We got back from Punta Gorda, after getting Surona all settled for whatever time she needs to stay there. The floorboards look really good.
We left Fort Pierce about 11:00 am and made our way north to join Steve and Linda. Just a perfect day for boating. Light winds and the ICW was almost flat. The ICW is fairly wide in this area so there is really nothing much to see along the shoreline as it is too far away. The dolphin activity was great. Every couple of miles we would see dolphin swimming. I got a good picture of 2 right at the bow of the boat.
We were meeting Steve and Linda behind Serenity Island for the night. What a surprise we had as turned off the ICW, our sistership was anchored there also. We had never heard of a Gulfstar before, and so often people have commented on the boat. They are quite recognizable, and people love them. Very popular. Who would have guessed, and now to see another wine at anchor. We each visited the other boat to see the similarities and differences. Still like ours better .... and that a good thing.
The second day out was another terrific day on the water. At Noon we stopped at Cocoa for lunch and visited the most amazing hardware store. The store is family owned for 3 generations now, and consists of 7 buildings joined together. You ask for what your looking for and an employee will take you to the building you need and help you. The owner said they have about $10 million dollars of inventory and I believe it. He said that they still have to order in about 60% of what they sell. Hard to believe it. There is so much stuff in this store. We planned to stop for a quick lunch and a little walk around ..... Well the hardware store was over an hour by itself. A fun stop.
It was very hot, and we decided to push on for Titusville to anchor. About 3 hours further. Usually there is a breeze on the water to cool off, but this afternoon there was little to no breeze, very hot. We anchored just passed the bridge that goes to Cape Canaveral's huge NASA Space Center. While we have visited there, it seems strange to be viewing it from the water. It is an impressively huge building. The bridge signs say that you can't travel under the bridge during space launches.
Steve cooked a wonderful dinner, and we played Blochus for awhile. Tonight I want to cook dinner for them. Steve has been cooking all of the meals, I am afraid I may forget how to cook.
We had an early start today as we originally thought we would get to Daytona Beach. A 48 mile run. Unfortunately, they only had room for one boat. The plan was to stop at New Smyrna Beach for lunch, and the marina had space for us, so we decided to call it a day. 32 mile run, and in by 1:00pm.
We saw the usual dolphins, and pelicans, .... but today we saw a lot of manatee. We travelled through a narrow channel out to Mosquito Creek, and there was a little bowl just off the channel ..... there were too many to count. And then as we travelled along the ICW there were so many again. You would see there back rolling out of the water and then the flip of their tail. What a sight. And, it is true, they are not afraid of the boat. They would come up very close to the boat, and one was right in front of the boat. I had to power down not to hit it. They sure make the time pass quickly. Manatee and dolphins, all morning for our viewing pleasure.
We are docked, and out for lunch at the nearby waterside restaurant .... Dolphin View. Perhaps Peter will fix my bicycle and we all could go for a bike ride later. There must be some ice cream somewhere.
In the meantime I had better work on dinner. Not sure what it will be. The chicken drumsticks are in the crockpot. Think that whatever it is will need some onions.
We had 2 days of not having to bleed the lines on the Port engine.
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