I will continue with our trip through Florida. Florida is a long, long state and we still have a few days left before we tie up in Pompano Beach. 

We had a great visit with an old cruising and ham radio friend in Palm Coast. Palm Coast is an area with a maze of canals located a little south of St. Augustine. The houses are lovely and they're on the modest side. The area is starting to take off as well as the prices. Our friends designed and built their house and they took advantage of their east facing exposure to the canal. On the west side which gets very, very hot in the summer they planted trees that have now reached maturity and shade the house so well from the afternoon sun.

A front came through and we knew it was time to head further south. We were able to sail a little with a nice northerly wind. As you head further south you need to pick your anchorages carefully. There aren't as many as in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. We got some local advice from our friend Jeanie and we also remained on the lookout for places for the future. We worked our way down to Ponce de Leon inlet and found an incredible spot. The inlet is protected on the north by a long breakwater. There is a smaller breakwater to the south. The inlet is straightforward but not considered class "A". Where we anchored we had a perfect view of the waves breaking on the northern breakwater, but we were protected by sandy islands. It was a wonderful spot. We had a short dinghy ride to the beach. The beach had many signs on it but rather than saying "Keep out" they said, "Thank you for coming". What a nice place.

That night the winds picked up around 8 pm. The current was adverse to the wind and we just spun and spun around our anchor. Three other boats were anchored there with us and we all spun in different patterns. Luckily we were all anchored well away from each other.

We were underway by 6:15 the next day and we planned to go 70 miles to the Cape Canaveral area. We had a great north wind again so we set the jib out. It was great sailing down Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River. We have some friends who live in a canal off the Banana River. These friends have kindly let us use their computers to send off our emails. We are so lucky. 

Our next update will be in Pompano Beach. If all goes well we'll be there by next weekend. Till then we hope for fair winds and following seas.

Pam and Chris