Matanzas – MV Simple Life

My phone rings and I answer. I had just fallen asleep after being up for over 40 hours. I answer the phone and it’s a friend asking “where are you?”. I respond instantly with … “Oh. umm, ummm. ummm. I don’t know?” Funny that when you are always waking up in a new place each morning you forget where you are sometimes.

I planned on sleeping in leaving late. Why am I up and checking the weather at 5AM? Staying up for two days has knocked me off my circadian rhythm. The weather outside in the Atlantic is continuing to deteriorate with 25kt winds and 6-8′ seas. Lucky for me today’s trip will be on the inside motoring down the ICW.

Anchored at Fort Matanzas, FL and the current is so swift that you’d swear I was underway and not on anchor.

strong current while on anchor

I weigh anchor and proceed about an hour south down the ICW before docking at a marina in Palm Coast. I’m here to do a walkthrough of a boat for sale. I figured as long as I’m driving by I could help a friend by FaceTiming him from the boat he was interested in buying. The boat was beautiful.

As I make my way towards Daytona Beach, FL I pass several boats along the way.

Honey, I’m just going to buy a little boat and tie it up behind our home 😉

The boat is autopilot and I’m reading a Facebook fishing group post where a FB user has posted about how he caught his biggest fish in Long Island Sound. As I look at the photo of the fish, I’m thinking…. That looks like a federally protected, endangered Atlantic Sturgeon. As I click on the photos to get a closer look FB says the photos have be removed. I’m thinking this must be a joke that nobody would post about catching an Atlantic Sturgeon. Or would they?

Sturgeon are living dinosaurs. Fisheries biologists have discovered that sturgeon existed as long as 200 million years ago.

The Atlantic sturgeon is one of seven species of sturgeons found in North America. Sturgeons are prehistoric species that date back to the time of dinosaurs. Sturgeons have physical features that separate them from other kinds of fish such as: a spiral valve stomach and cartilaginous skeleton (like sharks and rays), but they have scutes (hard, protective, large individual body plates) instead of shark’s denticles or bony-fish’s scales. The Atlantic sturgeon has barbels located on the underside of the snout, no teeth, rubbery lips, and a suctorial mouth for vacuuming food off the water bottom. The Atlantic sturgeon’s coloring typically is dark brown along the upper (dorsal) side, shading to a creamy white-colored belly (ASSRT 2007). The Atlantic sturgeon is a large fish that can reach a length of 14 feet (4.3 meters), a weight of over 800 pounds (363 kilograms), and possess strength to leap nine feet (2.7 meters) into the air.

As I approach Daytona I realize I only used 2 of my 10 FREE nights at Safe Harbor Marinas. After doing some research I learn that the blackout dates in the south prohibit their use.

Included to make sure my fellow Safe Harbor slip mates are aware

As I pull into Halifax Harbor Marina the wind is blowing so I have already prepped and have my fenders out on both sides and my lines coiled on the deck but hanging within reach if there is a dockhand to help me land in the slip. As I start down the I-H dock fairway I see the dockhand is already waiting in the slip for me to back in.

My friend Jay is already waiting and within minutes of landing we are sharing a beer and catching up since our last meeting here in Daytona Beach. We make a quick call to another former Foxboro resident and we meetup at Hooligans to grab some hot wings.

It was great catching up with my Foxboro Friends. It’s great to have friends along the way to break up the month long journey.

Back at the marina I feel like I’m walking into a cage match.

Back aboard Simple Life I plan on sleeping a bit late, enjoying my coffee and not leaving until my 11AM leave the dock deadline.

Simple Life Slipped at Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach, FL

The day’s route looked something like this

Coming into Fort Meyers Beach you see the same white sand found at Marco Island. Just amazing beaches. We entered using the Northern entrance channel.

It’s all a no wake zone so about 5 knots of headway for us. We ducked under the 65’ Matanzas Pass Bridge and grabbed a mooring ball from Mantanzas Harbor Mooring Field. It’s a town mooring field but administered by Mantanzas Inn. Running a mooring field requires not just the divers to inspect the mooring anchors, chains, balls and pennant lines…

…but also someone to answer the phone, VHF, fill out the paper work and collect the money as well as enforce the rules. Sometimes you have boats that run gas-powered gensets on deck late into the night. When in the Key West mooring field a boat finally shut off their loud generator around 10PM and another boat yelled “THANK YOU” across the mooring field. I spontaneously laughed aloud but the boater with the generator had some sharp words back. Funny but not.

Upon arrival I couple, Dave & Megan & Athena (the dog) passed by in a dinghy and offered to thread my lines though the mooring ball which just like Boot Key Harbor or Key West cannot easily be pulled up to reach MV Simple Life’s foredeck. D & M announced they were on their way to a cruiser’s raft-up and extended an invite to us. I was glad they did and I had a blast meeting the FMB cruisers within minutes of arrival. They were full great stories and laughs.

Yes, that is a Macaw parrot on Doug’s shoulder. see top-left corner.

The next morning we had to go into the Mooring field office and register using our boat registration paperwork. This is something that you don’t have to do when getting on a ball up North. Up North a the mooring field or launch boat pulls alongside your boat and they ask the name of the boat and collect the money. In Florida most the moorings we rented required not just the registration of the big boat but also the dinghy as well as insurance paperwork. I now carry digital copies of all on my iPhone.

We wasted no time in finding lunch at Matanzas Inn Restaurant.

Also spent some time in the upstairs at night listening to the local singers perform.

I also spent a little time at Bonita Bills.

I would have posted the video instead but the karaoke singing would have made your ears bleed.

While there I took a dinghy ride around San Carlos Island.

Approaching Hurricane Bridge you’ll pass a few cruisers who look like they have been anchored there for a bit.

Then duck under the Hurricane Pass Bridge and into Hurricane Bay.

Once under the bridge you are in Hurricane Bay and I stopped to snap a few photos of a derelict house boat aground.

The No Wake Zone ends and it was time to open the dinghy up and capture some sunset photos from Hurricane Bay.

While we were here in FMB a close family friend, Capt Mike Spinney came down on his boat and offered to give me a tour of FMB.

Mike and his friend Dave took me for a high-speed run all around FMB.

What fun to go from our normal 6kts to 35kts!

Capt Spin was quick to see that the dolphins were trailing us and mentioned that if you boost your wake a bit you can get them to do some jumps. As if right on cue..