Titusville to Vero Beach, FL

Today:         73 miles       10.2 hours          ICW St M “948.7”

Total:      1090 miles    157.5 hours

Fog leaving Titusville City Marina & Park

     We were up and away from the dock at 6 am.  Not only was it dark, but it was also “pea soup” foggy!  We slowly made our way from the marina out to the channel, not wanting to awaken anyone anchored/ moored outside the marina.  About a half hour later, even with the lightening the skies, we still couldn’t see due to the fog.  It was amazing to be passed by small fishing boats at full throttle in this fog!

    

Family of dolphins 

One of the many sad boats
 along the ICW

    The fog dissipated around noon, but the waterway was pretty deserted.  Even closed to Sebastian Inlet, we saw very few boats.  The breeze came up for a very short while, and we took advantage to get an assist from the jib.

Sebastian Inlet ~

          

Missing Mike, who took the photo!

     Our original plan was to head straight to Fort Pierce.  Somehow in our calculations, we neglected to account for our usual stop in Melbourne.  There is no way we would try to get into that marina, with the very narrow channel, markers being submerged during heavy current, and under the cover of darkness!  (Umm. . . it is a bit crazy thinking of doing a 13-hour run and expect sunlight for departure and arrival when we are only 5 days from the shortest day of the year!!!) Our next option was to get a mooring at Vero Beach Municipal harbor, but that would make our arrival after sunset.  So instead we went into Suntech Marina in Vero beach.  Those 2.5 miles were the difference between sunlight and darkness. 

     Suntech has a skinny entrance into a very protected harbor.  That is why Marilyn and Jon keep SV ESCAPADE docked there and Debbie and Mike will work on SV RESOLVE once she has completed her repairs from the lightening strike this past spring.

    Once we arrived, we called Marilyn and Jon to let them know we arrived.  Earlier, they invited us to join them as well as Mike and Debbie for dinner at their home.  The company and food were wonderful.  It was great catching up.  Earlier in the week, they had dinner with Betty, John, Martha and Dan.  CCYC South is pretty active!

     For once, we can take our time departing in the morning. From here to Fort Pierce is only 2.5 – 3 hours.

~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~    K & P