Daytona Beach

Thursday January 3, 2013
29 11.767 N
81 00.208 W

Low tide was at 9:00 AM this morning, not the best time to leave the development. We remembered the water being a bit skinny on the way in, and that was close to high tide. So we took it easy this morning and delayed departure till 11.00 AM, with about 30% tide. We made it out to the ICW easily enough, although the depth gauge got down to 0.7 of a foot, and the depth gauge is located about a foot higher than the keel, so we were "plowing some mud" for a bit.

"Needs a little work"

The port starting battery crapped out again this morning. I had engaged the battery charger for a few days while we were at Palm Coast, but obviously it cannot hold a charge. So next time we stay more than a couple of days at a marina I will be ordering a replacement and looking for volunteers. Fortunately the port starting battery is the "easy one".

I had originally planned on reaching an anchorage in New Smyrna Beach but because of our late departure that seemed a bit out of reach. The weather was not especially pleasant, overcast and grey with rain threatening, so we were "just doing the miles". I ran the boat from the bridge most of the morning until it just got too cold for my bare legs. There were a couple of possible anchorages in the Daytona and that is where we have ended up. Its not a particularly protected spot but the wind forecast is pretty mild. It seems to be steady 10 kts from the North with some stronger gusts. Maybe it will lay down a bit tonight.

We have all of our Nav systems operation at the moment so I took this photo of the pilot house.
From left to right:
1. Active Captain - mostly for anchorages and marinas etc
2. Polar Navy - Chart Plotter on the computer
3. CMaps - Chart Plotter on the Furuno
4. eSea Chart Plotter on the Ipad
And of course Deidre has the paper charts out.I love the set up - Deidre thinks I am nuts.