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!
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