Hanging on.....

I've left you all hanging.  I oppoligise.  I'll catch you up soon.  Maybe.  Or not.  Just a teaser:  haven't sank..... Yet.

Two fer......

Apparently forgot to post yesterday.  Well, it was St Patricks Day. I'm sure a lot of people forgot a lot of things....

Fog finally burned off and we departed Vero Beach......uneventful day and wound up stopping in Fort Pierce, Florida.  Very nice marina.  All new and rebuilt after hurricaine Francis in 2004.  Yes, 2004.  It's a city marina.  They're not in much of a hurry, i guess.

They did have a nice tiki bar and we had a late lunch and a few adult beverages......not knowing what time it was made the bill larger than the usual happy hour/early bird bill.  Live and learn.  Maybe I should buy a watch?  We did manage to get through the night without being murdered or robbed.  That is apparently a rare event in Fort Pierce.  Feelin' good about that.....

No morning fog meant an early departure.  Very nice day.  Didn't hit any icebergs, but it wasn't because Florida/the army corp of engineers made it easy.  The channel between Fort Pierce and Stuart is iffy at best.  Very narrow.  And, as we're going the wrong way....all other boats are heading north whilst we're heading south......we seem to be the odd boat out.........but.... nobody died....or wrecked their boats.....

Got to Stuart and what is called the Crossroads......the intersection of the ICW (north and south), the St Lucie River and the St Lucie inlet (Ocean inlet).  We reached it just before high tide, so there was lots of water.  But the water was moving 4 kts with the tide.  We decided to duck into a marina as the boat traffic was crazy busy with tour boats, paddle wheelers and fishing boats.  Just like aloha Friday, but with (hopefully) less alcohol involved.  To get to the marina we had to go through Hells Gate. (Really.  Look it up.) With the tide.  And current.  And crazy boaters.  But, we only touched bottom once.   Fortunately we were able to power through it.  Probably wouldn't have been an issue to run aground as we passed two (TWO?) tow boat U.S. boats in the next mile.  In bad areas both tow boat US and Sea Tow just sit in their boats and wait.  Very reassuring if you're in trouble.  Also, you're almost assured to get in trouble, that's why they are sitting there and waiting.  Good?  Bad?   Well, you decide.

Anyway, tied to the dock with a most excellent pool, bar and grill.  Food was most tasty and better yet cheap.  A good place to hang and relax.  But, we're at the crossroads.  We can go west, to Okeechobee, South to Miami the keys, east to the Bahamas or North, back where we came from.  Nobody with brains boat the ICW on a weekend, so we're going to sit by the pool and evaluate our options this week.

We'll get back to you soon.....


Photos....

Dinner at Melbourne Charthouse.  A nice view of the channel entering the harbor.  We only saw one boat run aground.  Pretty good day I suppose.....

But the sunset was most excellent.......

Dolphins on the way to Vero.....

Vero pool.....

Docked in Vero in the Cheap seats with the dinghies from the big boats....

Morning fog in Vero.....worst fog I've seen in Florida.....

Gave way to afternoon sun and Tiki Bar in Fort Pierce......

Where we opted out of green beer, but did go with the fish tacos and a Cuban....

                                             


Sunset wasn't bad......

And  pool drinks at the yacht club can't be beat!

S

vero beach....

Soooo.....yesterday we had planned on getting to Vero Beach, but decided to stop in Melboune because they had a Charthouse.

Today, it didn't make much sense to stop at Vero because it was a short day.  But it looked like they had a nice pool so we stopped.  And laid by the pool all afternoon.

The end.

Always stick with the plan......

Unless the plan turns out to suck.

When we left Jacksonville, we had a plan.  South to the Keys.  Ten days.  Two weeks tops.  Clearly that didn't work out, so we switched to south bound, no plans.  We had planned to leave Cocoa Beach and get to Vero Beach today.  That was the plan, anyway.  Even though we have no plans.  But, I digress......

