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Robert & Kay...

"With most every day of our trip being some kind of great adventure it is hard to single out one day as special, but there was such a couple of days last weekend. On Sunday, March 15, 2009, we anchored just south of Kennedy Space Center at Dragon Point. Kay fished and caught a couple catfish and several sea mullet. Kay said that the catfish really won the battle, but the sea mullet became dinner! Just after sunset space shuttle Discovery lifted off. We were close enough to hear the roar of the booster rockets as Discovery blasted off into space. We could see the booster rockets falling back to earth as Discovery continued its journey. The next morning we traveled to Cocoa, Florida, where we stopped for a few hours. First we toured Travis Hardware Store, where you could buy, new wooden wagon wheels, potbelly stoves, whiskey barrels, wrenches, wire, nuts and bolts. This was the most unusual hardware store that I have ever seen. For lunch we went to Ryan's Village Pizza for a great lunch. Back on the boat we headed to the Canaveral Barge Canal for an evening stop at Harbortown Canaveral Marina, where we paid $1.75/gallon including tax for diesel, the lowest fuel price since buying C-Life three years ago. When leaving the Canaveral Barge Canal the next morning, Kay spotted the first live alligator or crocodile, we were really not sure which it was, that we have seen on the whole adventure. We had seen one dead alligator in Alabama. WOW, what a day! Now back to the adventure since Boca Chita. "

"Prior to leaving Boca Chita, Ellen, from the boat "Our Turn" pulled the husk off, and broke open some of the coconuts from the wild coconut trees on the island. Eating the coconut from the shell reminded me of helping my mother open and prepare coconut for Christmas dishes when I was a child. "

"From Boca Chita we traveled by the stilt houses on Biscayne Bay and on to Miami. At Miami we anchored across from the downtown area in an old marine stadium where powerboat races were held in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. An exciting part of that anchorage was the Miami skyline at night. From the marine stadium we continued through downtown Miami, by the cruise ships, and on north through Hollywood and to Ft. Lauderdale. The yachts and homes in the Ft. Lauderdale area are spectacular! We stopped in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days, had dinner with fellow Loopers Cheryl & Harold of Victory, lunch with fellow Loopers Ellen & Roy of Our Turn, walked on the beach, and the guys went to West Marine and Sailorman while the girls went shopping (grocery and etc.). Then it was on to Pompano Beach and Peck Lake where we anchored out with fellow Loopers Diane & Louis of Bella Luna, and Margie and Larry of Wanderin' L&M, which we have been traveling with for most of our adventure. At Peck Lake we had an early celebration of Wanderin' L&M completing the LOOP and Larry's birthday, which would occur 2 days later on March 15th. "

"Then on to Ft. Pierce, location of the best farmer's market that we have seen anywhere. At the farmer's market was everything from fresh squeezed orange juice, fresh cooked breakfast meals, fruit and vegetables of all kinds, fresh meats and seafood, and even a craft fair area. While at Ft. Pierce I called Jones' Fruit Dock, a favorite stop of ours when traveling with Miffi and Charlie, of Southport, NC, on their boat Why Don't We. We had heard that possibly Mr. Jones had sold the property and moved on. "Not the case at all", said Mrs. Jones when she answered the phone. They still live there and the dock is still available for $10 per night, plus $3 if you plug into electricity. WOW! Jones' Fruit dock is a multi-million dollar piece of property, between the waterway and the ocean, owned by an approximately 90 year old gentleman and his wife, that operated an orchard on the land. As it ended up, we did not stop at Jones' Fruit Dock, because we wanted to get closer to the shuttle launch. North of Ft. Pierce we passed by Pelican Island, the first land ever set aside by the U.S. Government for the preservation of wildlife. Onward to Dragon Point, Cocoa, Canaveral Barge Canal, and Harbortown Marina, see the first paragraph."

"From Harbortown we traveled to New Smyrna, where we tied up to a town dock, stayed the night, and purchased a new battery for C-Life's generator the next morning before leaving for Halifax River Yacht Club at Daytona. Between the Canaveral Barge Canal and Titusville we could see the NASA Spacecraft Assembly Building, which has reportedly the largest display of the American Flag in the world, 209 x 110 feet, painted on the side wall. What a sight! The Vehicle Assembly Building is one of the largest buildings in the world. It was originally built for assembly of Apollo/Saturn vehicles and was later modified to support Space Shuttle operations. The building covers 8 acres. It is 525 ft tall, 716 ft long and 518 ft wide. It encloses 129,428,000 cubic feet of space. "

"As we went by Titusville Kay had to call Miffi, for a special hello, as Titusville has always been a favorite stop of hers and Charlie's. Also, just north of Titusville we saw large pink birds called spoonbills. From a distance the spoonbills look much like flamingos. We also saw may white pelicans, a breed of pelican with an 8 to 9 foot wingspan. These are the largest webfoot bird in the world. We also saw many of the white pelicans on the rivers in the Midwest. Before we could get tied up at Daytona, Brantley and Brenda, friends from the boat Reel Estate, stopped while driving back from NC by car, and brought some Bar-B-Que from Wilbur's at Goldsboro. What a treat! "

"Halifax River Yacht Club, in downtown Daytona, rolled out the red carpet. What a great stop that was. They have a great clubhouse, members that made Kay, Diane, Louis, and me feel very welcome, not to mention a restaurant that had wonderful food, and all at very affordable prices. We ate at the clubhouse 3 times in two days! The dockmaster recommended a great little restaurant for breakfast where I found wonderful cheese-grits and sausage! "

"Then it was on to Palm Coast. Kay and I have stopped here numerous times. It is also the location that Kay and I purchased C-Life, almost three years ago. She was known as Cater II then. How much water under the bridge, or gallons in the tank since then! Also, we had an additional surprise when we pulled into Palm Coast. We knew that Cathy and Jim Fisher, boating friends for years from Maryland, were at Palm Coast for the winter, but what a great surprise when we docked right beside their boat @ HOME! "

"Kay and I will be heading north and will probably be somewhere around the Georgia-Florida border by this time next week. It is beginning to cool off, and maybe we shouldn't be moving north quite so quickly! "

Robert & Kay

C-Life