Harbortown Marina to Banana River Anchorage

Miles Traveled 30.4

Total Miles Traveled 2621

Day 194

It is not often when everything comes together on the same day, but today was one of those days, visiting with family, perfect weather, a full moon, and a rocket launch from the space center that we can view from an anchorage.

We started the day with another family cruise on the Indian and Banana Rivers, passing Cocoa on the Indian River and Port Canaveral on the Banana River. 

After returning our family members to the marina, Moni and I headed to an anchorage near Port Canaveral to watch an Atlas V Rocket launch at 11:05 p.m.  Although I was 99.99 percent sure we could anchor in this area, we were the only boat anchored here, so I called the coast guard to verify our location was not in a restricted area, we were assured we were in the safe zone.

Sunset over Merritt Island.

The Atlas V rocket is carrying the OA-6 Cygnus resupply craft to the International Space Station (ISS).  This mission is the heaviest payload (7,745 pounds of cargo) launched aboard the Atlas V Rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl.

There is nothing between us and the Atlas Rocket Launch but water.  There were few clouds at sunset, but just before launch time a band of clouds moved through, we still had a great view of the launch though.  What a great experience hearing and feeling the rumble of the rocket as it climbed to space.

Another great day on America’s Great Loop!

Harbortown Marina, Merritt Island, FL

Miles Traveled 10.4

Total Miles Traveled 2591

Days 190-193

On our first full day at Merritt Island, we took a family cruise out of the barge canal to the Banana River.  Before entering the Banana River, we passed a space shuttle sitting on a barge.

 "Inspiration," a full-scale space shuttle model that for two decades stood along the state road leading into NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, rolled, and then floated away on Saturday (Jan. 16), beginning its journey towards becoming a traveling exhibit and marketing showpiece.

The 122-foot-long mockup, which at one time housed a theater and simulator, left its mount outside the former Space Camp Florida and U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame facility in Titusville. Riding on a multi-wheeled transporter to a barge about a half mile away on the shore of the Indian River, the "Inspiration" left on a four hour trip across the water to a Beyel Brothers Crane and Rigging's work yard on Merritt Island, where it will spend upwards of a year being repaired and upgraded for its new mission.

The company will be outfitting the Inspiration with a state-of-the-art theater and touring it, atop a barge, up and down America's rivers to bring the 120-foot-long mock-up to areas where people may have never seen a shuttle up-close and in-person.  This will allow people to see, take pictures and experience it.

After taking a slow pass by the shuttle, we cruised up and down the Banana River.

Brother Dean is on pirate lookout.

We could see a couple of cruise ships at Port Canaveral.

We ended the day with a pizza party at downtown Cocoa……….Happy Birthday Mike!

Serenity Island, Fl to Merritt Island, Fl

Miles Traveled 34.9

Total Miles Traveled 2580

Day 189

We had planned and early start this morning but we awoke to dense fog that held on until 8 a.m.

We have been traveling several days with Gene on the Mainship trawler “Galene” we really enjoyed cruising with Gene and found we have a lot in common.  We have different plans for the next several weeks but may get back together somewhere on the Chesapeake Bay later this spring. 

Today’s cruise up the Indian River to Cocoa was the calmest water that we have traveled on for several weeks.   It’s not very often we see a body of water this large so flat.

The farther north we traveled, the darker the water became, but it didn’t bother the dolphins, we saw several of them today.

Approaching Cocoa, Florida.

After passing Cocoa we turned east on the Canaveral Barge Canal through Merritt Island,  taking us to Harbortown Marina.

Pine Island, Fl to Serenity Island, Fl

Miles Traveled 21.3

Total Miles Traveled 2546

Day 188

We stayed at anchor until 11 this morning; we were only cruising about 20 miles today.  Although we tried to make reservations in early February, we couldn’t find a marina with slips available around Cocoa until Thursday, so we took our time getting to Serenity Island, not far from Palm Bay, Fl.  We had a variety of scenery today, when we left our anchorage, the waterway was narrow lined with mangroves and small islands.  As we rounded a bend we passed condo row.

Sometimes it’s hard to read the channel markers.

The waterway opened up and we started to see dolphins again.  I rode on the bow for awhile trying to get a few pictures but couldn’t get one good enough for the blog.  I did get a picture of my best mate at the helm.

The last several miles leading up to our anchorage was lined with small islands and sandy beaches.  They are pretty inviting but it is very shallow water leading up to them.

We dropped our anchor in about 7 feet of water behind Serenity Island, we noticed seven dolphins swimming between us and the island but I couldn’t get a good picture. 

Gene from “Galene” is on pirate watch.

Sunset at our anchorage, tomorrow we arrive at Cocoa, Fl.

St. Lucie Lock to Pine Island, Fl

Miles Traveled 58.1

Total Miles Traveled 2524

Days 185-187

We spent the last few days going over charts and preparing the boat for our cruise to Cocoa, Fl.  For a Tuesday, there was a lot of traffic on the ICW, especially around the inlets and bigger cities. 

We noticed the bridges were busy too.  I’m not sure if you can make out the cars on the bridge, but it’s pretty much bumper to bumper.

We also passed this boat; the coast guard was standing by waiting for a tow.

We traveled farther today than planned, the first couple of anchorages were too shallow to get into, so we moved farther north until we could find a spot that we were comfortable with.  We have 4 to 5 feet under the boat behind this island.

