Daytona Beach

This morning started early. We had planned to get going around first light at 7. We were up shortly after 6. By 6:30 there was no sign of light in the sky, and upon further inspection of the clock, we realized it was only 5:30. Oops!
By 6:45 we were pulling away from St. Augustine as the sun rose.
Today was mostly canals with several bridges, some which we had to radio to open for us because they don't have enough clearance for us to get through with the mast up.
At the second bridge we had a bit of trouble hailing the bridge master, but finally got in contact with him once we were in very close range. We called a few other boats along the way to see how they received our transmissions and have come to the conclusion that there is a faulty ground wire somewhere in the antenna at the top of the mizzen mast. We are able to use the radio, but can only be heard in very close proximity to the station we wish to communicate with. Oh well....nothing else was broken, so it always has to be something.
We arrived in the Daytona area shortly after 1, and by 2 had pulled into the Halifax
Harbor Marina to fill up the diesel tanks. Two things of note here:
1. Yes, the river behind the beach at Daytona is called the Halifax River, and
2. We do have 2 diesel tanks. Up until this point we have only being using our main tank, which holds about 30 gallons. But, figuring that we are headed to some fairly remote islands (relatively speaking), Greg thought it a good idea to get the secondary tank cleaned up and filled "just in case".
While he was fueling the boat, I walked over to West Marine to pick up a diesel polisher. Of course, he sends me on these little quests saying "all you need to ask for is .....". I usually feel I have a good concept of what I'm looking for until the staff in the store start asking questions. Then it all falls apart on me.
So today, again, I returned without what I was actually sent for. But! I did manage to find a handheld VHF radio (see above), as well as a couple of flashlights that you recharge by shaking.
Now we are anchored just off the ICW, in a spot that we theoretically shouldn't be able to get to. The chart shows 3' of water between our current position and the deeper channel, which our 6' keel shouldn't float over. However, our handy little iPad app, along with a tip from the guy at the fuel dock, allowed us to treat 2 channel marks as a back course range (think of lining up 2 telephone posts to tell you where to drive across a field. That's a front course range. Now, follow them by looking out your rear window and you've got a back course range. You've got to keep them lined up, or you will drive into a huge pothole, or in our case, run aground) to get us through a deeper cut. We are in the company of 5 other boats, who also snuck into this great spot.
Tomorrow we are headed to Titusville. We are hoping to get another mooring ball there, and likely stay until Friday. There is supposed to be another front pass through the area on Thursday, so we will check the forecast before heading on to Vero Beach.

Interesting tidbit: from Vero Beach we're only about 65 miles from West Palm, which is where we are thinking about crossing to the Bahamas from! Time to start thinking about all the supplies we will need to provision with before we make the jump...