D32: Marineland to New Smyrna Beach 12/2/2019

We did not race to get out of bed this morning because we knew that low tide was still ahead of us. We were stuck until about 2 hours after low tide, which would be about 11 am. The wind was still blowing hard out of the NW, which was across my bow as I would pull out of the slip. Around 10:30, the dockmaster said that I should be able to get out (depth-wise), but was concerned about the cross wind. We started preparing to leave and pulled out around 1100.

Peter on S/V Doriana released out bow line for us and the dockmaster (also named Eric) walked the stern line out the finger pier. All went well. We made the turn into the wind and out the channel. After dodging the dredge immediately outside the marina channel, we headed south town the ICW with a strong NW wind. We popped out the Genoa and made SOG ranging from 7-9 knots. (In all cases, assume we are also using the motor in the ICW). Our goal was to get to New Smyrna Beach, but with such a late start, we were doubtful.

The wind continued and we hit favorable currents everywhere. We zoomed through Daytona and only had to wait for one bridge opening. We came by an anchorage off of Ponce de Leon Inlet that looked nice and only had one boat in it. I was ready to stop, but Cathy wanted to press on to Callista Creek in New Smyrna Beach. So, we pushed forward, getting through a few extra bridges and leaving the inlet behind. We were anchored by 5:45 pm, which is later than we like to anchor. It was dark. During the final stretch to the anchorage, the setting sun was in our eyes, which made it difficult to stay in the channel.

The Callista Creek anchorage was OK but a bit of a disappointment. Not sure why all the guides think this is one of the best, but now it is full of abandoned sailboats. Really creepy. I felt like a tiny spacecraft hiding from the evil empire in a debris field. In spite of all that, the anchor held fine and we were in good position for the next day. The currents were a bit disconcerting also because the wind was opposite the current part of the time and the anchor rode led under the boat. This is not uncommon, but I don’t really like that.

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