Farewell Space Coast

***  MELBOURNE, FL. ***

They say time flies when you’re having fun – and we are having a ball! Our time in Melbourne, on the space coast, is quickly coming to an end. Saying we loved it here, is an understatement. Boats, Trains, and Rocket Ships. What’s not to love. Our captain is in heaven!

Boats – Now or Never sits in the middle of the action at the marina, our captatin enjoys welcoming all to Melbourne.

Trains – we’re just a block from the tracks which allows us to witness and hear to 35+ trains a day including the high-speed rail commuter train Brightline. With 18 train track crossings in Melbourne and a handful of those within blocks of the marina, the long horn blasts have become white noise, and we miss them when we don’t hear them. Dave has been known to head over by the tracks regularly to watch them fly by.

Rocket Ships – with SpaceX averaging close to two launches a week from Cape Canaveral, we have witnessed countless launches and they never get old. We have been privilged to see these incredible space flights.

We struggle to think of how time went by so quickly and how there are still so many things we would have loved to have done.

Melbourne Harbor

We traded a trip to the Bahamas for some canvas work. It wasn’t in the cards for a couple of reasons. Wind. It has been a winter of wind. And our first mate does not like the wind. Many waited days that turned to weeks for weather windows to cross to the Bahamas, some went and regretted their decision as the cruise was less than pleasurable.

Our final decision came after connecting with a canvas shop to get our aft deck strata glass replaced prior to leaving Melbourne and our journey north. We are a bit bummed we didn’t get a cruise in to the Bahamas but staying in Melbourne wasn’t such a bad thing and we’re happy to have new glass on the boat for the rest of our journey. We’re enjoying a much clearer view.

The crew also dreamed of watching a rocket launch from anchor and viewing it from close range. We can see the launches from Melbourne, have traveled further north for launches, but hoped to get the view right above from anchor. With winds and delayed launch schedules we never got it done. However, we did witness dozens of launches the greater space coast area and witnessed a great launch and recovery to Cape Canaveral on a day trip to the Cape.

We started our day with a leisurely drive visiting Cocoa Beach, a beach in Cape Canaveral, and Jetty Park Beach scoping out potential viewing sights prior to ending up at Port Canaveral for an early dinner and cruise ship watching at the port.

Port Canaveral, twenty five miles north of Melbourne is a cruise, cargo, and naval port and has the busiest cruise terminals in the world with over 4 million passengers passing through the seven cruise terminals annually. Additionally, over 5.4 million tons of bulk cargo move through the port each year.

Primary cargo includes slag, salt, vehicles, containers, petroleum, heavy equipment, lumber, and aggregate. The port has conveyors and hoppers for loading products directly into trucks and facilities for bulk-cargo containers.

The port exports fresh citrus: bulk-frozen citrus juice stored in one of the largest freezer warehouses in the state; cement; and building materials. The port receives lumber, salt for water-softening, automobiles, and steel sheet and plate. It tranships items for land, sea, air, and space. On average, ten ships enter the port each day.

There were no ships in port upon our arrival so we though for sure one would be coming in soon. We lingered hoping to catch sight of one or two. We waited and waited to no avail. The captain decided to search the internet for ship arrivals. It turns out there is one day a week with no traffic. None arriving, none departing, and of course, that was Wednesday, the day we were there! Once we learned our ship would not be coming in, we quickly ate and headed back to Jetty Park our choice of viewing locations for the launch.

Jetty Park is across the canal entry from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and provided an unadulterated view of the launch pad and the landing zone which were just a few miles apart. We arrived more than an hour before launch and the place was packed. We gathered our beach chairs and stadium blanket from the car and set up camp. The crowd joined together with anticipation of this incredible feat, at least incredible to these Hoosiers.

SpaceX was launching a partially classified mission of two satellites for the US Space Force. The launch was spectacular and the recovery of the booster somethig impossible to describe. Typically, recoveries happen offshore on an unmanned floating platform, this day it was happening within a few miles from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. We held our breath through the eight minutes from lift off to recovery. The highly anticipated return of the booster was met with cheering and applause from the crowd as the booster came into view and lowered to the landing zone. The sonic boom followed and was deafening. The park was packed in all directions as well as the beaches along the coast. Our friends witnessed much of the same exhilaration along with a large crowd at Cocoa Beach. This may well have been David’s highlight of our winter layover.  

We were able to catch up with family and multiple visits with sister Tiffany and Mark, and nephew Rick and Marnie.

We enjoyed seeing neighbors from Tasha’s childhood, Cindy, Barb, and Jerry, as well as loopers we met in 2021, Karen and Danny from On-Line, friends from home, Joan and Dave and Mary and Dan, and a couple of months hanging with the Hawkins Landing crew Ronda, Bob and Charlie. We also returned to our home state twice for quick visits.

