Titusville to St Augustine Florida ICW

 We were ready to leave Titusville on May 22nd. It was a great visit. We were up early to move into the fuel dock to top up our fuel tank and fill our water. We didn't have much water left. When we came in, another boater helped us with the lines. As I stepped on the dock, I asked him if that alligator was a friend. He said he had not even seen it. He called to his wife to come look and we all had a laugh. He and I had both been swimming in that water in the last couple of days.

About a 5 foot alligator by the fuel dock. 

We were moving by about 8:15 and headed north on the ICW. There really was not a good option to go outside and the weather was kind of iffy anyways, so we thought we would be in for a long motor trip over two days. 

As we headed out into the open water between the mainland and Cape Canaveral the wind piped up. We put out our genoa and before long we were going over 6 knots. The winds kept climbing and we finally decided to reef (partially furl) the genoa when the wind hit 23 knots. After about 2 hours we hit the Haulover canal. Instantly the wind was gone and we were on calm water. We had to open a bridge about half way through the canal, but that was easy in the calm. Then we exited the canal and the wind was right back, but the good news is we turned dead downwind and were able to sail the next 8 miles down the Mosquito Lagoon. It was fun and we were making good time and burning very little fuel. 

You can see on the instruments, that we are going 5.9 knots. In this shot you can also see our new pillows. We think they match our colors perfectly and they were a freebee in Titusville. Another boat was just giving them away for free. We really like having them in the cockpit, and they are waterproof. 

We then approached New Smyrna Beach. There were modest homes on both sides. It looked like an older section of Florida, but very appealing. 

By about 4 pm we were in Daytona Beach. Just before we arrived we were called on the radio by a big power boat that was ready to pass. They were very nice. In just a few miles we ended up going into the same anchorage. The name of the boat is "Valhalla".

We had a bit of difficulty anchoring in the strong winds. It took two tries, but we got it done and settled in for the night. The winds died down over night and we slept well.

The next morning we were up early, we were thinking we would like to make it to St. Augustine, but when we called to reserve a mooring ball at the city marina they had to put us on a wait list. After clearing the bridges in Daytona Beach we had perfect conditions to sail, so we did. We shut the engine off and sailed along at about 4 knots in flat water. We loved it. Before long we had Valhalla behind us and asking to pass. 

Valhalla making a pass

 We switched channels and talked for a bit. They thought SHIFT looked beautiful under sail and asked if we would like a picture. I said sure, but how would you get it to me? 9They said they would find us in St. Augustine. I told them we didn't have a reservation, but she assured me they would call back. And they did. We had a ball for the night, now we had to get there. 

SHIFT under just her genoa, just north of Daytona Beach

Needless the say, Randy and Gina found us in St. Augustine that evening. We ended up talking for two hours. Really nice folks!

 We motored along all day. The problem was it looked like we were going to arrive at just about 5 pm. The mooring ball we were assigned was on the north side of the Bridge of Lions. That meant we had to open the bridge. They do an opening on the half hour, but not one at 5 because of rush hour traffic. We tried to make the 4:30, but missed it by about 10 minutes. The currents rip in the St. Augustine harbor and we had a strong outgoing current and strong wind behind us. I had to hover around and not get pushed into the bridge for almost an hour. It was a pain, but we got it done. Then when the bridge finally opened, we had two other large vessels, a ferry and a big Catamaran come through the opposite way at the same time. I am down current, so should have right of way, but clearly they did not know or care. The Cat and I squeezed through the open spans at the same time, it was crazy. 

We then had to pick up our mooring ball in about a 3 knot current. It was a test, but Kim did her usual perfect job and we got it done. 

The view from our ball was very cool. We could see the Castillo (fort) and the bridge of Lions and all of downtown. We were excited to spend two nights to allow us to see the sights. 

Here are our views from our mooring in St. Augustine. Directly behind us (when the tide was going out) is the Castillo.

Downtown St. Augustine

The Bridge of Lions in front of us and the marina beyond.

The Bridge of Lions is very ornate, the opening span is where the turrets are.

That is about it for this entry. I have to step up my writing as we are starting to move faster and I have some interesting stories to tell. In my next entry, I will take you on a tour of St. Augustine. We really enjoyed our time there, and would like to show you the sights. I will try to get that entry out soon. 

Titusville, Florida - Rockets and Boat Work

 We arrived in Titusville, Florida on May 14th and decided to stay at least a week. We actually ended up adding one day to make it 8 days.

  

The mooring field at Titusville on a calm morning. We had an Island Packet 31 right next to us. 

The moon was full while we were in Titusville. 

A nice sunrise while we waited for a rocket launch

The price of the moorings are $20 per day or $100 per week. We saw the first of three scheduled rocket launches the first day we were there that I wrote about in my previous entry. The other two were going to be on the 18th and 19th. We also wanted to check out Titusville, do some minor provisioning and spend some time with our friends Kevin and Christine on "Twist of Fate". 

The mooring field is very exposed to the prevailing SE wind. It makes the anchorage kind of bumpy in the afternoon when the on shore winds kick up to about 15 knots. The good news is that the wind died off each evening and was glassy by morning and we had no problem getting a good night sleep. We had  no bad weather while we were there. 

The first order of business after we arrived was to fix our genoa. We had a tear on the outer edge of the sail where it rubbed on the spreader when it gets backwinded. We carry a heavy duty sewing machine just for this need. 

Kim using sail tape to add strength to the area

Kim has gotten good at this type of repair.

I didn't get a before picture, but this is the finished product. The repair has held up fine in some strong wind since it was completed. 

I did some motor checks and went through visual checks on the boat. All looked good. Doing repair and maintenance on the boat is constant and extremely important. I must say, we do well as a team. 

