Smoke on the Water with Manatees and Rockets….#55

We were still concerned about our temporary fix with the transmission gear (“Loss of Starboard Transmission Controls”) as we left Charleston SC, but Dan was going to keep a good eye on it and our parts would be in Florida when we arrived, thanks to our good friends Chris and Gina who received the shipment for us at their home.

Our first stop on the way to Satellite Beach, Florida was going to be a northern Florida marina in Jacksonville. But to do that run from South Carolina we needed to head out into the ocean for an overnighter, skipping Georgia totally. We had waited for good calm weather window and were ready to head out. We hadn’t done an overnighter in months but this allowed us to make good time, longer jump and use autopilot, doing our rotation watch throughout the night and arrive in Jacksonville Florida early in the morning.

“Just an FYI… we are not able to use our autopilot while on the ICW. It is just too many turns and twists and things to watch out for”

Leaving Charleston, we passed a fishing boat with the typical harem (flock of birds) following for their next feast of fish. As the fishing boats clean their catch of the day, the remains are tossed over for birds’ meal of the day. Our ocean run was perfectly calm for about 70% of the run, the first part of our journey was a little rough…. rough enough for us to be a bit more attentive to the water. We always wear, apply a Scopolamine Patch behind our ear to help with motion sickness and they seem to work pretty good. We cut them in half and share one. There has been talk from others on some boating sites about cutting them might not be the best…but they work fine for us and we keep doing it.  Our overnight trip went just fine with a beautiful full moon to light the way. We arrived at Morningstar Marina in Jacksonville FL early that next morning. We stayed one night and headed down the ICW to St. Augustine FL the next morning.

We really enjoyed our stop in St. Augustine FL last time on our way up north. The marina was a bit expensive, so we decided to anchor out for a few days. We were planning on going ashore with our dinghy to see the town again, but the wind and waves just didn’t calm down. We were also planning on having our friend Chris from Satellite Beach join us. But they were in process of making an offer on a house and he couldn’t join us. We anchored in the ICW in Tolomato River just north of the “Francis and Mary Usina Bridge” which is Hwy A1A. We were on the east side of the river and on the west side was a huge dredging operation with large pipes that floated around and were being moved by the dredger & tugboats. It was fun watching the work from where we were anchored. We also had some extremely cold weather and would wake up to the windows being steamed up and “smoke on the water”. We stayed anchored out for 3 nights.

Our next stop was another anchorage where we stopped on our way north, Titusville near Cape Canaveral. We had hoped to see a rocket launch while we were anchored out and waited for it, BUT just like last time (We Missed the Rocket Launch…#49) it was canceled. We had a bit more hope that we could watch it from land as were headed into Telemar marina approx 15 miles from Cape Canaveral We would head to the viewing park the next day to see the launch from there. As you can see from the map, the far-right red oval is the rocket launch pad area. The top red “X’ is where we had anchored and the bottom “X” is where the park is. Not only did we get to see the rocket this time but have been able to see multiple launches from our marina. One in particular was a launch at night…. what a view.

We are very happy with the Telemar Marina. It is a very small but well-placed marina off the ICW in the small town of Indian Harbor. We planned for this Marina for a couple of reasons. We have friends, Chris and Gina that lived nearby and they so graciously loan us a vehicle so we can go do a few things. This marina is nice because it is tucked away from all the ICW traffic with the point of Merritt Island protecting it. There are no wakes or tides to worry about with a local park at the far end of the marina. Crew teams practicing regularly rowing past us on their way out. I absolutely love my walks and bike rides along the S. Tropical Trail on Merritt Island. The sights and nature are absolutely amazing along this road. I feel blessed every time I walk this way… which is almost daily.

Being in this safe marina also allowed Dan to make his fix to the transmission controls. The parts were waiting for him when we got into Satellite Beach and Dan quickly made the fix and we are now safe…. until the next broken item is found… hahaha

One day we took the truck and headed to a local spot where manatees are known to hang out. It was a fun outing watching these gentle giants slowly move around.

We had tickets to fly to Portland Oregon over the holiday to visit our family members. Being that everything is so tight with the Covid restrictions. We did not have a big family gathering this year. It was hard, but we are grateful that everyone is safe and healthy. We also decided not to give gifts this year and did an “adopt a family” locally in Portland. It was awesome buying gift for a family in need and we all were very grateful for our blessing.

We hope you all had fabulous holiday season with a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year from Dan and Angela on Angelique.

Stay healthy and happy!