Crew Log for March 28th – April 1st, 2023
Trip Summary:
• Vero Beach, Florida – Titusville, Florida
• Trip Distance of 68.5 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 3,460.1 NM
It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were celebrating having a compass bearing of 180 degrees, due south, and now we were looking forward to 000 degrees. We were legally checked into the USA, fully provisioned, we had clean clothes and were freshly showered. It was time to start making the long journey back to Nova Scotia, although we only allow ourselves to think about the next few days ahead. We still have a few things we wanted to see on the way home, including a visit to Kennedy Space Center, while we were in Titusville.
We had a beautiful day for our departure from Vero, sunny, warm with 8 knots of breeze. As we left Vero, the local rowing group was on their way back from their early morning row on the ICW. They were smart to retreat before the power boats started rolling up and down the ditch. We got to roll the jib out for the last half of the trip from Vero to our first stop in Eau Gallie (Oh Golly). Other than that, there wasn’t anything note worthy about the trip.
Eau Gallie is actually part of Melbourne, Florida, on the cities north side. We had anchored not far from Eau Gallie on the way down, but it was a bumpy, uncomfortable night. We had noted this hidden marina on the west side of the ICW and it was relatively inexpensive so, we thought we’d check it out. When I called, they actually didn’t have a slip for us, but the owner offered us his for the night, which was very kind.
We wove our way in through a narrow entrance, past a small public park on the port side and beautiful, waterfront properties on the starboard side. Once inside, the channel opens to large basin, home to the Eau Gallie Yacht Club, the Eau Gallie Marina and several rowing clubs. The area was also popular with local fishermen and wildlife, including ospreys, pelicans and dolphins.
We knew very little about Eau Gallie, so as usual, we headed off blindly to explore the sights. We weren’t sure if we took a wrong turn or not, but we found ourselves next to a 6 lane highway at rush hour with not much to see. It was good to stretch our legs, although any conversation was limited due to the traffic noise. Maybe Judy thought that was a good thing! We decided to head back to the peace and quiet of the marina. The must see attractions in Eau Gallie remain a mystery.
Like many marinas, Eau Gallie seemed to have a number of people who appeared to be there “for awhile”, and a few transients who seem to be having trouble leaving. A few of them were hanging out in the marina’s gazebo, including a couple from the northern US on a trawler, who were doing the “Great American Loop”. The female co-captain had broken her ankle and tore some ligaments in a boating mishap several weeks ago and was wearing a boot. She was advised to have the ligament damage surgically repaired, but she ignored the recommendation since it would interfere with their loop plans.
In the late afternoon a group of students were rowing up the river and were back again the next morning before sunrise. The pelicans and fishermen were also out early and I narrowly escaped getting hit by an errant lure cast while enjoying my morning coffee in the cockpit. While there didn’t seem to be much in the way of local attractions, there was no shortage of entertainment on the Eau Gallie River.
The peacefulness of our anchorage was quickly replaced with 15-20 knots of headwind for a trip up the ICW to our next stop, Titusville. What normally would have taken us 5-6 hours was 8 hours of tough slogging. And while the conditions weren’t ideal, they were certainly a lot better on the ICW than they would be on more open sections of water.
We visited Titusville on the way down and really enjoyed our stay here. It is directly across from the Kennedy Space Center, providing a front row seat for rocket launches.
Getting tied up in the marina is a challenge since we have to secure lines around posts on both aft sides and secure both sides of the bow. The staff are very good at lending a hand and providing gentle advice to make the process go more smoothly. It was tricky given the gusts of wind and bouncy conditions. However, we managed just fine, and just as the last line was secured we were treated to a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket launch. Not everyone gets a rocket launch to celebrate their arrival!
There were also a few familiar faces in the marina, including ParBleu who had booked a slip for a month. They had plans to go back to the Space Center and the kids were looking forward to a week at Disneyland while the captain is back in Canada. The common area provided an ideal space for their classroom.
Every now and again, something happens to restore my belief that people are generally “good”. I was walking to the propane store and dropped my keycard from the marina along the way. Now, I will admit, I am a bit nervous walking the streets, although there have been no instances to justify the feeling, and we’ve been in some pretty rough areas. So, when someone started yelling, while I was walking down the street with my propane tank, I of course looked straight ahead and kept on walking. However, I eventually looked back and saw a guy coming up the street waving my keycard from the marina. He saw some dude in flip flops carrying a propane tank and figured it mine. Thank you.
Judy is more risk adverse than I am and has a tradition of walking to the post office when we are going to be somewhere for a few days. Unfortunately, what she, and Google didn’t know, is that the Titusville Post Office was moved from it’s in town location, to further out of town. She certainly got her weekly quota of steps in, all in one shot!
Our main reason for staying here was to go to the Kennedy Space Center, Visitors Center. We Ubered out and back, which was the quickest and easiest way for us to get there. The Center is an amazing collection of interactive and static displays highlighting the history of the US space program. It included everything from a “Rocket Garden” and the actual Atlantis Space Shuttle to a futuristic look to human space flights back to the moon and Mars. It was an amazing experience and we highly recommend it.
Sadly, I grabbed my backpack to carry a jacket, water and sunglasses, which also happened to have my Leatherman multi tool in it. The Leatherman was a gift from Judy. Unfortunately, I had to give it up at Security and would not be able to retrieve when we left. I know, I tried.
It was unbelievably hot back in the marina. At 20h00 it was still over 31 degrees Celsius. Gilles and Julie from Mutual Fun were getting ready to haul their boat out but invited us over that evening. Sadly, after a day walking around the Space Center and the oppressive heat, we didn’t have the energy. We hope to see them again on one of our trips through Quebec.
We had extended our stay in Titusville to deal with some minor medical issues, and were now anxious to start making miles north. St. Augustine was next on our agenda, with an overnight stop in Daytona. We have a love – hate relationship with St. Augustine, and the dial just moved more towards hate.
But more about that, next time.
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