Cocoa to Daytona Beach

We spent an additional day and night in Cocoa riding out the heavy winds and rain.  The Nor'easter continued to blow in the high teens and low twenties with gusts up to 30 miles per hour.  Dark clouds and storm warnings convinced us to just ride it out since our anchor was holding well.  We took a quick dinghy ride to get our income tax returns in the mail before the filing deadline.  Cocoa looks like an interesting town which we plan to visit on our way south next fall.

We left Cocoa at 0815 on April 17.  This was a little later than our planned 0730 departure.  We took our time finishing our coffee and when we started to weigh anchor, the windlass quite working.  As a result, Dwayne had to haul in 175 feet of chain and the 45 pound Rocna anchor by hand. It was a bit of a workout; however, Carla made the job easier by skillfully nudging the boat forward to create slack in the chain as Dwayne hauled it aboard.

Roseate Spoonbill

We saw another Roseate Spoonbill in the same location just north of Titusville where we saw one on our way to the Keys. A little later, we saw dozens of manatees in the Haulover Canal.  However, we were not able to get any decent pictures since they lay just beneath the waters surface and appear as shadows on the water.  When they do rise to breath, they disappear before we can get a picture.


The winds continued to blow in the high teens and low twenties all day on our way to Daytona. Waves in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon were 2 to 3 feet which is surprising for the shallow water; however, these are very wide waterways with a lot of fetch.  The Halifax River wasn't any better as the wind was blowing right down its course and hitting us head on.  We eventually anchored just south of the Daytona Beach Memorial Bridge.  The winds are supposed to die down some tonight.  Tomorrow, we will make our way to St. Augustine and take a mooring ball.