Mosquito Lagoon and More

While we were biking around Eau Gallie we saw a guy raking leaving and realized that we can be thankful that we don't have to do yardwork all year round. Guess that's the price you pay for not having cold weather. We are also thankful for the vine-ripened tomatoes that we been eating every since we got into Florida. Can't think of any price you pay for that except not have ice or snow to deal with...sounds like more than a fair trade-off.

We didn't do much at Titusville, the Space Coast, except eat a nice lunch at Dixie Crossroads. We had rock shrimp which we had never heard of before. They were small shrimp about the size of your thumb and broiled. Suppose to taste like lobster but we didn't think so. We moored overnight in the mooring field and left early Friday morning.

Sunrise over Cape Canaveral

Traveling through Mosquito Lagoon was a pleasure. It's a shallow expanse of water and most of it can only be explored by a dinghy or shallow-draft boat. The same conditions that make this water popular for mosquitoes and deer flies also create an ideal feeding and breeding ground for sport and commercial fish. Crabs, clams and shrimp thrive among the dense aquatic grass beds. Flocks of white pelicans and the small fishing boats that fill Mosquito Lagoon attest to the abundance of fresh seafood. We saw all kinds of birds and lots of things that swim.

Prepared for the hot sun

Enjoying the sun

Found a shady spot

You go girl

One of the species of birds that live here

And another

We saw dolphin, manatee, and mullets but couldn't get good pictures of any of them.

Saturday night found us on the outskirts of Daytona Beach in a small boatyard/marina. It was Daytona Bike Week so there were motorcycles everywhere and a constant, dull noise from there engines. But we turned the air conditioner on and that drowned out the sound.

Another early start so that we could get to St. Augustine in one day (57 miles).

Sunrise over Daytona.

This is what you call "run aground". Not sure how it happened but glad that it wasn't the Seahawk.

After 9 hours on the move we pulled into the mooring field at St. Augustine about 4:30. Tried what our new friend, Jim, from Eau Gallie told us about catching the mooring ball from the cockpit instead of the bow and it worked on the first pass. Thanks Jim.