Lighthouse along the way
When I awoke on Saturday at the anchorage in Titusville, I realized that Bob had let me sleep in and it was almost 9 O'clock. I quickly got up and dressed and when I walked into the salon, I realized why he was in no hurry to move. We were in such dense fog, we could barely see the other boats closest to us. The fog lifted enough by 10:30, that we could get underway. Luckily, by noon, we had sun and a warm pilot house for the rest of the day.
On our way to Titusville, we passed a huge fire in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Apparently it was a set fire according to the bridge tender at the Haulover Canal bridge. It made for a smoky trip and we smelled smoke all the way to the anchorage in Titusville where we stopped for the night.
Fire in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge
Near the fire area we went through a huge flock of birds - reminded us of the the old Hitchcock movie. We think the birds had been driven out to the water of the ICW from the fire.
Bob's favorite sight - the Indian River Nuclear Power Plant
We passed through the Titusville swing bridge in the morning for what will probably be the last time as it is being replaced by a high bridge that looks almost done. This is a bridge that goes to Cape Canaveral, and I'm sure the employees of NASA are quite happy about this improvement - as are the boaters. This bridge did not open during rush hours in the morning and afternoon, leaving boaters to make circles in the water while they waited. It was too bad that we were not in Titusville during the last launch from the cape - at least we could see it where we were in Palm Coast.
The ICW south of Titusville is very wide. Shortly before Vero Beach, the topography changes to a more narrow canal with mangrove islands on the West and gorgeous homes on the East side of the ICW. I think they should change the name of this city to Beautiful Homes City from Vero Beach!
We me up with Dee and Ed on Sea Fox X at Vero Beach. Their boat was getting an unexpected new engine in Ft. Pierce where they store their boat in the winter. As they are from Canada, they drive down from Canada and have their car at the marina, so were able to drive over and spend some time with us. We had planned to leave on Monday, but the winds were too high and would have made the ICW a little too rough, so we stayed at Vero Beach another day. Dee came and picked me up and we went to see a jewelry-making store that she had found in Ft. Pierce, but unfortunately it was closed on Monday, so we had lunch and went to a Michael's and Walmart instead.
We left on Tuesday and had a nice uneventful, but pleasant cruise to the anchorage in Lake Worth. Since Dee and Ed had taken us to groceries in Vero, we had no need to go ashore. We were up and underway early the next morning so we could reach Hollywood before dark. We passed through Ft. Lauderdale and the Las Olas Marina where we knew our friends on My Sharona were docked, so we hailed them and talked shortly. They had been thinking we would make it in time to cross with them to the Bahamas, but we wanted to spend time with Shirley and Mac in Hollywood before crossing, so they took advantage of a crossing window on Thursday and we will probably cross this Tuesday with Clay and Rita-Kay on Carleigh.
Shirley has been fighting an illness all summer and at this point it isn't clear if she will make it over to the Bahamas this winter, so we plan to have a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner on the boat with them on Friday.
We spotted our sister ship right off the ICW in Ft. Lauderdale. It is currently on the market. It is a 54 foot Crosswater and a real beauty inside too.
Here is full side view.
One of a thousand huge gorgeous homes along the ICW.
Another gigantic home - you have to wonder how many people live in the homes - do they rent out room?
Two pretty large yachts passing in the ICW in front of us.
Add this to the "you never know what you are going to see in the ICW" file. This huge yacht had a toy garage in the side of the ship. We see them all the time in the stern, or on deck, but this was a first.
One of the cruise ships in the Ft. Lauderdale port.
Sunset in Vero Beach
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