Weekend on the ICW

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Friday morning was peaceful when we left Dragon Point, and remained fairly uneventful. We saw NASA buildings at Cape Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral and discussed being in the area for the launch of the next space shuttle mission scheduled for April 29. We hope so, since our faces are going into space on that shuttle (see NASA’s website for their faceinspace program to sign up.)

We stopped for the night at the Titusville Municipal Marina. There were a lot of boats (mostly sailboats) anchored outside the entrance to the marina. Plans are to put a mooring field there in the near future. We pulled into the marina and up to the pump-out dock, where Kerry emptied the pooper before moving into a slip nearby. We saw a manatee in the marina, our first of the trip.

Once settled in, we walked to the grocery a few blocks away and stocked up. It was hot inside the boat until late, but lovely outside. We ordered pizza and ate on the front of the boat, enjoying the cool breeze. There is a festival in town this weekend, with carnival rides and music, some of the rides visible just a short way down the shore. We listened to the kids screaming on the rides and the music playing until bedtime.

Saturday morning the recreational boaters became more numerous as we neared Haulover Canal at ICW mm 870. Inside the canal it was slow going as it was a no wake/manatee zone as well as being crowded with a couple of dozen kayaks and several fishing boats. Once out of the canal, we turned more to the north into Mosquito Lagoon, where the breeze coming across 2+ miles of open water brought a welcome coolness.

At New Smyrna Beach the ICW winds around small islands and shoals with several cutoffs to confuse the unwary navigator. The boat traffic by this time was plentiful and boisterous. We were rocked and rolled by wakes all the way from New Smyrna Beach to Port Orange, where we checked into the Seven Seas Marina for the night. Saturday afternoon is no time to be boating in highly populated areas. We hope to be settled onto a mooring ball at St. Augustine before it gets wild tomorrow afternoon.

More later.

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