To Rockhouse Creek, where the anchor wouldn't hold

Other than the fact that we’re traveling on a small boat, it’s been kind of like an ordinary day at home. I spent the morning making supper, washing dishes, tidying up, and getting myself cleaned up. Rain came in last night through the open hatch, so I spread out the blankets and covers all around the boat to dry. I worked on the blog postings and deleted several hundred e-mails - by sorting for “unread” and then poof, poof, poof…

The water here is so shallow outside of the channel. We generally have 8 - 10 feet in the channel with 1 - 4 outside of it. Our draft is 4 1/2 feet, so nothing under 5 feet for us! In this location, New Smyrna Beach, you can see the sand ease its way out of the water. We have seen many abandoned boats that ran aground a long time ago. People are even out in the middle of the water, walking around! We think they might also be digging for clams. This would be a good place for a catamaran, it is so shallow. 

We’ve gotten into a nice pattern for a while, going to a marina one night, then anchoring for two. Anchoring is great when you are just traveling. We can pull up the anchor soon after getting up, travel several hours, then drop the anchor in time to make supper. The next day, we’re off again quickly. This way we can easily travel 55 - 65 miles per day. 

We have just tried to anchor three times in Rockhouse Cree, but the sand on the bottom was so fine that the anchor wouldn’t grip. After three tries, we gave up and headed back out. Now we’re heading an hour north to try another spot. 

I am covered with tiny bites from invisible bugs that probably came in through the hatch last night between rain storms. 

Tomorrow we’re heading for Saint Augustine, near Ponte Vedra Beach where Grandad and Keith live. Then on to Georgia...