started off well with a manatee sighting right in New Smyrna. Then we followed the Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River for all day,passing the site of the Kennedy Space Center. There must have been a large fire to the south of it, as there was a column of smoke which filled the sky for the whole day and dropped large chunks of ash all over the boat. We had the hatches open because of the heat, and realized too late that we were getting ash all inside the boat too.
The Indian River is lovely, a fisherman's dream. You could spend weeks here puttering about in your boat in it's large stretches of shallow water. It was windless and calm when we were there - maybe it's not so nice when it is windy.
I have been enjoying the cormorants on this trip. They have a way of coming up after they have dived under the water with a completely confused air and looking around from side to side. A combination of "who turned out the lights?" and "where am I?" Chris thinks it is more accurately described as the look of a person who has broken wind in public and is miming his total innocence. I don't know where he gets that from!
I saw a really amusing sight just before we anchored for the evening. On the last of our many dolphin sightings I was dismayed to see one that looked quite deformed. I have been so impressed the whole length of the IntraCoastal as to the healthy look of the waterway and it's inhabitants, but this dolphin had something terribly wrong with it's tail. Every time it did one of it's graceful curves through the water it's tail showed a nasty growth. With the help of the binoculars it was resolved. The dolphin was flipping up a cormorant with it's tail every time it rose, and the cormorant was in a completely confused state as to what was happening! The dolphin picked the cormorant up over three times before the cormorant managed to break the cycle!
March 30/08
Another 70 mile day and we are still on the Indian River. It's character changes as we go south, but it is always beautiful and a boater's dream. There are many one- or two-people sized islands, with a small boat pulled up to it, a little tent on it and a white sand beach in front. We saw lots of small family groups getting ready to enjoy a day or two on "their" island. The river is very wide in most places, but often so shallow that people can be standing knee deep fishing just a few yards from the area we are sailing on. Maybe it's a good thing our depth finder isn't working!
Our anchorage was just south of a bridge at Jensen Beach.Another pretty spot, but it turned out to be a very rolly place to spend the night. A storm went through and we didn't have much shelter from it at all.
Along the way we saw some of what we understand annoys Florida legislators about boaters. There is a strong move to regulate cruisers quite firmly, and as a body cruisers are very concerned about what they perceive an erosion of their long held rights. Local and state governement in Florida, on the other hand, seems to feel that a lot of cruisers are taking advantage of those rights to spend years in one spot, often on unsightly and unsafe boats, and being an eyesore and a hazard. We have seen a few of these boats as we have travelled through Florida, and I can certainly understand why you would want to try and move them. All the ones we have seen have been abandoned and left to deteriorate. There is nothing sadder than an unloved boat.
We are really zipping along, and did 70 miles today! The day started off well with a manatee sighting right in New Smyrna. Then we followed the Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River for all day,passing the site of the Kennedy Space Center. There must have been a large fire to the south of it, as there was a column of smoke which filled the sky for the whole day and dropped large chunks of ash all over the boat. We had the hatches open because of the heat, and realized too late that we were getting ash all inside the boat too.
The Indian River is lovely, a fisherman's dream. You could spend weeks here puttering about in your boat in it's large stretches of shallow water. It was windless and calm when we were there - maybe it's not so nice when it is windy.
I have been enjoying the cormorants on this trip. They have a way of coming up after they have dived under the water with a completely confused air and looking around from side to side. A combination of "who turned out the lights?" and "where am I?" Chris thinks it is more accurately described as the look of a person who has broken wind in public and is miming his total innocence. I don't know where he gets that from!
I saw a really amusing sight just before we anchored for the evening. On the last of our many dolphin sightings I was dismayed to see one that looked quite deformed. I have been so impressed the whole length of the IntraCoastal as to the healthy look of the waterway and it's inhabitants, but this dolphin had something terribly wrong with it's tail. Every time it did one of it's graceful curves through the water it's tail showed a nasty growth. With the help of the binoculars it was resolved. The dolphin was flipping up a cormorant with it's tail every time it rose, and the cormorant was in a completely confused state as to what was happening! The dolphin picked the cormorant up over three times before the cormorant managed to break the cycle!
March 30/08
Another 70 mile day and we are still on the Indian River. It's character changes as we go south, but it is always beautiful and a boater's dream. There are many one- or two-people sized islands, with a small boat pulled up to it, a little tent on it and a white sand beach in front. We saw lots of small family groups getting ready to enjoy a day or two on "their" island. The river is very wide in most places, but often so shallow that people can be standing knee deep fishing just a few yards from the area we are sailing on. Maybe it's a good thing our depth finder isn't working!
Our anchorage was just south of a bridge at Jensen Beach.Another pretty spot, but it turned out to be a very rolly place to spend the night. A storm went through and we didn't have much shelter from it at all.
Along the way we saw some of what we understand annoys Florida legislators about boaters. There is a strong move to regulate cruisers quite firmly, and as a body cruisers are very concerned about what they perceive an erosion of their long held rights. Local and state governement in Florida, on the other hand, seems to feel that a lot of cruisers are taking advantage of those rights to spend years in one spot, often on unsightly and unsafe boats, and being an eyesore and a hazard. We have seen a few of these boats as we have travelled through Florida, and I can certainly understand why you would want to try and move them. All the ones we have seen have been abandoned and left to deteriorate. There is nothing sadder than an unloved boat.
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