Hutchison Island to St. Augustine

Hutchison Island.  Greg and Kate's condo is highrise on right and Godfrey's condo is highrise on left.  Very handy!

On Friday, March 15^th, we left Soveral Harbor in Jupiter before 8 a.m. and scooted right next door to Sovereign Marine (efficient and economical) where we had Raydiance pulled to change zincs and powerwash the bottom.  We were back in the water headed for Nettles Island Marina on Jenson Beach in just over an hour.  Our Tenn-Tom traveling buddies, Kate and Greg Pfleger aboard Grianan, have a condo on Hutchison Island right across from the marina we chose to stay in (which unknown to us was their home-away-from-home marina).  We got in touch with them and had cocktails at their condo and dinner at the marina.  We were joined by their good friends, Bob and Jan Keebler, who were great fun. Both couples are very knowledgeable about boating along the east coast so we picked  up many tips from them.  Earlier in the day, we had lunch with Janet Douglas’s cousin and her husband, Sharon and  Ron Godfrey.  The week prior, Ron had been inducted into the ACC Basketball Hall of Fame.  Very interesting people.  The next day was St. Patrick’s Day and Kate invited us to join them and the Keeblers for a home-cooked corned beef dinner.  YUM!  During the day, a specialist from Mastery Engines, Ron List, came over and worked on the throttles and instruments.  He spent a warm day crawling around the bilge leaving us with throttles that synchronize  and gauges that don’t jump all over the place.  It’s wonderful!!!  This man helped write the original programs so he really knew his stuff.  Tom had made contact with him through the Miami Boat Show.  While the guys were doing mechanical repairs, I was getting a long overdue hair cut and color.  Tom is still holding out.  I’m beginning to think he is serious about growing a ponytail!

Ron and Sharon Godfrey at Nettles Island

Dinner at marina with Bob, Jan, Greg and Kate



We hadn’t anchored in quite a while so after leaving Nettles we choose a quiet spot behind Pine Island to spend the night before reaching Melbourne on the 19^th.  We were joined there by Rich, Missy and Bobby Ray.   The next day we journeyed to Cocoa—a beautiful day and a short hop of about 20 miles.  Cocoa Village Marina is a definite must stop.  Great facilities at the marina and a fun town to browse.   On Wednesday we took a day trip through the Port Canaveral Canal and Lock.  We were planning to go out on the ocean for a short run, but the winds had other plans.  On the return trip through the lock, which had a lift of maybe a foot, a class on a field trip was our audience.

                                                             Captain Bobby at the helm

                                              Missy and Rich soaking up sun on the foredeck

                                                Linda and Rich along Port Canaveral Canal

  Murals on side of parking garage along Port Canaveral Canal--gorgeous!

  I forgot to mention that we were boarded by pirates.

                                                                   field trip at the lock

                                                                                                                          

Arriving back at Cocoa, Linda and Rich redeemed themselves against Bobby and Tom in a final game of Pitch--this following two prior dredgings.  We rented a car and Tom drove the “e’s” back to Melbourne.  A much too short visit, but they plan to be with us again going into New York.  

On Thursday, we drove over to the Kennedy Space Center and spent the day in awe of what has been accomplished in that program.  We highly recommend this stop—only about 20 miles from Cocoa.  One exhibit displayed the banks of computers used during the Apollo missions and the comment was made that our iphones have contain more technology than those computers.  Truly put the accomplishments of the space program back then in perspective.

                                                             Engine of Saturn 5 rocket     

                                                             Engines on Saturn 5 rocket

                                          Command module-I never realized how small this was.      

                                                                           Moon buggy

launch pad

Coming back to the marina, we were delighted to find we had been joined by several loopers—some of whom we hadn’t seen since the Tenn-Tom.  Naturally this called for Docktails.

On Friday, the 23^rd,  we headed to New Smyrna Beach fifty two miles north.  This marina is run by the city  close to downtown.  They had a fine farmers’ market on Saturday which I took advantage of to stock up on fresh produce.   Saturday we moved in heavy rain and lots of week-end boat traffic to Palm Coast Marina (44 miles)  Then on to St. Augustine on Sunday.   St. Augustine was so special that it deserves its own separate post.  That will be next!