April 15 8:00am ET

I had a fantastic day yesterday in New Smyrna Beach. I walked up to the public library, was able to use the computer to do a lot of correspondence, used Google maps to plan out the next 150 miles or so nice to use a real computer instead of trying to figure things out on my phone…hate to leave the night swan, they have been so good here. This morning I will paddle underneath the bridge and pass the Pons de Leon inlet where I hope I can catch a glimpse of the lighthouse, 159 feet, tallest in the state, second tallest in the country. It’s actually quite interesting because they retired this lighthouse in 1970 because there was a coast guard station right next door so it was redundant Then in the 80’s there were condos built along the beach so this coastal development blocked the coast guard station and they then had to restore the lighthouse. I am headed up to Daytona, the wind is going to be bad but I have to make it to Daytona to one of the places I picked out to camp. I found out why they can drive on the beach around here, it has to do with Daytona. That is where NASCAR started. They used to drive the cars on the beach which is where the tracks used to be. At low tide they had hard, flat sand which they could race their cars on. They let people do it still to preserve that tradition. I learned all of this yesterday and thought it was very interesting. I had a great interaction last night at a place called Maloney’s. Jim the proprietor was super nice; I also got to hang out with his roommate Jason. He makes an oyster stew and a shrimp skillet dish which is one of the best things I have ever had. Everything is cooked in one of these really cool and old fashioned steaming skillets which is one of only 8 in the country. They are very unique! Jim gave me a lot of tips and share some interesting stories as he has been a sailor for a long time. He has sailed his boat down here from Michigan down here. If you are near New Smyrna, I highly recommend stopping here; it’s a very cool place.

Further bulletins as events warrant.
I will send my location tonight.