Page Title

Fort Pierce to Jacksonville, FL

Ft. Pierce – Monday, March 19, 2007

We left about 7:45 am. The wind is at its lowest point in the early morning and increases later in the day. March and
April are windy months in Florida, so they say. We certainly believe it! We headed north, hoping to get to Titusville.
Florida is a beautiful state from the ICW. We went through an area north of Vero Beach called Barker Island. Wow!
The homes here are the prettiest we have seen on this trip, as far as landscaping, boat houses, pools and sculptures
are concerned. They were so well maintained, they must have a permanent staff, taking care of everything!

There is no shortage of beautiful homes along this stretch of the ICW.

We arrived in Titusville around 5:15pm. It was a long day. The weather had clouded up and it was misting when we
got there. The Titusville Municipal Marina had two men out on the dock to help us tie up when we arrived. We really
appreciated it because the wind was really blowing and it was raining. Through the mist, we could see Cape
Canaveral. There is a really huge building that you can see from miles away. Phil has been there several times when
he was with United Space Alliance. NASA rolls the Space Shuttle,
horizontally, into this huge building, stands it up vertically and attaches the solid rocket boosters and the external fuel
tank. Everything the space ship needs to fly its mission is assembled on the launch pad in this building. It is rolled
vertically from this building to the launch site. I had no idea the launch pads were so huge. There is also a water tank
by each pad because as soon as ignition begins, the cavity beneath the space ship, which is about 30 feet deep, is
flooded with water from the water tank. There are several launch pads, many smaller; because they launch rockets
and missiles, as well as the Shuttles we are familiar with seeing.

We met David and Barbara Doyle, on board a 27’ Rinker. They were very nice. Both are college professors from
Jacksonville. They did the Loop in another similar boat in fifteen weeks! Before he retired, that was the time they had
to spend and they say they saw it all. Their boat, needless to say, goes much faster than ours. I really am satisfied
with our boat, though. I like the speed and the comfort, although Phil does look longingly at some boats when they
speed past us.

This picture is of the island across from the marina. When sitting on our aft deck we looked directly onto this small
paradise. The dock master swore there were several manatees in the marina. Phil thought he might have seen the tail
of one, but, of course, I did not see it. We talked to a man who lived aboard his boat and he told us that the manatees
scratched their backs on the bottom of his boat at night! We looked and looked for them, but never saw a one. I told
the dock master that I thought the Florida manatees were a fable. And I must say, if there are only 3000 manatees left
in Florida, they must all live alone because there are so many go slow zones (manatee zones) that if just one
manatee lived in each zone, there would still be zones left over!

Titusville – Tuesday – March 20

We left Titusville about 10:20. Still no manatees. There are many, many areas for manatees to live between Titusville
and Daytona Beach. Most of the signs, telling you to go slowly, request minimum wake. For our boat, minimum wake
means going about five to seven miles an hour. Needless to say, we don’t make much progress in the manatee
zones. The ICW is a turning, twisting channel in areas between Titusville and Daytona. There is a lot of shoaling in
some places and it is very shallow if you do not stay in the channel. As we came through the bend in the Ponce Inlet,
we saw a big sailboat hard aground. It was on its side. They called us on the radio to ask us to please pass slowly with
no wake, which, of course, we were planning to do anyway. They said the cabin was a mess. Everything was out of
the cabinets and on the floor. They had already had someone out to help them earlier in the day, but they had to wait
for high tide. We felt so sorry for them. There was nothing anyone could do to help them, except go slowly. I know
they were glad when high tide came and they could get to an upright position again! We saw another big sailboat
hard aground, also, but it was not as far on its side as the one in Ponce Inlet.

We arrived in Daytona Beach about 4:30 at the Halifax Marina. I did not feel so well, so I took a nap, while Phil went
out to visit. He met a really nice couple, Doug and Sue Walton, from Ft. Myers and their two little, floppy, but feisty
dogs, Lacie and Scooter.
Their boat is a Manta power catamaran, “Beach Cat”, which is 44’ long and 21’ wide. It is a really pretty boat with a
fabulous shower in the master bath. They said they bought it for the shower!
We went to dinner at the Stock Exchange and enjoyed our evening with them. They were leaving the next morning for
St. Augustine. We planned to stay another day.