The Admiral said we were setting our alarm and getting up at the buttcrack of dawn (what does that mean anyway?).  The plan was to beat the gusty winds that crank up every afternoon.  Good plan.  Sadly, the buttcrack of dawn today is not the same time as it was last week.  So when we got up this morning it was pitch black.  Not to be deterred, we still got the boat readier to go.  We had gotten it ready to go yesterday.  And then, a sensible breakfast.

As luck would have it when daylight finally broke, we discovered........ anybody know what happens when the air temperature is 72 and the dewpoint is 71?  Anybody?  Bueller?  The correct answer is FOG.  I can only recall seeing FOG one other time in Florida.  Wasn't even on my radar.  Good thing we have radar, but Imma not about to boat in it.  It wasn't a horrible Depoe Bay fog where you can't see your hands in front of your face for three months at a time, but still, we waited.

Finally departed the marina and hung a right.  South bound.  Mostly flat water but some gusts came out of nowhere.  Generally a pleasant boating day, despite there being no water in the water.  10 feet on the depth gauge was time to relax time.  Sadly, it only lasted a minute or two.  But the dolphins came out to play, so that was cool.

For you non boaters, channels are marked with red and green channel markers.  It's a pretty simple system.  Basically, red right returning is the rule.  If you're returning from the ocean.  If you're on a river, you're almost always red right returning from the ocean.  If said river (on the ICW)runs into the ocean.  If it doesn't, it's red right returning....to Texas.  Now, if your red right return from the ocean to a river on the ICW and want to go away from Texas, it's red right returning from the ocean until you hit the ICW where if you turn North it's now green right going north until you enter the channel to your destination where it switches to red right returning.  Pretty simple, really.  But basically, in a nut shell, we are red right returning heading south on the ICW.  The goal, generally, is to keep the red markers on your right.  But, you can't just watch the red marker in front of you, because winds and currents may move you one way or another, and you may find that the red maker in front of you is on your right but the red marker behind you is on your left.  Ergo, you're out of the channel.  Today, parts of the channel were so narrow that even though the red marker ahead was on the right, not only was the red marker behind us on the left, but the green marker behind us was on the right at the same time.  Fortunately, the river was wide and deep at the time.  Well, deep by Florida standards.  Anyway, nobody hit an iceberg (or a beach) and that was good with me.

Plans?  What plans?  As we entered Melbourne, the Admiral says "wasn't there a Charthouse (restaurant) in Melbourne?"  I believe there was.  As luck would have it an Mr. Google would point out, there was indeed.  A quick radio  call to the Melbourne Marina and by noon, Cosmic Mariner was at the dock with the a/c running.  After cleaning, prepping for tomorrows departure, mapping a new plan for tomorrow and, a cold adult beverage, we''re just hanging in the marina and waiting for the Charthouse to open at four.  Happy Hour, as it turns out.  Weird.

So, tomorrow?  Something else I suppose.


Photo log.....


Red, right, returning.  Is that a sandbar?  Find out in a minute.  Nope, just sunlight on the water.

Eagle?  Or Osprey?  I'm not very good at this nature stuff......

Dolphin videos.  Always cool no matter what!

Welcome back......

So, we've been doing the space coast all week whist safely tied to the dock, using all the power and air conditioning we could stand.  The heat (and humidity) seem to have returned to Florida.  It was not a good week to be in a marina without a pool.  Did some boat projects/maintenance in the am's (when it was cooler) and touristy stuff in the afternoons.  Pretty nice old town Cocoa across the street from the marina where eating on the water seemed to be the theme.

There seems to be a weather window coming up tomorrow for a few days and we intend to keep heading south.  Tune in tomorrow to see where we are (or if we even moved.)



Photo memories from Space Coast......

Never did find where Jeannie and Tony lived, but we did find the Adams family house!

Old Town Cocoa.....waterfront dining, wings and cheap beer I can cross off my bucket list.  Again.

Kennedy Space Center - it's all about Space X now.  Space X will be taking men into space from Kennedy beginning in 2017.

