After pushing on fairly hard for the last month we have now decided to slow things down a wee bit, which also meant a gap in the issue of the blog - sorry! We are now in mid-Florida and waiting to hear where and when our water maker will be replaced. We think this should happen about 150 miles south of here, a distance we can cover in just a few days once we have confirmation that it will happen. A sense of déjà vu? Yes indeed.

We anchored off Cocoa yesterday in the Indian River, and after a 'useful day' today will spend another night here. Cocoa is a lovely little Floridian town with plenty to offer the passing sailor. It's known for Cocoa Beach, which is across the water from us, as well as its quirky, arty historic village. Most importantly though it has the best hardware store in the whole world - S F Travis, founded in 1885. Do you want to buy an old-fashioned washboard? A spare blade for your scythe? A full selection of 3ft-long spanners and an entire aisle full of oil lamp spares? This is the place to come. If you crossed the old fashioned hardware stores you would have visited as a child with the warehouse in Raiders of the Lost Arc then you about have it. It seems endless; a destination in itself.

Anyway, the other big news was that we finally saw manatees. Unfortunately we did not get a photo so we have downloaded an image from the web for the blog. They are so fab in a grey and blobby way. Apparently they are quite common in these parts at this time of year so we will keep watch. In other nature news, there have been lots of ospreys and vultures around.

ICW Mile 898- 20 statute miles progress.