We decided to stay an extra day in Vero. Murphy loves the dog park and we figured out that we had plenty of time to make it to Cocoa Beach in one day. The only problem was the boat moored across from us. It was a nice looking Whitby 42 and we had a great chat with the owner about our new wind generator and his new refrigeration. The problem was the name of the boat, Creola. Now those of you that are Jimmy Buffett fans will recognize that as a line from one of his tunes and I couldn't get it out of my head all day....."Creola, on my victrola, makes me feel like dancin'...." Those were the only words I could remember and it played over and over and over again in my head ;-) Glad we weren't next to them all winter, might have finally driven me over the edge.
Today was a sunshiny, slightly cool, spring day. We dropped the mooring early and were off for Cocoa Beach. We had a light NE wind and were able to put out the jib to help us along. Nikki, as you can see, was once again in the cockpit for the day. Not sure if she's going senile or just stir-crazy as being out in daylight and public is highly unusual for this crazy little girl.
Early in the morning we were passed by at least a dozen Grady White power boats. Jim told them not to worry about slowing down and to just go on by. With our mass, it takes so long to slow and then speed up, that it is often better to just take the wake from these smaller boats. These fellows thought they were being nice and proceeded to drop off of plane, right at our boat, which creates the biggest wake of all. After the first few boats and giant wakes, we called for mercy and repeated that they could just stay on plane, at speed, which would make all of us much happier. The rest complied with a wave and a smile.
Later in the day we overheard an offshore conversation between our friends, River Rat, from RRYC and another boat. They were on their way home from the Bahamas. After a short and scratchy conversation, we bid them good sailing on their way to Beaufort, NC. It was pretty amazing after all these months to be in the right place to hear them, if only for a minute.
Tomorrow we are off to Port Canaveral where we will stay for a few days in hopes of seeing the shuttle launch on Monday. My sister and brother-in-law are driving down from VA and have gotten us ringside seats for the launch. This is our first opportunity to see one and we're very excited.