In the quietness of the early morning and a spectacular sunrise I am greeted by a lonesome dolphin gently gliding along in the marina looking for its morning meal. With such elegance and grace she glides along without even causing a ripple till she finds what she wants and an occasional splash indicates her profitable find.
Our morning duty of getting ourselves and the boat ready for a new day on the waters of Florida has begun. We have finally reached our home state but as we all know it is a long way to home still. My Admiral and Captain has decided to take the ICW for this days run since the offshore option would be a bit rough on us and since we have the intention of reaching Ft. Pierce, it would be a very long day on not so pleasant high seas. It is 9 am and off we go on this new day’s adventure of the Contessa and her two only crew members, the Admiral and his first mate. May it be a special and very pleasant day and may the Spirits of nature be kind to us today!
Indeed it was a long but lovely day on the ICW of Florida’s northern section. We had to pass through very densely populated areas of Palm Coast and Daytona with many restrictions in speed and No Wake Zones , but we managed to get through it all and reach Titusville , FL just about 5:30 pm. Our rout took us through the pristine wetlands of Merritt Island with an abundance of birds and manatees as well as our steady companions, the dolphins. A very peculiar development occurred here as well; our morning started off with the gentle greeting of a dolphin and evolved into a steady accompaniment of white butterflies. They kept on swinging by across our windshields or simply fluttering along side of the wheel house. What a blessing this all has been looking at it from all perspectives of life as it has recently been.
As we have docked at a T dock, being the C dock and the wind pushing us right onto the dock we manage to tie ourselves up without any assistance at all. Slowly, but surely old memories, and skills of us doing that so often during the later part of our journey north are all coming back to us and we are getting more comfortable at it too.
As I am washing down the boat from top to bottom to free it from the salty residue of today’s trip, I notice a strange looking snout more like a nose of an elephant drinking the gently flowing waters at the stern of the boat. As I come closer I recognize it being a manatee drinking water out of a hose, even though it was not directly out of the hose but close to it.
For dinner the only place open tonight was the Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant specializing in shrimp and other shell fish like rock fish. They also make the best clam chowder ever. It contains none of the starchy thickening guck that is mostly used in chowders. Well a good meal under our belt and a glass of wine and beer and off we go to return to our Contessa for a good night’s rest.