MOVIN' NORTH

We are tied up in the Cocoa Village Marina in Cocoa, Florida.
As usual, our plans took a dramatic turn when a minor incident occurred that required us to head out of our anchorage in Lake Worth and head into a marina in North Palm Beach. (I won't go into the details here). As it turned out it was a very nice change in the plan. Instead of heading south to Ft Lauderdale, my cousin, Jane, with whom we had left our car in Ft Lauderdale, drove up to pick us up in N. Palm Beach at the North Palm Beach Marina. We all drove down to Ft Lauderdale and spent the afternoon at a restaurant/bar on the New River, took a short boat ride up the river and enjoyed the sights along the way. (The New River is a narrow river that runs west out of the waterway through downtown Ft Lauderdale. It is lined with condo's, bars, restaurants, marinas and a "river walk" area. Quite the place to see and be seen. It was a Friday afternoon so around 4:00 the river got quite crowded with boats of every type and size and people---lots of people. Our original thought had been to take our boat up the river to experience the experience but we are glad we didn't, The river was jammed with traffic--is quite narrow and many of the "boaters" have no idea what they're doing. Kind of a "Caddy Shack" experience) But it was FUN.
We went back to Jane's house; had dinner at a nearby Cuban restaurant and spent the night at her place. The next morning we left and headed down town to link up to highway A1A, the road that meanders along and through all the beach towns. We stopped in Ft Lauderdale By The Sea to meet up again with Jane and her daughter, Julie and Julie's fiancée, Brian (we'll be attending their wedding at Key Largo in April) for lunch at a beach side restaurant--Aruba--(very good). After saying our good-bye's Diane and I continued up the coast back to our marina in N Palm Beach (right around the corner from Jack Nicklaus's home on "Jack Nicklaus Drive" right down from PGA Drive (Think they play a little golf here?)
As it turned out this marina was fantastic. Floating docks, very accommodating staff and an excellent location. It was so nice we had decided to stay there rather than get into the crowded waterways around Ft Lauderdale. Plus, it kept us at least a day closer to our destination south of St. Augustine where we will meet up with Kris and family for a get-together toward the end of March (They are driving from CO. Springs to spend several days at Disney World with Paul's folks before heading over to the Hammock Beach Resort where we will be tied up in the marina there. It's supposedly a very nice resort with lots to do for the munchkins.
We left N Palm Beach on the 10th, spent one night on the hook in the Indian River and pulled into this (Cocoa Village Marina) marina on Tuesday evening. Wednesday we rented a car and took a road trip back down A1A to pick up our car at the last marina. Thursday we drove over to Orlando to pick up Diane's sister, Nancy, who was flying in to spend a few days with us and escape the bitter Chicago winter. (I don't know how people live up there!) That night we were fortunate to see a NASA launch of an Atlas V rocket from  the Kennedy Space Center, about 10 miles away, as the bird flies, from the comfort of our bridge deck right here in the marina (We will get to see an afternoon launch when the kids are here--planning to drive down for it and spend the day at the Space Center). It was spectacular. The timing of our arrival here was just perfect and I feel so fortunate to have been able to see the launch. It wasn't a shuttle launch but still pretty impressive.
Today we take Nan back to the airport in Orlando (when there last we spotted a Chuy's Restaurant---great Mexican food despite it's being a chain). This will be our first Mexican food fix since we left Houston---Love the green salsa!!!!!
Tomorrow we reprovision and then take off again on Wed to head north and our eventual rendezvous with "The Kids". Getting really excited about seeing the little ones.
Cocoa Village has been a nice stop-over. The marina is right on the edge of the village where the area is undergoing a renaissance with lots of neat restaurants, bars etc. -a very quaint little town. You cross the bridge over the Indian River to Merritt Island (where NASA is located) then over to Cocoa Beach where Diane and Nan have spent a couple of days lounging on the beach. Very touristy, and it is Spring Break--so very crowded--but what you would expect for a tourist destination. Met some nice people, again, at the marina, including a guy on a Nordic Tug Trawler who owns some slips in the Myrtle Beach area and invited us to park our boat there for a very reasonable rate when we need to leave it and head back to Houston. Don't know if it will work--whether we'll get that far or pass it by altogether, but it's a very tempting possibility.
The weather has been wonderful. Warm and sunny but not too hot. Perfect tanning weather.
So far we have traveled 300 miles in the boat, burned around 150 gallons of diesel (You do the math---we're starting a "Fuel Fund" to which you may contribute). We've spent way too much time in marinas and not enough time at anchor which is what we prefer but that will all change, I hope, once the visit with the kids is over and we start moving north again. Life is soooo good!!!
When in Cocoa Village you must! eat (or drink--or both) at Norman's Raw Bar---Outstanding and cheap. Also---breakfast at Muddies--3 people, huge breakfasts--21 bucks.