We ended up at Seven Seas Marina in Port Orange yesterday and it's a bargain at 90 cents per foot! It's family owned and has been in business for around 30 years. The docks are fixed as opposed to floating but if you tie up properly there are no problems. It's also a DIY yard and they have a nice ship store.
They have one bathroom each for men and women but it's shared by Pat's Riverfront Diner which is open from 7 AM to 2 PM. We had breakfast there this morning and they appear to have a lot of business and I noticed it was packed until they closed.
However the showers (with fantastic water pressure) are in the bathroom too, so unless you feel comfortable locking the customers out while you get cleaned up, it would be a kindness to them to wait until the diner closes in order to use the facilities. The washer and dryer are located in the entry way to the potties and you can say "Hey" to people as they pass by. The staff is just as friendly as can be and will even take you to Publix, at no charge, so you can stock up.
Today, when Bob dropped me off at the store it was a muggy 80 degrees. A half hour later when I called for him to come and pick me up, the temperature had dropped into the 50's, icy sheets of rain were slashing through the parking lot sideways, and horror of all horrors the lottery machine was down due to high winds! When I got back to the boat Hans told me he'd clocked the winds at 36 knots.
Tornado warnings had been issued and I'm glad we weren't at an anchorage.
Anyway I love a Mom and Pop kind of place so this really worked for me.
Just one of the many bridges here in Florida.
Colorful chairs along the ICW.
Yesterday I was worried about finding a good anchorage between St. Augustine and Daytona but luckily Greg, from Harvey, found a nice little place at a now defunct cement plant and he let us know that he saved a spot for us.
After we got ourselves settled in he rowed on over in his dinghy and we had crackers, wine, and cheese.
Wilbur loves company and after a wild welcome, settled himself down and snored the whole way through happy hour.
I forgot to take a picture!
Greg's dinghy can be folded for easy storage.
Hans had considered one of these at one point but I told him I would never get into anything that resembled a row boat with him!
Been there done that!
This was one of the calmest anchorages we've had since entering the ICW.
Tomorrow we hope to get as far as Titusville.
Wish us luck!
It seems I’ve always got some gem from my past to add and this is no exception.
ReplyDeleteMy father bought one of these folding boats in the early 80’s. He wanted something he could fish from and launch for free by himself. I was more than a little dubious about his 250lb body in this flimsy boat. When he came back 2 hours later soaked I was not surprised.
In a fast moving spring current he anchored the boat tying the line to the engine itself. When his bait hook got stuck, instead of pulling anchor he used the engine to try to maneuver into a position to free the hook. He turned the bow into the current and the anchor line swept across and pulled him overboard (I’ve never understood that but it’s what he said.)
He held onto the boat, now stern into the current with the engine still running. He tried to hoist himself back into the boat by pulling himself over the bow and the bow sunk. The boat flooded and went down, pulled by the current against the anchor. He swam to shore.
Was this the boats fault? Not really, but since I was suspicious of the boat anyway it did not help.
Ghost of boats past
Just one more reason for me to not want to get into one of those with Hans!
ReplyDeleteA fold up boat, never heard of that before. But, sounds like something we shouldn't consider. Glad everything is "calm"!
ReplyDelete