Final strech to the Florida Keys

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We spent one day / night in Jacksonville before entering the ICW once again. We were hoping to get to Daytona by sea in a day, but the winds were strong, and we felt like spending a comfortable day on the boat. So we went down the channels again, under the SUN! I did a full load of laundry on deck with Julianne, and I used my solar shower. Perfect day... Apart from the moment when we ran aground while trying to anchor. Maps were showing 10’ depth, but nope. Luckily for us, we managed to move and find a better place for the night. Slept like babies... 

Daytona beach was supposed to be a playday, but the weather was so shitty that we ended up doing mostly chores. We left the next morning and had the best day ever though!! We crossed a channel FULL of manatees and dolphins! I stopped counting at 5 manatees... It was incredible! 


We anchored in Titusville for the night, and left early to keep traveling South. We stopped in a really cool place called Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge and went straight to the beach! The kids were stocked, even though the water was too rough to swim. Actually I was glad not to be in there when I saw a small shark jump out of the water to feed!! No one believed me, but I’m damn sure of what I saw. 😬


We stayed there for two nights to let the winds calm down, while we ran out of propane. I remembered the recipe for cold coffee from Greece! A life saver... Keith and Marilène, you would have approved. 😉 

After that we went straight to Fort Pierce, where we stopped at the worst marina ever! We called them on the VHF, but no, they couldn’t tell us where the diesel was exactly and just let us dock at the wrong place with the wrong winds pushing us on the dock. Idiots. 🤬 We then anchored right in the Fort Pierce inlet. Julianne and I saw a manatee right next to our boat!! Then we saw a bunch of dolphins playing with a fish from our dinghy! The day ended pretty well...

At first light, we went to sea for the day. Beautiful day, with 5-10 knt W/NW winds and 3-4 ft waves. Oceanic waves are the best, if you compare it to the shitty waves we get in the St-Lawrence! They’re actually pleasant! We made it to Miami at first light, after a quiet night of motoring and sailing . Now we just need to find a marina where to keep Rolianne for a month! YEAH!!!!!


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