New Smyrna Beach to Cocoa Village Marina. Thurs. Feb 20th 2014

A foggy morning delayed our departure.

Peter had time to get some more fuel for the boat. The garage attendant had seen him coming with the gas can and insisted on driving him back to the boat.  Diesel is over $4. a gallon. We used $25. yesterday. Something that is very good about the sailboat over the trawler.

He then had time to tighten the alternator belt. The fog had lifted so off we went. 9 am.  A gorgeous day to be on the water. After about an hours running, there was a high pitched engine alarm. The alternator belt had broken and was sitting on the engine room floor. We quickly pulled to the side of the ICW and dropped an anchor. I guess the belt liked being loose.

The Daytona 500 pit crew would have been proud of Peter. In less than 20 minutes he had replaced the belt and we were on our way.

Surona pit crew, hard at work.

We are running against the tide so our progress is a little slow, only about 4.8 knots. Tide should change around noon.

Our first barge of the season. 

Confirmed our dockage for the night at Cocoa Village Marina. Have stayed here before and like it. We are probably within one day of Greg and Leslie Marsh, aboard Amalia. Last we heard they were at Loggerhead, Vero Beach. Hopefully we can catch up with them. They are always fun.  We haven't seen them for a year now. We have been so fortunate to have met such wonderful people on our travels.

Manatee (the brown spot in water) Haulover Canal

The Haulover Canal was not a disappointment. There is a pool where the manatee love to come. While we didn't see manatee in the pool, we did see one along the channel. The bonus sighting was a dolphin.

Parasail windsurfers, Titusville.

As we approached Titusville there were 4 para sail wind surfers playing along the shore. Do they ever go fast. If the sailboat could go that fast this 10 hour day would have been only 2 hours.

When we were about an hour away from the NASA Causeway Bridge we started to read the details about the opening times. OMG the bridge closes from 3:30 to 5 PM. This became a very stressful situation. We had reservations at Cocoa Village Marina, and if we missed the bridge we would have to find somewhere else for the night. And that could have been anchoring out in some uncomfortable area. We pushed on. We could see the bridge, we were close. Called the bridge tender to request passage. He just said that we would have to be there by 3:30. No encouraging words of any kind. I told him that was our intent. We pushed on. We were travelling as fast as we could. The hands of the clock seemed to be travelling faster than we were. Nothing to do but push on and see what happens. It was going to be very close, if at all.

Then we heard the bridge warning signal to stop traffic, and the bridge began to lift. Phew. We had made it. Surona travelled under the lifted bridge at 3:28pm. No sweat. 2 minutes to spare. Now what was all that drama about!

Peter assumes the afternoon captains position. Getting tired. Already 6 hours of travelling with another 2 more hours to go. 

We arrived Cocoa Village Marina about 5:30 pm. A very long day.
We discovered that there was to be a space launch sometime between 8:40 and 8:59 pm and that the upstairs patio was the perfect viewing area. Such good fortune, to be able to see a space launch. It is a Delta 4 rocket taking  a military GPS System up.

Delta 4 Rocket reading for launch, Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center

A shower, a drink, dinner, and off to watch the launch. This will probably be a once in a lifetime experience for us. The horizon began to glow with an amazing brightness, and then the rocket could be seen lifting off. The sound was delayed about 1-2 minutes before it carried to Cocoa Beach.  And then the rocket was out of sight. What an experience. Unfortunately, no pictures as it was night time.

Peter sure does know how to show a girl a good time. It is hard to believe, that when we were building a house and raising our children, that we would one day be on our own sailboat in Florida and watching a space launch.  Will wonders never cease? Hopefully not.