It’s not all fun and games. The captain tackled project after project including, the fun job of rebuilding toilets (again), polishing the boat, routine maintenance of changing out impellers and oil changes, replacing the aft shower pump, installing a new rudder position sensor, painting our anchor chain, cleaning aft deck and bridge carpets, and rebuilding the ice maker (another again). We paint the anchor chain in 25 ft increments with different colors. This way as we are aware how much chain is out adn we get the proper scope out to provide a secure hold and a happy first mate that can relax overnight. We are thankful he has the skills and ability to keep Now or Never in ship shape.

Tasha has the easy jobs. She went through every drawer, closet, and cubby hole on the boat to see what we could take home and it turns out quite a lot. Tasha also tackled a few sewing projects, customizing a rug to fit in the galley and sheets and a mattress pad to fit our wonky sized mattress, and created a new hatch cover and sunshade for the aft deck.

We experienced our first water rescue. Luckily, it wasn’t aboard Now or Never but an air boat adventure. We headed to the St. Johns River with our friends from Hawkins Landing. Arriving late morning, we were told our wait would be two to two and a half hours. There was a restaurant on site, so we headed there for a bite, and then a drink, and then we waited, and waited. Four hours later (I know – what were we thinking), it was our turn. Seems they only had one of three boats in operating condition that day (that should have been a clue).  We took off through the swamp lands in a hunt for gators, and less than five minutes in, we heard a clunk and then we coasted to a stop in the grass. We were dead in the water, the gear box was stripped.

Captain Dennis called back, and the cavalry was sent out to rescue us. The cavalry consisted of three locals in their private air boats who left their cold ones on the bar to pick us up. Another good story to add to our adventure.

We returned two days later to two working boats and a were able to make the full tour. Unfortunately, we only saw one gator though enjoyed being on the water. The skimming across the water through the swamp and river was a completely different boat ride for us.

St. Johns River Country

Dave went south one day to Trawlerfest in Stewart, confirming we will never own a new or near new boat ever ($$$). We attended several Power Squadron meetings, trainings, and functions. We belong to the Louisville chapter and the folks in Brevard Co. have been very welcoming. It has been nice to meet locals who enjoy boating.

A BIG shout out to Melbourne. Landing here two years ago for a two night stay, we never thought Now or Never would spend 17 months at Melbourne Harbor Marina and the crew about half of that. Melbourne has a historic downtown that is vibrant and busy with fun shops and great eateries, all walking distance from the marina. There are miles and miles of beaches with lots of public access. The surf and sand are natures healers. It escapes the tourist traps of many Florida coastal towns and you feel at home right away. We couldn’t have landed in a better place including our great little marina – we love the dock crew and they couldn’t haven taken better care of us and our double emergency situations. It has been our pleasure to spend so much time here and we’ll leave a piece of our hearts here.

Our last hurrah has been enjoying the St. Paddy’s Day Festival. It’s a good one!

As our 19 weeks on the Space Coast comes to an end, we find ourselves wishing we could do it all over again! And looking back we wished we would have had been able to experience more of what the Space Coast has to offer. Too little time for big dreams.

But it’s time to move along and we are confidant we will find more places that we love along the journey.

Our great loop adventure continues. With over 6600 miles cruised, 33 months since we left our home port, 20 months on board, we begin our fourth calendar year cruising aboard Now or Never.

In 2021 we left our homeport of Jeffersonville, Indiana on the Ohio River in June cruising the navigable waters of the Cumberland and the Tennessee Rivers before heading south down the Tenn-Tom to Mobile, AL across the pan handle of Florida and rounded out the year in Boca Grande, FL.

In 2022 we continued further south in Florida to the Keys and began up the Eastern Florida seaboard ending in Melbourne before we headed home to deal with family matters.

In 2023 we left Melbourne and cruised the east coast up as far as Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay, made a side trip up the Potomac River to our nation’s capital, and completed the Albemarle Loop. Not wanting the fun to end we returned to Melbourne for the winter.

It is time to throw off the bow lines and head north traversing most of the east coast for a third time. Once we get as far north as Baltimore we will be in new to us waters. An early summer highlight will be cruising into New York Harbor by the Statue of Liberty, then heading up the Hudson River into the New York and Canadian canals and waterways, making our way into The Great Lakes and Canada. Most loopers complete the 6000 mile voyage in the span of one continuous year. We are navigating our own multi-year loop and taking it all in, not missing a port or side trip. We’re excited to continue our great loop adventure and happy to have you along for the journey!