Wow, what a day this is going to be! The sun is shining, the skies are blue sprinkled with a few white puffy clouds, and there is mist rising from the water at the Cocoa Beach anchorage. This is going to be a Floriday for sure!
Our anchor held great last night, considering it didn't want to dig in yesterday. When the windlass began pulling in the anchor, Chuck found out that the bottom was mud! So why did we have such problems setting the anchor? We were wondering if somehow it twisted while dropping and was landing upside down. Oh well, we're off by 9 am and planning on anchoring this afternoon at Melbourne Beach....only time will tell!
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| Snow Goose |
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| Lucy |
Sv/Release hailed us on the radio. They left Cocoa Beach before us and were also heading for the Melbourne anchorage. We both decided to anchor on the NE side of the Melbourne bridge for two reasons. The first is because the winds are to blow out of the south and we'll be more protected at this point. Secondly, we will have a clear view to watch the rocket launch scheduled this evening at Cape Canaveral. At 12:15 I motored in behind Release and this time when Chuck dropped the anchor, it set immediately....go figure! Later in the afternoon, we had visitors spending the night with us....our friends Mighty Fine, another sailboat, Atatlantic, and a yacht.
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| North of the Melbourne Bridge |
The Doyle chart guide said there was a small public sandy landing east of our boat. So, we ventured out in the dinghy to try and find this little spit of sand. As we motored along, we were beginning to doubt what we had read because all we could see were rocks and private property. Eventually we found the tiny bit of shore land that the guide referred to as a beach. LOL. It was only big enough for 2-3 dinghies which we soon proved when Ken, Francie, and Skipper showed up. Once landed, we all decided to walk to the 5 blocks to the ocean at Indialantic. The water was so blue and the waves were lazily rolling into the shore...just picture perfect! Kids and adults were swimming. Didn't anyone remember to tell them that it was December! With the temps being in the high 70's, why not enjoy the beach and ocean.
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| Parrot that Chuck spotted |
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| Indialantic |
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| Dredge |
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| Indialantic Beach |
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| Ken, Francie, & Skipper |
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| Flock of gulls |
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| Kids playing |
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| Me |
On our way back to our dinghy, I got a call from Craig(Mighty Fine) wanting to know where we were. Seems, he didn't read his text messages! Instead, he and Donna and Dillon motored under the Melbourne Bridge to the southwest side of the river....Melbourne. Since we were returning to Happy Hours, we told them we'd meet up with them. They were waiting for us at the dock and we walked into town looking for a restaurant that would allow pets. A Bar and Gril, Off the Traxx, had a patio out back and dogs were allowed. Since we hadn't seen each other for weeks, much of the conversation was about 'where and when' of our cruising adventures.
The four of us wanted to be back at our boats in anticipation of the private Falcon rocket launch which was scheduled for 5:40 - 7:00. This rocket had been scheduled numerous times since Thanksgiving! We zoomed back to our boats... choppy on the south side of the bridge but much smoother on the north side. Craig invited us to watch from his upper deck thinking we'd have a great view. We weren't even sure where we should actually be looking...and then at 5:41 we saw a very large glow over the tree line. It appeared to be a big ball of flame. Wow, Wee!! and there was lift off and where were our cameras! The rocket seemed to be in slow motion and we all commented at the time that we wondered if everything was going as planned...or was there a problem. Up it kept going and we all sat there in amazement! It arced and kept climbing over the Atlantic until we could no longer see it. What an experience. This is our first live launch and what a view we had!!
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| Mighty Fine |
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| Release |
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| Atatlanta |
Soon we went back to Happy Hours II....This cruising is so busy and tiring....but we love it.
The Doyle chart guide said there was a small public sandy landing east of our boat. So, we ventured out in the dinghy to try and find this little spit of sand. As we motored along, we were beginning to doubt what we had read because all we could see were rocks and private property. Eventually we found the tiny bit of shore land that the guide referred to as a beach. LOL. It was only big enough for 2-3 dinghies which we soon proved when Ken, Francie, and Skipper showed up. Once landed, we all decided to walk to the 5 blocks to the ocean at Indialantic. The water was so blue and the waves were lazily rolling into the shore...just picture perfect! Kids and adults were swimming. Didn't anyone remember to tell them that it was December! With the temps being in the high 70's, why not enjoy the beach and ocean. 
The four of us wanted to be back at our boats in anticipation of the private Falcon rocket launch which was scheduled for 5:40 - 7:00. This rocket had been scheduled numerous times since Thanksgiving! We zoomed back to our boats... choppy on the south side of the bridge but much smoother on the north side. Craig invited us to watch from his upper deck thinking we'd have a great view. We weren't even sure where we should actually be looking...and then at 5:41 we saw a very large glow over the tree line. It appeared to be a big ball of flame. Wow, Wee!! and there was lift off and where were our cameras! The rocket seemed to be in slow motion and we all commented at the time that we wondered if everything was going as planned...or was there a problem. Up it kept going and we all sat there in amazement! It arced and kept climbing over the Atlantic until we could no longer see it. What an experience. This is our first live launch and what a view we had!!
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