Day 8-Friends in Flagler

Saturday, March 27, 2021.
Weather: Temp: 81/68, Humidity: 94/62%, Top Wind: SE13 mph, Precip: None, Miles Traveled: 29

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Today was a nice short day on the water. Just 29 miles, and about 3.5 hours. The weather was nice with a little breeze from the south, and we got to wake up and get up when we wanted. ☺️. We enjoyed Halifax Harbor Marina’s location. They have washrooms and laundry facilities, but like most marinas, we didn’t use them. Eventually (soon) I’m going to need to do some laundry. We liked the proximity to the beach street and we had a fun time here.

As we tootled our way out to the ICW and turned north, there was no boat traffic and all was calm. YAY! It was 8:45am on a sunny Saturday morning, but no weekend warriors were out on the waterway yet. We had a couple of interesting bridges to go under right away.

The second one was fun because it has mosaics of sealife right at the water level on the pilings.

We only had one bridge that we had to request to have opened today, and it only had one half operational. But there was plenty of room for us to pass through.

The closer we got to Palm Coast, the more beautiful the homes along the waterway became. Nicely landscaped yards everywhere.

These guys had a great boat house/dock set up.

And I think our whole extended family could live in this one!

We arrived at our marina just after noon. I didn’t know there was this little park out here so close to the marina! Maybe I’ll come scope it out! We turned into the channel to the marina just past this building (where there is a little boat coming out).

Here’s a google look at our location. Later in the afternoon, we learned that our friends stayed in the condo building at the bottom of this picture when they first moved from Virginia to Florida last year! So when we told them we’d be at the Palm Coast Marina, they knew exactly where we were!

We backed into our slip and got all settled and checked in. Then the fun began. Our friends Dale & Fay, who we have known for nearly 30 years, live here in Palm Coast now. So they came to see our boat, then we went to lunch at the nearby European Village at an Italian restaurant. It was really good. Then they toured us around the area and took us out to Flagler Beach. Its a small beach town that stretches along Highway A1A along the Atlantic coastline. They told me about one of their favorite beach restaurants that had a drink called the Orange Creamsicle. OK -I’m convinced. Let’s go have one! So we did!

It was very yummy – orange and vanilla, just like a creamsicle without a stick. 😋

We had such a great visit and hugs – so good to see them!

In the midst of the fun, part of our afternoon was spent trying to figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow. We have reservations at the St Augustine Municipal Marina. It’s our favorite place to dock in St Augustine because it’s right down town and easy access to everything. The tidal current can run really hard there, as they have a six foot tide change, so we really want to time our arrival with slack tide. The concern with that is that slack tide is at 9:15am. Two problems with that: No guarantees that tonight’s occupant of our slip will be gone by that time in the morning, and two – its 25 miles from here, so likely a three hour tour. (You just hummed the Gilligan’s Island theme song, didn’t you?! 😁) Soooo, what to do? We could stay here another night, since the tide change will be nearly an hour later on Monday. But dang, the weather looks kinda crudy on Monday with gusty wind. Hmmm 🤔. We decided just to go for it. We’ll leave here at first light, get there as early as we can, and HOPE that the boat in the slip where we’re supposed to go will be gone when we get there. To top it all off, tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which also means that there is a huge ‘Blessing of the Fleet’ ceremony at the marina, and they will not be accepting any boats between 11-4:00. We’re hoping that also means that no boats will be leaving after 11, so maybe there is a better chance of our spot being available when we get there. 🤞 I suppose I better scope out a spot that we could drop anchor if we need to if we have to wait until the afternoon slack tide, which will be around 3:30, and for the Blessing event to be over. I’m hoping for the best, and for not too much adventure.