On the Move- looking for warmer weather

We left St Augustine on Saturday morning after we found out that our friends John and Kathy on Miss Alice weren't able to get out of Savannah for a Sunday arrival in St Augustine. The weather wasn't getting warmer, so we backed out of the slip around 930am and headed south. Seems it was a popular plan, as our new friends on Las Sirenas and Southern Bella were both pullin out at the same time. The plan was to get to Daytona and maybe spend a day there.
We got a bit behind because I don't like overworking the engine. I usually run our Yanmar 4cyl, 50hp diesel at around 1800rpms which sounds like a comfortable engine speed and gives us about 5.2 knots. I started wondering why we were always getting passed or left behind, so I pulled out the technical manual and looked at the power curve charts. According to the manual, the engine is actually rated for continuous duty at 3400rpms and the real power curve doesn't start until about 2000 rpms. So with some apprehension, I have pushed the throttle up to about 2200rpms which gets us to almost 6 knots. I don't know why I am compelled to be so conservative, but I feel like if I don't work the girl too hard, she will be there when I really need her. Enough gearhead chat, for now.
So we got into Daytona at dusk, and the last bascule bridge we needed to get through was on restrictions, so we had to do circles just north of it, waiting until 540pm for the next opening. The anchorage was just south of it but by the time we were through, darkness had set in. That adds an entirely new aspect to the equation. We tried to take a shortcut across a sandbar to enter the anchorage, but Solmate would have none of it. She drug her keel across the bottom, and convinced us we needed to take the longer way around to enter the anchorage from the south. So we U'eeed around and zipped down the additional quarter mile and hooked up into the anchorage. Fortunately, the anchorage wasn't crowded and the wind and current were both N to S, so we glided to a stop, dropped the hook, payed out 50' of chain and let the boat fall back on the 35# Bruce claw anchor and take a good set. We were below cooking tacos and mex rice withing minutes.
After dinner, we took Bella for a nighttime dingy ride over to the shore. We landed in a pretty high end harbor, surrounded by beautiful 50-80 foot yachts. We were in our foulies, with life jackets and Bella with hers on. I certainly felt like interlopers but Bella didn't mind, she found a good patch of grass and soiled it(yes we always pick up after her). It was a nice little jaunt in, but it still amazes us how much effort it takes to accomplish such a small little errand. Gathering all the gear(life jackets, radio, flashlights, dingy lights, etc), getting the outboard lowered down and mounted onto the dingy, getting everyone in without fallin in, and getting underway is a 20minute ordeal. In the time it takes to go 500yards to shore, you could have jumped into your car, gone to the QT, bought snacks and beer, and made it back home. It's just crazy. But we have plenty of time!!

We decided not to piddle around Daytona today, so we weighed anchor around 930am and headed south. With such a late start, we know we wouldn't be able to get to Cape Canaveral, but figured we'd get to Titusville. And we did. After another solid day of motoring south on the ICW, we pulled through the always up(except when there is a train actually coming) railroad bridge, and we passed through our first Swing bridge(swing bridges don't raise up, they actually pivot in the center and turn 90 degrees to allow passage on either side). It was pretty cool. they are currently building a tall fixed bridge to replace it, and Carryn and I both wondered if the bridge operator know he was going to soon be unemployed. Kind of sad, huh?

So we got through the swing bridge around 5pm, and turned west out of the channel to drop the hook. We found 8-10' of water just a quarter mile south and west of the swing bridge, and as such, we are fairly protected from the N wind(I can't understand why so many boats were anchored north of the highway/bridge, totally exposed to the north with a fetch of more than a mile of open water. If the wind pipes up, they are going to have a bumpy night)
Tonight we cooked our Chicken-n-Wine recipe with rice and brussels. It was tasty.
Tomorrow, we are going to continue south to Canaveral and treat ourselves to a marina. We got a hot tip from Terry and Deb on Island Time that the marina is offering a special rate of 60 cents a foot(per night), so we will get another day/night of water, electricity, and laundry(don't need it since we have been wearing pretty much the same clothes for the last few days). Our plan is to visit the Kennedy Space Center and so a little sightseeing.

We are fortunate to be able to pirate an Internet connection, so I should be able to post this tonight as I am writing it. Seems like we are building a bit of a readership out there. Good- puts more pressure on me to keep regular postings. We love to get comments, so please- click on the comments link and send us a note. Ask us some questions, etc.