Maca Climbs Aboard

Docked in Halifax Harbor Marina and waiting on Tim a.k.a Maca, I walked the docks and found SV Cool Change which had some interesting additions to the exterior.

Wind and LPG

I first noticed a vertical axis wind generator. Google seems to think it’s something called a “lantern style” and can be purchased from Chinese distributors. Heck, you can find them on Amazon too.

Plastic lantern-style vertical axis wind generator

Next I noticed that there were a total of eight, 20lb (size of your gas grill’s bottle at home) LPG tanks (4 on each side). 160lbs is a lot of propane! For those unfamiliar with sailboats: A few progressive sailors use propane for their dingy outboard.

More common is the use of propane for sailboat stove/ovens. Electric stoves use too much power to be run off an battery/inverter and require a diesel generator which many smaller sailboats either don’t have or want depleting their auxiliary engine’s diesel reserve. I have even spoken with southern sailors who have gone to the extreme of using a solar oven.

When I built MV Simple Life, I chose to outfit with an electric stove over propane.

I hate to think about propane leaks on a boat. I also hate going ashore to find a propane refilling station. MV Simple Life has a 9KW Northern Lights generator and 440 gallons of diesel so why not just start the genset when you want to use the oven and never spend time tanking an Uber to somewhere ashore to refill a propane tank.

NORTHERN LIGHTS M773LW3 – 9kW 1800 RPM 60 Hz MARINE GENERATOR

There are many Chinese systems that can be commonly found on US cruising boats, chinese-diesel-fired-forced-hot-air-heaters is a common one as are the cheap mopeds and much more portable kick scooters that you see everywhere.

Halifax Harbor Marina had given me some tourist maps when I arrived. Lots to do and see…

Tim arrived and we set out south down the ICW. We passed many interesting sights that first day.

As the sun sunk low we prepared to anchor in Mosquito Lagoon that first night.

Our day’s journey looked something like this.

W03L021 –
Daytona Beach – Mosquito Lagoon

Daytona Jay

While sitting on anchor in Daytona, I connected with my friend Jay who I had not seen in years. Jay mentioned that there was a marina a block from his house so I gave them a call and requested a slip. The marina replied that MV Simple Life was too big for their slips as they stop at 42′. When I explained “that was too bad as my friend lives right around the corner”, the marina manager said “if you want to attempt to come in, we’ll find a spot for you on our fuel dock”. I kindly accepted and weighed anchor and headed the 5NM south to the small marina.

When I arrived at the entrance channel the wind was honking and the channel was very narrow. I had to crab the boat into the wind (keep the bow pointing into the wind while moving sideways) and squeeze through pilings that mark the channel edges. Once inside the dockhands were helpful in catching my lines that I had pre-set draped over the sides of the hull.

MV Simple Life safely tied up at Seven Seas Marina in Daytona Beach. You can see the wind in my American flags is hard against my port side.

Once tied up Jay pulled in and off we went to grab some Mexican food.

It was a ton of fun to connect with Jay and we started by stopping over a friends house who introduced me to his dog. He told me it was a Corgi-Pit mix. So I had this picture in my head.

I’ll let you decide how accurate he was…

Corgi-Pit mix doing some tree trimming

Soon it was time to find some live music so we set out on a tour of Daytona Beach’s hot spots.

Daytona Taproom

Booze and axe throwing… seems legit.

I’m not sure I’d want my girlfriend practicing her axe throwing?

We decided to make a run to New Symrna Beach and we found some 80’s music.

Any Way You Want It

We walked into the back door of a pub and found friends of Jay’s playing on stage.

The Click Playing in a small venue in New Symrna Beach

At some point we wound up in a smokey little dive bar called YAYAs for some karaoke. What to sing?

NIB

I returned to MV Simple Life and snapped this picture… I’m thought it was me that was blurry?

By the morning’s light the wind had let up enough to get off the dock. I had a friend flying into Daytona International Airport and this marina is on the wrong side of the ICW. I called Halifax Harbor Marina and rented a slip that was as close to the airport as I could get.

The marina was a great place to visit. In the morning I grabbed a coffee and walked the docks and more.

Memorial Bridge Anchorage

The trip from my Pine Island which is just north of St. Augustine, FL to Daytona, FL looked something like this.

As I came into St. Augustine there were surfers who were catching some pretty good waves in the St. Augustine inlet. I tried to video the surfers but with the current on my stern, I was passing a bit too fast to capture it.

Next I had to hail the famous Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine on VHF CH#09 to let them know I would be waiting on their next opening.

The Bridge of Lions bridge tender let me know that only half of the bridge would be opening. This meant that with a strong current and only one side of the bridge opening, I’d have to hail any north-bound vessels and arrange which boats go through the narrow opening first. The rarely known convention is that the vessels with the current on their stern go through first.

While passing through St. Augustine I had a nice view of the city and some boats.

Just south of Flagler Beach, FL I came across this amphibious excavator driving on the water.

Amphibious Excavator on the ICW

The weather was warm but showed the next few days were going to be cold.

I was coming to Daytona, FL to hopefully meet up with an old friend from high school as well as pickup a childhood friend who was flying into Daytona airport to come aboard and travel south with me for a week or more. I chose this anchorage (located just south of the closest ICW bridge to the airport, Memorial Bridge) because it is only 5 miles or so from Daytona International Airport.

Daytona Beach International Airport located next to Daytona International Speedway – Nascar as well as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

The weather when I awoke on anchor was cold and rainy.

Storms were moving across the area.

But my anchor was holding fast. This screen capture of my Anchor alarm app shows the boats motion as I swing back and forth with the wind & current on anchor.

Screen Capture of my Anchor! iPhone App. The colored lines are my path as I swing about on anchor.

While I sat on anchor I was treated to the woman’s crew team rowing by for most of the day. I’m not sure if this woman’s crew were affiliated with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University or the Halifax Rowing Association? Update: After actually watching the video and seeing the “H” on their oars… I’m going with Halifax Rowing Association (grin).

Woman’s Crew Team

Now off to find my friend Jay…

Bridges of Daytona Beach

We weighed anchor about 8:30AM and pushed hard all the way to New Smyrna, FL.

48 nautical miles is a long run for us. We ran at about 2.0 Gal/Hr @ 7km/hr. We started with the current with us, then against us and finally with us again.

I read in Active Captain that they offered free tours of this fort. I wish we had more time (maybe on the return trip?).

Today’s trip took us by Daytona Beach and it was full of beautiful houses.

Who are these people who have homes in such a beautiful place?

Along the way Kelly & I tried our best to capture some of the birds that flew by.

We saw an airport that was pretty busy with small planes taking off or landing every few minutes.

The bridges were many but most opened on demand. This bridge was the first that only opened on one side. As you pass under you worry that you wont hit the bottom of the bridge or the unopened edge.

There were some nice bike / walking paths along the waterway and this woman and her dog were enjoying the day.

We anchored along the side of the ICW alongside everal other boats and now it’s time to play some music, bake some cookies and drift off.