Day 10 April 11 Trip 32.6 Total miles 298

The Banana River where we anchored is an offshoot of the Indian River forming Merritt Island in between them.

We left the Banana River and returned to the Indian River/Intracoastal Waterway traveling north toward Titusville, FL.

The river remains wide and the shore is populated with homes on Merritt Island and homes, condos and businesses on the mainland side.

We passed by the city of Cocoa and just north of the northern bridge is the Canaveral Barge Canal that was designed for barges to deliver rocket components which are then assembled at Cape Canaveral. Going north, Merritt Island transforms to marshland and small bays and then to the Canaveral Space complex.

We could see the Vehicle Assembly Complex at the Kennedy Space/Canaveral Center from the Intracoastal. This was once the largest structure in the world when it was built in 1965. I tried to get a shot. Well, I said I tried!

Through the binoculars we could see a rocket at one of the launchpads. The next launch is April 21- too early for us to experience the launch.

Continuing north we cruised to the town of Titusville. A town of many who work for NASA or the support industries for the space center. Originally the town was the junction of the railroad and steamship lines. Steamships would bring citrus, pineapples and seafood to the town dock so it could be packed and loaded on the railroad trunk line to points north.

We anchored just north of the Titusville Mooring Field and had lunch, did chores and planned our next week. Yes, there are chores on the boat. It does need a cleaning and reprovisioning at times!

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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