New Smyrna Beach

As we slowly make our way up north we're trying to stop and see the thing we didn't see last year. Like New Smyrna. We passed it before, anchoring out just north of here. 

We're also exploring our new yacht club membership (Longboat Key Club) since some yacht clubs give us reciprocity, which includes anything from a dockage discount to permission to even dock there. Russ got us reservations at the Smyrna Yacht Club. We knew in advance that it was right off the ICW, which meant tidal currents might be an issue. Armed with that we planned our departure so we got here fairly close to slack tide. Out before the sun came up.

We changed the navigation colors. Our motto:
Stay out of the trippy parts.

The trip up was dandy. The weather was just gorgeous; blue skies, pleasant breeze, temps in the 70s. Many dolphins rode with us up the ICW. Russ did most of the driving, taking us through the only interesting (for the pilot) feature today, the Haulover Cut.

We arrived on schedule, missing the slack tide by minutes, so we had just a little current to contend with while docking. Without any incidents (or help, for that matter, since there are no dock hands here) we got in, pretty easy. As first I tried to stern in, but the docks are static, not floating. That meant we'd have to get off the boat from the sides anyway. Given the bit of finesse required to get her in, we just headed nose first. I crept up onto the boat up-current from us and waited for Mother Nature to push us down. Worked great.

We'll be here for a couple of nights. Then we'll anchor out with friends Sunday.

My sampler from the brewery, Dirty Oar.
The one on the right is blue.

So hard to find these days -- stuffed French Toast!

Stunning sunrise.

DOLPHINS!

Lovely day helps us forget the craze that is the
Corona virus. Ain't life grand!