Cape Canaveral- Kennedy Space Center.
A little bit of sailing with the boys.
Cape Canaveral, December 4 – 5, 2008
We left St. Augustine at 3pm enroute to Cape Canaveral. We decided that it would be best to do our longer distance traveling at night, while the kids sleep. Traveling at night also gives us the opportunity to arrive at our destination during daylight hours. The winds were light and the seas were calm with rolling waves. Roxane prepared pasta with meatballs for dinner. At 8:30 the kids decided they were tired and they started getting ready for bed. Alexander likes to sleep in the v-berth, which feels the most motion, but it doesn’t bother him at all. Thomas likes to read in the aft cabin before bed, he has just finished his second novel in just a few days.
Alexander and Ed fell asleep on route to Cape Canaveral, Herb the Auto pilot was on the helm.
Docked the Ocean Club, Notice the Cruise Ship Monarch of the Seas in the background behind Alexander.
Ed helmed the first shift while Roxane slept from 9pm -1am. Roxane then helmed from 1am – 5am. At around 5am the AIS signaled that a large boat was coming at us, on a collision course. It was still dark but Roxane could not see any lights ahead, even with the use of binoculars. This was very strange. Just as we started to enter the channel into Cape Canaveral a Coast Guard Zodiac approached the stern of our boat and told Ed to stay 1000 yards back so that a U.S. Navy submarine could enter ahead of us. This was exciting for all of us to watch!
US Navy Submarine, we were within 500 meters of it.
Found an alligator just on the side of the road.
We stopped at a wonderful Marina called the Ocean Club at Port Canaveral. This is a brand new marina with beautiful facilities, a swimming pool and the friendliest staff. They were extremely helpful and kind to us. They said they love Canadians! We highly recommend this Marina. Their web site address is www.oceanclub-pc.com
From Ocean Club we rented a car and drove to Cape Kennedy Space Center where we spent the day. We walked through a shuttle, we visited the launch sites, and the kids enjoyed a 3D show. We saw the Apollo Rocket and we even had the chance to touch a moon rock. This was a fun and educational day for the kids.
Apollo Rocket, That took Neil Armstrong to the moon!
That evening at 6:30PM we set off to Fort Lauderdale. This journey will take a good 24 hours. Roxane prepared an amazing roast beef & mash potato dinner while underway. We motor sailed all night, again due to low winds. In the morning we were able to do a little sailing as we pasted West Palm Beach. All along the coast of Florida you will see hundreds of sports fishermen, from little power boats to 80 foot fishing yachts.
We motor right through into a head wind all day and all night again. A total of 36 hours of motoring right to Fort Lauderdale where we will meet up with Andrew McAllister from PCYC, he is joining us there for our jump off point to the Bahamas.
This is very exciting … following your course every time the new Black Diamond Blogroll arrives on our desktop … thank you for taking us along your family adventure!
Michael, Winnie + crew
Hi guys! Got into work early where I’ve got a half-decent computer and can access things quickly. I looked up your tracking device site — very spiffy! — and educationsal!! I see that you’re moving north of Freeport, but as I’ve never looked closely (or at all) at this part of the map before, I didn’t realize that the Bahamas were such a strung-out series of islands, with Nassau a lot further south than Freeport! What is your final destination point anyway? And how long do you plan on ‘parking’ the “Black Diamond” there before you head back? I’ve heard that the Turks & Caicos are beautiful too, but I suppose they’re too far for you to be travelling that far — this time around!! It looks like Cape Canaveral was great! Imagine being cooped up in one of those tiny spaces for the trip to the moon and back! You’re in luxury on your trip compared to poor ol’ Earl Armstrong — and imagine the awful dilemma that the Apollo 13 astronauts faced — no wonder I’m a landlubber! Keep the great pics coming!