11/30 – 12/13 Daytona Beach

Sometimes plans need to be flexible. That definitely was the case with our stop in Daytona.

The intentions were; stop in and say hello to my friends, Beckie and Per Hans and then continue on our way south. The Halifax Harbor Marina is very nice and welcoming. Operated by Skipper Bud’s (a familiar name to my Wisconsin friends) the marina is beautiful and reasonably priced. We decided to stay two days. We had been in touch with Per Hans several times since leaving St. Augustine and on our final call from our slip he suggested that we use his “extra” Mini Cooper since his son was on tour (more on that in a bit). I think it took several milliseconds before I said … “sure, that would be great”. He and Beckie drove down from Ormond Beach in SXE-MINI 2 (a Mini Cooper S Turbo) to pick us up for dinner. After dinner we picked up 1-SXE-MINI. Per Hans has tricked it up a bit for auto-crosses, rallies, etc; lowered with coil over springs, competition clutch and flywheel, racing exhaust and so on.

Needless to say it was hard giving it back. We decided to stay a week and get a few projects done on the boat and see a few sights.

Per Hans has taught photography in Volusia County for 30 years before retiring. He now teaches at Daytona Beach College in a facility that is unbelievable. It is a state of the art photo facility covering all aspects of photography. We received a tour that left us in awe. This was followed by special tour of the Southeast Museum of Photography where Per Hans’ daughter is assistant curator. Another unbelievable facility.

A day or two later we awoke to the sound of two men doing canvas work on a Hatteras across from us. Well if any of you recall what an ordeal I had getting a dodger built will know why I sprung from bed and approached the two workers. We needed a bimini and so far had found no one interested in our project. I asked if they would be willing to give an estimate and could they do it by the end of the week. They responded that sure they would be interested but could I give them till the end of next week. If the price was right, sure why not. We came to an agreement an today the final pieces of the bimini were installed. Yes, we stayed an extra week but it was well worth it.

This is Zac and Brett of MarineSeam. First class guys who delivered as promised. A terrific job!

The finished job. It’s tall but I needed to be able to stand on the cockpit seats to see out. I’m short, what can I say! It has provisions for a full enclosure.

Back to our adventures…

We decided to take a trip to Green Cove Springs to visit our “home”, actually our mailing address. A 45 minute trip from Daytona by Mini, took us to our address.

That’s it just to the right of the green flag. Quaint old street paved in brick. Perfect! We ate across the street at The Top of the Reef. Fresh flounder and other quality items were a pleasant bonus.

A mentioned before that Per Hans’ son was on tour. He is the drummer for the alternative rock band “I Am The Avalanche”. Their tour was bringing them to north Florida so we decided to take in a show. The show would be in Ocala so we headed out early to take in some other sights. Blue Spring, near Orange City, is home to wintering manatees so it became a must see. What a beautiful place. The natural spring keeps the water at a constant temperature warm enough for the manatees so they come here to stay warm in the winter. There were all sorts of fish too. Tarpon, gar, tilipia and others we couldn’t identify.

From here we went to Ocala to see IATA. Ocala’s town square was all decorated for Christmas. Very nice.

Much later that night (past our bedtime) we went in to see the bands. It was a small venue (a converted bank complete with open vault). These are some shots of the band. The drummer is my friend’s son.

We had a great time in Daytona due to the generosity of our friends Beckie and Per Hans. It’ll be hard to turn in the 1 SXE MINI’s keys but we need to move south if we are to meet Mary’s kids in Islamorda by New Years.