8 November 2023
Depart: Mosquito Lagoon anchorage 9:25
Arrive: Melbourne, FL anchorage 3:50
Distance: ~ 51 nm
We have never visited Melbourne or the surrounding area. Clark received an announcement that the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Assoc.) was holding a GAM there. (GAM: a social meeting of two, or more, ships generally on a cruising ground.)
SSCA definition of GAM:
In days of olde when whaling ships encountered one another in calm seas they would heave to and the crew would line up at the railing to shout news across to one another. This was called a gam. An SSCA Gam is a get-together of members, with an emphasis on camaraderie and sharing of cruising information.
Since we did not stay a month in the Jacksonville area this year, as we normally do, we could arrive in time to attend the gathering. Even though it is sailboat focused, we have attended sessions in the past and found them interesting and informative. As the venue was at a Civic Center and not a marina, Clark figured we better arrive before a lot of sailboats cluttered up the anchorage. The GAM started on the 10th and we set our goal to arrive today to be well ahead of the crowd of sailboats we expected to see there.
As Clark got dressed this morning, he had a big smile on his face and announced, "We've finally made it to shorts weather!" He clearly was one happy fella!
Although we have never stopped at Melbourne before, the route we traveled was familiar to us. Even so, Clark took some pictures along the way today. Still excited from seeing the rocket launch at 12:00 this morning, he captured pictures of the launch site as we traveled along the ICW.
He also captured a couple of pelican pictures along the way.
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| Need to pay close attention to the markers here |
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| Sitting on the very end of a branch, he appears to weigh next to nothing Google says pelicans weigh between 10 and 20 pounds! |
We passed through Haulover Canal today which is always an interesting place to look at the fishermen, manatees, and scenery. For some reason the bridge was held in the open position, so we could sail on through with no worries.
We passed some demolition work at the NASA Causeway Bridge.
When we reached the anchorage, I took over the photo-taking duties.
Views of Melbourne from the water.
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| The GAM will be held somewhere over there. |
We saw a lovely sunset at the Melbourne anchorage!
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| View of Melbourne Lights |
9 November 2023
No boat travel.
Just as we were traveling to Melbourne, I received a text from my boating friend, Sandy, who said, "Where are you?" When I responded to her with our plans and that we had no agenda until Friday, she said she would come get us to go exploring. She and her husband, Bill, spend their summers in a condo at Satellite Beach just a short drive away from Melbourne. We would not normally find a way to get together until our arrival in Marathon in December.
Sandy said they would pick us up at 11:00 for a tour and lunch. We deployed our dinghy, and around 10:00, we set off to find a place to access land. The GAM literature said we could use the dinghy dock at the Melbourne Yacht Club during the GAM. However, with us being a day early, we thought we should get permission. The problem arose when we could find no one at the yacht club to help us. Finally we saw someone walking down the dock who was able to give us the phone number of someone whom Clark could talk to.
We hung out at the end of a dock at MYC for the longest time. Clark had called the number given to him and left a message. I told him to text as well. As 11:00 was quickly approaching, Clark decided we better go look at the Civic Center location to see what options we might have there to dock. We found a place where we could tie up by the Civic Center, but the area looked deserted and we both felt a bit uncomfortable leaving the dinghy there while we would be away. Just as Clark was ready to take a chance on leaving the dinghy there, he got a call from the MYC rep who said we could use their dinghy dock.
Meanwhile, Sandy and Bill had arrived at MYC a bit early and were trying to figure out how to get to the docks - no way in from street without the passcode. We finally got ourselves to the dinghy dock and out to the parking lot to meet up with our tour guides for the day.
Pictures below are from the dinghy ride in to find a place to dock at MYC.
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| Sunset Delight at anchor |
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| Dinghy dock between rows of docks |
The dinghy dock turned out to be a floating platform that wobbled crazily when walked on. Clark laughed at my antics as I timidly crept to shore as the platform rocked in what-felt-like multiple directions at once under my feet.
