Friday, July 20 - Sandy, Buddy and I arrive at VBYC and stock the boat. Enjoyed dining in the Burgee Room, VBYC. Saturday, July 21 Departed VBYC with friends (Lee and pat Royer from Satellite Beach aboard for the ride to Eau Gallie yacht Club. Weather was overcast with one light shower. Lunched on board and arrive at EGYC around 1:30. Lots of rain but we managed dinner at EGYC before retiring for a stormy evening. We have been to Eau Gallie so often now that John the bartender remembers our name and favorite drinks. Sunday, July 22 - Departed EG for Titusville Marina. Rain showers threatened our trip but again held off until we were docked. Then it let go a deluge. Sandy was under the weather so we dined on board. Monday, July 23 - Left Titusville for Halifax YC (Daytona). The weather is much nicer than our March trip through it still is windy and looks like rain. In Mosquito Lagoon we encounter as many as a dozen dolphins at one time surfing along in our wake. At Halifax YC we are docked right at the club house so lunch and dinner are no problem. We enjoyed Birthday and Anniversary Buffet Night. Docked right behind us were Vero Beachers' Don and Marry Barrows, members of the Moorings YC in "Swan Song". They may join us on some of our future luncheon trips. Tuesday & Wednesday, July 24 - 25- Finally, we are having nice weather. We leave Daytona for the short cruise to Palm Coast. I talked with the new manager (Bob) of the Palm Coast YC and made arrangements to see the club on our return trip since the club is closed for annual maintenance at this time. Sandy and I rode bikes down to the shopping center for shopping and lunch. We recommend the Chef's Salad at the Deli there. Buddy likes the bike path here and managed two or three runs a day. Each run was from 2 to 3 miles. Thursday, July 26 - We head on north for an overnight stop at St. Augustine. We enjoy the dolphins along side the boat. Near the Matanzas inlet between ICW markers 82 and 80 the depth sounder showed a depth of 4.5 feet - a little too close for comfort. It was an hour or so before low tide. Just South of St. Augustine we see a hard aground sailboat just inside the channel markers (very hard aground). They are pumping water out of it. Although the chart shows the Bridge of Lions is 25 ft, the tide board indicates more like 23 feet at half tide. From the Bridge of Lions north we are in new territory for us so we are very careful to watch for the channel as we pass the inlet. You have to be careful to go East of marker 60, almost into the inlet. The St. Augustine YC leased a slip for us at the at the Camachee Island Marina. Excellent boating facilities here, but the showers are a little worn. Buddy gets his weekly bath and is non too happy but the dog on the next boat is a nice diversion especially since she got a bath also. We took the water taxi (along with our bikes) down to the City Marina (One way cost $4.00 each). Then for dinner we ate at the Columbia. If you have not enjoyed Spanish Bean or Black Bean soup at the Columbia you need to try it some time. It was a pleasant bike ride back to the boat. The Operator of the Harbour Shuttle tells us that a local group buys all day tickets ($8.00 each), brings their wine and cheese aboard and parties all day on the Harbour Shuttle. Friday, July 27 - We leave St. Augustine for Jacksonville Beach and the Beach Marina. The marsh land provides some diverse terrain. We are at low tide so there are many birds and we even saw a couple of flamingoes. we are very careful especially as the current is pulling some of the crab traps below the surface. In the Palm Valley Cut we had an 8 - 10 ft. log float right past us. Makes me nervous. The East side of the Palm Valley Cut is mostly older homes with docks all alongside the ICW. The West side of the Palm Valley Cut is still marsh and swamp with lots of birds. As we go through at low tide most of the docks are high and dry. At low tide we frequently encounter depths of 5.8 to 6.0 feet. On the North end of the Palm Valley Cut were see a "John's Island" type of development called Harbour Island. There is a 4 mile long Idle Speed Zone North of the Palm Valley Bridge but it seems like we are the only ones obeying it. Arrived at the Beach Marina in Jacksonville Beach. The floating docks are excellent. The bathrooms are not as good. Saturday, July 28 - We left Beach Marina for a five hour trip up the ICWW and the St. John's River to the Florida YC. Passed through the Pablo Bridge with a 4 knot current. Starting to worry about the return trip wich will be against the same current. Enjoyed the trip up the St Johns even at a 5 - 6 kt pace. We found the commercial/industrial docks along the river surprisingly quiet and probably less than 10% occupied. It looks like it would have been a good plan to stop for a few hours at Jacksonville Landings, a large waterfront shopping area with free docking (19 ft depth reported)` We passed well below all the bridges but got stopped at the RR bridge while 3 trains passed. The Florida YC is really nice with a new fitness center next to the pool. Sunday, July 29 Sunday was a lazy day with a bike trip to the grocery to restock our supplies, a swim in the pool, and lots of bike rides with Buddy in the well landscaped neighborhood. We enjoyed lunch pool side and dinner in the lounge. We met a former Vero Beacher and his wife at dinner and invited them to drop by our club the next time they are in VB. Monday 30 July: Up at 05:30 to leave for St Augustine by 06:30. Caught the tides going out the St. Johns. Max speed of 11 knotsw. Fastest we have ever gone. While going out the St. Johns inlet we passed Mayport and a lot of Nay ships. We saw a destroyer (#49 ??) comin in th4e inlet and it appeared to be escorted by two armored tugs. We set the Manatee on autopilot/gps at the St. johns Inlet and took it off autopilot when we got to the St Augustine. Dock to Dock time was about 7 1/2 hours. Weather was superb today, making up for some of the earlier 'bad weather. Late afternoon, after we had docked, the afterenoon T'storms rolled in. Tuesday 31 July: Again up at 05:15. This time we need to get to the Bridge of Lions before 7:00 AM and we want to pass markers 80 to 82 at Matanzas near high tide. The first hour was unheventful, except for all the yelling about which marker was which. This problem went away after daylight. We passed Matanzas with 2 1/2 feet more water than we did on the trip up so timing the tide was worthwhile. For those of you interested High tide at Matanzas markers 80 to 82 appears to be about 2 hours after St Augustine City Dock. Just after Matanzas the rain started. We had light to moderate rain the rest of the way into Palm Coast. At Palm Coast we noticed what appears to be a general rule. For some reason, when it is raining, the dockmaster is to busy to help you dock. Still, Palm Coast Marina is a nice place. One of the better ones. Wednesday, August 1: Traveled to Smyrma YC. We arrived about 1 hr. before slack water and docked on the west side of the island. No particular problems docking although the slip is right on the end and there was some current. The SYC fleet (sailing) docked 5 boats right after we did. Seems Wed is sailing day at the club. Enjoyed dinner at the club. Thursday, August 2: The weather south sounds terrible but we decide to head on down to Titusville Municipal Marina as scheduled. We got a call from Escapade (Broomell) just as we arrive and they are coming in from the south for the night. We met Jack and Betty Broomell and had coctails on Manatee. A most pleasant evening. Friday August 3. Tropical Storm Barry is on the West Coast, but is still kicking up rain on the FLorida East Coast. We decided to go on all the Way to Vero since the next few days look about the same weather wise. An 8 1/2 hour day with lots of showers, but only 10 or 15 minutes of heavy rain. We arrive safetly at our home slip in Vero about 1530. After cleaning up the boat we finally leave Vero and head home to Okeechobee. As we crossed I95 West bound on route 60 there was a road block. Route 60p was closed due to heavy flooding. We had to divert and go home via route 68. All in all we have had better weather on trips. Roger and Sandy