Log Book: December 20th

Conditions: 70 degrees, sunny
Location: Daytona

We left Tom and Kathy's house this morning after a big breakfast of pancakes and sausages. It is very hard to leave good company, good food, a pool, and a warm bed but we can't ignore the good weather. Sadly it's time to move on. It is high seventies but the wind is still cold. Just over the road on the east side of the canal lies the ocean, undoubtably adding a chill to the air. After hearing the stories of Tom and Kathy's own trip to the Keys and the Bahamas I am dying to get there ASAP. I told Dad that we should go back to getting fifty miles in a day. He readily agreed but we would have to stop short today at Daytona due to the lack of anchorages in between here and the next stop. Upon anchoring Dad and I launched the dingy in an attempt to use up what little sunlight we had left to us. I went for a run on the beach. Like Jacksonville the sand here was rock hard. There were many more cars here though and the sand was even hard enough to support bike riders. All over the beach families and friends were clustered playing frisbee, football, and even bocci. I ran by them all, admiring the life, but it was clearly the off season here. There were no tourists and the many bars along the strip were void of any activity. At the end of my run I met up with Dad and he suggested we go to the oyster bar on the corner. I knew this was a bad idea. With our only means of refrigeration on board being an icebox we have to maintain a strict dinner schedule, but I'll never say no to oysters... We had clams on the half she'll too. It seems as if everywhere we go the menu is cheaper than its equivalent in New England. Although the oysters here were from Texas and the clams were from Cedar Creek they were each around ten dollars a dozen. Back at the boat we had no thoughts of dinner and went straight to bed. The anchorage we had chosen was superb, very little current and not too deep. We were sheltered by the causeway. This is the first indication that anchoring in Florida would not be the dangerous pain that it had been in Georgia.