We have had a lovely few days.  Though the evenings and mornings are cool and we are still gloved up in the early morning, the days grow warmer and we can strip to shirtsleeves by afternoon.  Today it was 76 degrees with water temps at 70 degrees.  Aahhhhh!  We hear it is cold in New England.

We had a great night at Camachee Cove Marina is St. Augustine a couple nights ago.  Many marinas have free loaner cars.  We took advantage and made a stock-up trip to Publix - one of the grocery chains down here.  Got some office work done, cleaned up the boat a bit and enjoyed a fabulously fresh sushi meal at the Kingfish Grill right at the marina (really, we wish we had taken photos of the meal the chef prepared - amazing!)

We noticed this guy sitting on a neighboring boat in the evening and again in the morning.   Notice the strategically placed bird spikes that this osprey ignored and sat right on the windex.  Do you know how many broken windex's we have had to go up the mast to replace?  This is why!

We have crossed under several bridges in the past couple days - some of which have to open for us.  Bridge tenders monitor channel 9 in Florida.  You radio ahead as you are approaching the bridge and request an opening.  They will ask your boat name and sometimes your home port.  They are all quite polite and friendly.  We wait until we see the cars stopped, you can hear the bells when the gates come down for the cars and then there is often a horn.  The bridge goes up and you hit the throttle to cruise on through.  Once through, you tell the tender that you have cleared and thank them for the opening.  They usually wish you a safe journey.  It is all quite civilized.  (Maybe now you will enjoy a bridge opening a bit more when you are frustrated sitting and waiting in your car)  

Bridge of Lions, St. Augustine, FL

The trip today was very narrow and straight.  As we go along, we look out and see all this water, but most of it is two or three feet deep - or even sand when the tide goes out.  Looks amazing, but all shallow water.  We stick to the narrowly dredged channel and note the depth all the time. 

 

Fishing in the shallows

We see dolphins every day, all day.  Today, a couple started playing in our wake.  Sharon was at the helm, Greg was leaning over the cockpit coaming to get a better look and the two of them started flipping their tails and splashing us!  It was so fun!  They did it several times and we had water all over the cockpit and a little puddle on the binnacle table (the little table that holds the compass and supports the electronic chart plotter and where the steering is).  It was so totally intentional and so funny.  

We have seen many, many osprey.  Many more than we see on the Delaware shore.  We have seen many, many pelicans of both the white and brown variety and of course, many cormorants.  There are still lots of egrets and herons as well.  All of it just so cool. 

A gaggle?  A flock?  A lot!

We have been making our way down the Indian River and have passed along near Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.  Very cool.  Apparently, boats anchor nearby to watch rocket launches.  Great viewing!  A new Orion spacecraft is launching on December 4th.  (we will not be here to see it)

We are in Mangrove territory.  

The Launch Tower

We anchored at about 4pm in Cocoa, FL, also known as Cocoa Village.  Really!  We got underway this morning at 7:15 and covered about 50 miles. Tomorrow we'll reach Vero Beach, where we have a slip leased for the winter.  But, we plan to head further south within a day or two to visit with our daughter, Courtney, in Boca Raton for Thanksgiving.  Boca is another 100 miles south and will give us a chance to see what lies between Vero and south Florida. We hope to get to the Keys later this season and this will show us some of what to expect along this part of our route.

(In case you haven't yet figured it out, if you click on the photo, you can enlarge it)