Today we traveled 66 miles. It was a long day but the weather was great and we wanted to take advantage of it. We left Daytona at 8PM to get the current toward Ponce Inlet for a little bit. It was an easy ride there and we arrived at this infamous shoaling spot just an hour before high tide. Perfect timing!! In New Smyrna Beach we followed behind a catamaran to get the 10AM opening of the lift bridge. Once past that we had 40 miles through a straight and narrow mosquito lagoon. It is usually an uneventful and long ride but today we were entertained fully!! First there are so many dolphins all over and we have not only seen them cresting above the water but jumping completely out!! It felt like a show at Sea World. In Mosquito Lagoon there are loads of birds diving into the water like rockets…..pelicans and small sea gulls and sea birds. It was never ending. We saw several Bald Eagles during the day and to cap it off we saw a nesting pair on a small mound just above the water-line on a remote island, awesome. We did not see this much activity last year in Nov. going south or in April going north.
Just when we thought we had seen it all Peter spotted a motorized parachute flying above us. There were 2 men aboard and they circled around twice waving and letting us take pictures.
Not to be outdone, Jane was at the helm waving to a smaller north bound boat. Once it passed us she realized the helmsman was completely naked, without a tan line, taking in the Florida sun! We almost went off course during that episode!! She did not take a picture!
About 22 miles through the lagoon we crossed west through the NASA Haul Over canal and came into the Indian River. This is a westerly, shallow crossing for about 3 miles. It takes some getting used to watching the depth hover around 5-6’ under the helm!! Halfway across we spotted another sight never seen before on the ICW. On small island, just packed with birds of all types, Jane thought she saw pink birds! Flamingos!! They were really pink, meaning they feed on lots of shrimp in the river. We have only seen pink flamingos at Sea World and Animal Kingdom. The wildlife today was just incredible (including the naked man). Maybe it’s the weather or the time of year. Dolphins, birds, naked men......a little bit of Tarzan on the ICW!
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