Found An Old Photo

One of my first digital pics.  Taken while visiting New York City... ages ago.

Thought it fitting — here and now.

It's amazing what one finds when cleaning junk out of the boat.

A laptop full of old pics from the late 90s, an unboxed Jabsco water pump, Nobeltec VNS 5 (circa 1999), an original The Capn' CD, pirated Maptech Charts of the world on CDs, DVD of Captain Ron, brand new Fisher Panda fuel pump, zincs, zincs, zincs, filters, filters, filters, and that's just from one afternoon. All out of a box I had removed from the previous Istaboa; almost 12 years ago.
Today's another day.

Today? What's in that gray plastic bin in the back of the Laz?

Calm Seas

And we're tied up at Ft Pierce City Marina waiting on a new dink.

Hopefully these weather conditions hold and we're making way soon.
But, while we're waiting, chores are being attended to. Istaboa is really starting to look good.

And, as we always say, "When it ain't bad, it's all good.".

Our First Rocket Launch

We had the countdown online and we were watching in the general direction.
Then we saw the smoke.

WOW!!

No, this is not what we saw. But, I did send this pic to a couple of old buddies just to get them excited.

(This photo was taken by Jack Krause of Americaspace.)

Yeah, we saw smoke, which means the rocket had blasted off and was already being propelled toward space, but we didn't see the actual liftoff. Finally, Mel points out the missile as it was shooting across the sky. Then, we heard it. The sound was impressive. A rumble you could feel.

I did get a couple of shots. 

I was told by others here at Cocoa Village Marina that this was a pretty good day launch. Usually the missile is smaller and you don't even hear it. If we were at Titusville it would have been pretty spectacular, but ...

It's all good.

Space Coast

Yep, we were heading north, but as we often do,  we altered course and plans. A new inflatable in being built for us by Novurania in Vero Beach so we've reversed directions and we're heading for Ft. Pierce.

By chance, there was a rocket launch scheduled so we pulled over at Titusville in hopes of catching this monster rocket blastoff. And, as luck would have it, weather postponed the launch and it was reset for Saturday... Today!

Sunrise Titusville

So we've eased down to Cocoa Village and we're, once again, in position to see and experience the Launch of Delta IV Heavy with payload NROL-37

The secretive payload is being launched for the National Reconnaissance Office in support of national defense.

That's one big ass rocket.

Colin?

Waking early to prepare for the run to Daytona, we caught a nice sun up over Port Canaveral as a cruise ship eased by.

For us, thankfully, Colin wasn't much more than a rainy day. (We love rainy days) I've heard reports of some flooding on the panhandle, but not the storm we were being presented. No complaining though.

We were in Daytona when all the news types first became excited about the approaching storm.  Tied up on the outside of Loggerhead Marina Daytona, exposed, we thought it smart to pitch off lines and make the short hop to Palm Coast Marina.

Palm Coast is a nice protected little marina, one of the onSpot marinas, and the folks here couldn't be friendlier. They love dogs!

Only downside... At night we hear a weird creaking noise somewhere within the boat; starting at the stern and slowly moving forward. After much investigating, we figure it must be a Manatee munching on something under the boat. What ever it is, it does it's thing for a couple of hours and moves on.

Colin? He's for the folks around Cape Hatteras to worry about now. Hope they're as lucky as we were.

Adios,

The Greatest

Port Canaveral

As we were walking back from a restaurant yesterday, we didn't pay much attention to the goings on at the port until we noticed the many excited photographers.

It finally dawned on us that across the channel, the pipe being lifted was in fact the reusable portion of the Falcon 9 Rocket we had seen from Ft Pierce as it was blasting off here at Cape Canaveral.

Pretty amazing that not only can they land this thing on a barge way the hell out in the open sea, but it rides home upright, on a flat bottom barge, in such rough conditions.


Impressive, Spacex.

Ocean Club Marina at Port Canaveral is a fine marina that's nice and clean with good WiFi and floating docks... and a great inlet - Cruise ship inlet - Deep and wide.
The marina staff are very nice folks.

Cheers

Purposeful Meandering

A thought I just had and a term I just googled — found this.

"Not all who wander are lost." 

 Since leaving Memphis and all the responsibilities of our once chosen professions, Mel and I have enjoyed and become accustomed to a life aboard of drifting without much long range intent or forethought.

After all, bumping around on our boat is our pleasure and has little or no bearing on the lives of others. Hence, when asked about our plans, we say, "We're not sure.". We often don't know until we're cranking up Istaboa and forced to pick a direction.

This sometimes annoys those who don't realize; we're not being coy, we're just enjoying one of the last free personal luxuries we can take pleasure in. The critical point option: Meaning, we'll stay fluid till we must decide.
Back on land, there's plenty of responsibilities and obligations waiting for us.
But for now — If you're reading this expecting to follow us on an epic voyage you're going to be disappointed.

So with all that said, we're in Cocoa Village, FL and having quite a nice time. We stopped for a day and it's now been 2... we may leave today and make the short run to Cape Canaveral and Ocean Club Marina, but that's up to the lock master at the Canal.
Part of that land based life, installing WiFi at marinas, Ocean Club is on our list of marinas. We're casually cruising and stopping at each one to take our time inspecting and testing those systems. We enjoy this.

Plugging that little WiFi company: The guys at onSpot have done a phenomenal job. I'll say it myself with confidence and pride, it's the best service I've encountered at a marina or even one of the fine hotels we stay at from time to time.
Unfortunately, Cocoa Village Marina is not on our list. It's a fine marina in a cool little town, but we're forced to use a cell connection to write this. Still, not bad. We'll stay here every time we pass by. The marina folks are very hospitable.

Our stops so far have been Bahia Mar in Ft Lauderdale, Admiral's Cove in Jupiter, Ft Pierce City Marina, and Loggerhead Vero Beach. All onSpot marinas and all very nice places to spend time. And, yes, the WiFi at each is really fast and always on.

Now I can say it — we're cranking up and Loggerhead Ocean Club at Cape Canaveral is our next stop.

Unless something changes our mind and direction.

Adios,