April 29, 2020 – We awoke to a placid morning in Daytona Beach, unlike every other morning since leaving Marathon, and were looking forward to staying still for a few days. We have been running for nine days straight since we left Marathon, over 440 miles, as we headed up to St Augustine, and were ready for a pause.
We knew that our friends Allan and Lavonne from Vinyasa, our dock neighbors at Herrington Harbour are here. After having sailed to Jamaica, only to be turned around due to the coronavirus lockdown in Panama ( their next planned stop) they had to sail around Cuba (with an emergency pit stop) to get back to the US. It will be great to get caught up, and see what respective adventures lie ahead for each of us.
The day’s travel was non-eventful, but the increasing wind and tidal current came together shortly after we secured our mooring to make a real ‘washing machine’ at the fuel dock.
Looper friends Jerry and Deana, onboard Mahi Mahi, who we met in Marathon, were pulling into their slip right as we came over to the marina basin to get checked in. Pretty sporty conditions! They’d come up from Key Largo this week, and we only noticed them behind us as we left Daytona Beach.
We were also surprised to see other Loopers on the mooring ball right in front of us – sailboat Significant Otter, that we met initially up in Michigan, and then in Kentucky at Green Turtle Bay. This couple and their young daughter have been here a month, waiting out the lockdown, and wondering whether they will be able to make it all the way back to Michigan or not, with the projected delay to the opening of the NYS canals.
After doing business with the marina office, we went for a short walk, to scope out whether there were any nearby restaurants open for carryout. Well, it just so happened that we found one!
After a short wait, we carried the food (and margarita !) back to the dinghy, and were soon enjoying a great meal on the sundeck.
