Homeward Bound - Part II

We stayed for two nights in Vero Beach. The second day was dedicated to laundry and provisioning. Vero Beach has a free bus system with a stop at the marina, which makes the city very cruiser friendly.

From Vero Beach we motored/sailed north on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) to Titusville. We anchored there for one night just outside of the city marina, the same place we anchored heading south last fall. From Titusville we continued up the AICW to an anchorage in New Smyrna Beach near the Ponce de Leon Inlet.

The best parts of the trip between Titusville and New Smyrna Beach were passages through the Haulover Canal and Mosquito Lagoon. Haulover Canal is a short, narrow cut where fishermen abound. Finally we saw wild alligators! I spotted three. Two were small. The third was a monster. It must have been at least eight feet long! For a minute I was ten years old and back on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland again.

As we approached New Smyrna Beach we came upon the equivalent of a speed trap for boaters - the same Sheriff’s Deputy who boarded us in the fall brought his boat alongside and greeted us. He remembered being aboard Island Chariot. We passed his holding-tank-discharge inspection with flying colors in the fall. We exchanged pleasantries and assured him we were still in compliance with the law. He wished us well and sped off in his speedboat. I liked it that he remembered us. We dropped our anchor for the night in Rockhouse Creek near the Ponce de Leon Inlet.

The next morning we got underway at 7:00AM with Hilton Head, SC as our destination. Slack high tide was at 7:30AM making our inlet passage quiet comfortable and easy. How fortunate for us! We exited the channel, turned northeast, and set our waypoint for Tybee Roads. We sailed all day, all night, and into the next afternoon before arriving in Hilton Head. The nearly-full moon rose just before sunset and set as the sun shone on the horizon the next morning. Beautiful! I took the 11PM -1AM and 3AM – 5AM shifts again. The bright moon guiding the way gave me something to ponder during my watches, like how the sunlight hits the moon to make a concave shadow on it when greater than half of the moon is showing.

It took courage to be alone with my thoughts on the 3AM – 5AM shift, defenses down due to fatigue. My former life full of activity had given me the illusion of a life full of purpose. In fact, I may have been running from thoughts or memories. Transforming from a “human doing” into a “human being” has been a challenging yet blissful journey over the past seven months... My Ipod played Rush Chronicles quietly so I could still hear Island Chariot. I sang along to Subdivisions – “suburbs don’t have the charms to soothe the restless dreams of youth… nowhere is a dreamer or a misfit so alone…”, and Time Stands Still – “freeze this moment a little bit longer, make each sensation a little bit stronger, ... like a captain whose ship has run aground, I can wait for the tide to come around”… Amazing lyrics, amazing band!