Cocoa to Titusville: 22-23 Jul 09
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| Hazards of Florida #1 (The gators, not me, silly!) |
Just in case you thought we’d gotten away from it all, Rob & Lauren aboard “Arita”, motored in to pick up an mooring at Vero Beach. Of course, Rob’s an aussie too! We recognised it immediately by his loud cooee ringing around the cove! Arita had been struck by lightning and was in need of repair to most of her electrical equipment. We left them to it; wondering how many more aussies there were to meet! Not that many more, surely!
Our next port of call was Cocoa. Himself went ashore for a hardware store and found one; quite historic (operating since 1885) and well cared for. The owner and his assortment of tools (also historic and well cared for) looked as if they were sets from a 50’s movie about dem ol’ days in Florida. There was even a paddle steamer down on the river, another reminder of how life had once been.
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| That's really a gator, folks! |
We were on a section of the ICW called Indian River, which at times is as broad as a lake and others, crowded with small mangrove islands. Fortunately the ICW markers are frequent and clear because the water outside the channel can vary to only a foot deep. The Motley’s had subscribed to tow boat insurance at Vero Beach – an essential given one of nature’s better jokes (called shoaling) that seems to move indiscriminately across the channels at any whim.
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| Gator Bait? |
Despite the river’s ups and downs, we saw plenty of dolphins and had our first manatee sightings. A little further north of Titusville, as we crossed over the Haulover Canal into Mosquito Lagoon, we saw our first gator! Not a little fellow either. Amazingly, people were fishing nearby (waist deep in waders), skiing and otherwise having a great day by the river. As you do in alligator infested waters!
From: Vero Beach, FL Lat/Long:
27 39N 80 22W Date/Time: 22/7/09: 0745
To: Titusville, FL Lat/Long:
28 37 80 48W Date/Time: 23/7/09: 1400
Time Taken: 74nm (11hrs) Distance
(this year): 1909nm (379.5hrs)
Distance Total (since 2008): 2758nm (557.5hrs) Fastest
Speed: 5-7kts**
Weather: kts; Seas ft;
Swell; Evening thunderstorms
(** Motor sailing; 5 opening & 9 fixed bridges; 9
overhead power lines!)
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