It's Freezing - and Hey, It's not MY Dinghy

When I thought nothing could make that last marina worse, I woke up to 33deg. weather. That was the icing on the cake. It was so cold that fog was rolling off the water as we left at 8:00AM. The reason, as it happens, that the marina did not answer up on the VHF radio, was the fact that my radio died.
Today was a fairly good travel day. I only took the wrong turn once, had the dinghy almost fall off once, and dropped my isinglass cleaner in the water as we were moving. We were really moving today since the water was really nice. Not quite glass-like conditions, but a minimal chop. I was turning around 3600RPMs for most of the day and we were going about 31MPH on average at that RPM. We were on plane almost all day, except for the numerous no wake zones through all the nice houses in the middle of Georgia and the confusing manatee zones in Florida. I am still confused because Florida likes to print the entire chapter of the laws down here on a 3'X5' sign in the water. Sometimes there is no wake, and then others there is minimal wake, when it comes to manatees, it is just slow, or maybe just slow within 300 feet of shore and other times, you can go 30MPH, but most of the time it is 25MPH. I am just trying to figure out the magic combination that allows warp speed. It may be the left elbow behind the head with the right knee at 90 degrees, I am not sure. BJ is upset that we have to slow down in these areas and she hasn't seen any manatees!
We totally tested the gas gauges on the boat today, as the starboard gauge said empty for that the 40 miles. for those of you wondering, there is no gas stop from the Palm Coast to Daytona, FL. We did retrieve a dinghy today and alas, it was not ours! A sail boat just ahead of us, as we were on empty, lost his dinghy right in front of us, so I sent BJ to the swim platform to retrieve it and then we cruised along side for the hand off.
Speaking of cruisers, I was waked twice today. Both times in a 40 something Silverton. I am starting to not like silvertons, as they seem to not be able to plane, just plow through and make my trip miserable.
Sorry for the all-text post today. We did not take any pictures, and I am too tired to download today's tracks. I had to go to West Marine today, where they kept the store open for me, since I needed a new VHF radio as well as some other supplies. I spent about an hour mounting and interfacing the new unit into the old hole today. I did not do a great job in the installation; just made it work and did not weatherize my electrical connections. Nor did Searay for the original radio. We are trying to prepare for the rest of the journey and I am behind in my plotting. The weather looks a little uncertain, as well as the distance still required, so our New Year plans in the Bahamas may be in Florida (with Mac). We will keep you posted.

The Marina
Caribbean Jack Marina
This marina is great. The dock hands were wonderful as well as the rest of the accommodations. There are personal bathrooms, a hot tub, pool, a pretty cool bar with great live entertainment. The best feature, however is the food. We have been to Daytona many times, and have yet to find good food (even after bike week). We have found it. Apparently quite of few other bikers (locals) have found it as well, since they ample "bike only" parking right up front.

Searay Rant
The driver's chair is too tall,
or the windshield rail is too low. My back is killing me.
The Raymarine VHF radio is mounted in the worst possible position in the helm, which contributed to its failure. I replaced it with a West Marine (Uniden) model with a better location for the mic.

Garmin Rant
The refresh rate is too slow on my Garmin 2006C. Hopefully, the newer models are better.

Daily Stats
Hours of travel: 8.6 hours
Avg. moving speed: 21.5MPH
Overall Avg. speed: 19.6MPH
Total Distance: 168.3 Miles
Fuel Consumption: 196Gals
Lat/Long: 29.13.622/081.01.289