Waitin' and rollin' on the river

December 22nd finds us anchored  into mud and shell in six feet of water in Cocoa on the south east side of the ICW and south of the Highway 520 bridge and causeway, protected from the northerly and easterly winds. We have committed to getting a new engine, but nothing gets done in the marine world during the Christmas/New Years holiday (now). So, we wait for the New Year for this project to get underway.

We have used our dinghy to go to each side of the ICW. The Cocoa Village side (West) had a wonderful city park with small docks until Hurricane Irma destroyed it. It is closed, wrapped in yellow crime scene tape, but we found a small patch of sand just to the south with a palm tree around which I was able to run my cable and lock. From here we could stroll the charming village with its shops, its bandstand (presently graced with the dulcet sounds of a tuba and sousaphone concert of Christmas music) and the famous Travis Hardware store. No produce or bakery however.

The next day we went under the causeway in the dinghy to the northeast side and locked our cable to a dock near Ms. Apple's Crab Shack. We knew immediately where we were having lunch! About six blocks away we found the Publix grocery store and got our bread and produce before returning for a huge lunch of crabs. Since this location was open to the northerly wind it was a little choppy on the dinghy ride.

On December 25th the wind picked up into the 20 knot range from the Northeast and waves wrapped around the bridge to make our anchorage a little rough. I was reading in the cockpit and noticed that we had begun to drift downwind, dragging into very shallow water. Barb came to the anchor platform and I got the engine on in an instant. We pulled up our anchor and repositioned ourselves, hooking the bottom and letting out ninety feet of chain. That ought to hold us and it did, even as the wind got stronger. None the less, because of the boat's motion, the sleeping was better in the saloon than in the forward berth.

We got off the boat again on Ms. Apple's side to explore on the bus to Cocoa Beach. We got half fare ($0.75) privileges because of our vintage and got a free transfer ticket upon exiting. We explored the beach for about an hour and then used the transfer to make the return trip. On the way back I had noticed that there was a boat launching ramp at the Ms. Apple's location and realized that I could use our dinghy wheels to pull the dinghy out of the choppy water and well up the ramp onto dry land. We did that one morning and got the same bus ride, but used the transfer to head north to Port Canaveral to investigate the marina where we expected to be hauled out to have the engine exchanged the second week of January. We had a very good lunch at Charlie's Cafe. On the bus rides back we got off at the Publix and then walked back to the dinghy with our shopping bags.

At midnight, the ICW lit up with fireworks up and down both sides of the Indian River. It was quite a sight. Happy New Year!