Titusville to Vero Beach

Sunday, October 30

As we left the marina for our last day on the water for this leg of our journey, the dockmaster on the other dock admired the Captain standing on the sun deck with his remote control.  He commented that it sure makes it easier, and it does.

Kite Surfing

Our destination today was Vero Beach which apparently is know as Velcro beach as people do not want to leave after arriving.  Most of the day was spent on the Indian river which is quite wide, between the mainland and the barrier islands. The water however is still shallow and you have to stay on the charted channel which means no let up on navigation.

 

Having Fun

There was a good wind blowing today, 15 knots and, as it was a Sunday, we were treated to a whole bunch of catamaran sailors.  Obviously there was a race on.  I hope that there was more than one class because there was a significant space between the lead boats and the end boats.  It sure looked like they were having fun.  Well hiked out and an occasional flying hull.

Along waterway

 Along one stretch there were a lot of large homes.  Must  be a nice place to live. 

One of the many large homes

We spent the night at Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach.  This is a man made basin and is surrounded by condominiums and a golf course.  It is still fun however to back into slips that are guarded by large posts and less than one foot clearance on each side.

Kennedy Space Center

The Captain

Saturday, October 29

We spent the day in space!  Well, not really, but we had a full day visiting the Kennedy Space Center.  We had been warned that you needed to allocate 6 – 8 hours for a visit so we planned our arrival for the park opening.  It is a fabulous place!  It is set up to accommodate big crowds of visitors but as we were there during the off-season, even though it was a Saturday, it wasn’t too busy and there was no difficulty moving around the exhibits and getting into any of the shows.  Also, unusual for an attraction, there is no additional cost for most of the displays including the Imax films.

We started our day with two Imax films: A Beautiful Planet 3D and Journey to Space 3D.  The first in particular was great but both were informative and the second explained ongoing projects in development including the potential to land on Mars.  We then passed through the Journey to Mars exhibit that further explained the challenges that needed to be overcome to successfully explore Mars.

Rocket Garden 

A guided tour around the Rocket Garden was next where they have full-scale replicas (or in some cases actual units) of the first rockets used.  The size of the rockets and their engines is incredible!  Even more so when learning that the newest engines are so much more powerful that one exceeds the thrust of five of the engines on the original rockets (Saturn V – Apollo) and there will be five of those more powerful engines on the launch vehicle for Challenger.  It is also pointed out that the computers that operated these rockets are less capable that our smart phones!

Saturn 1B

 A brief stop for lunch as we are realizing there is going to be more to see than we have time left in the day.  We couldn’t resist the opportunity to try out the Microsoft HoloLens Destination Mars exhibit – a virtual reality experience where you can experience actually being on Mars.  It’s pretty neat technology!

 

Vehicle Assembly Building

Boarding a bus, we then took the tour of the full Space Center grounds that brings you out to the launch pad area and the huge building where they assemble the rockets.  This building is the largest single story in the world and one of the largest buildings by volume at more than 3.5 million cubic metres!  Each of the doors is 456 feet high and takes 45 minutes to fully open or close.   Though it is a long ride, they intersperse on-board videos and live commentary from the driver to describe the items we passed by.  

The Crawler

There is a specific vehicle “The Crawler” that moved the completed rocket to the launch pad.  

Each of the links on the tracks weighs a ton and it is capable of lifting 8.2 million kgs.  Its top speed loaded is only 1.6km/h and it burns 296 litres per kilometer.  Captain is pleased Seas The Day gets better fuel economy!

Massive Rocket Engines

There is also a stop at the Apollo / Saturn V Center where you can walk under the 363 foot long Saturn V rocket – the one used during the Apollo missions to the moon. 

Saturn V

Seeing it in person really makes you appreciate its size.  

Control room for Saturn Launch

One of the cool ;) parts of this exhibit is that you experience the launch of Apollo 8 and the control center is the actual one used during the launch. 

Moon Landing simulation

They set the clock and show footage as if it is taking place and they spotlight the control panels in play as they do the countdown and add some other effects to make you feel as if it is taking place.

Launch Platform

While NASA is no longer launching rockets, the launch pad we saw is leased and in use by Space Ex and there are also a few hangars in use by Boeing.  There is also a lot of wildlife on the site because it shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  Their protected beach is used to hatch turtles and there is a tree that hosts a huge Bald Eagle’s nest that is visible on the tour.

