The wind dropped and we arranged for an 830 bridge opening. The dock hands helped us off the dock. We headed out. After the bridge we headed into the Cape Canaveral Lock. There were signs to watch for dolphins and manatees. We saw a manatee surface as we neared the lock and tried to move as slowly as possible.
We were the only boat in the lock. The lock tender was a very nice man from Kentucky. We placed our lines loosely to the side rail of the lock but did not secure them so we could move them as the lock filled. The door closed behind us.
Inside the lock was a unique ecosystem. We saw a group of large fish swimming in a circle. Every now and then a smaller fish would jump inside the circle. Pelicans stood on the sides of the lock waiting. A dolphin, swimming at the far end of the lock, made a turn and headed toward the circling fish. All of a sudden there was quite a commotion as the dolphin broke into the circle. Large fish scattered, small fish leapt in a frenzy, pelicans came flying in and diving. Then there was calm until the sequence repeated. We watched almost 3 times. We almost forgot about our lines.
As the lock opened, a manatee surfaced near the boat. We could see his snout sticking above the water and part of his back. On our way out, we saw three manatees swimming together.
We had dreaded this lock, thinking it would be a lot of large boats and chaos. Instead, it was a nature experience, chaos only for the fish.
After the bridge, lock, there were kayakers in the waterway. Some were racing. We had to cut through Merritt Island to reach the ICW. The island is a wildlife sanctuary bordered by the Kennedy Space Center. We saw many landmarks from our prior tour, now from the water: the large building where rockets are built, the rocket garden in the distance, the launch pads. We also saw more birds: egrets, pelicans and heron. We saw more dolphin but no alligators.
We reached the ICW easily and now traveled in the Indian River. We passed through Haulover Cut to the Mosquito Lagoon. The whole area was fairly wild. There were some boat ramps and some fishermen and we could see the space center until we entered the Mosquito Lagoon.
There were a few area where we had less than 2 feet of water under our keel but for the most part, our channel was good and we followed our track.
We started seeing some homes and camps outside of New Smyrna Beach and then we started to see more development. We also had bridges. We had to wait for the George Musson bridge to open. We would be unable to make the 6 o’clock opening but had to slow down to wait on the 6:30 opening. We also had the current against us with the incoming tide most of the afternoon.
Finally, we got to the familiar mangrove area around Ponce Inlet. We could see the lighthouse. It is pretty there. We had to weave our way around the mangroves to get to the anchorage. I was super excited because the Fishes were at the anchorage and they were waiting for us. Brandy had cooked extra dinner for us and Grant had put on his pirate costume to welcome us.
We arrived in the anchorage just as the sun was setting. I blew the conch horn as we anchored. We got set and had to settle ourselves to remember to turn on anchor light and unplug everything. Bryan provided a shuttle to their boat. It was dark when we got there but the moon was up and we could see the beam from the lighthouse. We had delicious chicken stew and visited with the boys. I did not realize it was 10 o’clock when we returned to our boat. We plan to explore the lighthouse with the kids tomorrow. We are going to stay a day to visit before moving on to St. Augustine.
