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| Typical huddle during the winter months |
We had a few more errands to run while we had the car but after that it was time to visit the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge again. When the Kennedy Space Center was built, they had more room than required so they established a wildlife refuge in the rest of the area. It's located in a major fly area for migrating birds of all kinds. We always enjoy taking the Black Point road tour of the area. If you are over 62 and have a Golden Passport which only costs $10 for a lifetime pass then you can enter any national park for free. We used our passport today.
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| The white pelicans were out in force - and together |
The Black Point road winds its way through the refuge with many places to pull over and observe the birds in their winter home. In the fall we noticed that the birds were scattered all over the area which was a great photo op but today we started to suspect they had all left for parts unknown. However, about 1/2 way along the road we suddenly saw hundreds of birds all huddled together. I guess it's a protective assemblage for winter cold weather?
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| Birds of all types were just hunkered together in the cool weather |
Of note were the snow white pelicans which are associated with the area, there was a whole flock of them. It was comfortable with temperatures in the mid 70's but it's due to drop to the low 60's for a high tomorrow, Florida is cooling off, at least the northern part. We are still looking at the weather and may stay here until the cold front passes and the warm weather gets reestablished. Our arrival date at Key West is now 1/29 since February 2016 is a leap year with 29 days. We already have friends in Key West wondering where we're at!
2 comments:
Hi guys! Glad to see you're in Titusville - my backyard! I'm actually at work at the Kennedy Space Center and I can probably see you out the window! I love your website, what great resources and links and info you have there! I just printed our IPAD article since we are considering getting one before we start cruising. i actually got your info from a post you made on S/V Odin's blog - about your 2015 ICW Cruising Guide.
Let me know if you need anything while you are here - I can give a lift to the store or run you around if need be. We maybe have some bad weather coming thru on Friday - as another front approaches.
Hope to see you on the waterways someday soon.
Laura
M/V Scottfree
44' Endeavourcat
Laura,
It's always good to hear that my blog site is useful! I keep meeting people all the time that way. I do love the iPad. I have the iPad Air2. If you get one, be sure to look for a sale in the neighborhood of $100 off. The merchants can't discount the price itself due to Apple's control over the selling price but merchants have been offering $100 rebates or a $100 store coupon in lieu of discounting the list price. It's more convenient to get one with an internal GPS chip which only comes with a model designed for a data connection to a carrier such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc. You do not have to be connected to their service to use the internal GPS chip for positioning.
If you do buy the model without the GPS chip you can always buy a Bluetooth GPS that works fine but it'll cost around $100, about the same as buying the iPad with the GPS chip and you have to connect it each time. Apple seems to find a way of breaking that connection periodically with one of their updates.
We rented a car last weekend and provisioned, about $400 worth! We have a huge freezer onboard, much bigger than our refrigerator. We'll be around the boat until Saturday morning, come by and say hi if you like. BTW. we loved the Kennedy Space Center, one of our favorite places on the ICW, we've been there twice.
At any rate, I glad you find the site useful, happy sailing!
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