37 degrees in St. Augustine FL? I had to look twice at the thermometer just to be sure. It couldn’t possibly be 37 degrees — after all, we are in FLORIDA! But, we are still too far NORTH. And, as much as St. Augustine is a very cool place to hang….it’s just not cool at these temperatures.

After multiple conversations with our travel mates Rick and Linda on catamaran MakeItSo, we abandoned the notion to sail offshore in these temperatures. It looks like we’ll be staying in St. Augustine til after New Years. But wait…after checking the weather for Jan 1….it is forecasted to be even COLDER than today. Time for a new plan….

The dreaded ICW is now the option of choice. Instead of waiting 4-5 days for the next blast of northerly winds, in 2 1/2 days, we could be in Cocoa Beach…further south….with more heat. This would make it far more palitable when sailing offshore when that next northerly wind window appears. The plan? Day 1 would be a very short hop. 14 miles on the ICW – til we reach our anchorage near the Matanzas Inlet. Day 2 plan….somewhere south of Daytona Beach….and New Years Eve – in Cocoa Beach. Let the warming begin.