Halifax Harbor Marina – MV Simple Life

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.

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…

Tag: Halifax Harbor Marina

Daytona Jay

Memorial Bridge Anchorage