Shuttle Launch Vehicle

Back at the main visitor complex, we are really running short of time and are unable to see all that remains.  We make a super fast tour through the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit and did participate in the Shuttle Launch Experience where you are strapped in and feel like you are launching into space.

Shuttle 

By this time, nearing 6pm and the park closing, we had to leave.

Canadarm

Before choosing to make this visit we were concerned that the price of admission might lead to disappointment but, in fact, it more than exceeded expectation and we would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to visit.  We could have spent more time if there were more hours in the day and opening in a few weeks is a new exhibit – Heroes and Legends – which would provide even more to see.

Daytona Beach - Titusville

His draft exceeded the depth of the water

An early start this morning to take advantage of the tide and higher water levels.  We had heard yesterday about a shallow area from some delivery captains and wanted to ensure we didn’t repeat our grounding experience.  We moved slowly and monitored the depth sounder diligently … and the area of concern was a non-issue.

Manatees resident in Haulover Canal - sleeping?

We did have some excitement today as we finally saw some manatees!   A good portion of the trek today was slow-going as there were speed restrictions because of the manatee population and we were honoured to see a few as we passed through.  Despite their slow speeds, we were still unable to capture a shot while underway.

Pelicans policing the speed limit

Most of our travel today was in dredged channels so although it appears there is lots of water, the depths on either side of the channel are very shallow – less than 5 feet in most cases so it is a bit deceptive.

Lots of wildlife

It was quite a challenge docking at the marina since the wind was howling and blowing us off.  Captain is getting great practice!!  The audience on the dock thought he and crew did a great job!

St. Augustine - Daytona Beach

We are getting closer to our destination.  After 800+ miles on the ICW it finally happened … I ran aground.  Fortunately: a) I was going very slowly and b) unlike Georgian Bay, sand and mud is very forgiving.  We were able to back off and proceed with no damage.  Interestingly, 5 miles further on, we came to an inlet where the marks were very confusing.  As I stopped to reassess, a boat headed northbound hailed me to let me know the red mark had shifted out of position and was on a shoal.  A correction to course prevented a second grounding! 

Queen Anne-style home.  Notice their dock.

We continue to see damage from Hurricane Matthew as we progress further south.  The difference being that while St. Augustine and further north had major storm surges, here it was indicated they only had a 3-foot surge but very high winds.  This is why many of the homes we saw had their roofs completely covered in tarps as all or most of the shingles had blown off.

Homes on stilts

This stretch of the intracoastal is certainly more populated but most of the track today was in completely dredged channel and you must stay between the marks.  

Extensive boat house

Development along both shores

There are very few opportunities to go fast because of all the development. 

St. Augustine

'The Old Senator' - over 600 years old

Today we took the opportunity to visit St. Augustine – the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States.  We were able to walk into town from the marina and stroll through the city.  It was humid and uncomfortable! 

Another view of Old Senator

We decided it would be best to take a tour and save our feet.  This was a great idea as we were able to get an overview of the town and decide where we may want to spend longer.  

Flagler College

All of the major buildings have been restored and are stunning.  One of the first residents who made his mark and built many of the buildings and churches in town was Henry Flagler, an oil and railroad magnate.  Students at Flagler College benefit from the repurposing of the original Ponce de Leon Hotel that Flagler built and their cafeteria is in a rotunda that still has the original Tiffany stained glass windows!

Castillo de San Marcos

Fortunately it cooled off a bit so we took the opportunity to visit Castillo de San Marcos.  This fort was built with coquina stone quarried from the nearby islands.  It is a soft stone unique to the area that was able to absorb the percussion of the cannon fire without cracking. 

The fort was never taken by force but only changed occupation when ceded by treaty.  It is a National Park and the attendants dress in period costume.

Armaments 

Lots of cannon-fire capability!

Fort walls: 30 feet high and 14 feet thick

The Lightner Museum

We also visited the Lightner Museum filled with a collection of items from the late 1800s.  

Courtyard and fountain

This was also originally a hotel and had the largest indoor swimming pool in the U.S. at that time as well as a retractable roof – quite an achievement for that period.  

View of the 'pool' from the ballroom level

It was also surrounded by a ballroom on an upper level from where you could look down at the swimmers.  The pool is now drained and is used as a café (with a still sloping floor from the shallow end to the deep end).

While walking around the town, we observed that much of the town, which is located between 2 water sources had suffered from flooding.  Quite a few shops were still closed as they cleaned up but most of the town was business-as-usual.

Bridge of Lions