No alarms this morning as we had a very short day ahead of us to reach Daytona Beach, FL… nice to sleep in an extra hour. We departed shortly after 0800 and headed north up the ICW.

One bridge to deal with that had a restricted opening schedule… opening on the hour and 20 after and before the hour… every 20 minutes. We arrived to the George Musson Memorial Bridge a couple of minutes early and waited with one other boat for the 0820 opening.

Departing ahead of us were three other MTOA trawlers… Sanctuary, C-Life and Sa-Shay… I could see them ahead of and they had taken an alternate route leaving the ICW and heading out toward the Ponce Inlet… I had always wanted to try this route… today was the day. The trawler that I had waited with at the bridge took the ICW about and was approximately 1/4 mile ahead of us… would be a good test to see which route was actually faster. There was plenty of water depth the entire route and when we rejoined the ICW north of the Ponce Inlet… I was now a good mile ahead of the other trawler… the alternate route was definitely a shorter alternative to the ICW.

We arrived to Daytona Beach at approximately 1030 and docked at the Halifax Harbor Marina slip J-17. Our position at the marina N29°12.173’, W081°00.826’. We traveled today for 2 hours and 25 minutes covering 13.81 nautical miles averaging 5.7 knots.

We had a great time last night with 8 other MTOA friends… 6 old friends and 2 new friends… at Ryan’s Village Pizza in Cocoa… Peg and Jim Healy, Robert and Kay Creech, Stuart Schechter and Claudia Young and Paxton and Shay Watkins. Pizza, Pizza, and more Pizza and of course some beer.

Good nights sleep and up bright and early to depart for New Smyrna Beach... leaving shortly after this beautiful sunrise. Again today a parade of trawlers all heading north. The majority of them being MTOA members heading to Daytona Beach for our annual Southern Rendezvous. We will arrive there tomorrow and join about 50-60 other boats planning to attend.

We arrived to New Smyrna Beach at approximately 1405 and docked at the Riverside Park docks. Already on the dock were Jim and Peg Healy aboard Santcuary. Jim assisted us with our dock lines and at 1415 we were securely docked at position N29°01.466’, W080°55.137’. We traveled today for 6 hours and 25 minutes covering 45 nautical miles averaging 7.0 knots.

We were up just before sunrise… Susan had her coffee… Beecha had her breakfast… and I was off in the dinghy to land with Beecha for her morning walk. Back to the boat… dinghy raised and stored on the upper deck… dropped the mooring painter and we were underway at 0750.

When we entered the ICW it was like joining a parade… within a half mile range before and aft of us there were 6 other boats… 2 behind and 4 ahead of us. This is the way it stayed all day long… a lot of boats heading north today. It was very nice seeing all this traffic… ?

We are supposed to rendezvous with Jim and Peg Healy aboard SANCTUARY this evening in Cocoa, FL. Plans are to go for dinner at Ryan’s Village Pizza… Really good pizza… YUM! We never pass Cocoa without stopping for pizza.

We arrived to Coca, FL at approximately 1420 and docked at the city free docks. Already on the dock were Robert and Kay Creech aboard C-Life… they are some fellow MTOA members and very good friends. Robert assisted us with our dock lines and at 1430 we were securely docked at position N28°21.297’, W080°43.329’. We traveled today for 6 hours and 40 minutes covering 47.5 nautical miles averaging 7.13 knots.