Day Three continued (and finished) - We made it to Cocoa, baby!

Immediately after posting the previous blog the railroad bridge started to rise - one hour before posted on the sign nailed to the bridge. There were several boats waiting and everyone was calling the Coast Guard, Railroad office, NASA, you name it. The guy in the catamaran charged the bridge in his dingy fussing to high heaven about the ridiculous hours that apparently even the Coast Guard was not aware of. Well, it worked, apparently, since the workers decided to leave one hour early and raised the bridge. This is how it is supposed to be at all times unless a train is coming.

Before we got to this point we passed through some of the most beautiful and pristine grasslands and marshes I have ever seen. In the process we saw several Manatees and there were Dolphins everywhere. Manatees are way to fast (well, not fast) but on top water so briefly that one cannot focus and shoot fast enough with a digital camera. This is a simply amazing part of Florida. You can really only see it by boat. It is a National Seashore South of New Symrna Beach that extends toward Merritt Island and Cape Canaveral, far beyond the point one can drive. The body of water formed by this spit of land is called Mosquito Lagoon. "Haulover Canal" joins Mosquito Lagoon to the Indian River, all part of the Intracoastal Waterway. Haulover Canal, shown here, is narrow and deep through which very large barges pass, along with boats of all sizes. We just missed a barge that came through and passed us before we went into the canal. This was only a few miles before the railroad bridge fiasco.

Coming out of Haulover Canal this sight was beautiful and characteristic of the nature we have enjoyed throughout the trip.

There are parts where the water is wide open and we get to run along at speed. At those times it is easy to find a comfortable seat with a beautiful view and do a little reading as seen here. Candy looks pretty comfortable.

After we passed the railroad bridge then five miles further waited 15min for the Cape Canaveral Causeway Bridge to open we ran along behind Cape Canaveral with the Shuttle Vehicle Assembly Building beaming in the afternoon sun.

With binoculars we could see the shuttle launch pad three miles further East but it was impossible to get a good shot from the moving boat. The space shuttle landed today on the back of a 747 but we were unaware of it and missed the show! We finally made Cocoa and pulled into the small but nice Cocoa Village Marina. Here is BossSea nestled comfortably in her slip. This was a tricky mooring with breezes picking up and very, very narrow passages including 90 degree turns past large expensive boats. If they only knew how little experience I have doing that my guess is they wouldn't have allowed us in! We made it though with no bumps, dings or boo-boos. Now we just need to get out in the morning!

Somehow I missed lunch but Corinne and Candy made up for it with a great spaghetti dinner.

Tomorrow starts early, hopefully; we're looking to depart no later than 7:30. Not sure how far we will get but likely Lake Worth or further South. We'll see. The good news is that we expect to finish day four at least half way to our destination. As much as I look forward to the Keys I sure would like to cut across Lake Ocheechobee. Not going to happen though, so we continue. More later!