Hot Diggity Dog

Spaced Out in Titusville

Strange things float in the ICW in the early morning...

Titusville deserves a special mention.  Not only because it’s the gateway to Kennedy Space Centre & Cape Canaveral complex but because it hosts the most amazing thunderstorms.  We’d set anchor out from the Municipal Marina and had dinner watching an amassing cloud bank, even taking pictures of huge lightning spears piercing nearby country-side.  Then suddenly it turned.  We watched from the cockpit in horror as it came quickly toward us.  The Cap’n stowed some electrical gear in the microwave (No, it wasn’t on!) for protection, turned everything off and disconnected anything electrical.  Cap’n Vigilant then stood in the cockpit (not holding anything metal) in the pouring rain, as if Zeus, warding off a lightning strike.

That means BIG trouble - Florida Hazard #2

Suddenly, bang, fizzle!  Sparks flew, GS screamed and the Cap’n swore.  We’d been hit!  For a few seconds, our fishing rods and horse-shoe life buoy appeared unseasonably decorated by Christmas sparklers.  Sadly, all that remained of our masthead VHF antenna and wind instruments lay charred in the cockpit; the stainless steel antenna bracket blackened and peeled like barbequed onion. With no time to waste, our Cap’n Resilient started an ever-growing (shopping) list of items to be replaced, including a VHF radio. Always the optimist!

Space Glove

Now, you can’t miss the giant Vehicular Assembly Building sitting proudly above a vast expanse of Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.  After our “supernatural” experience, we decided to give science a go!  We hired a car – there are no scheduled buses.  Titusville doesn’t have a single community bus!  Nobody walks.  They all drive.  Nothing is convenient to anything else!  It’s truly amazing how shop owners make a living.  

Anyway, back to the KSC.  We had an interesting day poking old rocket bits, watching new parts being assembled and learning from IMAX 3D movies.  We toured the grounds (yes, even NASA has buses!), touched a piece of the moon and sat through a staged launch countdown.  It was interesting to hear how close the moon landing was to being aborted (20 Jul 69).  We ate lunch under Saturn V (the largest rocket ever made) and avoided kiddies on the newest “ride” – a vertical launch experience at 17500mph?!!  (Mmmm, actually that’s not such a bad idea!  Pay to have your kids propelled into outer space!  Now, where do I sign them up?)

We returned from KSC just in time for our evening’s entertainment – another growing thunderstorm.  The lightning just missed us this time, but gale force winds did not!  We could only hold on and hope that Bertha (a big 72lb Rocna) and lots of heavy chain would hold. 

“If we survive this,” said a decisive GS, “we are leaving Titusville tomorrow, very early.”  And so we did…

Where the Porpoise & Manatee Play

Cocoa to Titusville: 22-23 Jul 09

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. 

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.

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!)