​Current Location:  ICW MM 1066, Harbortown Marina, Dania Beach, Fl
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Sunny, breezy, high-70s
Highlights: Arrived back on the boat late Wednesday after 3 weeks of visiting with family and friends, and celebrating Thanksgiving in Hickory.  Had a wonderful time, but it's good to be back home, and also in the South with temps in the 70s and 80s.  We spent yesterday and today running all kinds of errands (final provisioning, filled the propane tank, trip to the bank and pharmacy, settled all the outstanding bills), then returned the rental car late this afternoon.  Terry finished up the new grab rail by the helm station and worked on screens for the back port holes while Amy did a few loads of laundry, baked rolls, and organized the boat.  Winds look favorable over the next few days to cross over to Bimini, so we'll plan to travel down to Biscayne Bay tomorrow and wait for the right weather window to begin the next leg of our trip.  Mac and cheese with hotdogs for dinner tonight, then called Mom to wish her happy birthday before turning in for the night.

​Current Location:  ICW MM 1066, Harbortown Marina, Dania Beach, Fl
Miles Traveled:  46
Weather:  Showers early, mostly sunny later, breezy, mid-80s
Highlights: Almost a duplicate of yesterday's travels.  Raised anchor at 9:30, rode the current out the LW inlet, then had good winds off our beam as we made our way south.  Northbound current is much closer inshore here, so we stayed only about 1-2 miles offshore most of the day to catch the south-bound countercurrent.  Averaged about 6.5 knots most of the trip, and arrived at the Port Everglades inlet around 3PM.  Found our temporary berth here in Harbortown Marina (where JustCatamarans is located), got settled in, then walked down the road to Antonio's for a very nice pasta dinner.  Back to the boat in time to watch Survivor, then turned in early, glad to finish this leg of our trip south.  This will be our last blog entry for a few weeks.  We plan to pick up a rental car tomorrow, drive up to Orlando this weekend to visit with Jim and Donia, then will continue north to Hickory, where we'll spend the Thanksgiving holidays with family.  Should be back to the boat around the end of this month.  Until then, best wishes to all for a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

​Current Location:  ICW MM 1018, Lake Worth Inlet anchorage, Lake Worth, Fl
Miles Traveled:  48
Weather:  Mostly cloudy with early showers, breezy, mid-80s
Highlights: Raised anchor around 9AM slack tide, then rode the current out the inlet and out to the Atlantic.  Considerably easier than last spring when we encountered 10-12 foot seas as we exited.  Breeze was fairly light from the east, so we motor-sailed most of the day, staying about 4 miles off-shore, and averaging almost 7 knots.  Arrived at the Lake Worth inlet around 5PM, dropped the sails, then motored about 2 miles down the ICW to the large anchorage.  Setlled in just before sunset, then had seafood (shrimp and scallops) with black beans and cilantro over rice for dinner.

​Current Location:  ICW MM 965, Fort Pierce Anchorage, Fort Pierce, Fl
Miles Traveled:  22
Weather:  Sunny, breezy, mid-80s
Highlights: We only have about 20 miles to go today, and needed low tide to go under 2 bridges, so didn't raise anchor until around 2PM.  Amy did laundry while Terry checked the engines, organized the lazarette, and updated the blog.  We had light wind on the nose most of the trip, so only had the genoa up for a short period of time.  Arrived at Fort Pierce just after 5PM, dropped anchor in the harbor, and then grilled chicken and vegetables for dinner tonight.  DWTS on TV tonight, then early bed.  Tomorrow we duck outside for the final 2 days of this leg of our trip - hopefully the wind will be right for sailing!

​Current Location:  ICW MM 943, Wabasso Causeway Anchorage, just north of Vero Beach, Fl
Miles Traveled:  45
Weather:  Cloudy, morning showers, east winds, low-80s
Highlights: Raised anchor just after 7AM, but dropped anchor shortly after as a line of thunderstorms came through.  Raised anchor again around 8:30 after the rain stopped, and motor-sailed down a very pretty section of the ICW, past Melbourne and Sebastian Inlet, seeing dozens of dolphins along the way.  Crept under 4 fixed bridges today, catching the antenna on each one, and the last one (Wabasso Bridge) provided us with only 2 inches of clearance at low tide.  Need to wait until tomorrow's tide cycle for the rest of the bridges, so we dropped anchor on the south side of the Wabasso bridge around 2:30PM, then settled in to watch the 2nd half of the Tampa/Carolina football game (as well as lots more dolphins that were swimming around us).  Dinner of sausage, peppers, and onions over pasta - one of Terry's favorites!

