Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 Another Surprise!


It rained so hard last night that I woke up at midnight to see if any of our hatches were leaking.  Everything seemed to be good….for the moment at least.  It continued to rain, thunder, and lightening throughout the night and the early morning hours.  So, it didn't surprise me at all when Rita called this morning to say they were staying one more day!  The ICW was choppy and the winds were going to be right on their nose.  They knew this would make it more difficult to go north, especially if the current is flowing against them also.They were coming in to do their laundry, so Chuck and I made a point to see them.  On our way, the manatees were at the drainpipes drinking the fresh rainwater….oh, how cute they are!

Mike and Chris are taking us this morning to Cocoa Beach and then over the bridge to Merritt Island to the Verizon store.  When we were at the Fort Pierce anchorage, I either accidentally updated my phone or it updated on its own.  Once that happened, my  ‘free portable hotspot app’  no longer was free.  I needed to talk to a Verizon representative.  Help!  Without the hotspot, I won’t be able to continue blogging.  Most marinas have wifi but with so many people trying to use them, it’s almost impossible to connect.  And what will I do when we’re on an anchorage for the night?   

It’s a beautiful sunny morning to take a ride and it’s going to be cool to drive over the ICW on the Cocoa Beach Bridge, where just a few days ago we were motoring under it.   Of course, the Verizon store is busy and I waited at least an hour to talk to the rep for about 5 minutes!   But hey, I got my problem resolved and I’m happy!   Once done, we motored back over the bridge to the mainland to stop at the local Yanmar Dealer.  Chuck needed some spare oil filters.   It was a few minutes after noon when we got there and it was closed for lunch.  That’s okay, we’ll just do lunch.   All of the eateries were back over the bridge on the Merritt Island side!  LOL….so we retrace our route and stop at the 5 Guys Burgers.  Even though Chuck worked on the 5 Guys back home, neither of us have ever eaten at this burger joint.  The hamburgers were good and we’d go back.  I especially like the complementary salted peanuts to keep customers busy while they wait for their food!   Okay  it’s after 1 pm, we will
 cross the Cocoa Beach Bridge for the 4th time to stop at the Yanmar Dealer...and it was worth it.  The Yanmar oil filters were cheap...less than $7 each.


On our way back to Titusville, Mike drove us to NASA on Merritt Island.  We all opted against visiting the museum because it was quite pricey but we could see the older shuttles that are on display.  We then drove to the NASA Astronaut Museum and got out to look at the shuttle displayed outside.  Under close inspection, we all agreed it was a replica.  The tiles around the nose of the spacecraft weren't real but painted on!   It was good though and almost had us fooled.  After leaving
there, we were hoping to spot an alligator in the canals or ditches                                                           along the road.  No luck!


When we got back to Happy Hours II, I called Rita to see what they were doing.  Her, David, and Keith were all on their boats.  They had eaten lunch at Cracker Jacks which is beside the Max Brewer Bridge on the ICW.  She suggested we try this restaurant before we move on because the food was great and the view wonderful.  Maybe….but they aren't coming back in to shore.   The guys already have their motors off their dinghies and mounted on their boats.   Sigh…we won’t see them again…..


grounded derelict boat
We decided we needed to walk.  I hadn't explored the park to the north of our marina, the Marina Park.   The park is a little different than the park to the south which I discovered is called Sandy Point Park.  This park has 2 fenced-in dog training areas, skateboard ramps, walking paths, boat ramp, baseball field and a pond.  The pond has a sign that says, ‘no swimming, watch out for alligators!’   I saw that and was ready to move out of there , quick!

It’s back to our boat for the evening.  The wind is still blowing and the temps will drop as soon as the set starts to set. 

a bit choppy

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