Cape Canaveral

Vero Beach proved to be a good location for a 2 night stop.  We enjoyed the beach and took a moment to relax and celebrate Russell's birthday.  We headed out at 8AM Sunday morning to our next destination, Cape Canaveral. 

It was a long ride up the coast, not only did it take 8.5 hours to travel 55-60 miles, but we traveled the last 10 miles in way too shallow waters, at a much slower, more cautious rate.  We decided to exit out of the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) and went up the Banana River to cut 6 miles off of our trip.  We checked the charts and talked to the marina in Cape Canaveral and both said it was “ok”.  It was ok, but barely.  For well over an hour we were with less than 2 feet of water under our keel.  Stressful to say the least, knowing that we bent the props in the Bahamas last year in the same conditions.  We arrived to the Cape Marina at 3:30PM.  

This working/repair marina had just the perfect amenity, a heated pool in the boat yard (lol).  Besides the 97 degree water temperature, it wasn't so bad.  The kids had a good time and we enjoyed a well-deserved cold beverage after the low depth final hour.

 We have been excited for the past several weeks for this evening, as there was a SpaceX Falcon 9, a re-supply mission to the International Space Station, launch at 12:45AM.    The marina and our boats were perfectly situated about 6 miles away and the skies were in perfect condition to view the launch.  It was beautiful.

 The 1^st stage of the rocket navigated back down to earth and successful landed on land (instead of a floating barge).  We watched the stage come back down and when we could no longer see it, 3 very loud sonic booms rattled the dock/boats.  Very cool!

The next day we headed to the Kennedy Space Center where we viewed several rockets and the Atlantis Space Shuttle. 

I can’t believe how massive these rockets are and how small (in comparison to the rockets) the Shuttle is.  Pictures can't describe it.

Ian/Zoe/Dan sat in a replica of the Apollo capsules.

Entering into the Altantis Space Shuttle exhibit.

The next day, we decided to make Cape Canaveral our furthest north destination and turn around as we only have 9 days left of our short trip. After fueling up, we headed out to the town of Melbourne, about a 25 mile trip.  This small town was very cool and within walking distance of the marina.  It had a shop lined main street and plenty of restaurants and bars to visit.  

 Tomorrow we are off to Hutchinson Island for a couple days at a resort to let the kids (and adults) swim and enjoy the amenities of a a real resort/marina.