​Current Location:  ICW MM 898, Cocoa Beach Anchorage, Cocoa Beach, Fl
Miles Traveled:  67
Weather:  Sunny, strong winds from north, chilly morning, mid-70s later
Highlights: Raised anchor at 7:30, and motor-sailed with good winds (15-20 knots) from the north most of the day.  Went through a couple of bridges where clearance was extremely tight, and antenna was completely bent over, but so far no damage to mast or instruments.  Buddy-boated with XYZZY (Debbie and Dennis Jansma) as we travelled through Daytona, down Mosquito Lagoon, across Haulover canal, and down the Indian River.  Dropped anchor south of Kennedy Space Center.  Steaks on the grill with rice, spinach with bacon, and apple sauce.  Amy went to bed shortly after dinner, while Terry stayed up and watched some of the college football games before turning in.

​Current Location:  ICW MM 776, Camachee Cove Marina, St. Augustine, FL
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Sunny, breezy, mid-80s
Highlights: Had an 8:30 appointment with a rigging company (Sail Ready) for them to take a trip up our mast to assess/fix the damage.  We knew our windex had snapped, and he also discovered that the anchor light dome was knocked off, but he found no damage to the antenna or the electronic wind vane.  We had a loose bulb in the anchor light (which he tightened), and pulled the broken windex off.  We decided not to bother replacing that (it's basically just a $70 plastic windvane), and we couldn't find a light dome replacement, so we'll probably just replace the light fixture with a new LED light when we get to Fort Lauderdale.  Wrapped things up around 10:30, then walked into town for some sight-seeing.  Walked through the Fountain of Youth, then into town to visit the old Castillo Fort, stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at A1A (salmon for Amy and mahi-mahi for Terry, both were really good), then walked around the streets taking in the sights.  Highlights included some interesting demonstrations at the fountain, feeding peacocks, climbing around the old fort, seeing the Bridge of Lions up close, catching a choral rehearsal at Flagler College, ice cream from Ben and Jerry's, and people watching along St. George Street.  Caught a Lyft back to the marina around 5PM, and relaxed/watched TV the rest of the evening.

​Current Location:  ICW MM 776, Camachee Cove Marina, St. Augustine, FL
Miles Traveled:  37
Weather:  Sunny, calm, high-70s
Highlights: Raised anchor at 8:30 this morning, just before low tide, and motored up the ICW past yesterday's troublesome bridge, and also under 3 additional bridges that we needed to clear before the tide came back in.  Cleared all 4 with plenty of room to spare, then motored through a very beautiful stretch of the ICW between Jax and St. Augustine.  Arrived at the marina around 2PM, got settled at the dock and checked in, then walked over to Vinnie's for pizza and calzone.  Back to the boat around 4PM, and caught up on reading, blog updates, and trip planning.  Watched Survivor before turning in for the night.

​Current Location:  ICW MM 738, Jacksonville, FL
Miles Traveled:  62
Weather:  Sunny, breezy, low-70s
Highlights: Stars were out in full force tonight, and the half-moon rose around mid-night, so was very peaceful as we sailed wing-and-wing with light winds directly behind us.  Early in the night, we were averaging between 5 and 6 knots of speed, but as the wind died in the early morning hours, our speed dropped to about 4 knots.  Finally turned on one of the engines, and motor-sailed the last few hours, arriving at the Jacksonville inlet (St. Johns River) just before noon.  Rode the tide up the river about 7 miles, averaging over 9 knots most of the way, until we hit the ICW turn-off.  Day didn't end well, however.  We were trying to get under the ICW bridge, but our windex snagged in some construction safety netting that was hanging down below the bridge.  We were able to back out of the bridge before any further damage, but decided to anchor north of the bridge for the night, and wait for low tide in the morning before attempting another pass.  Dropped anchor around 3PM and used the rest of the day to catch up on sleep, eat a light dinner, and catch up on emails and reading.