Steve and Liz's Great Loop Adventure: Daytona Beach

Our first night at anchor after leaving Canaveral was in a desolate stretch of the ICW, a very wide and shallow area called Mosquito Lagoon. The wind was blowing way stronger than was forecasted and the boat was bouncing like crazy. We decided to stick it out and hoped we could sleep through the motion and noise. But the minute our heads hit the pillows, we were sound asleep. The anchor held and by morning the wind had stopped. It was a good test for both us and the anchor, as it was the windiest night we had spent anchored. Near Daytona Beach we passed this tour boat, the paddles are really pushing her.

After dropping the anchor, we set off for a place to land the dinghy so we could walk to Daytona Beach, but after an extensive search of the shoreline, we couldn't find a place on the east side, where the beach was. We finally pulled up to a city park on the west side of the waterway, and locked the dinghy to a the base of a big pier. We weren't up for walking across this long causeway to the beach.

The downtown area adjacent to the park has been revitalized, many of the buildings are quite old and nicely preserved.

After we returned to the Shingebiss, Ted and Nancy (Aloha Friday) stopped by in their dinghy and gave us some advice on reaching the beach. They are experienced ICW cruisers and recently completed their Loop. So we decided to stay another night and have a go at it today. We parked the dinghy at a marina across the way and walked across a different bridge to get to the beach. Here's a picture of the boat at anchor as we came off the bridge.

Finally .... Daytona Beach. They still allow cars to drive and park at the top of the wide, hard packed sand beach.

In the early days of the automobile, cars were tested and speed records were set on the beach. NASCAR started here and raced on the beach until 1959 when the Daytona International Speedway was built. So it really is a famous beach.