Jacksonville to Titusville
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2001
1
33
45
Trip End
Apr 22, 2002
Titusville,
Florida,
United States
Friday, November 30, 2001
Arriving late in the day from Jacksonville, we anchored north of the bridge directly in front of the old Spanish Fort - Castillo de San Marcos.
The castle and the Spanish/Moorish buildings with their red, clay tiled roofs glowed in the light of the setting sun. What a magnificent sight, and Mystic Loon was anchored right in front of it just like boats from around the world did during centuries past. The city itself is a combination of tourist-oriented commercial buildings and very old, restored and well-maintained dwellings and buildings.
On St. George Street is a recreation of an eighteenth-century Spanish-American village. The area contains several authentic colonial homes, gardens, courtyards and stores. Participants are dressed in clothes of that period and go about the everyday tasks of craftsmen, housewives and store keepers of the time.
One of the most striking buildings is the Ponce de Leon Hotel, now the home of Flagler College. The hotel was built in 1888 by the multi-millionaire of Florida development, Henry Flagler. In its day, it was called the foremost winter resort in America. As I walked the corridors which were open to the public, I couldn't believe that this was a college campus with its interior of magnificent curved marble staircases, carved oak panels and massive European style murals.
Many of the striking windows were said to be the creation of Louis C. Tiffany. An article said that: In 1893,Vogue magazine wrote that it is as if some modern prince had deserted his own palace and turned it into a hotel.
One treat was the unexpected visit of Pauline and Martin from FOREVER YOUNG, whose company we had enjoyed many weeks ago in Belhaven. That evening, we did our own walking tour of the back-streets to find a noted restaurant called Scarlett OHaras on Hypolita Street. The food was excellent, even the local appetizer which three of us tried - crispy, deep-fried Alligator Tail. Im not sure why but Margaret insisted on passing up the opportunity to try this delicacy. :-)
Wandering back through the narrow streets, we were surprised to find the small shops on Spanish Street to be almost all open even though it was late Sunday evening. Yes, this is certainly a town which caters to tourists.
Nov. 26
We found it very warm for sleeping in the marina and left to enjoy the breeze afforded in the anchorage just to the south of the marina. Then, I went back by dingy to the marina to tour the Castillo de San Marcos. There is a major reconstruction project going on, so I was unable to walk the parapets but visitors are free to wander the grounds and visit the deep vaults of the building. A National Parks warden told us that this is the only fort that had never been captured in over 150 years of attacks by British and French forces. Apparently it is built of coquina (pronounced ko-KEE-na), a locally quarried soft shell rock. Billions of sea creatures produce the coquina and because of the high water table, the layers of rock were damp when quarried. Once trimmed and shaped, the rock dried and hardened. This rock seemed to absorb the impact of cannon balls without crumbling. It was attacked a number of times but the longest seige was in 1740 when the fort withstood continuous bombardment for twenty-seven days by the English before they gave up and left in disgust.
The tourist brochure states that 'History', plus 43 miles of white sand beaches are bringing over a million visitors a year to St. Augustine and St. Johns County. After three days there we can certainly see why people fall in love with this unique city.
Nov. 27
The Cement Plant was the name given to our next anchorage. It is just a small channel off the ICW at mile 809, at the end of which is an abandoned cement plant. Along the banks is the home of SeaRay International and six huge gleaming new cruisers were tied up at the companys docks.
With everyone putting out a bow and stern anchor, we were able to host eight boats in a tiny area. In the North Channel, we would have been all tied off to shore but here going ashore is prohibited. I guess SeaRay feels that the sailboaters who use this anchorage are so tired of motoring at 6 mph that in frustration they might be tempted to steal one of those gorgeous boats. :-)
Elliott and Ina Alterman, aboard WINDFALL invited us and several other boaters over for refreshments before supper. They had heard us on the VHF talking with the other three boats we had been in company with and wanted to meet us. Very nice evening, enjoyed by all.
Nov. 28
Daytona Beach was not what I expected after hearing so much about this area. The West Marine store and free pumpout at the municipal marina were excellent features but a walk down main street was a disappointment. There are few nearby stores and none offering any provisioning staples. I guess most of the features of this community are across the bridge out on the ocean side.
Nov. 29
Past New Smyrna Beach, at mile 847, was one of the most beautiful wilderness anchorages we have found in the past few months. The ICW in Florida is very built up but here, just off the main channel, behind an unnamed island we found a unsuspected paradise. As we approached it, we watched eight dolphins having a marvelous time playing in the surf off the shoals. When we anchored, two dolphins surfaced close to the boat and blew just like we see whales on TV. Once anchored, we kept the camera ready for dolphin pictures - no luck, but we watched two Bald Eagles fishing the shoal water about 200 feet away. To make the evening perfect, it was 81F (27C). While we have faced challenges on this trip, evenings like this make it all worthwhile. Meanwhile back in our home port of Little Current, Joanne Bousquet sent us an email to tell us: "We have had quite the week of weather. Tuesday, we had a heavy snowfall and today it is pouring rain and most of it is freezing. You can well imagine the mess. The schools were closed Tuesday and again today. They had to evacuate the Public School one day as a house burned down across the street and the wind was threatening the school. Oh, what a wise decision the two of you made!"
Nov. 30
Margaret was quite willing to stay several days in this unknown anchorage but the shuttle launch initially planned had been postponed to this evening. Titusville is the ICW's number one spot from which to view a launch from the Kennedy Space Centre so off we went for another day of adventure. At mile 870 is Haulover Canal, a mile-long cut to the Indian River on the west side of Merritt Island. Merritt Island is a national wildlife preserve and going through the cut the guide says: Wildlife abounds on shore and boaters should keep a lookout for bird life of every variety, manatees and alligators and small fishing boats. Well, we found countless varieties of birds,dozens of locals out fishing, 3 manatees but no alligators watching us from the shallows. Maybe they had heard of our dinner menu at Scarlett O'Haras.
The marina at Titusville has a very friendly and accommodating staff. The cost for Boat U.S. members is a very reasonable $.75 a foot and they cater not only to transients but also to those who anchor out. There is a free dingy dock for those who anchor and, for $6, those people can use the showers and laundry facilities. Stores are within walking distance and on Friday night three local musicians put on a free concert for the boaters. Excellent atmosphere.
The only thing that spoiled the evening was the fact that the shuttle launch was canceled again and not rescheduled until next Tuesday. This was a long time to pay for dockage, so we decided we would join the other 60 boats at anchor in the harbour. Now, what to do for the four days? As we left the harbour in the morning, we cleared the first two sets of channel markers and with two more to go to take us out of shoal water, the RPM indicator slowly went to 0 and our faithful engine died. (To be continued)