On Wednesday, we rode bikes and went downtown to eat lunch at Angell and Phelp’s. The people on the streets in
Daytona Beach were not very friendly. We wandered through the town and Phil rode the bike to the grocery store
which we were told was only a mile or so (turned out to be 6 or 7 miles!).

Daytona Beach – Thursday – March 22

We got fuel and left at 9:15 am. Much of the ICW north from Daytona Beach is in the Matanzas River. Once again,
there was shoaling and we had to be very careful to stay on the sailing line in the channel. We saw two more boats
aground. We were very thankful for our depth sounder and our electronic navigation system that is hooked up to our
GPS and the computer. At least, we can always tell where we are and where we should be steering. As I have said
many times in this log, there were beautiful homes in this area, also. The Matanzas River is a beautiful recreational
river with many pretty homes and boats along its banks. In an area that was not as populated, we were thrilled to see
a bald eagle, sitting high in a tree on the bank. He was beautiful. We knew that eagles were seen frequently in
Florida, but, like the manatees, we had not seen any.

We arrived in St. Augustine at the Municipal Marina at 3:30. The marina is right by the Bridge of Lions, a big, really
pretty, historical bridge. It is now being renovated. The big statues of the lions that are generally on the bridge have
been removed for their safety.
There were pile drivers, tugs pushing barges with construction equipment on them and much noise which continued
until about midnight or later. The plans are for it to be completed in 2010. Wow! Despite all that, we loved the marina
because it was so close to downtown St. Augustine. When Phil went to check us in he walked by the huge old, but
pristine and privately owned yacht from Newport, RI and while he was gone, Doug and Sue knocked on the boat and
we made plans for dinner.
We were really, really torn because Kansas was playing in the Sweet Sixteen that evening. Doug and Sue came over
later and we watched part of game, and then went on to dinner. We ate at the Habana Village, a Cuban restaurant
with live music. Once again, we said goodbye to Doug and Sue. They were leaving the next morning to visit friends in
Fernandina Beach. We hope to see each other again in Savannah or Charleston.

On Friday, we had such a fun day. We went sight-seeing. We had a late breakfast at the Athena Café, a little Greek
restaurant. We had spinach and feta omelets, which were delicious. We wandered through art galleries. Phil found
some paintings and acrylic and glass sculptures he loved at the James Coleman Gallery in the Casa Monica Hotel, a
lovely historical hotel, one of three in St. Augustine, built by Henry Flagler, co-founder of Standard Oil and builder of
the railroad system in Florida. One of his hotels that was his residence is now Flagler College, a four-year liberal arts
college. We toured the part of the college that is now the women’s residence hall and was where he lived with, at
least, one, if not two, of his three wives. It was beautiful. I cannot imagine living in a dorm like that in college. It
certainly was not anything like Littlefield Freshman Dormitory, where I spent my first year at Texas University! Our tour
leader was a freshman and gave a good tour.

There was an amazing amount of art that has been well preserved in the Flager. The dining hall had a great many
murals on the walls and ceiling. Much of the art was hand painted on silk.

