Aug 4th – Aug 9th
Total: 10 hours
Day 1: The first day is always tiring just from traveling and getting settled in. We landed around 1:30pm in Daytona (the city we were ending our trip in), hopped in the rental car and drove 1 hour to our boat in Cocoa. Once aboard, we noticed the aft AC wasn’t working 🙄Here we go again. Capt Steve had to put a whole new strainer in (ours was full of barnacles and so disgusting) and poured barnacle buster in the lines and hoped for the best.
The temp was 97 outside but thankfully only 86 inside the boat, which oddly enough seemed somewhat tolerable,…..for like 10 mins, then I was over it. Capt still couldn’t find the reset switch for the forward AC so that one still wasn’t working either. So we were down to only 1 AC. We hurried up and provisioned online, and got off the boat while the barnacle buster did it’s thing. We headed to one of our fav restaurants, Murdock’s http://murdocksbistro.com/then came back to a gorgeous sunset.
Ended the night watching a CMT concert on the tube and planning our next day.
Day 2: Capt got up with the kids and snuck out into town for the R engine part and, of course, breakfast. Meanwhile I got a shower in and my morning tea–uninterrupted. So sweet of him. Even brought back a yummy breakfast sammy, on the most amazing croissant from Ossorios Bakery & Cafe https://ossorio.com 
Then we were off to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com just a 20 min drive away. I had been there several times as a kid, but WOW, so much has changed! Even Capt and I were in awe of everything and couldn’t wait to see what was around the next corner. 
Big sis didn’t want to leave, but we had to try and beat a gnarly storm home, that was headed right for us. 
We decided to head straight to dinner on our way home and literally made it in the restaurant just minutes before the sky dumped and winds went crazy. We went to Pub Americana in Cocoa for dinner.
Salon and aft AC’s were working decent enough and we all slept pretty well that night. Until…..4am Capt and I were suddenly awakened by loud banging on the boat which sounded like something (or someone) was above us on the aft sundeck. Capt flies out of bed and runs upstairs to check it out. He’s pretty convinced it was just the crazy jumping fish. Phew….but dang how annoying. Next morning we see what all the commotion was really about. One poor guy didn’t make it back in the water.
Day 3: 2 hours up the ICW to anchor and see rocket launch
Capt Steve wanted to try Barnacle Buster one more time for the aft AC, while we headed to Breakfast at Ossorios (again). Soooo good. This time I got the cinnamon roll croissant. It was bigger than my head and YES I did eat the whole thing and don’t regret it one bit. Kids and I swung by Taylor Park on the way home while Capt headed back to tweak the AC’s and work on the R engine, getting the new hose installed.
We wanted to leave earlier so we would have plenty of time before the rocket launched, but we had to wait out storms. 
We ended up taking off around 4:45pm and headed to Titusville. There was steady rain almost the whole way there, but thankfully we were only going 2 hours up the ICW and it cleared just as we found our anchorage. We were just 7 miles from the launch site. Closest anyone can possibly get off-grounds. 
We made it just 15 mins before the Falcon 9 rocket launched from KSC. Capt is scrambling to get the drone up in the air and get the GoPro ready to take pics while I gather the kids and we all hurry up to the bow of the boat. 
It was so cool to see the glow of the rocket first, then the rumble caught up to us and you could feel it in your chest. Both Capt and I have seen a space shuttle go up, but never a Space X rocket ……and never anchored out on a boat for that matter.
Afterward, we put lil monster to bed, grilled burgers out back and Big Sis kicked my booty in a memory game. 
We LOVE spending our nights “on the hook”. There’s just something about being out in the middle of the water, no one else around, the distant lights from the shore twinkling as if they were the stars in the sky. The subtle hum of the generator and gentle rocking is enough to put you to sleep sitting up. It’s just SO peaceful.
Day 4: 7 hours up the ICW to Daytona
After a quick breakfast, we went swimming off the back of boat. Water was chilly but tolerable, but I was more worried about gators. Capt assured me we were too far off-shore for gators, but I secretly didn’t believe him one bit.
We washed the sea off us, put lil Bro to bed and waited out the storm that was rolling through. It’s Florida….in the summer 🤷🏻♀️ It becomes just apart of the daily routine. Got underway at 1:15pm and 20 mins into it, almost ran aground because we were outside the ICW channel markers coming back from our anchorage 😬
At 3:00 we passed through Haul Over canal from the Indian river. It was beautiful in there. 
Another storm forced Capt to drive down from the lower helm inside our salon. This was the first time he’s ever tried it and now regretting not getting our wipers put back on. 
AC’s were working, but it’s so hard to keep up in the FL heat that they still have a hard time. Kids watched a movie while I made a drink to cool me down and helped Capt keep at eye out for rear approaching boats. That’s one of the downsides from driving inside, only visibility is forward. 
Not too hot for his sneaks 😂
We were 2 hours late, but we made it to Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach. 
It was after hours so they said to call the security guy and he’d help with throwing lines and getting us tied up. Plan was to park bow in, port (left) side tie up. Capt called the guy and told him we’d be there in 10 mins. We arrive at our slip, it’s pretty straight forward and easy docking. Security guy was no where in sight, so I had to jump ship and tie lines while Capt manned the helm. Thing is, these docks are LOW!!! Funny……I was just saying we need to sell our ginormous folding stairs because 1. They take up SO much real estate on our back deck and 2. Honestly we’ve never used them since we left our original marina in St Pete last year. Well, I was wrong 😬😬. Totally needed them at this one. I needed a boost just to get back up onto the boat. It’s a good 5ft drop and I’m only 5’2.
Anyway, so we bow in, tie lines and try to hook up our stairs. Doesn’t work on the Port side. They’re still too high. Ugh! Where’s the dang security guy????
So now we have to untie everything, back out, turn the boat around and back into the slip. Took a little fanagaling (apparently auto-correct doesn’t know that word) but we got her backed in and tied up. Stairs went on Starboard (right) side and we’re good to go. Capt called security guy to say thanks but we got it. He rightfully said he was dealing with a trespasser, which honestly is good to hear they’re on top of things like that here. He shows up, gets our info and we’re officially not a trespasser either, lol.
Funny, I see 2 people parked right out back on their sailboat not more than 2 slips away facing us. Just watching us struggle. Sipping their beers. Probably laughing. Maybe cheering. Idk. But what I DO know is, they didn’t offer to help us. Oh well, more experience for us anyway. We’re a great team.
Had a yummy dinner and a few congratulatory drinks, and grilled chicken and rice on the back deck. We made it! No one is wanting to leave tomorrow morning, but our regular lives await. Until next time.