We managed to get to terra firma (phew) and through the locked gate to meet up with Sandy and Bill! As per usual with Sandy, once we get in her car, we are "held captive" until she is ready to drop us off once more. She took us on a driving tour from Melbourne to Cape Canaveral where we stopped for lunch.
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| Rusty's Restaurant - Cape Canaveral |
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| Cruise ship at Cape Canaveral |
The Canaveral Lock is closed for close-up viewing, so we got a long distance peak.
After stopping to take pictures of the lock, we drove to Sandy and Bill's summer condo to admire the view of the ocean. We took some pictures from the car as we drove along.
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| Closer look at the cruise ship |
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| Building architecture to fit with the Cape Canaveral theme |
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| Gator's Portside Restaurant in Port Canaveral |
As we drove through Cocoa Beach, Bill told us about the surfing there. Clark managed to snag a picture of the statue dedicated to the town's most famous surfer - Kelly Slater.
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| Kelly Slater Statue in Cocoa Beach, FL |
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| Kelly Slater statue |
Satellite Beach is on the Atlantic Ocean and the views of the ocean are breath-taking.
At the end of a lovely day together, Sandy dropped us off at Melbourne Yacht Club and told us that there would be a rocket launch around 8:00 tonight. We set our phone alarm to alert us when the time got close.
When we arrived at MYC, we had a problem. The dinghy was tied up on the docks and the docks were inaccessible due to a locked gate and locked building. Clark called and got no answer, so I texted the dock master, and he responded quickly with a call to give Clark the gate code. Once again I had to deal with the wobbly dock to get to the boat. I survived without falling down!
Tonight's sunset.
Since it was well before my bedtime, I went outside with Clark to watch tonight's launch. Unfortunately, the cloud cover obscured most of the view. We did see it take off and go into the clouds but could see nothing thereafter.
10 November 2023
Dinghy travel only.
Events at the GAM started at 8:30 (7:30 if you wanted breakfast there), so we targeted 8:00 as our arrival time. As a result, we were up before the sun, and I got to see the sunrise. Similar to the night before, the show ended as the clouds blocked the view.
The venue had two rooms for SSCA to use - one they called the classroom and the other the banquet room. Today I attended sessions on cooking and food provisioning for the boat while Clark sat in on sessions on electric and engine work. They offered travel presentations that were interesting - one was on boating in Norway, Greenland, and Iceland and another was on travel in the Bahamas. Clark became very excited by the Bahamas discussions, and as a result, we may find ourselves on the way there sometime soon.
We signed up for the Happy Hour with appetizers for this evening. The food was not impressive to say the least. We did enjoy the table conversations with other boaters. The day ended at 7:30, and it was time to get in our dinghy to travel back to the "Sunset Delight" in the dark. Clark wished he had brought a light to help see the way back to help avoid fish traps.
When we arrived this morning, we tied our dinghy to the cement wall by the Civic Center. We decided that the MYC dinghy dock was too far away and inconvenient. I was happy not to walk on the wobbly platform again! The Civic Center wall has a railing all the way across, so to disembark the dinghy we had to either (as I did) crawl between the rails of the fence, or (as Clark did) climb over the top.
As we approached the dinghy to leave tonight, it was full dark, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see well enough to negotiate the gymnastics required to get back into the dinghy. Thank goodness I am on the tall side as it was a long step down from the wall to the dinghy! I managed with no trouble, but I was a little concerned with the situation.
When we left this morning, Clark did not turn on the anchor light, so he made a quick trip back to SD for that. While he was out, he managed to snap a sunset picture.
11 November 2023
Dinghy travel only.
Once again we took the dinghy to the cement wall to tie up. By now I was a pro at shimmying under the rails to get to shore. We had a full agenda today including a buffet dinner in the evening. Once again Clark forgot to bring a flashlight for the trip back!
