Florida for tail-end of Bike Week and BOATING trip!!

[Nosmo King]

I smoked quite a few of the CAO Brazilia Anaconda cigars on this trip...they are a GREAT boat cigar (salomones style).

Florida for tail-end of Bike Week and BOATING trip!!

My buddy Jamie and I made a week-long trip to Florida. We started out in the Daytona Beach area (Edgewater to be exact) for a few days hitting the dive bars with Jamie's parents (visited their local haunts) and seeing the sights. Saw some cool bikes at Daytona Beach.

Due to some boating connections we had a VIP tour of the Sea Ray/Meridian Plant in Palm Coast (right on the ICW), that was AWESOME! Sorry, no photos allowed, other than out front. It's really interesting to see how these boats are made. I've got a different perspective on Sea Ray and Meridian. Boat building is definitely a LABOR-INTENSIVE job, there's NO doubt about that!

While up at Palm Coast we decided to hit the beach and get some chow/libations. Stopped at a nice placed appropriately called Finn's.

The main purpose of our trip was to run down the ICW and visit the wildlife. Mission accomplished. I should mention, however, that we weren't on Jamie's Regal 3260 or my Carver 350, we were on his dad's 13' Boston Whaler with a tri-hull and a 40 hp outboard! Crazy? Nah, not too crazy, although most folks said we were LOL! With all of our gear in dry bags, a full cooler, two 6-gallon fuel tanks (total of 12 gallons), safety equipment and miscellaneous goodies (including electronics, gotta have GPS!) it was a little tight but not too bad.

Here's our GPS track pulled into Google Earth. You can see that we started (and ended) in Titusville.

Here's a few pictures of the 13' Boston Whaler:

We made an 11 mile or so run South on the ICW (also called the Indian River here) to the Canaveral Barge Canal and went East, it's a few miles long, some nice scenery. Saw a few boats making the trek back North from their Snowbird escape from the cold (the frozen North!).

Stopped midway through the Canal at our first watering hole, Nautical Spirts, at Harbortown Marina. GREAT food, drinks, staff, etc. I highly recommend stopping here, lot's of great local knowledge and a great time!

 

[Nosmo King]

After awhile at Nautical Spirits we set course for Cocoa Beach. We kept East through the Canal until we hit the Banana River in Port Canaveral and then we went South on the Saturn Barge Canal for a few miles until we were near Cocoa Beach. Ended up having some engine/fuel problems a mile or so out from Cocoa Beach, but after some tinkering and a "hey, that's why you read the manual" moment we were on our way.

We pulled into Orange Cove Marina and got a slip from Sharee (sp?) for $25 for the night. What's great about Cocoa beach is the proximity of everything (walking distance) and THE SUNSET! Normally you don't get a nice sunset on Florida's East Coast, but here you do! Reason? There's a wide stretch of the ICW and there's a GREAT place to view it. Where? The Sunset Grill, of course! Enjoyed cocktails, conch fritters and an AWESOME sunset here! Found a great hotel (Fawlty Towers, yes, like the show) and a few more fun spots - The Sand Bar, Ron Jon Surf Shop, etc...

Our dockage at Cocoa Beach:

The next day we pulled out of Cocoa Beach and went South on the Banana river again. It was a gorgeous day with the exception of the wind, it was WINDY and CHOPPY which meant a WET and ROUGH ride for us in the little Boston Whaler. We were both SOAKED when we pulled into Manatee Cove Marina at Patrick Air Force Base for a quick fuel stop/supply replentishment. Very nice folks and nice marina/facilities. We got back out to the channel and kept on going South, it gets nice and narrow here which meant a MUCH SMOOTHER/LESS WINDY ride. We crossed the southern tip of Merritt Island and saw the dilapidated remains of the dragon at Dragon Point. We did a little jog West and got back into the Indian River ICW. Here's where it got a little rougher (and more wind). We pulled into the town/harbor of Eau Gallie right after the Eau Gallie Causeway. We didn't see much of interest there so we got back out into the chop and headed South on the ICW. Next (and final) stop of the day was Melbourne.

Melbourne is a nice place with an equally nice harbor. We got overnight dockage for $25 along with assistance with overnight accommodations and a taxi. The only negative to Melbourne is that there are no hotels within walking distance from the marina and then from "The Strip" (New Haven Avenue, where all the fun things are) so you have to cab it everywhere which adds time/expense to things. Although the strip is just a few blocks from the marina.

We checked in at The Tides hotel and got rid of our salty coating and caught a cab back to the marina (forgot cigars in the boat), checked on the boat and had a few drinks at Ichabod's Dockside Grill (at the marina), very nice place. Next we made a short walk over to The Strip and found our watering hole for the night, Matt's Casbah. Quite a place! They have a nice patio with a huge bar and even had a band out there. Food was excellent, tried something new, conch sushi, yummy!

After a good night's rest we packed up and caught a cab down to the marina, it was a torrential downpour. Even our raingear was no match for it! We decided to head back North and if the weather cleared we'd stay the night back at Cocoa Beach. Well, the weather didn't clear and the forecast didn't look better for the next day either. We decided to just head for home. We made a complete backtrack along our route.

So, how for did we go in that little Whaler? The total? We made 95 miles over the course of 3 days and 2 nights. Would we do it again? YOU BET!! But in a bigger boat. Plans are already in the works for a Miami to Key West trip in my 15' Sea Doo jetboat...hey, that's 2' bigger! LOL!

We still had a few days in Florida before heading back so we hit the Daytona Speedway as well as some more local watering holes. Even visited Ponce de Leon Lighthouse. It was a GREAT trip!

 

[Nosmo King]

That's it, that's my trip!

I should mention that March was a CRAZY month for travelling for me.

I did the Florida trip from March 6-13. March 15-19 I was in Chicago for business. I get back at 6 pm on the 19th, wife picks me up, we have dinner, I go home to unpack and and she drops me and a buddy off at "Beerfest" (aka Bluebonnet Brewoff). She picks me up at midnight and then it's back to the house to shower, change and pack for Bristol race. We leave at 1 am on the 20th for Bristol, TN, and then get back at 3 am on March 24!!!!

 

[Eric]

Looked like a fantastic trip and I enjoyed the report and pictures. Thanks for sharing :thumbsup:

 

[Hendy]

Nice lookin trip. Thanks for sharing.

Where's the one of you smoking the cigar?

 

[Craig Mac]

Thanks for sharing, great pics and sounded like a fun experience!

 

[smokemifugotem]

Looks like a great time! Great pics!

 

[Nosmo King]

Thank you guys!

Hendy - that's the funny thing - I'm usually a cigar photo nut whenever possible...with the exception of this trip...I took only one cigar pic, and it was of my cigar resting in the ashtray...and it didn't turn out worth a squat...too dark. I had better things to take pics of I guess?

 

[Hendy]

Hahaha
Just yanking your chain bro. I get hassled quite a bit because I never have a cigar in. my hand when pictures are taken.

Thank you guys!

Hendy - that's the funny thing - I'm usually a cigar photo nut whenever possible...with the exception of this trip...I took only one cigar pic, and it was of my cigar resting in the ashtray...and it didn't turn out worth a squat...too dark. I had better things to take pics of I guess?