We enjoyed a nice evening with Kevin and Christine. They just got back from the Bahamas and convinced us even more that we need to go this next winter. It won't be easy, but it is worth the trip. It was great to see them again and we hope they continue to enjoy their full time sailing adventure. 

We took a long walk around Titusville. It is not the most scenic town, but it does have some interesting history. It claims to be the capitol of the "Space Coast" being only 15 miles from Cape Canaveral. There were some monuments and historic buildings to see in the downtown area that was about a mile walk from the marina. We really needed the walk. 

Downtown Titusville is kind of cool.

I liked this historic home that has been turned into an office.

Looking out over the water you can see the Vehicle Assembly Building at the cape. It is over 50 stories high. You can see if for miles in this very flat area.

I walked out on the pier and saw these two rays. 

There are a number of parks in the downtown area. These monuments are dedicated to the Apollo program. The statue in the middle of this picture is JFK giving his let's go to the Moon speech.

We think these Ibis's look and act like chickens. 

We went out on another bridge and saw this manatee swimming by.

On another day we decided to take a bus to the grocery store and the pharmacy and back. That turned into an all day ordeal. We were really missing the excellent bus system in Vero Beach. It was fine, we really had nothing better to do and the busses were air conditioned. It is getting warm and humid, time to get moving north, but first we had two rockets to see.

On the morning of the 18th, we were up at sunrise to see another Falcon 9 Space X launch. The clouds came in and the view was not as good.

Another load of satellites heading to space to complete the Starlink system

Interesting early morning sky, but it was kind of hazy.

The power and sound does not get old.

I was very excited to see the launch on the 19th. It was an Atlas 5 with the Boeing Starliner Capsule aboard. This was an unmanned orbital test flight. I was expecting a much larger rocket, but it did not seem much different from the Space X flights. It was an evening flight, but a cloudy sky made it hard to see. 

The Atlas 5 rocket with the Boeing Starliner Capsule

We could barely see the first stage separation 

Sorry about all of the rocket pictures, but I am fascinated by it. I grew up with a father that was an engineer with McDonnel Douglas for a few years, and worked directly on the Apollo program. I am kind of into exploration, whether on earth or beyond. 

Well, that is about it for Titusville, it did not disappoint. We were now ready to move further north. Hurricane season is coming, and we need to get out of the hurricane belt. Come back to see what interesting days we have. Like one of my good friends say: "We are makin' memories".

I will leave you with a few more shots from Titusville. 

A flock of White Pelicans

A really nice sailboat came in to the marina while we were there. I think it is a Tayana 42, but I am not sure. 

This is the way I want to remember Titusville.

Departing Vero Beach and A Rocket Launch

 We finally departed Vero Beach on May 13th. We had a couple of busy days getting last minute provisions and getting the laundry done. We really enjoyed our time in Vero and we would love to go back when we are passing through. 

SHIFT and Painted Kite, got along fine while we were together.

The bridge at the end of the cut that makes up the Vero Mooring Field

We were heading to Titusville. We wanted to go there for a few reasons. The big one is that we can see rocket launches from there. We also know that the mooring field is very affordable and we also had some friends staying there that we were looking forward to seeing. 

We were not in a big hurry to get going. We decided to break up the trip into two days. The total distance is about 65 nm. That makes a little over 30 miles each day. That still takes us about 6 hours of motoring, but that is the reality of our life in a sailboat. I found a good anchorage in Melbourne, that was about half way. I was able to confirm it was a good place to stop with a friend that we saw in Vero. They are very experienced with the Atlantic ICW. It is always good to have good intel before going to a new place. 

We had some storms behind us for much of the first day of the trip. They seemed to be moving at about our pace. They finally caught us in the afternoon, but it was just a bit of rain and no wind. Thank You Lord!

Our view forward as we cruised down the ICW's protected waters. 

Our view out back. We decided to keep the sails in with the storms around. In this shot you can see one of the cockpit shade covers we set up for the first time. They help with both sun and rain. We got them for free in Marathon.

We anchored in an open lake area in Melbourne. It was a little choppy at first, but after the sun went down it got very calm and we slept well. 

There was a threat of rain in the evening also, but that missed us. 

 We awoke on Saturday May 14th to bright blue skies and slight breeze. We got going early because we had a date with a rocket. The Space X launch was scheduled for 4:40, but they have some exclusion zones that start 2 hours earlier. I thought that we would be OK, but I did not want to take any chances. 

We were able to get the genoa out for part of the trip and it gave us an extra knot of speed. We did notice a small amount of damage on the edge of the sail where it rubs on the spreaders. We will need to fix that. 

The wind died as we were approaching the bridge at Cocoa Beach. Sorry Dad, no time to stop. 

We passed another Island Packet going south. Pretty boat.

We made it to our anchorage at about 2 pm. We went ashore and got checked in and decided to pay for a week. $100 for a week is not too bad. Then we got out the cameras and binoculars and got ready for the launch. We were able to get a live feed of mission control, so we could hear the check lists and countdown. We could actually see the rocket on the pad from our boat. How cool is that?

Liftoff, we have liftoff!

Zoomed in a bit.

I thought the contrail looked cool. 

The sound took about 75 seconds to reach us 15 miles away. When it did, it was pretty loud. The whole experience was very cool.

The good news is that the reason that we are staying a week is that there are two other launches scheduled while we are here. One is another Falcon 9 Space X launch, the second is a much bigger Atlas 5 rocket that is part of the manned space program. This is a crewless test, but we are looking forward to that launch on May 19. 

So, now we are in Titusville and we like it here also. I will write all about our time here and hopefully some more rocket pictures in my next entry. 

Full moon over Titusville