Well, when last we visited, we were leaving Rocky Point and heading up to Dragon's Point near Melbourne, FL. We left Rocky Point around midday on Saturday, the "ditch" widened out and Nancy just couldn't wait any longer to hoist the sails. So, not wanting to be in the presence of an impatient, unhappy woman, I went forward and unzipped the Mast Pack. We then hoisted the main and rolled out the jib. Or, maybe it was the other way around. I forget!!! But we did have a favorable wind, we sailed through two different 65' clearance bridges so we feel pretty cocky about that. All too soon we arrived at Dragon's Point and dropped anchor.

As you could see, Nancy was at the helm while I did all the manual work setting the sails. But, A little later, when it was time to drop the sails, I took the helm and Nancy did some of the physical stuff, That's the "women's lib" she keeps talking about!!!

 

 

I guess it just plain tuckered her out!!!

After arriving, we dinghy'ed over to a little sandy beach, walked across the street and did a little shopping at Ross and Publix. Then, back to the boat for a little while. But, since it was so late, we decided to help the local economy so we dinghy'ed across the ICW that was, according to the weather report, "a little choppy" (in my opinion, it was just damn  rough) and had a couple of drinks and sandwiches at Squid Lips, a nice little local place right on the water.

 

 

That evening, back on the boat, I was able to sit on deck and watch a little lightening show to the west and listen to the Dolphins circling the area and blowing. 

 

Sunday morning we started out by first raising the anchor, only to learn the anchor battery (which is brand new) had very little charge, This made hoisting the anchor which is 25# and another 60 feet of chain with the Windlass very difficult. For you land lubbers, a windlass is a battery operated winch system to raise the anchor. It's great when it works. We had it up about 2/3 of the way when the strangest thing appeared on the chain:

 

 

 

Yep, that's a sting ray that someone had cut loose and the wire leader had wrapped around the anchor chain. After cutting the ray off, I had to manually pull in the rest of the anchor chain and anchor because I couldn't figure out how to work the winch manually. 

 

Finally, we were able to start toward Cocoa, FL where we have some mail being sent, and we were planning on sailing a little more. But, the weather was overcast and rainy and we decided to motor which would also allow the windlass battery to be charged by the engine. Unfortunately, it appears the new battery has a bad cell and it just refuses to take a charge. Since, the battery was purchased for us by the previous owner in Ft. Lauderdale, we may have a problem trying to exchange it for a new one. We'll contact a West marine store on Merritt Island to see if they will make it good. If not, the nearest Deka dealer is in Sanford, FL which is about 60 miles inland. We'll have to rent a car and take it there.

 

We arrived in the Cocoa anchorage about  2:30 PM on Sunday and were able to get the anchor down before the battery conked out again. Cocoa, is almost due west of Cape Canaveral (some like to call it Cape Kennedy) and has a neat little historic downtown area. They also have a really nice dinghy dock for visitors. So, we took advantage of the dock, went into town and found a great little ice cream shop. Nancy had one scoop of coffee and I had a scoop of mango and one of banana. It's really hard to believe that I've lost about 15# since we started this trip.

 

 

Nancy arose early this morning and snapped a nice shot of the sunrise over Merritt Island.

 

 

We went back into town this morning and carried our empty propane tank about a mile to have it filled. We then stuffed it in my back pack and headed back toward town, stopping along the way for a nice lunch. Then, we went to the local hardware store in the old town which comprises 7 different buildings and a couple of semi trailer size containers. The store was established in1885 and if they don't have it, you definitely don't need it!! There is also all kinds of UT (University of Tennessee) memorabilia all over the place. Come to find out the current owner is from Athens, TN, and a true Vol fan.

 

We later hopped a bus and thought we were headed to the post office for our mail. But after some misinformation from the bus driver, we found we had gotten off way too early and had along walk ahead of us. So, we walked the shorter distance back to town and will try for the mail again tomorrow.

 

Having had enough for one day, we came back to the boat for a nice snack of wine and cheese and later dined on deck having fresh salmon, sauteed squash and corn. Oh, and a nice glass of Pinot Grigio.

 

This anchorage appears to be home to several  deserted boats:

 

 

Well, it's getting late and I think we're caught up again, so we hope everyone is doing well.