We returned to Sands Harbor Marina on 3/5/2020 and shortly after the pandemic happened. By 3/17 the beaches and restaurants were closed. This changed our plans, but luckily it did not impact our lifestyle as seriously as it could have. We stopped taking Uber and went for long walks in the late afternoons. We enjoyed walking to Hillsboro inlet. We discovered a great Italian deli and also a neat spot called Heavenly Pizza. The Mediterranean restaurant Mora and a sushi place called 9 Face are excellent. Pompano was a wonderful spot to self quarantine. We had small take away restaurants, the supermarket and laundry were near by. We stayed until the end of April.
On 4/29 we left Pompano beach at 7am to start our sail north. We had a 14knt SW breeze. First off as we sorted our lines we found hundreds (maybe even a thousand) little red ants living amongst our reefing lines. That was a drag and we quickly got rid of them! It was a beautiful quiet sail and when we arrived in West Palm our anchor chain jumped off the track as we were dropping it. It was windy and luckily it was easy to get it back on the track with a screwdriver. (Note: keep a screwdriver handy when dropping the anchor).
4/30 At7am we pulled up the anchor and headed to Jensen beach. Some motoring and some sailing. We did get a squall with some heavy rain and wind. We got the main down in time. Visibility was bad, there was some lightening for a short period and the storm didn’t last too long. We went into the St Lucie Inlet and anchored at Jensen beach.
5/1 The next day at 6:45am we motored in the ICW to Eau Gallie. It was a long sunny and uneventful day. We anchored at 5pm between some crab pots near the bridge. It would’ve been an interesting spot to explore if things weren’t closed due to the pandemic. Maybe another time we will stop there again.
5/2 at 6:45 am We left the anchorage and motored all day in the ICW. It was a Saturday and very crowded. The boat ramps and marine activity was crazy as many small powerboats were out on the sandbars and zooming all over. The next opportunity to get out of the ICW was Ponce de Leon Inlet. So at about 4pm we happily went to the ocean. It was wonderful to be in the sea again. The wind was light and we went overnight doing two hour watches. I saw a large skipjack jump. We arrived in St Augustine on Sunday May 3rd at noon. The passage from Eau Gallic to St Augustine was 29 hours.
We stayed in St Augustine for one month 5/3-6/3 At this point some shops and restaurants were beginning to open. We had our first Gelato in weeks when we arrived. We discovered a good Cuban sandwich shop and our favorite taco place. The highlights were watching the dolphins everyday feeding, swimming and playing. There was usually a sea turtle or two eating algae and hanging out near the docks. The Pelicans were always wonderful to watch as they liked to fish in the area most of the day. We were happy to dinghy over to Vilano beach to walk and swim and there was a supermarket there that made it easy to provision. We also enjoyed a dinghy ride up the Sebastian river to Hurricane Patty’s for lunch. The bonus was that there was a dinghy dock and we found the farmers market nearby. St Augustine is a terrific place and the Conch House Marina was great.