Daytona Beach, FL

We did a ton of miles today and made it all the way to Daytona Beach. It's a tad warner here. When we arrived it was after sunset, but we had a little light left to anchor. We picked the first anchorage we came to in our Skipper Bob's book. We ran aground when we first came in (becoming the story of our lives), but we were able to shove off and find enough water to anchor. Shortly after we anchored, a holiday flotilla passed right by our anchorage. You can check out the pictures within the next couple of days when I post them. This was the latest (1730 - 5:30) we arrived at an anchorage and Steve was a nervous wreck. We did attempt to anchor earlier, but there really wasn't anywhere that had enough water. We tried anchoring where we saw another couple of boats a few of miles north of here, and ended up going aground. So we pressed on, and here we are in Daytona. We saw lots of dolphins today and Steve even had a manatee sighting. I missed it though. The houses along this stretch were amazing too.

After anchoring we noticed another sailboat enter the anchorage (after dark) and Michele thought that it was Rapscallion, but didn't follow up because the flotilla started coming through. After the flotilla went through, sure enough Rapscallion haled us on the radio. They had arrived in Daytona an hour or so before us and anchored a little south of us. After checking our facebook page, they realized where we anchored. Their anchorage wasn't that great, so they decided to join us.

We have also talked to Ray from Rigamarole. Their boat is docked in a couple of miles south of us and their house is 20 miles inland from here. We may try to hook up with Ray and Helen tomorrow evening. They offered to let us stay at their house for the night, but unless we get a slip, we really don't want to leave the boat anchored overnight without us on it. But we may still meet them for dinner.

I also talked to my sister who lives in Lutz (a few miles north of Tampa). We will definitely hook up with her and her family at some point during the holiday season. Things are going really well at this point (knock on wood). The weather is a little warmer and we are putting miles behind us.

Trudy and Dennis and Steve and I are going ashore tomorrow to check out Daytona. We'll probably see Ray and Helen at some point, maybe for dinner. Beth is having her ornament party tomorrow, so I won't see her until next week after the kids get out of school for vacation. The holiday season is upon us :-).