Month: June 2018

Sadly, tomorrow is our last day aboard Drift Away for this trip. We are headed to Daytona Beach, Florida today and tomorrow we will pull the boat out and drive the 13 hours home to Virginia. We wanted to make the most of our day though and started early down the Intracoastal. It was again fairly straight and easy other than a few more reminders of storms. Along this stretch, we saw the most masts and abandoned boats than any other stretch of the trip. There is something very eery and unnerving about seeing just the mast of a sail poking thru the water.

Once we got settled at the beautiful Halifax Harbor Marina, we headed to the infamous Daytona Beach. We had another interesting Uber ride that seemed to last forever because it was bike week or big truck week or something. Isnt there always some kind of “week” in Daytona Beach? We finally made it to blue water and white sand and enjoyed lunch at Ocean Deck. The restaurant has been around for ages and although its known to be a bit wild it was the perfect mix of entertainment and family friendly. Its also LITERALLY on the beach and you can put your toes in the sand while you eat and drink. We then took a walk along the sand to some awesome shoppes and the biggest Joe’s Crab Shack I have ever seen.

We love Sloppy Joes in Key West so we decided to grab dinner at the one in Daytona Beach. While it was every bit different than Key West it was still a great time and offered a good view of the water. The local crowd there was very friendly and one gentleman who was photographing beach scenes from the Sloppy Joe’s deck even bought Peyton a toy from the gift shop.

Tomorrow, we are getting up at first light to pull the boat from the marina, load it on the trailer and make the trip home. We really hope you have enjoyed our travel journey and stay tuned for the next adventure!

Today we traveled 30 miles to St. Augustine, Florida. The trip was easy, fast and straight. That seems to be a common theme in Florida! Just before crossing the beautiful “Bridge of Lions” in St. Augustine, we passed a gorgeous tall ship named The Schooner Freedom that does day charters and sunset sails. It looked so majestic in the middle of the water with all its sails flying high.

Just past the bridge we settled in at St. Augustine Municipal Marina and even though they were hit hard by Hurricane Irma, we managed to get a nice interior spot (something we have come to treasure after Thunderbolt!) It seemed everywhere we went there were reminders of Mother Nature. Whether it be damage from Hurricane Irma and 2016’s Hurricane Matthew or the still lingering Tropical Storm Alberto who seemed to give us a good shower each day.

We enjoyed another great meal at a place called Harry’s New Orleans Cuisine and then walked the old cobblestone streets. There were several shops and restaurants along the street. A downpour hit us again and we dipped into a spot called Prohibition Kitchen. I wish we had been able to spend more time here! It was dark but open with a rustic and cool 1920’s vibe. We had a quick appetizer to let the rain pass and continued our walking touring of St. Augustine.

St. Augustine is rich in history and it shows on every corner. Explorer, Ponce de Leon claims to have discovered “La Florida” near what is now St. Augustine and its also believed to be one of the locations of his famous Fountain of Youth. Lesser known stories tell of Ponce de Leon discovering a current that pushed his ships northward more quickly than other currents and this current was later named the now well known Gulf Stream. I really wished the rain hadn’t been so heavy this day as there was SO much more to explore than we had time for in one day.