On Sunday, May 16, Bev and I drove to Cocoa, FL to visit our cousin Doug Dwyer and his wife Elaine. Elaine cooked an awesome dinner for us at their lovely home.
Doug works with the computer systems for this rocket
Doug and Elaine bought the lot next door. These are the only neighbors they hope to have
On Monday, we drove to the Indian River to watch a rocket launch at Cape Canaveral. It was postponed until the next day.
our view of the launch site across the Indian River
Doug had the day off, so we drove to Cocoa Beach for a walk on the beach.
under the pier
Portuguese man of war, I think
unusual jelly fish
Next we stopped at a boat launch on the canal that cuts through the island just north of Cape Canaveral. We saw several turtles in the water. One of them was stuck under a PVC pipe near the dock. Doug went to the shore and was able to move it enough to free the turtle. It looked unharmed and happy to be free. What a great feeling.
Elaine cooked us another great meal. While she was preparing dinner, she told me all about the musical Hamilton that they had recently seen. It was interesting having someone born in China refreshing my memory of our American history.
Before leaving on Tuesday, Elaine cooked us a huge breakfast. She wanted us to try the Alaskan Rock Bass Doug’s daughter had sent them and a Chinese sausage. Bev and I returned to the park on the Indian River to see the launch about 1:30pm. It was fascinating to see, but it was kind of a let down. It wasn’t a very big rocket, so we didn’t feel the “earth move” like I was expecting.
we were at the dot above Port. the launch was across the water on the island
these 2 photos were from my phone
After the launch, Bev and I drove to Orlando to see old friends through Ski for Light, Brian and Kathryn Sweeney. They came to South Dakota for many years to be guides at the annual event. They started in the early 90’s. Then they moved to South Dakota for several years then back to Orlando.
We enjoyed their peaceful home on a lake right in Orlando. We had a nice dinner, then looked through old photos of Ski for Light and reminisced. Always fun to see them.
May 11/12 Since we planned to stay in Brunswick longer while repairing our windows, my sister, Beverly, decided to visit us. If and when we leave here by boat, it will be hard to make plans as to where to meet us, so this worked out well. She drove from Harrah, OK over 2 days. On Wednesday, May 12, we drove to Key Largo to visit our niece Sherri Zeller and husband Bobby Hansen.
Beverly, Sherri, Mary
the tuna Bobby caught right before we arrived
Bobby cleaning the tuna, which we had for lunch
looking at the house from the canal
looking at the house from the street. the lower level only has a storage area in case of flooding
view from veranda
veranda off of living room/kitchen
On Thursday, May 13, afternoon, we took their power boat to Pennekamp State Park to snorkel. There is a statue underwater called Christ of the Deep. The top of the head is a least 10 feet below the surface. We stopped there and one other site, North Rocks. We saw several schools of fish. It was great to be back in the water!! We had dinner at a restaurant near their home, the Catch.
canal from their boat lift
our commute to the ocean
playing in the pool/hot tub after snorkeling
May 14 Bev and I went to a local place for late breakfast while Bobby and Sherri worked, the Hideout. In the afternoon, Sherri, Bev and I drove to the Everglades for an airboat ride. What fun!! Our private tour guide was fun and informative. He had lived in that area all of his life.
We were back in time to have dinner with Sherri’s son, Jaxon and catch the sunset at Morada Bay Beach Cafe. He lives on Islamorada and works at Bass Pro. After dinner we joined Jaxon and his friends at the Florida Keys Brewing with live music. I love all the outdoor venues.
Beverly, Sherri, Mary
Jaxon Zeller Thorsen
On Saturday, May 15, the four of us went to breakfast at Robbie’s. We sat outside and watched linemen working on power lines out in the water. They were lowered to and lifted off the poles by a helicopter. Our brother-in-law was a lineman at one time in SD. So very interesting to see.
Part of the afternoon was spent lounging in their swimming pool. Then the 4 of us went on another water adventure. Bev and I shared a 2 person kayak while Sherri and Bobby took stand up paddle boards. We checked out the mangroves near their home. Beautiful day!! After cleaning up, we went to the Caribbean Club for sunset. We met friends of Bobby and Sherri’s, The Browns. Most of the seating was outside, but the bar itself was used in the filming of the movie Key Largo, the 1948 movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
i guess we thought he was taking a shot of only our heads and wanted to be sure we were in the picture
After sunset, we went to the Big Chill for dinner and more live music.
5-1 Saturday I have been spending the week cleaning out our cupboards and storage areas. The walls all needed cleaning. When you spend a winter in Georgia, the warmer walls inside the boat pick up moisture which then turns into mildew. It is also a good time to get rid of things we don’t use. Some things go into storage, others get tossed or put on the “free table” in the clubhouse. All kinds of things show up there. As I was cleaning the walls in our v-berth, I also cleaned our small port windows (don’t open, only for light) that are on the hull (vertical outside walls). To my surprise, one of the windows was loose. The “glass” is “glued” against the hull. The end towards the bow was loose. If we hadn’t discovered this, a rough wave could have pulled the window out and filled our v-berth with water. What a mess that would have been!! SO, another project on the list. Dave started researching online what to use and talking to other boaters that have replaced their windows.
5-2/3 Sunday/ Monday anchor retrieval Friends on a neighboring boat took their father out for a nice Sunday afternoon sail. They anchored in the Brunswick River straight out the channel that leads to our marina. It was getting close to sunset when we received a call from them. Their anchor was caught under something and they weren’t able to retrieve it. Their dinghy had a leak, so they couldn’t get in the water to check it out or pull it from a different angle. In the process of trying to bring it up, they broke a cleat off of their toe rail. That’s when they decided to call us.
We took off to help, but called a retired Coast Guard boater, to be on the alert. We couldn’t get it to release either. They tied a fender to it and figured they would hire a diver to retrieve it tomorrow. It started raining, so we high tailed it back, actually faster in our dinghy than they were in their boat.
On Monday, Dave took another guy from our dock and returned by dinghy to where they left the anchor. He took a big carabiner with a line attached and let it slide down the anchor rode. This allowed them to pull from a different direction. They were hoping it went down the shaft of the anchor, but they couldn’t see that for sure. They pulled in different directions with the dinghy. If they pulled on the fender it was tied to, it would only set it further or continue to stay under whatever was holding it (which we did last night). After several tries, they could see the fender following them, which meant the anchor was free. It was a good test for possible use in the future. It worked so well that Dave bought us a real anchor retriever.
May 3 Another dinghy ride to Marshside Grill with Brunswick Landing Marina friends. It's about a 30-45 minute ride by dinghy, depending on everybody's outboard function/or not. It's a good time to check your outboards and dinghies and have fun.
May 4 I wanted to wash our curtains inside the boat. I had never removed the entire slide that is mounted to the wall above the window. Occasionally, I still find an area that I have never cleaned in the 8 years we have been living on the boat.
they cover these windows, 9 total
May 5 We started the process of reattaching the port windows. Now our boat has a pirate patch over it’s left eye. Of course it couldn’t go smoothly. The first one broke as we tried to remove it. Dave decided to check all of the windows. 4 out of 6 are loose.
what they are supposed to look like
pirate eye patch
Now he is talking to another boater about using some of his leftover glass to replace this one and any others as needed.
May 9 My church in Brunswick, St. Francis Xavier celebrated our Lady of Fatima feast on May 9. It is the anniversary of when Mary appeared to 3 shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. We have a large Portuguese population here because of the fishing years ago.
After placing the crown on Mary’s head, she was paraded outside and around the park across the street from the church. Such a beautiful ceremony.
