We beat the cold front to Florida! We finally pulled into our slip at Manatee Cove Marina a little after 1100 on Tuesday, November 29th. We almost made it home on Monday, but by the time it started to get dark we were still 14 miles away, so decided to anchor for the night (just off the Canaveral Barge Canal near the locks into Port Canaveral) and continue the next morning. It was nice being able to sleep in on Tuesday, knowing we only had to make 14 miles that day!

Saturday evening we anchored in the Umbrella River, just north of St. Andrews Sound, Georgia. With a pre-sunrise start on Sunday, we passed the sub base at Kings Bay, Georgia, then entered Florida on the St. Marys River just north of Fernandina Beach, Florida. Then across the St. Johns River (east of Jacksonville) and made it as far as Daytona late Sunday afternoon when we pulled into a marina for a little bit of fuel (40 gallons) to ensure we’d make the rest of the trip and stayed the night. An early start the next morning raised the possibility of making it home in one day, but the tidal currents were against us most of the day, and we ended up short!

We have had a great trip and enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Now we have a lot of work to do to get ready for our next trip north in the late spring.