Day 18: Leaving the Colden Days Behind

New Smyrna Beach, FL to Cocoa, FL (anchor)

February 1, 2022

We can feel that it’s getting warmer – we didn’t need our coats this morning (a first on this trip) and this evening we opened up our portlights when we anchored. 

The map below shows how we have to cut through this little canal as the ICW takes a cool turn from the Mosquito Lagoon to Indian River.  The map also shows how narrow the ICW is – we follow that white line to make sure we have enough depth.  The green squares and red “accent marks” are the markers we use to navigate.  (The triangle on the map below is Lailia).

We saw this building in the distance for hours this morning

John knew exactly what it is: NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building, which is the largest single story building in the world and one of the largest buildings by volume.

After seeing it for over three hours we finally got close enough to see the NASA insignia.

We did turn off the engine and raise our headsail briefly.  There’s so much beautiful quiet when we do this but we slowed down considerably so we returned to motoring.

We needed to grab some ice which we forgot to pick up yesterday, so we decided to stop in Cocoa for the night.  Anchoring, lowering the dinghy, finding a place to dock, securing the dinghy, walking to 7-11 and then reversing all those steps to get back onboard takes about an hour or so.  Pretty much everything we do requires a plan and multiple steps. 

We’re probably heading to Sebastian tomorrow so we can stop to see some friends.

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