ICW - East Coast

Ponce Inlet

After another great day yesterday a the Kennedy Space Center, we spent today much closer to our home in Daytona Beach, at Ponce Inlet.

Here is where you will find the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse. This is the 2nd lighthouse we have visited on this trip, the first being the Arena Lighthouse on the west coast back in November. Unlike the California lighthouse, this one is still in operation although it is really a private aid to navigation now. This one is also built entirely of bricks, back in 1887 - the walls are 8 feet thick at the bottom and 2-1/2 feet thick at the top which is 175 feet (or 203 steps if your interested) up. Quite a view from up there. Susanne even made it a full 20 feet up before she opted out.

I got some good pictures of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) from the lighthouse, which just confirms how treacherous it could be for any boat with a deep draft. Just look at those shifting sandbars. Not that everyone pays attention, as per this poor fellow at anchor out in the middle of the channel.

We found a quaint little restaurant on the ICW and, for the first time in a long time, almost felt like we were back in the gulf islands of BC (during the summer that is). Made us a little homesick.

We keep looking for marinas like we have back home, but so far most of them have been very small and dedicated to fishing boats - not many sailboats to be seen.

Here is another one of the boat condos that are so popular down here.