Titusville - the wind finally dies down

The clouds in the distance are over the Gulf Stream, it's warmer there, more clouds there

After three days and nights of 30 kt winds, it was a relief to have only 10 to 15 kts. It seemed like no winds at all! People tell us it must be nice to be on vacation for 9 months of the year (counting the fall two months and the winter five months with two months in Long Island Sound during the summer). However, as Ann points out, you still have to do everything you would if you were home - like laundry, cleaning (the boat), paying bills, buying fuel (diesel), engine maintenance (changing oil, filters, etc.), fixing things that go bad (water pumps, joker valves, clogged raw water filters), general house cleaning (mold removal and prevention, floor cleaning, etc.) and a few things foreign to a house like taking care of an anchor and rode along with dinghy maintenance. So although it sounds idyllic, there is a lot of work involved - but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

The spit of land provides some protection for us

Today was housework which involved paying bills and investigatiing Obamacare options. Luckily, you can do everything over the internet nowadays so I spent all day doing that and in the late afternoon, I put the laptop screen up on our 32 inch LED TV and we perused the options while sipping wine. It appears we'll be okay but more study is required. At least the website worked (we have one dedicated to IBM employees).l

The wind completely died tonight which is normally a good thing but that let a few bugs come out that were blown away for the last three days. The citronella candle helps some and we have a home brew repellant that seems to work too. With the dying of the wind, we may rent a car again and explore the area some more and take advantage of the $10/day weekend rate.

Titusville - Not every day is a good day...

The "all day view" from the boat - ugh! 

This is the third day we've had winds up to 30 kts (35 mph) in the marina but today the winds were joined with a driving rain. However, it's hard to complain when we've had such nice weather for the trip down. It's just that once we reached Titusville, the weather has turned bad. But then Titusville is where we're going to winter over for the holidays so it's not so bad since we don't have to move until January.

There are several other boats here with us that had intended going further south over the last few days but have reconsidered their plans given the weather. When cruising, the weather is king so you just sit it out. We've taken to playing Scrabble using the iPad which negates the requirement for a board - we just make moves and pass the iPad between us. We have a good supply of  books to read and Ann likes to do her pastels, essentially, everything we would be doing at home we can do on the boat. We get 35 channels of TV with our boat antenna and 5 Mbps internet free from the marina, it's a great set up.

On Wednesday we start tackling Obamacare.  It's a big change for us so we'll see where it leads. So along with the bills to pay, it's back to the grind tomorrow.

Titusville - Goes to the dogs...

View from the dog park towards the marina

Titusville is becoming known as a cruiser friendly marina. Their rates are very economical at $1.44/ft (with BOAT/US) and if you stay a week it's only $6/ft. For a month's stay, it's even less at $10/ft. So you can see the attraction. Add in the dog park next door where dogs can roam free and play with others and also the free shuttle into town (Walmart, Publix, etc.), it's a first class outfit.

I think Hoolie is about done it - time to head back to the boat

Today we had 30 kt winds and we rocked a bit. The rule of physics is that a 30 kt wind is four times as powerful as a 15 kt wind (maps to the square of the velocity). I can personally attest to the 4x ratio. It's now blowing 15 kts (only...) and it seems as if we're on land, almost. But 25 to 30 kts is entirely different!!

So we made a trip out to the nearest Publix but didn't do much else except take Hoolie over to the dog park, his favorite trip whenever we're here. All the dogs play well together, no one bites or growls but boy do they ever run around! Hoolie always returns to the boat with his tongue hanging out.

I'll take the car back Tuesday morning and then tackle the accumulated mail (bills!) of two months. Time to catch up on reality again.

Titusville - a walk along the Tosohatchee Wildlife Refuge

A lake along the way - No Swimming! (alligators)

Titusville is surrounded by wildlife refuges. We had been to Merritt Island Refuge so today we went inland about 20 miles to the Tosohatchee Refuge. It has 30 thousand acres mostly preserved in its original condition. Florida has their counterpart to the Appalachian Trail called, appropriately, the Florida Trail. It goes through the heart of Florida's undeveloped regions, some of which have never been touched by development. Tosohatchee is one such part of the Florida Trail and close by Titusville so we paid a visit today.

Forest Primeval  - The Florida Trail, this is what the first settlers saw - by stop #23

First of all, it's hard to imagine a more extreme contrast between the farm lands seen as you approach the refuge and the impenetrable brush you see once inside. It's hard to see how anything or anyone could possibly navigate through the area - but of course they did, especially the indians. The Florida Trail goes through the heart of the refuge and we stopped by one parking area where the trail passed over the access road. Walking partway down the trail, we were immediately in a forest of palm trees and live oaks and greenery everywhere you looked, a jungle! It was mostly silent with just a few calls of birds but surprisingly no mosquitoes or insects of any type. After 100 ft you could no longer see the road, it was a stunning sight of every possible shade and shape of green! Photos do no justice. You kept wanting to see what was around the bend, around that corner, just pass the next tree... But we had left Hoolie in the car (alligators!) and had to be brief. It was a magical experience.