And the future of Space flight.....coming soon.  If not postponed.  Again.

Control room for Apollo 11.  As it was, July 16, 1969.  (And, unbeknownst to most of you, I'm sure, Apollo 11  also carried the Arc Net Space Shield placed on the escape capsule by the Men in Black.  It prevented the invasion of earth by the Boglodites in 1969.  True story.  Saw it on Amazon Prime.

Waiting in line for the Space Shuttle Launch Experience......

Which, was better than Space Mountain for sure.  Also, we're pretty much fully trained and experienced astronauts now.  So we've got that going for us.  Which is nice.

NASA is hiring Farmers, if you know anyone who is interested.  I don't, apparently.

Typical garage sale stuff on the space coast.

Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum, Titusville, Fl.  Pretty cool.  

"Merica.......

easy day......almost

The weather looked good this morning.....the winds were out of the south about ten kts and the water was nearly flat.....looks like a good day to go!

We zigged and zagged through the channel aiming for cocoa beach, which was our destination when we were unavoidably detained in Titusville.  The wind did kick up a bit and we ran into some chop, but not near as bad as it was in the Mosquito Lagoon.  It was a short trip, only 17.5 nm,  and we were safe at the dock before noon.

Since it was early, we elected to bus back to Titusvi'lle and pick up our car.  We hadn't planned on having a car with us, so we are now figuring out how we are going to leap frog our car with us as we travel.  Especially after 3 busses and 3 hours later.

So, we're in the Cocoa area for at least a week.  We had planned on staying here longer to see some of the space stuff, but we did some of that whilst stranded in Titusville.  Though we did have a pretty good plan of what we wanted to do and see, we are currently traveling with no plans.  We 'll see how that works out.


Matching book ends in Titusville......

The birds followed us........

Probably because they knew we were fish magnets......I'd like to say I caught this poor little fella, but I only discovered his body after we docked.  I could have used him for bait, but I don't have any hooks that small and I'm not even sure a sardine would have wasted his time eating it......

"Merica.......

"Merica at night......

Weather.......

After cleaning the boat and kicking back some cold ones for a few days, decided it was time to keep heading south.  Until..... we got some really nasty, windy weather!  Decided to stay put and wait for a weather window.  Thought that was just an ocean thing until I saw the waves kicking up on the river here.  What's a few more days in Titusville?

Finally?

As luck would have it, Karen got up at the crack of dawn.  I still don't get that.  But she likes to watch the dolphins come in to play and feed.....I'll you tube it later.....anyway.....

when I did drag myself out of bed (0730) Karen tells me the weather is really nice.  No wind.  What?  But the weather forecast?   I never have liked weather forecasts.....Karen likes NOAA....and Passageweather....and Windyty......I like to look outside at the weather.....but I was convinced, due to the seemingly latest accuracy of the forecasts.....that it was going to be windy all week.   So, even though the weather was perfect to travel, the boat wasn't ready to go.  Because ed's been lazy.  Because the weather was gonna be bad.

So, we made plans to watch the weather and told the marina we'd let them know what we were gonna do, as we were supposed to head south today.  We played it safe and stayed another day.  Drove down to Cocoa, our next destination, to scope out the marina since we have our car now and will have to come up with a plan for that.  The wind, what there was of it, had switched to the south, which would make docking in Cocoa a snap.  We saw a few sights, and came back to the marina to prep the boat for a voyage.  Shoulda done it last week.  I know.

So, we prepped the boat and paid for another day at the marina, telling them if the weather was the same tomorrow, we would be gone in the morning.  It's only twenty some miles to Cocoa, so, icebergs aside, it should be an easy trip.  Icebergs aside, like I said.

We'll find out tomorrow.  Or not.

ps:  Everything is Space here,.....

 Brevard Co Sheriff.....notice the space shuttle on the front of the stripe.....

Titusville sailing club....note the boat names.....

More space stuff later, as time (and icebergs) allow.....