Up the Space Coast

We left Titusville bound for New Smyrna and the yacht club there.  The ICW at this point is a series of rivers with cuts dredged between them.  As such, they are subject to swift running currents that we're not really used to navigating.  We had a solid 2+ knots against us making for slow going.  We trusted the forecast (I know, we never seem to learn) and left early to avoid the coming wind.  Well, we had a great sail since the dreaded wind came on the trip not as we arrived at the dock.  Instead we had a hellacious current which played havoc with our tying up to the assigned dock.  Thanks to 4 or 5 club members we made it on with no damage to people, boat or dock.  We now know to plan more carefully around tide stages!  We wanted adventure and this was a definite learning point for us.

Sunrise at Titusville as we were slipping the mooring lines.

This couple was turning someone's really rotten luck into a nice spot of shade.
It must have been quite the surge to get this boat so high and dry.

This was Mosquito Lagoon.  I'm glad we were moving and didn't find out
if the name was appropriate.

This was a very inconvenient bridge.  It was the end of a short channel just
before we made a hard left turn.  This is the end of Merritt Island, to the left
in the picture.  It is the unofficial end of the Space Coast.

On the charts, this is a marina.  Not much of one that we could see.

The water and winds were rough.  This was a disappointed family
group who had planned a kayaking outing.  You could see one of the young
boys arguing to go anyway.  Stay tough, Mom!

This was a huge downed tree just to the side of the channel.  I'm glad it had been moved
out of our way.  There wasn't enough depth at this point to leave the channel to avoid an object.

That is one, huge golfball!  Or maybe a raydome.  Golf ball makes a better story.

I can only imagine the stresses of bringing such a long span up.  You
wonder why it's one instead of the usual split in the middle.

All along this stretch were retirement communities with well kept
yards and modular houses with screened porches added on.

I love the look of these trees, Australian Pines, but they are so invasive and communities
are waging war to wipe them out.  They are all over the ICW and crowding out native
species, especially the very beneficial mangrove.

A long, narrow cut between the end of two islands.  You can count on the
current being swift here as it's squeezed from two large bodies of water
through a narrow gap.

The Smyrna Yacht club facing the water

I would like to know the story behind their emblem of the laying down S.

Cedars are starting to be common this far north.  We went for a walk in the
surrounding neighborhood and saw many of them.  It was a very pleasant
place with lots of other walkers out early like us.

Another view of the club.

After our stressful docking, we looked forward to a nice lunch and drink
at the club Tiki Bar.  As usual, we met many nice folks there.

Blue Moon tied up safe and sound.

A highlight of our 1 day stop was seeing my nephew Greg.  He was in
Florida on business and traveling between St. Augustine and Tampa
and Smyrna was close enough off the trail to stop by for dinner and a tour of the boat.

Greg and his friend Beth.  All four of us graduated from the same
high school, Nolan Catholic in Fort Worth.