The Sterling Lady
on the Great loop again,
for the second time.
5/8/09 continued
Took the FREE shuttle to town....
<-----The admiral went here, and I.....
And I went here--------->     .
The mooring balls are still $20, and today the fuel was $2.19 plus tax.
The trees around here with the hanging moss, the air plants are great!
They even have lots of this stuff, grass. We don't have grass back home in Key Largo, we have gravel, and coral rock. heck, we hardly have any dirt.
5/9/09
My Fathers curse is still going strong. I am up every day at 4:30 a.m. 5 O' clock, waiting for the sunrise, so we can depart. Today's destination, Cocoa.
After an easy , short , and cheap ( two for one) happy hour at the Riverside , under the bridge, it was home to bed.
Now when I win the Lotto, I am gonna get one of these, complete with two satellites, a dink and motorcycle up top, and two kayaks.
Sadly, not a lot of cruisers so far, just a handful since we left Key Largo.
There are some really neat spoil islands here created when they dug up the ICW.
I found the world's smallest, (well the smallest I have ever seen) Conch shell.
Leaving at dawn, as I do nearly every dang day, I get the morning sun shining on my starboard side, so I "invented" this custom made, one of a kind, sun screen, designed to look like an old blue towel. I clipped it to the bimini, and it makes an excellent sunblock.
Feel free to use my custom design on your own vessel.
There were lots of Love Bugs around Eau gallie.
The poor things only live 24 hours, but what a way to go!
<--------Two workers in a bucket
The barge captain working this rig, put out a security making a "positively NO WAKE zone, within a 2 MILE RADIUS of this operation, sayin on the VHF, this would be enforced by the local police.
The reality was, except for a very few boaters, myself included, hardly anyone slowed down. The cop was sitting in his boat under the bridge in the shade jabbering on the phone as we   s l o w l y   passed. I am all for saftey but  2 miles was a bit ridiculous don't ya think?
Dropped anchor at Cocoa about 2 pm, settled in, and the Admiral did her magic in the Galley. Snapper from Key Largo.
This is the town's free docks, near the boat ramp.
The quaint little town of Cocoa. Lots of small shops, a few bars, some reportedly good resturants, and a theatre.
And they had something you seldom see anymore, a travel agent!
It was really nice to see soft grass for a change, all we have in Key Largo is gravel and coral rock
5/10/09

Crossing under the power lines on the Indian River at Dawn.,heading to Tittusville
We could clear this bridge easily.
Luck was with us, the Tittusville RR bridge was on demand and the bridge tender had these boaters wait for our arrival to open.
Tittusville Marina, our home for the next two days. There is a shuttle launch scheduled for Monday and we are hoping to see it.
We are in slip A 12, come on by!
Direct TV satellite dish has a NASA channel , 283, with a live shot of the shuttle. Pretty exciting stuff.
The admiral need some shopping time , and my daughter Jennifer and her husband John came up from Key Largo to visit and see the Launch, so we had their car and went to J C Pennys at the local mall. Except for Pennys and one GNC, the mall was empty and deserted. Scary.
Captain John has found a job at Penney he thinks he'd be good at. He said he'd even relocate to Titusville if they would give him the job.
And there was the mandatory stop at Crystals. For those unaware, Crystals are like White Castle sliders, cept with mustard. To heck with the diet , full steam ahead!
We went to a local sports bar (which shall remain nameless) that had these slot machines. In a word, eats and drinks were free this nite.
Crystal , our bartender, made these drinks called " %^&* by an alligator". They were 3 colors, 3 different liquors, and I did NOT try one.
5/11/09
The Moose club, of which I am a card carrying member, happens to be located right on the Indian river, directly across from the launch site of the shuttle.
It's a perfect location to view the launch, and we did.
It was pretty exciting to see the shuttle.,and from this distance, you could also hear it.
5/12/09
Anchored out at the sand piles just north of New Symrna Beach. Not many  pics, just a nite on the boat. Nice
going thru Haulover , north of Tittusville, got passed by the "fast" Trawler in a very polite manner. The Water Nazi was not on duty this am. He is a water cop that makes it his job to give you a ticket, no mater how slow you are going.
These guys were claming . Using their feet to find the clams, and putting them in the floating inner tubes. Cold but rewarding work.
5/13/09
Today's destination was Halifax Marina, however, we made a wrong turn.......
Would like to blame it on the GPS, but truth is, I knew that Halifax had two basins, and I chose the wrong south basin, dang.
Halifax has a lot going for it, new floating docks, well protected, a West Marine and bar on property, however, it is close to $2 a foot. we came here to meet Margaret and Martin, who brought us a kool WiFi antenna for the boat.
left to right, Admiral Judy, Margaret, and Capt. Martin.
Did a stroll thru down town Daytona, and at the accident prevention place they had this Morbid display, a dead body, and a wrecked car wtih some beer bottles..
Couldn't resist this , for the unusual Boat Name catagory.
Went to the on property bar for libations, it was realy wierd, all glowing and everything.
BTW, this marina is definatly dog friendly.
5/15/09
Todays cruising ended on the hook at Mantanzas river inlet. Arrived about 1 and went ashore to take the fort tour.
Near Palm Coast Fl. we found the place the Mega yachts go for repairs . This one hardly fits in the shed
There were thunder boomers rolling thru, so the park would not take people to the Fort.
So once again, this is as close as we got. Maybe next time.
5/16/09
It was a quick short run to St. Augustine, the tides were with us. We arrive early, 9 am, which was luckily slack tide, and will give us a full day in the Oldest City. @ 2 a foot, ya have to take full advantage!
This very interesting dink was at the dock. Small, room for 4, probaly pretty fast. Could be a candidate to replace to ol' Carolina Skiff?
Always like staying here, great location right downtown, nice floating docks. The only bad part is the current , which really rolls thru here.
This is the back door of a boat named "Happy Ours"
A replica of the Pina was here on tour. It was pretty authentic, except,..See the A/C cooling water coming out the side and....
These two shifters were mounted by the tiller on the ceiling. Don't think the original Pinta had twin diesels.
and their boat the C Horse ---->
After several visits to St. Augustine , we finally took the Trolly Train tour.
The end to A really fun day was celebrated here
The cruising community is such a small world. @ the Marina were Howard and Diane, two full time cruisers we met in Stienhatchee last year on the loop!
5/16/09.
Took a last look at the Fort , and we are headed to  Fernandina Beach, to catch a Mooring ball.
"There will be absolutly NO boating during low tide"
These docks here here high and dry at low tide.