Friday, 6/14 – Up this morning before the crack of dawn, released our lines about 7:00 leaving Melbourne Yacht Club and cruising north in the Indian River headed for Titusville Florida. The weather was cooler, a bit overcast, and extremely calm – the water looked like we were gliding on glass. It was another easy cruising day – just under five hours. The scenery was mostly “regular” big waterfront homes and a few boats out enjoying a day on the water.

We arrived at the Titusville fuel dock around noon. As I threw the dockhand our forward line, he reached for it, lost his footing and fell right in the water between us and the dock. There was quite a bit of yelling on my part to alert Michael that someone was in the water. I was afraid we would run over him or trap him between the boat and the dock. He, on the other hand, was not concerned at all, just embarrassed. Once out of the water we all had a good laugh, helped him retrieve his hat, then he went off to change his clothes.

As we entered our assigned slip we found it was occupied by three Manatees who promptly scampered out of the way. Once we were settled in we hopped off the boat and took the doggies for a walk and to search for lunch food. The town is about ½ mile away and is only two blocks long. Most of the businesses were closed or completely gone.  We found a local brewery where we each had a slider and a beer. Not much going on in town so we stopped at the grocery for dinner stuff and headed back to the boat.

Today is my birthday so for my birthday dinner Michael grilled steaks accompanied by baked potatoes, salad and a nice red wine. He also ordered up a lovely sunset. What could be better? Dinner on the water with Michael, Snooki and The Duke viewing a beautiful sunset. Life is good.

We decided to stay only one night as there wasn’t much in the immediate neighborhood and, although the marina staff were very friendly and accommodating, the docks were pretty rough as were numerous boats in the slips. Obviously, it you are interested in NASA, space, and astronauts you might want to spend more time here. We understand it is the only place on Earth where you can tour the launch site, meet a veteran astronaut, see giant rockets or pretend train in a space simulator. Sounds very interesting but we are on a bit of a hurried schedule to get out of Florida before July 1^st so we have to pick and choose what we do and how long we stay. Maybe next time round, but we would choose a different marina.

Saturday, 6/15 – Up this morning again around 4:00. Not sure why but it offered us an early start to a long travel day. We said bye to Titusville Municipal Marina at about 6:40. Just north of Titusville we entered a narrow land cut called the “Haulover Canal” where they say you almost always see Manatees.  We could see the movement on the water, and, we were sure there were Manatees all around but, again, we couldn’t see or get a photo because the water wasn’t clear enough, but knew they were swimming all around us.  

Our trip today was longer – just shy of seven hours, mainly because of the long stretches where there are Manatees zones and no wakes allowed. The waterway here is a narrow band of water just behind a barrier island separating the ICW from the ocean. It was beautiful – slow, easy and very scenic. We navigated from the fly bridge with the warm breeze in our face and tunes in the background. Totally glorious! We decided to pass by New Smyrna Beach and head to Daytona Beach.  

We arrived at the Halifax Yacht Club in Daytona Beach a little before 1:00. Founded in 1896, they claim to be the oldest Yacht Club in the same location on the Eastern Seaboard. it’s a beautiful club with about 42 slips and three guest slips. We feel fortunate to able to stay here. Just a few steps from the boat is the waterfront Tiki bar which is a perfect place for lunch and dinner. They also have a pool, laundry, restrooms with showers and an upstairs restaurant/bar. The Club is maintained beautifully, and the folks here are extremely friendly. To top it off, there is also a cute downtown area with shops and restaurants within close walking distance. You tend to stay longer when you like the facilities and the people are friendly. This is one of those places, so we decided to stay another day. We were treated to a cardboard box boat race on Father’s Day. It was good fun watching young and, one older Club member, trying to successfully board then paddle a duct taped refrigerator box. They had to paddle from the front dock, around a mark, and back to the front dock. It was pretty entertaining. The race was won by one of the youngest contestants whose prize was a big bowl of ice cream.

Tomorrow we are off to St. Augustine. Will keep you posted…