Monday May 2: Melbourne - Shuttle Launch Scrapped

We were up early yesterday went for a bike ride around the area (which of course included breakfast) as we were looking to travel 60 miles (about 8 hours) to be in position to make it to Cape Canaveral by this afternoon. Sadly the launch was postponed for another week or so :-( Oh well, guess we'll just watch it on television with everyone else!

The marina at which we stayed last night was on the intercoastal but the ocean was just a short distance to the east. The beach was really nice and there was a turtle nest marked by a small flagged off area. It's strange on the streets along the coast because the streetlights are either off or dimmed due to the turtles. When the little ones hatch, the lights on shore confuse them and instead of heading to the water, they end up going inland. Hence the dimmed/off lights. When we were at Cocoa Beach one year (with Paul and Miriam of course) we actually were there when the nests of turtles were hatching. It was really fun to see all of the little turtles crawling out of the sand and headed to the water! The intercoastal through this area of Florida is VERY different than traveling through Miami and the Fort Lauderdale area. It's very wide in some places with modes homes along one side and mangroves on the other. There are many small islands (built from digging the intercoastal) that are mostly sand and trees. You can get your own island if you want! Other shores are very close with again very large homes. What do they do with all of the rooms in these places???

We found a very nice anchorage for the night. Winds were predicted to be 14 mph diminishing to 10 overnight. I would have liked to have been closer to shore (more protection from the wind) but it shallows very quickly. Regardless, it was a pleasant night with a nice breeze all night. Steve made fish on the grill - always good!

A very short 5 miles brought us to Melbourne Harbor Marina this morning. We heard from Peter and Cheryl (Surona) who are driving back to Midland, Ontario, (Surona is in Tarpon Springs still) until they are able to return to the boat later this summer. We last saw them in November after traveling with them and Seliah (Jim and Linda) for much of the trip through the rivers last fall. It will be great to see them and we're glad they are making time to stop and stay a day or two.