Manatees, Alligators, and Storms, Oh My!

Blue Heaven Rendezvous #32

We had a nice sail to Fort Lauderdale in the ocean making six knots with the wind behind us. We entered Port Everglades and it was filled with cruise ships for trips for the Easter holiday. This was just one of the small boats on the docks in Fort Lauderdale. Al and I thought we might consider it for our next boat! Yeah, right!!

All eight of the moorings at Las Olas Municipal Marina were full so we went over to Lake Sylvia not far away and anchored. Usually you stay away from the edges toward the land, but here it was different. The edge was where the deep water was until you were in the lake. We luckily did not have any problems but we watched others running aground coming in.

Later we followed the cruising guide’s instructions and motored by dinghy to the Raw Oyster Bar where we could land the dinghy for $10. However, the $10 could be used toward food and drink at the restaurant. We needed groceries and the store was across the street from the restaurant. After having a libation since we already had lunch, we did our shopping and went back to the boat to pack it all away.

The next morning we took our dinghy to the Las Olas Municipal Marina to be able to land and walk around the beach front. The fee is usually $15 but because we did not want to use showers or laundry, and because we had stayed at their facility in February, he waived the fee. We learned that it can be very difficult to find a public mailbox. We had to walk forever and that was after being told where the closest one was.

Later in the day we returned to the municipal dock to meet Al’s aunt and cousin for dinner. We had a wonderful Italian meal and time to chat about our experiences with them. Being that they live in Florida, we do not see them often, but this year it was a treat to see them three times.

A cold front came through, and although this seems warm to northerners, the high sixties with 15 knot winds seemed quite cold to us. We left Fort Lauderdale and went out in the ocean with the wind on our nose. There were large rollers but the distance apart was about 75 ft. which did not make it horrible. If they had been close together, it would not have been pleasant. Even though it was cool, it was clear and sunny which made for a pleasant day ending at the north end of Lake Worth.

The next day we motored through seven bridges that had to open for us in the ICW only having to wait for one for any extended time. We were anchored at Peck Lake by 12:30pm. This gave us plenty of time to dinghy ashore and cross the barrier island to walk the beach looking for shells and sea glass. I even convinced Al to take a nap on the beach which gave me more time to enjoy it. (Al is not a “beach” lover!)

The next morning we were leaving at sunrise and what a beautiful sunrise it was after having a beautiful sunset the night before that looked like the sky was on fire!

Al was pulling up anchor and I was snapping pictures left and right as the skies changed.

We motored to Vero Beach and were tied to a mooring by 1pm. This was where we celebrated Thanksgiving, now we are here for Easter. We shared the mooring with another boat called Camelot. No one was on it when we came in and did not come until two days later.
While here we met Al’s fraternity brother and his wife for a nice dinner in town and on Easter Sunday we met our friends Chick and Dorothy Hundley whom we met in Stuart for brunch. It was nice seeing familiar faces and visiting with them.

Later in the day on Easter, I kayaked in the Vero Beach lagoon area. What was neat is there were four or five dolphins swimming all around me. It was fun watching them surface so close and hearing the air from their air hole. Kayaking with dolphins was a whole new experience!

We left Vero Beach after three days and had a great sail up the ICW to the north side of the bridge at Cocoa. It was blowing 15-20 knots out of the south west so it wasn’t a very quiet night. We were up early to get to a marina in Titusville. We knew some unsettled weather was coming but in hind sight we should have left an hour earlier. Thunderstorms were predicted for afternoon but around 11 am the skies darken and we prepared for a storm. This was the worst storm we had the entire trip. Al got the anchor down along side the channel just as the winds gusted to 31 knots and rain pelted down. There was lightning and thunder and I started praying. We had suffered a lightning strike many years ago on our former boat so I was a bit jumpy. My prayers must have worked because the storm passed without incident and we motored into Titusville Municipal Marina. It felt good to be tied up because the wind was howling all day.

While Al sprayed all the salt off the boat with the hose, we had a visitor manatee. We heard manatees love fresh water and he stayed at the corner of the stern slurping as much fresh water as he could get. In the picture you are seeing his face looking up with his tongue licking the water. Manatees are very slow creatures and never seem to look like they have eyes, just a nose and mouth. Other manatees were at the pipe at the marina wall doing the same thing after the storm. We certainly saw plenty of mantatees at this marina, probably ten or more.

The next day we rented a car and went to the Kennedy Space Center for two days. We could not have asked for more gorgeous days; blue skies and temps in the high seventies. It was fascinating to see what all goes into our space programs and to see all the types of rockets and satellites we have sent into space. The astronauts are definitely extraordinary people. And it still amazes me how all these people on the ground and in the air work as a team to accomplish our space exploration. It is mind boggling and the whole Kennedy Space Center was out of this world!(Sorry, I could not resist!)

While at the space center we finally saw our first alligators. We have been looking the entire trip. We did not even see one in the Everglades but saw lots on the space center properties.