Christmas

We had a quiet Christmas day aboard Ariel. Linda prepared a traditional turkey dinner finished off with apple pie and ice cream. We telephoned family and our older grandchildren (older than Camryn) Thomas, Micheal and Evelyn each talked to us on the phone. This is a departure point for the Abacos and many if not most of boats here are waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. A window opened Christmas day, so there was quite a large exodus Christmas morning. Our plan is to visit the Exumas so we will move further south before crossing. The day after Christmas we had a taxi take us and our life raft to the shop to be repacked. This gave us a chance to see a little more of the area. We used the bus system to return. The system is extensive so we should be able to get to most places.

Getting Settled For Christmas

We are now anchored in North Palm Beach. This is where we plan to spend Christmas and probably New Years. We said goodbye to our friends from Jock's Lodge and Star Shadow at a little get together on Star Shadow Wednesday night. Both Jock's Lodge and Star Shadow plan to spend Christmas at Vero Beach but we wanted to be in the Lake Worth area to have some work done. It was hard leaving but we also know we will meet up again just as we have before. As we left Melbourne Thursday morning we had a pod of dolphins swimming in our bow wave for at least 45 minutes. The water is getting clearer the further south we go so we could also watch them below the surface swimming parallel to and about 1 - 2 feet off Ariel. Our anchorage is surrounded by beautiful homes and high rise condominium complexes. While here we need to have our life raft repacked. It needs to be inflated every three years to check for damage and then repacked replacing any food or water items that have or will expire. We also need to have insulators added to one of our backstays. This is so we can make the backstay an antenna for our new SSB radio. Both businesses have shortened work weeks for the holidays so it will be January before we can have the work done.

Cocoa

We arrived in Cocoa Monday morning but just missed Ted and Alice from Windsong. The twins were born the day before and they left to fly to Seattle just before we arrived. Both Jock's Lodge and Star Shadow were in Cocoa so we anchored nearby them. Once again we have plenty of space. Our consolation prize was to watch an Atlas rocket launch later that day. It was really awesome and we were able to follow it downrange for a very long time. After dark while checking something on deck I noticed the phosphorescence in the water is very intense here. By making noise to cause the fish to dart, they would then cause bright streaks of light. The next night we had our dinghy out and it was as if we had installed lights under the hull. Tuesday we joined up with the crews from Jock's Lodge and Star Shadow to visit Cocoa Beach. It is just a 60 cent bus ride. They currently have red tide there so we did not plan to swim. Red tide is an algae bloom which is harmful to marine wildlife. No one was aware of the impact on air quality. To a person as soon as we stepped off the bus we began coughing. Needless to say we did not spend much time on the beach and took shelter inside a restaurant for lunch. We decided an afternoon at the mall was a better alternative. It was a nice day to get caught up with everyone ending with Happy Hour on Jock's Lodge. Both Jock's Lodge and Star Shadow are planning Christmas at Vero Beach so we will be separating again for awhile. We sent an email off to Ted and Alice to arrange a place to meet up again after they return.

Scrubbed Again

Each day we get a new launch date and time and each new launch is then scrubbed, repeating the process. We are not surprised, and while we would like to see the launch we will move on tomorrow. This is a very relaxing location. While there are many cruising boats, the anchorage is so large that there is no crowding. It is really nice to have plenty of space. Titusville is nice but small and doesn't have much close by. We are moving on to Cocoa where we will meet up with Ted and Alice from Windsong before they fly to Seattle for the birth of their twin grandchildren. We will probably stay in Cocoa for a week before going further south before Christmas. Cocoa is still close by Cape Canaveral. We are both reading again and getting in some walking ashore. We were not able do to these activities while travelling every day. We of course are doing boat projects, but at a leisurely pace. I am installing our SSB radio and Linda is sewing the cockpit enclosure. As long as we get both projects done by the end of December we will be happy. As I was writing this I went to the cockpit to get something for Linda and heard a deep breath. I called Linda out and we watched a manatee swim along the side and then under Ariel.

Ready For Atlantis

We left Green Cove Springs Sunday morning after saying our goodbyes to Steve and Dale Saturday night. We would not normally travel on Sunday because of all the weekend boating traffic but we wanted to allow enough time to get to Cape Canaveral for the scheduled shuttle launch of Atlantis on Thursday. Our first day was a little unusual with virtually no traffic on the St. Johns, but then heavy weekend boating traffic on the ICW, but no cruising boats. That all changed when we got to our planned anchorage and were rejoined with the pack. The next day we were back in the rhythm of travelling on the ICW, falling in line with other boats headed south. As we passed through St. Augustine we hailed Windsong to learn they had changed their plans and would move on down to Cocoa before leaving the boat for the birth of their twin grandchildren and the holidays. Ted has a cousin in Cocoa so that should make it more convenient. We also learned that Jock's Lodge and Star Shadow were also in St. Augustine and all three would travel offshore to Cape Canaveral for the launch. We made plans to meet up again once we were all there. We arrived in Daytona for our next night at anchor. This was very special for us as we have a timeshare in Ormond Beach, which is just north of Daytona Beach. We have had it since 1982 so we know the area well. We are now in Titusville anchored just south of the Titusville bridge with an unobstructed view of the launch pad. The weather looks good for the next few days so maybe the launch will go off on schedule.