Our Great Loop Adventure

The morning (Saturday, March 8th) we left Sunset Bay Harbor in Stuart was cool but sunny. Unaware of the current in the harbor we had a difficult time turning the Summer Recess. After a few nervous minutes we were on our way. At 10:00 we officially left the Okeechobee Waterway and entered the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway, AICW for short. We were travelling on the Indian River. About an hour later as we made our way north, we were entertained by a group of Sun Fish, a small one person sailboat.which are used to teach racing to novices to sailing. The boats in groups of five or six, were being pulled by dinghies across the river. We assumed they were going to a regatta. After passing the Ft. Pierce Inlet, we docked at Vero Beach. We discovered Island Time was here. We took a walk to the Atlantic Coast and walked along the beach. We left Vero Beach on Sunday. Again a tricky departure from the dock. As we traveled by the Sebastian Inlet, we saw our first Ice Cream Boat. We also had several dolphins enjoying the bubbles of our wake. We anchored for the night north of Melbourne. The wind shifted to the northwest during the night and so we experienced some bouncing. By Monday morning the winds calmed and bring up the anchor was easy. We followed Island Time into the Cocoa Village Marina. Do you remember which 1960's TV show supposedly to place in the more famous Cocoa Beach? (Hint: the main characters were an astronaut and a genie) We walked into town and toured the S.F. Travis Company, which is a multi-leveled multi-building hardware store. We purchased a step stool to make for easier getting on and off the boat. We have discovered no two docks are the same. We had docktails with Steve and Gina from Island Time. Our destination on Tuesday was Titusville, which is across the river from Cape Canaveral. We went into the harbor of the municipal marina for fuel and watched several manatees swim around the basin. This day we were not docking but making our first attempt at attaching to a mooring ball. I picked up ring the first time but had a little difficulty attaching the lines to the bow cleats of the boat. After a couple of attempts and with the help of the captain, we were secure. We dinghied to shore and walked into town. We discovered a park dedicated to the Apollo space program and also took pictures of the Anne Pritchard Historical House, which is an example of Queen Anne architecture. As we were walking, we talked to a lady, who had a blow up doll of a soldier on her back. She is in the process of walking to Washington D.C. Her purpose is to draw attention to the plight of serving service men and women as well as veterans. Had a great mocha freeze and strawberry smoothie at Caffe Chocolat and bought some great Rosemary rolls at the Sunrise Harvest Bakery. Tony ran into Pete from Humbug. We hadn't seen them since Joe Wheeler. Loopers are starting to head north so we hope to see more and more of our friends as we move on. Again we had docktails with Steve and Gina on Island Time. Wednesday brought a drizzly rain. We had no trouble leaving the mooring ball in Titusville. We continued up the intercoastal and came to a narrow canal which goes through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We had to travel at idle speed due to the presence of many manatees. We then entered Mosquito Lagoon, whose name comes from the fact that it is shallow and the mosquitoes provide food for fish. About ten miles south of New Smyrna Beach, the Indian River is very narrow and we again had a long period of minimum wake. We docked at the New Smyrna Municipal Marina. The downtown is very small but we had a lovely lunch at a restaurant called Jason's Corner. As late and afternoon wore on the winds picked up with gusts we figured measuring 30 knots. This morning we awoke to 48 degrees with northerly winds. We will remain here today. Friday we will continue going north. My next post should be from Jacksonville.