LOG OF THE TOP CAT
DECEMBER 24-27 2004
COCOA BEACH TO ST AUGUSTINE
Merry Christmas! Jayne and I have decided to try a little cruise up the Intracoastal Waterway to St. Augustine to see the festival of lights and generally get away from it all. To save a little on gas, we will trailer up to Cocoa Beach and put Top Cat in the water there.
DECEMBER 24
We launch around 10:00 at the north end of the Banana River near Cape Canaveral. Transiting through the Canaveral Barge Canal into the Indian River, we turn north up the ICW. It is clear, a bit cold, and windy, but we have the canvas up and are pretty comfortable. North of Titusville, we spot a huge flock of white pelicans as we pass just north of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. These are winter visitors, much larger and less common than the brown pelican we see here year-round. The next landmark is Haulover Canal, connecting the Indian River to the Mosquito Lagoon. Mosquito Lagoon is still largely undeveloped and unspoiled, thanks to the National Wildlife Refuge and the Kennedy Space Center. But it is also really shallow, and we are pretty much confined to the ICW channel. We blast up the ICW into an increasingly stiff north wind and pass Oak Hill and New Smyrna Beach. Our destination for this evening is Daytona Beach, where we have a reservation at the Municipal Marina for the night. We get into our slip and take a walk around downtown, scoping out possible places for dinner. As the sun goes down, it starts to get REALLY cold. There is a West Marine that is miraculously open, and we buy an electric cabin heater. This purchase will prove to be a lifesaver. After dinner, we listen to the forecast for tomorrow, which features a north wind with gusts to gale force, and lows in the lower forties. A classic strong cold front, and we will be punching straight into it.
DECEMBER 25
Christmas Day dawns cloudy and cold. We are bundled up, and hit the water around 0900. Hardly another boat on the ICW today (wonder why) and we have the water to ourselves. Top Cat is doing her usual almost magic trick of smoothly busting through the nasty chop, and we are making about 20 knots. We are making that 20 knots into about another 25 knots of wind, and Lord only knows what the wind chill is. About 20 miles out of St. Augustine, we get another treat – rain. The rain is spotty, but when it comes down, it comes down hard, and stings like birdshot. We are glad to pull into St. Augustine Municipal Marina, just south of the famous Bridge of Lions, and get tied up. By this point, waves are crashing over the dock.
Encased in our foulies, we take a walking tour of the fort (Castillo de San Marco) and admire the Christmas decorations downtown. As night falls, the lights come on and it is lovely – almost making you forget the blowing rain. Finding someplace open to eat is proving to be a challenge. It is Christmas Day after all. We see signs of life in a little Cuban restaurant, and press our cold, wet faces into the window. The owner is having a party for his employees and family, but kindly takes pity on us and invites us in to join them. There is roast pork, mojitos, and everyone is taking turns on guitar and drums, and dancing and singing. A really wonderful time, and we were deeply touched by the hospitality. I feel like a character in one of those Christmas specials on TV, where the crusty old curmudgeon (me) learns the true meaning of Christmas. Back at the boat, we brave the bucking floating dock and get snuggled up in the cabin, with the little heater going full blast.
DECEMBER 26
The front is blowing through, the wind has slacked a bit, the rain let up, and it is time to start heading back south. With the wind at our backs, it is smooth sailing. After a fuel stop in Palm Coast, we pass Daytona and are shooting for an overnight in New Smyrna Beach, about 2/3 of the way home. But there is nothing available, and we continue south. I really don’t want to anchor out tonight, because as the sky is clearing it is getting even colder, and will hit the high 30’s tonight. And without a shorepower connection, we can’t run the little heater. We finally pass a little podunk fish camp in Oak Hill, just a rickety dock behind a bait shop at a run-down RV park with a couple of bass boats tied up. We pull in and find the office, and ask if we can spend the night. The owner says: “We’ve never had anybody do that, but I guess I could charge you what I charge an RV for a campsite. Is ten bucks OK?” Ten bucks was just fine. He even ran a string of extension cords out from the bait shop to the dock. We cooked some steaks on the grill, and huddled in the canvas enclosed bridge deck, with the faithful heater doing its thing. That night the clouds broke to a crystal clear sky, a full moon came up, and a family of dolphins cavorted around the dock. Jayne and I were bundled up, cocktailed up, and digesting a great dinner. Life is good.
DECEMBER 27
Just about 30 miles to go back to Cocoa. It was an uneventful and easy run back through Haulover Canal and down the ICW, until just outside the entrance to the Barge Canal, where I ran out of gas. I hesitate to even mention it, since it is such a bonehead thing to do (and I have never done it before or since, despite pulling an astonishing variety of other bonehead moves). I had gone a little light on gas back in Palm Coast since it was so expensive, and didn’t allow quite enough. We were dead in the water about 5 miles from the dock. Thank goodness for good friends and cell phones. Bob Gilbert to the rescue! – We called our friend Bob, who graciously filled up a couple of 5-gallon cans and ran them out to us in his skiff. In no time at all we were loaded back up on the trailer and headed back to Vero Beach.