Traveling the Indian River
01 April 2010 | Cocoa Beach
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.
Nikki Comes Home
23 September 2008
Remember Nikki? Well at the end of a summer of sad events, we got a phone call from the campground we had been at in Maine. Nikki had reappeared. Well, what could we do but take another road trip. So in the spirit of college road trip days, we drove up to the middle of Maine and back in 3 days. Nikki was so happy to see us that it was all worthwhile. She was skin and bones and had lost all of her front teeth so I don't think she had a lot of time left. Apparently she reappeared in the campground and the manager was able to catch her in a Hav-a-Heart trap with a piece of chicken. Despite her desperate condition she still wouldn't come to him. I cuddled her the whole way home and in her first days back she even warmed up to the other pets. Once she got some weight back, she reverted to her old antisocial ways, but I'm still relieved to have her home. It just wasn't right to have her disappear at 15 years of age in the wilds of Maine.
Lost!
13 July 2008 | Mattawamkeag, Maine
Remember Nikki, the reluctant traveler? Well little Nikki was along on the Maine trip too and was not any happier about car traveling than boat traveling. Deep in the wilds of Maine, Nikki made a very poor decision. One night when the trailer door was not well secured, Nikki and her "sister" Tali escaped. Tali who doesn't like to miss a meal returned by morning but Nikki elected to disappear. We desperately looked and looked for her but to no avail. After looking for a couple of days we finally had to leave and with heavy hearts turned for home. This summer was not improving and we couldn't even think about Nikki and the coming winter.