When the Flagler was in its heyday as a hotel, the women were not allowed to participate in the checking in process in
the lobby. As they entered the hotel, they turned immediately to the left and were ushered into the lovely salon, where
they could rest, freshen up and wait until the “nasty monetary business” of registering was finished. Women carried
no money, were not allowed to register at a hotel and were not even supposed to see the exchange of money. Quite
a difference from today’s world! They did not suffer in the salon because the room was huge, but had been divided
into smaller areas to make it more intimate and comfortable. There was a painting on the wall of Ida Alice, his second
wife, who was sent to a mental institution and diagnosed as “incurably insane”. The painting was lovely and Ida Alice’s
eyes, as well as her knees and body, followed you when you walked across the room. It was very interesting. Town
lore has it that the Flagler is haunted by the ghost of Ida Alice because Henry Flagler kept her locked in the turret of
the hotel. Our guide, however, lived just under the turret room, but she guided from a memorized script, said nothing
about the ghost and no one asked her about it. We found out about the haunting at dinner. We, of course, saw no
ghosts, but we were not taken to the turret room, so who knows? We did see the dining hall, which is where the
guests at the Flagler dined and now is where the girls eat their meals. It is magnificent. The girls can also get
breakfast in bed, but it is served at 8 am and our guide said it was too early to get up, even to be served in bed! The
tuition for the college for the entire year, including room and board is $13,000. Next year, however, there is an
increase to $18,000 for the year. Our guide told us the college was consistently ranked as one of the best liberal arts
programs in the nation. I have not checked that, but it is a beautiful campus and, certainly, reasonably priced.

Henry Flagler’s first wife died quite young and he was devastated. He then married Ida Alice, who, as I mentioned
before, had mental problems. They were married about eight years before she was committed and divorced. The third
wife is the one he was married to when he built the railway to Key West. He also built a hotel in Key West.

The next place we toured was the Cathedral-Basilica of St Augustine, established in 1565. It was seriously damaged
in the great fire of 1887, leaving only the walls intact. It was rebuilt and today is essentially the same, except for the
chancel wall and roof. It has a red ceiling with a gold design on it and dark beams
that crisscross it. It was beautiful.
We lighted a candle for our brothers at the lovely shrine in the Blessed Virgin Mary Chapel.
I wanted to go through Old St. Augustine Village, a facility of the Museum of Arts and Sciences of Daytona Beach, but
it was late and we were tired. I did walk over to it and go through part of it, but it closed in thirty minutes and there
were no more guided tours for that day. I got a brochure and decided I would get to see other historical homes in
Savannah and Charleston. We had dinner that night at O.C. White’s. I had Flounder Florentine, which was wonderful.

St. Augustine to Jacksonville Beach, Fl – Saturday – March 24

We left St. Augustine for Jacksonville Beach at 9:00 am. Once again, there were beautiful homes along the water.
They have such pretty boat houses of different types. There was an area called Harbor Island that was beautiful. It
had private marinas for its residents with canals leading to the marinas off the ICW. It looked like a very exclusive
area. In an unpopulated area, we saw a pair of bald eagles in the top of a tree in a nest. They were so pretty. Still no
manatees, although there were many zones for them. We called Michael, Phil’s nephew, and his wife, Penny and they
met us at the Beach Marine marina when we arrived at 1:15 in Jacksonville Beach. The four of us went to lunch at a
diner which was great. They took us to Wal-Mart for a few things we needed and then spent the afternoon with us on
the boat. There was a restaurant in the marina, where we ate and watched Kansas bow out of the Sweet Sixteen. We
ate in the bar area and we were so glad that we were going to feel SO much better than the people at the bar were
going to feel on Sunday morning! We had a good time and enjoyed being with Michael and Penny. It was nice to be
with family.

On Sunday, we cleaned the boat and were ready to go to lunch with Phil’s good friends, Jim and Mary Warren, at 11:
30. We went to their club for lunch and a view of the Atlantic Ocean. They were leaving for Pensacola about 4:00, so
they took us to their home, while they finished packing. They gave us their car to use while we were in Jacksonville
and invited us to stay in their home. We took them up on the car, but declined the house. We enjoyed being with them
so much. The three of them have been friends for many years and share some great memories. Phil and I went back
to the boat, had a glass of wine on the back deck and watched the boats come back in from a day on the water. Later
that evening, Michael came by for a visit.

Monday, we worked at home. We had several phone calls to make, the boat needed to be washed, the log brought up
to date and the isinglass cleaned. We went to Michael and Penny’s for dinner. They always say they live in the “hood”
and they do, indeed, live in the “hood”. Their house was very nice and we again enjoyed being with them.

Our Travel Log

Travel Log