Past New Smyrna

Ever since Zingaro had its mishap, Sweet Tides has been craving attention, so now as soon as we start on our way, its stuffing box gets full of water and Mike has to burp it to get rid of it. Once it gets burped it continues happily on its way but apparently there is a lot of water before it's taken care of so its crew is paying a lot of attention.
Zingaro seems to be fine but Juan is listening to every sound and whistle, terrified that something will happen again. So far no complaints.
We had a very smooth ride today. The stretch of ICW between St. Augustine and Daytona is one of the prettiest so far. Full of pelicans, cranes, dolphins and wonderful vegetation and beautiful houses.
We passed Daytona at around 2:30 and continued on past New Smyrna where we have anchored.
The day was splendid and the sunset is beautiful but there are a lot of mosquitoes. No wonder all the houses along the waterway had very large screened areas, covering porches and swimming pools..
Tomorrow there is a launch in Cape Canaveral and we think we will be able to watch it. Both crews are fine and in good spirits and hoping by next week we will be in the Bahamas!

I need to add to items to this posted requested by Sweet Tides.
First, Mike is not holding a cane or a shepherd's staff on the picture in the slide show. No siree! He is holding a gaff which he walked five miles to get at the Sailor's Exchange in St. Augustine. And a gaff I have learned, is a hook to bring in the fish you catch. Judging by the size of his gaff expect nothing else than large, really large, tuna or mahi mahi!

The other thing I have been forgetting to mention, maybe because I'd rather not remember, is that this has been a gourmet cruise. We may not have sailed much, but we sure have eaten well. Idette and I have alternated and more often than not cooperated in the kitchen to create three and four course gourmet meals: salmon with shrimp sauce, rice pilaf, salad, pasta with mushroom sauce, vichyssoise, fajitas with rice and beans, zuchini omelet, plus warm bread, red or white wine and of course cocktails. After the first week we stopped having appetizers because we still want to fit in our bathing suits when we get to the Bahamas!!