What the heck is that

There’s a phrase I wasn’t expecting to hear during our Reynolds Park to Vero Beach passage!! But heard it I did from Mark early Monday morning as we got close to Cape Canaveral.

Before I tell you that story, let’s go back to the first part of our journey. We had a very good motor north to Jacksonville on Saturday, Nov. 23. The wind was still blowing quite strongly at 9 am so we delayed our departure until 11:30am when the wind died down enough for us to get off of the pier. The river was fairly empty and we had no trouble getting to our anchorage on the north east of the city. We were anchored at Blount Island by 5:30pm. The only problem that first night was that a dredging operation arrived during the evening and started running around 10pm. The machinery was opposite us on the west side of the river but it was very loud! It kept me awake most of the night!!

By Sunday morning I was very eager to get going so we pulled up anchor around 9am. We had the ebb current and were doing about 9 knots down the St. John’s river to the ocean. It was great fun zooming along and again the river was fairly empty. It was a very good way to start our 24 hour motor on the outside down to Cape Canaveral.

The wind prediction was spot on for Sunday and Monday. The ocean was flat as a pancake and we motored along at our usual 6 knots with barely any rolling. It was a very pleasant passage. As the day progressed, we heard a coast guard announcement about Cape Canaveral – a space x launch was happening at 2:32 am Monday and the security zone would be in effect until the fuel booster was collected. Okay what does that mean for us?? We get to see a launch from the ocean – up close and personal!! It also meant that we had to do a slightly wider approach to the Cape Canaveral inlet to avoid the security zone. No worries!

2:30 am rolls around and we’re close to the launch area. We’re all ready with our phones to take photos. We’re pretty sure we see where the rocket is on the launch pad! We wait…and nothing happens!! After waiting about 45 minutes, we decided the launch was probably cancelled. Oh well! So we go back to overnight routine of taking turns napping. A little before 5 am we were both up and all of a sudden this bright orange light pierced the sky right infront of us. And Mark says “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT”. Well you guessed it, the rocket launched! It was spectacular and loud!! We had front row seats and it was super cool. It only lasted a few minutes and then the rocket was out of sight.

The rest of our journey into Cape Canaveral was uneventful, just the way we like it. We stopped at a marina to get a bit of fuel and then continued all the way to Melbourne where we anchored for the night.

Today (Nov. 26) we made the short 32nm trip down the ICW to Vero Beach City Marina and we’re now on a mooring ball for a few days. It looks like we will be crossing to the Bahamas very quickly. There is a no wind crossing this Thursday and Friday so we’re aiming to leave here on Thursday and arrive in the Bahamas on Friday! Crazy fast!