Today's talks included more on provisioning and travel. Clark attended a session on weather while I heard a presentation on "Anchoring: Avoid the Art of Dragging". I really enjoyed a presentation on traveling via canal boat in Europe; however, Clark thought that canals are not part of the "7 seas" and therefore not relevant. Clark and I both attended a session on lithium batteries. I found it so boring that I left after about 10 minutes. Of course, he found it interesting.
After the lectures ended and before the banquet was served, i.e. during happy hour, Clark took the dinghy back to Sunset Delight to turn on the anchor lights for the night. We had grossly misjudged the number of sailboats that would be sharing the anchorage with us. No one anchored near us and only one sailboat anchored anywhere nearby.
During dinner last night, we met someone, Ken, at the event who is planning to buy a sailboat. He showed a lot of interest in the sailboat owned by another couple at our table. (That happened to be the sailboat anchored somewhat near our boat.) When Clark went to turn on the anchor light tonight, he offered both of them a ride out to view the sailboat since he had to take the dinghy out anyway. After they got back to the venue, Ken was asked what he thought - power boat or sailboat? He said, "I want both!"
Clark got a sunset picture while he was gone.
After a busy day, neither of us had any energy left. When I went to bed, I slept very well despite the train that loudly blows its whistle as it passes through town. I heard it once at 5:00 a.m. our first night at anchor, but it never bothered me again after that.
12 November 2023
Depart: Melbourne, FL anchorage 12:25
Arrive: Vero Beach private dock 4:45
Distance: ~ 30 nm
Once again we were in the dinghy and on our way to the event bright and early. As we made our way to the Civic Center, I took some pictures.
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| the only sailboat anchored near us for the GAM (not very close to Sunset Delight) |
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| another view of the sailboat |
I made sure we got a picture of us with the event sign. Note I am wearing an SSCA t-shirt. I bought it the first day of the GAM. They had a sale going on, and I could not resist getting a nice shirt for only $10! Since the air conditioning in the building was brutal, the shirt came in very handy.
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| Flea Market in full swing |
A paper globe was positioned on each table as a centerpiece. Someone tried to show us where they had traveled and, in disgust as he set it down, said, "These are not meant as aids to navigation!"
Today's agenda included a pot luck lunch; however, when the headcount of folks interested was taken, not one hand was raised. Everyone was ready to be on their way somewhere. The talks today included a presentation on "The Thornless Path" which Clark was excited to hear. Basically it was a discussion on island hopping on a vessel from Florida to the Dominican Republic - a route most often traveled by sailboats - not powerboats.
Per the internet: "Bruce Van Sant's book is A Gentleman's Guide to Passage South. The nickname for the book is the Thornless Path South. It is sort of a "bible" for sailing from Florida down to Puerto Rico via the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic."
We stayed for the next presentation concerning offshore and near shore communications which held no interest for me. After that we decided to skip the session on "sail trimming techniques". We don't have sails to trim!
As we walked to the dinghy I noticed a turkey vulture enjoying a fish dinner at the water's edge.
We got back to the boat before lunch and had to stow the dinghy, pull up anchor etc. We decided to get underway and eat lunch as we traveled.
Clark saw and took a video of a couple of dolphins frolicking in the water.
Given we had been at anchor for several days, we decided to stop at the Vero Beach Marina for a pump out before proceeding to our friend's dock. It took a long time (30 minutes) as it was either slow or stopped completely several times. Finally we got down from 47% full to 7% full and decided we were done. We arrived at our friend's dock around 4:45.
We took our hostess by surprise as she expected us on Monday - not today. We decided on pizza for dinner.
Clark's after dinner "entertainment" was to do maintenance on the toilet / holding tank system. He had parts that needed to be replaced and with an almost empty holding tank, today was the day to do the work. This is a stinky job and unfortunately, the plumbing is under the master stateroom bed, so the whole room smells like a sewer while he's working and well after he's done.
At 10:00 I decided to sleep on the couch. At midnight he came and told me that he was done, and I could move to the bed. I turned on fans to help push the smell out hoping that would allow me to sleep! I managed.
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