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We had planned to stay at the New Smyrna Yacht Club and had planned on a short sailing day from Daytona. We arrived at the New Smyrna Yacht Club just after 10:30 a.m. to find small tight slips that we tried docking into with a 1.5 knot current pushing us and 25 knot winds. Talk about a nail biter! We circled the yacht club waiting for the current to slow, only to have the wind pipe up and gust to 35 knots. We decided to turn around and head to a marina that was right off the ICW that offered floating docks with easy access. We regretted missing out on the Smyrna Yacht Club, but were relieved to be safe and sound tied up to wait out an oncoming storm. The storm was brought by a cold front from the west that lowered the temps from highs we’d been enjoying in the 80’s down to the 60’s and the lows in the 40’s…burrrrr.
On Saturday morning we decided to attempt another go at the New Smyrna Yacht Club. It was slack tide, but the wind was still very strong, blowing at 25 knots. We arrived at the club and there were several other club members there to assist us. We made it in on the first shot, despite the high winds.
After that stressful docking, we treated ourselves to breakfast at the club. The facilities were really very nice and we had a great breakfast. We then headed out to the movies, just a short walk away from the yacht club. Tony and I saw Master and Commander, while Monica headed into see The Cat in the Hat. After enjoying our respective movies we headed into the historic town district to do a little window shopping.
New Smyrna
David, Judith,Robin and Ivy
We had breakfast at the yacht club before leaving which gave us a late start after 10:00 a.m. The wind had died down a good deal and the sun was out warming things up nicely. We had a good sailing day with the wind behind us out of the NNE. As we approached Cape Canaveral you could see the space center. We pulled into an anchorage about 4:00 p.m. to find our friends from ‘Khira’ in the same anchorage. We hailed them on the ships radio and found out how their day was. Robin and Ivy rowed over in their dingy to pick up Monica who joined them on their boat to play cards until dinner. They rowed her back in time for dinner and we all made it an early evening.
We only had a 30 mile day to get to the yacht club in Melbourne where we planned to stay the evening. We arrived just before noon and found the Eau Gallie Yacht club, located just off the ICW on the Banana River, to be very nice with a beautiful swimming pool, hot tub, and very nice facilities. Unfortunately, the club was closed as it was Monday. We took a nice long walk up to the grocery store and then headed back to the boat.
On Tuesday, Dec. 2, we sailed up the Banana River, less than a mile to the Telemar Bay Marina where we planned to leave the boat for the month of December while we headed home to take care of some business before heading over to the Bahamas.
On Wednesday, we picked up a rental car and set out for home. Once home we took care of doctors’ appointments, house maintenance, and lots of catching up with friends for the holidays. We thoroughly enjoyed our three week stay at home as busy as it was.
We arrived back to the boat in Melbourne on Tue. 12/23. We unpacked the car and loaded the boat with the supplies we had brought from home. On Wed. 12/24, Christmas Eve, we still had the rental car so we took full advantage of it and ran errands to help prepare for our upcoming trip to the Bahamas. Later that afternoon, we headed out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant, (Monica’s choice) and then to the movies to see the latest Lord of the Rings movie, Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, (again, Monica’s choice). On Christmas day we still had the car so we found a grocery store that was open and did the major provisioning for our trip. Three loaded grocery carts later we headed back to the boat and spent a good part of the afternoon figuring out where to put all the provisions.
The remainder of our stay at Telemar Bay Marina was spent doing maintenance on the boat in preparation for the Bahamas. We left this Marina on Friday morning, Jan. 2, 2004 and sailed less than a mile back down the Banana River back to the Eau Gallie Yacht Club where we stayed the night.