The reason for the cleared road - it's an access road for the power lines through the heart of the refuge

Pressing onward, we visit Christmas, Florida where a fort was built on Christmas Day - that was just the day the army arrived to build a fort to control the Seminole Indians, hence the name. Unfortunately, they do not allow dogs even on a leash, so we moved on. We stopped by a boat launch on the Indian River with a sign that said, "Swimming at your own risk"! Can you imagine, swimming wasn't prohibited but if an alligator got you, they didn't want to be responsible! Ann went in a fish market on the way home for fresh caught tuna which we had tonight, nothing better. The winds are finally abating somewhat. It mostly blew in the 20's all day long, glad to be tied up and secure here.

No picture of Florida wilds is complete without a live oak

We have one more day with the car to explore before having to get back to work on more mundane things. Can't complain about the weather with temps in the high 70's though, Florida's great in the fall.

Titusville - A day of change, storms come through

If you're in Titusville, do not miss Dixie Crossroads and their rock shrimp!

We saw the front come through today that came through up north earlier in the week. The skies were dark and the wind piped up out of the north. It's a dramatic change for down here with a low tonight of 59. The high on Sunday is only to reach 78! I have the heater on full blast right now (and I make fun of those down south for feeling cold in weather that northerners think is warm...)

So today was upgrade day for galley lights. I installed an LED replacement light for the fluorescent light in the galley that came with the boat. It's 24 inches long and is much, much brighter than the fluorescent light it replaced. I buy all my LEDs from Marinebeam. They come with a built in current regulator so no matter that the voltage is on the boat (12.4 on low batteries or 15v at the highest charge rate) the LEDs are protected and see a constant voltage and current. All of the lights on my boat are LEDs now.

The last time we were in Titusville, we heard so much about rock shrimp that we promised ourselves we would try them out the next time we were in town. The rock shrimp business was born here in Titusville, nobody else at the time wanted anything to do with them, they were hard to eat since the shell (hard as a rock) had to be cracked to get at the meat. So Dixie Crossroads came into being and brought rock shrimp to the eating public - and the rest is history as they say. I had two dozen tonight served with dipping butter (like lobster) and the taste is just like lobster, but even sweeter and as tender. The restaurant cracks the shells open for you so picking out the meat is easy. But it's the taste that keeps you coming back - delicious!!

With a cooler day on tap for Sunday, we'll head inland to a nature refuse by the Indian River. We're doing all the exploring now before we turn in the car on Tuesday morning and have to face up to picking a medical plan and sorting through all our back mail we just got today, probably some bills, ugh.

Titusville - We visit the Kennedy Space Center

A photo cannot capture how huge this thing is

We had visited the Kennedy Space Center in the spring where I had bought an annual pass which allows me free entry for one year and a 10% savings on anyone with me along with free parking. So my annual pass was still good and we hadn't seen the IMAX films the last time so we opted for returning for another visit.

Perhaps an aft view will help

Our first priority was to see the two IMAX films, both of which focused on space unlike the feature films at some of the other IMAX theaters. One was on the space shuttle and the other one was about repairing the Hubble space telescope. Both lasted about 45 mins and was everything I hoped for. Lots of views from space, the shuttles, pictures from the Hubble and all in 3D, thoroughly enjoyable. The last time we visited, the Atlantis shuttle exhibit was not finished but now it is. It's an amazing exhibit and worth the price of admission just to see it. It's an absolute top-notch job, we were dazzled. I never appreciated just how huge the space shuttles were, much bigger than I had imagined. Plus, they have the real Atlantis on exhibit, not a mockup like exhibits elsewhere. If you're ever in the Titusville area, do not miss the Kennedy Space Center!

As you left the exhibit (and returned to Earth), you "heated up through the atmosphere", red hot, cute.

On Saturday we due for a break in the heat wave (high today of 86) and we'll get a few storms coming through with a high on Sunday of only 79. After all of today's activities we just ordered pizza delivered to the boat so now we're stuffed. It's a mild night but storms are coming.

Titusville - We visit Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuse

Our greeting in the morning!

Well, we have a flock of birds around the marina that like to perch on the rigging of sailboats. They also like to eat some vile berry that becomes black when processed by their digestive system. It stains fiberglass instantly. The only thing I've found that gets rid of the stain is undiluted bleach. If anyone has other ideas, let me know!

Ann and I both just love wandering through the nature refuges

So after the morning's entertainment from the birds and subsequent clean up, we left for the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. It's a by product of the Kennedy Space Center since they didn't need the entire island for their launches, less than 2% in fact so they established the wildlife refuge on the unused portion. It's a great resource and we spent all day walking and driving through the area. It's a wintering over spot for a lot of northern species, just far enough south but not too far.

Now that's a large spider!

We could do this for hours, and we have at times

For those who have been following the blog for the past few months, our travels this year have come to an end. We'll leave Fleetwing at Titusville to take advantage of their $10/ft monthly rate and return north for the holidays. We'll return the first week of January to continue our cruise down the ICW to Key West to be followed by a return trip to the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club in late May of 2014. However, I'll keep the blog active as we explore the Titusville area until our departure on 11/21/2013. I do the blog for my own amusement but all are invited to read it - we're just not traveling down the ICW for awhile. For those only interested in adventures when we're cruising down the ICW, check back in early January - otherwise you're still invited to stick around.

Birds abound on all sides, notice the "watchdog" bird - one's always on lookout