After clearing customs in Riviera Beach, Florida, we headed a few miles north to visit Mary’s brother Bill and his wife Marlys. We visited them at their home in Jupiter, FL and then took the boat up to their condo in Titusville for a long weekend.
On our way to Titusville, we anchored overnight on the Eau Gallie River. The area had been recommended to us just a few days earlier as an example of “the way Florida used to be”.Cows were definitely there in the early days of Florida, but perhaps they were a different species than the one we saw tucked away in someone's yard.
The James Rossetter house is surrounded by several other historic houses and a park. Lots of Spanish moss grows on the trees which gives the whole section a very old-time feeling.
Why was the James Rossetter house important? Funny you should ask.
The Eau Gallie area also has an abundance of water birds which gave us many moments of enjoyment. Pelicans can be very funny if you watch them for "too long". This flock of four pelicans were peacefully floating by when all of a sudden they decided to take off together.
Before dinner we watched other pelicans "fishing for their supper". These two seem to have had a slight disagreement of who could sit on the green day mark. The white headed one felt it should be shared and the other seemed to be saying "Go away!"
The more gray headed one felt he was there first and they should talk about it. "Hey, I was here first!"
But the white headed one didn't seem to know about "squatter's rights". He just settled in without any regard to who was there first while the other obviously had had his feathers ruffled.
Skimmers seemed to follow an interesting pattern of flying over the water going in one direction
and then turning around and flying the opposite direction with their mouth wide open "skimming" for fish and other edibles for dinner.
Osprey seem to possess that parental responsibility of bringing dinner home to their squawking babies. Life is never dull in nature, whether it be people or animals!
We really enjoyed this anchorage and will plan on stopping there next time we cruise in Florida. From the Eau Gallie River it is only a short distance to Titusville. Saturday we took brother Bill and niece Amy for a dinner cruise on Harbour Reach. Amy had never seen our boat, and she really enjoyed being “Captain for the Evening” as her father enjoyed the scenery.
The Titusville marina had several manatees munching on dock algae and drinking water from leaky hoses. They are very innocent looking, but extremely large animals.
Sunday was a perfect time to visit the Kennedy Space Center and to get educated on what space travel is all about. After all the next day we were going to see our first non-TV-ed launch! This is one of the earlier shuttles.
Be aware that these spacemen or spacewomen certainly are "irresistible" in their lily white outfits.
The Atlantis shuttle launch was scheduled for Monday and Sunday's weather forecast was perfect. This is "Atlantis in-waiting" for its flight tomorrow.
It carried seven astronauts to the Hubble Space Station to do maintenance and to update some of the systems. Our view from Bill and Marlys’s condo was perfect and the weather co-operated for the flight.
Their unit is on the sixth floor and the balcony faces the ICW right in front of the launch pad. Spectators started arriving several hours before take-off time.
Take-off!
Just a very short time later.
Mary trying to get a better view.
An amazingly short time later the shuttle went out of sight.
Tuesday we continued along the ICW, trying to get to North Carolina as soon as possible to leave the boat. We decided to postpone any more local exploring until next fall or spring when we return. We did stop for quick visits in Beaufort, SC and Charleston, SC to visit friends that we’d met several years ago on various parts of the Great Circle Loop. We anchored in many rivers, deciding not to swim for obvious reasons.
We saw many different kinds of boats moving along the way, some sleek and magnificent.
and others not so magnificent.
Stop, look at the boat's name! Wait, I've enlarged it for you.
Did Bill forget to tell me something?
We only saw one pirate ship cruising the waterway on the east coast.
and luckily the Battleship North Carolina was nearby to protect us from such dangers at sea.
Rivers wind along in many different directions, sometimes making it difficult to explain some of the sights along the shore. This had us fooled for a while. We wondered what that red, white, and blue pile near the palm trees and partially behind the bridge structure was?
A few minutes later our question was answered.
and shortly there after we were dwarfed by the cargo boat going upriver in front of us.
That cargo boat came out of nowhere, but what do you think of this fancy condo building with boats stored nearby?
Don’t be fooled, it really is just a plain rectangular boat shed with many different windows, roof lines, etc. painted on to make it look like a condo building.
Occasionally we came across more sobering sights. This is the boat that caught on fire while docked at the Fernandino Marina and caused many dollars worth of damage, both to the boat and to the marina. A barge with the burned boat passed us on the waterway in mid-May only a few days after the fire.
Lighthouses have always captured our interest. The east coast has more than its share of picturesque ones. They each have their identifying colors and shapes. It would be difficult to choose a favorite one.
Even bridges can surprise you. This bridge opens on the hour when the tide is high. At low tide the bridge just rests on the ground beneath it. Instead of the usual draw bridge, this is a floating swing bridge, hence the need for enough water in order for it to move.
The bridge has started to swing.
The moveable part of the bridge is now nearly perpendicular to where it started.
As we pass the bridge tender waves a friendly hello before he and the bridge travel back to close the opening so cars can travel over it once more.
Finally we reached the Cape Fear River where we left the ICW and headed up river to Harbour Reach’s summer home.
As we approached Wilmington, NC the scenery took on the looks of a busy harbor with interesting city structures.
Several miles past Wilmington we get our first view of Cape Fear Boatyard. It looks good!
Now we only have three more stops before settling in for the summer. The first afternoon and evening we did tricky climbs to get ashore. It isn’t low tide yet and the ladder rungs don’t quite reach the top of the wall, oh well, we both have long legs. Just wait for low tide!
The next few nights weren’t as difficult and sleeping was easy; "rock-a-bye-baby in the launch sling".
After several days of our cleaning the boat's hull and sides while it was in the sling, the marina employee starts “driving” the boat to the shed.
Will she fit?
Yes, just barely. The rest is easy. No more ladders, no more slings, just a stairway to the sky and Harbour Reach is happily settled for the summer.
Have a wonderful summer and think about this quote that our friends, Jim and Sharon, use for their email messages:
"Life's journey is not to arrive safely at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "holycow……..what a ride!"