St. Lucie Campground Day 4

Miles Traveled 0

Total Miles Traveled 2424

Day 184

Today we took a tour of the St. Lucie Lock and Dam.  The first lock was built at this site in 1925 and was 30 feet wide.  The current lock was built for navigation in 1941 and measures 50 feet wide by 250 feet long.  In 1944, the connecting spillway was constructed for flood and regulated flow control for the St. Lucie Canal to manage the water level in Lake Okeechobee. Approximately 10,000 vessels lock through this lock annually; of these about 91% are recreational vessels.  The normal water level maintained by the spillway is 14.5 feet above sea level. 

A view of the original lock that was filled in when the new lock was built.

Although no longer in service, the water pressure created behind the dam was used to turn a water turbine and generator used to produce 5 kilowatts of power.  This provided power for lock operations and the lockmasters home. 

5 Kw generator

The governor used to control the speed of the water turbine.

As power demand increased the turbine/generator was taken out of service.  To give you an idea of the power available, our boat “Moni Jean” uses an 8 Kw generator.....and it's way smaller than this unit.

The spillway is used to control the water level behind the dam, there are several gates that can be opened from 0 to 10 feet to control the water flow.

Today, all of the gates were open about 1 ½ feet, as you can see there is a tremendous amount of water passing through the gates.

The St. Lucie Lock control building.

This is a view of the marina from the dam; we are the second to last boat on the far end.

St. Lucie Campground Day 3

Miles Traveled 0

Total Miles Traveled 2424

Day 183

Second day with wheels, so we hit the laundry mat, and we’re sporting new haircuts.  We also exchanged our expired LP gas tank for a full one so we are so ready to cruise to Cocoa. 

It was a quiet day at the marina this afternoon; this is the view of the St. Lucie Dam from the boat slip.

And the view looking upstream.

This is a picture of us on “Moni Jean” cruising up the ICW.

St. Lucie South Campground Day 2

Miles Traveled 0

Total Miles Traveled 2424

Day 182

Today we rented a car with Gene from “Galene” and drove to Stuart, Fl., about 10 miles from the marina.  Actually we rented a truck, when we arrived at the Enterprise office they didn’t have any cars and ask if a truck would work. 

We drove to old downtown Stuart and had lunch at a restaurant next the St. Lucie River.  I’m sure a few people sat here a few days ago and watched us make our way up the river to the marina.  The town has been renovated and the streets are lined with shops and restaurants.

After spending the day touring the town, we stopped at Publix (a really nice grocery store chain in Florida) to provision the boat for the next couple of weeks. 

St. Lucie South Campground and Marina

Miles Traveled 0

Total Miles Traveled 2424

Day 181

Our course yesterday took us from the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) at St. Lucie Inlet, on the Okeechobee Waterway following the St. Lucie River southwestward to South Fork, where it enters the St. Lucie Canal.  After entering the St. Lucie Canal, we continued generally west southwestward to the St Lucie Lock, a distance of about 15 miles from the ICW.  We are staying a few days at a very quiet, clean, and well maintained park located just past the lock.  The lock, campground, and marina are maintained and operated by the Corp of Engineers.

The Okeechobee Waterway is a man-made waterway stretching across Florida from Fort Myers on the west coast to Stuart on the east coast of Florida. The waterway runs through Lake Okeechobee and consists of the Caloosahatchee River to the west of the lake and the St. Lucie Canal east of the lake.

Lake Okeechobee locally referred to as "The Lake", "Florida's Inland Sea", or "The Big O", is the largest freshwater lake in the state of Florida. It is the seventh largest freshwater lake in the United States and the second largest freshwater lake (the largest being Lake Michigan) contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states.  However, it is the largest freshwater lake completely within a single one of the lower 48 states. Okeechobee covers 730 square miles, approximately half the size of the state of Rhode Island and is exceptionally shallow for a lake of its size, with an average depth of only 9 feet. The lake is divided between Glades, Okeechobee, Martin, Palm Beach, and Hendry counties. All five counties meet at one point near the center of the lake.

North Palm Beach, Fl to Palm City, Fl

Miles Traveled 42.6

Total Miles Traveled 2466

Day 180

Blowing in the wind all night, small craft warnings this morning, and possible thunderstorms in the extended forecast, we decided to head inland and sit tight for a few days.  We left our anchorage at Lake Worth this morning and took a picture of this cool boat on the way out.

We passed several bridges again today, but only had to request an opening for a few.  I’m glad we’re not a sailboat.

Lighthouse at Jupiter Inlet.

We left the concrete jungle and cruised through an area called South Jupiter Narrows; it reminded us of coming down the river system when we started the loop. 

I couldn’t resist to hang ten for a few miles.

My Best Mate is at the helm.

We saw this guy swimming against the current, he was several feet from shore and looked like he wasn’t making much headway.  We were wondering if we should wait to see if he was going to go to shore or in need of help.

Then he stood up.  We still can’t believe how shallow it is everywhere in Florida. 

“Galene” was with us all the way.

“Galene” crossing the St Lucie Inlet into the St Lucie River.  We had tidal currents and wind to deal with a few times today….fun, fun, fun.

We left the Intracoastal Waterway and took the St Lucie River inland to the St Lucie Lock. 

We have been through several locks on the river system, but this is the first that fills and empties the lock chamber by cracking the doors open.  The locks on the inland river system open and close valves to control the chamber water level.

We are staying just past the lock at a federal park for campers and boaters.  There are 8 slips for boats which are on a first come first serve basis.  There were three available slips when we arrived.