Morning light had us up doing a few small boat chores and getting ready to shove off again. When the gas dock opened at 8am we topped off the tanks and untied the lines. Our plan for today was to cruise approximately 55 miles to Cocoa Beach. The waters were very flat and calm and again today the trip was essentially a straight line making it a low stress cruise. Additionally, the ICW in this entire section is 1.5 to 2 miles wide with the channel running straight down the middle without any 'no wake zones'. The trip went by so quickly and smoothly that at about 11am we reconsidered out plans for the day and decided to skip Cocoa Beach and instead head to Titusville which was an additional 25 miles up the ICW.
An interesting piece of information about Titusville that is personal to us is that this town played a part in how we stumbled into our interest in 'The Americas Great Loop'. About 7 years ago Erik had been researching different programs and models for rehabilitation of people with addictions and reentering society after incarceration. As part of that research we found a program out of Titusville called 'Sailing Toward Sobriety' which was part of an organization called 'Find Your Anchor'. The premise of the program was that groups of newly recovering and/or struggling individuals spent time here in Titusville essentially building houseboats that were Great Loop capable and afterwards they spent a year aboard working together as a team and studying the Bible for their first year in recovery. It seemed like a very interesting concept and Erik had reached out via email to inquire about details and how to get involved. We also purchased a book whose proceeds went to this foundation about the Great Loop by Captain John. Supposedly, lay people who were solid in recovery were welcomed aboard for portions of the voyage to interact with the men and women. We received one brief and pretty vague response back shortly after stating that they were currently preparing for their next voyage and someone would be in touch with us. No contact back was ever made and after some months we attempted to contact them again but had not luck getting a response. Since then, any sign of the organization or program seems to have vanished. However....after hearing of 'The Americas Great Loop' via this source it got us onto the track of researching what this was all about and the rest is history!
https://www.captainjohn.org/sailing.html We pulled into Titusville Municipal Marina just before 1pm. A nice young man helped us to get docked and tied off and shared a few recommendations on the town. It is again a very nice municipal marina; Nice shop and lounge, very clean new baths and showers. We have been very pleased with the condition and amenities at the last several public marinas we have been at....good job Florida cities!
We decided to cook a late lunch/very early dinner of remaining wahoo and chicken and Erik also made up some delicious bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos in the toaster oven. While Renee was doing dishes Erik laid down on the couch and quickly drifted off into a nice late afternoon nap; Renee was quick to follow after finishing cleaning up the kitchen. We awoke rested and after Erik spent an hour or so repairing the leaky gasket on the fuel sending unit we were ready to explore Titusville.
We thought about walking the town since it seemed like it was likely pretty small but instead opted to unload the bicycles because we figured it would be better for Erik who had an incident while tying the boat up this afternoon where he seriously snagged his little toe and side of the foot on one of the cleats on the boat deck. It is still pretty darned sore :-(
The downtown was indeed very small. We explored a couple of their many parks; This town appears to be park happy but has not done a great job maintaining them. We first rode to Space View Park which had a 'space travel walk of fame'. It was a series of nicely done monuments with bronze plaques of all the astronauts hand prints and pictures from all of the USA space programs from the 60's to present. It was interesting to read about many of the aspects of the early space travel. One monument was commemorating all workers who had passed away while working at Kennedy Space Center in the line of duty. There were a few over the programs history that died in explosions and from rocket chemicals ect., but, the vast majority were people who had fallen from heights working on launchpads and other tall towers....seems like OSHA was needed around here in the 60's!
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| Apollo missions monument |
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| Walk of Fame |
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| Gemini missions monument |
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| Mercury missions monument |
After riding and walking around the parks we developed our usual early evening appetite for ice cream. Today's ice cream find turned out to be a delight! 'The Mad Utter' is a nice little shop that has opened recently and only serves 4 or 5 kinds of homemade ice cream made on the premises. We opted for a scoop of Oreo Truffle in a homemade waffle cone bowl. At the limited tables in the shop there were a series of old school wooden games to be played with which were being utilized by several kids and families. We sat at a table with a small wooden bowling alley game.
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| One of multiple old school wooden games at The Mad Udder |
After ice cream we continued our bike ride through other parts of town. Overall, the town seems pretty depressed with most everything more than a couple blocks off of the water being fairly distressed. The ride back along the waterfront did show us a lot of very interesting old historic homes that are very well cared for. It was a nice ride.
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| A large interesting looking grasshopper in one of the gardens |
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| The Pritchard House is a beautifully restored old home in the center of downtown |
Back at the marina we showered, did a load of laundry and mostly just chilled and relaxed before preparing for bed. We plan tomorrow to cruise to Daytona Beach. Renee has an Uncle and Aunt who live in Port Orange which is right next to Daytona Beach. We are planning to stay there for a couple of nights and visit and explore Daytona.
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| Sunset at Titusville Marina |
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