June 18-21, 2015 Kennedy Space Center and Marineland

Titusville is situated right across from the Kennedy Space Center.  The marina, and several anchorages near by afford a perfect view of any launch activities.  I always wanted to anchor here and watch a Shuttle launch but alas, the program ended too soon.  However there are other launches, 9 more this year, so we may catch one as we make our way back south in the fall

With Jack on board, we did manage to leave before 9 the next morning and  spent most of day at Kennedy Space Center.  It was hot and humid but most of the exhibits are inside buildings so we didn't suffer too badly.

Shuttle Atlantis exhibit

We first made our way to the Atlantis Exhibit.  You watch a short video which is on what appears to be a movable screen.  As the video progresses the screen slides to the side to revel another screen while the video continues to play.

At the end, the screen slides once more to reveal an image of the shuttle imposed on an opaque screen which, after a crescendo of music, opens up to a view of Atlantis.  And it's the actual shuttle hanging there in a large room.  Very cool.  It reminded me of the Grand Canyon experience where you are suddenly confronted with the immense vista of the Grand Canyon as you emerge from the surrounding foliage along the road.  

Shuttle Atlantis 

The Shuttle is unchanged from when it landed.  No cleaning or refurbishment was done.  It was plucked from the runway and stowed as is, until they moved it to the exhibition hall.  You can see little pock marks on the tiles, and soot along the back where the engine nozzles are located. The whole scene is really quite amazing. 

I should mention this whole exhibit is privately funded.  NASA doesn't provide any financial support other than some consulting and retired staff engineers etc. who love talking about the shuttle and the whole operation.

After spending an unspecified amount of time looking at all the artifacts you wander down some stairs to another exhibit area where you can humiliate yourself trying to land a shuttle on one of their simulators.

Jack had spied the gift shop a short distance away and of course was in there practicing his math skills trying to figure out how much he could buy.  I was walking by a ramp type structure when a nice lady motioned me over and began convincing me to try the shuttle launch experience.

What?  Yes, a shuttle launch experience.  Well, a ride simulating a shuttle launch which she described as spectacular.

I was convinced!  But I had to pry Jack out of the gift shop, convince him to join me for this "experience".  At first there was reluctance but as we made out way up the ramp reluctance turned into excitement.  
We were ushered into a large room with about a dozen other folks.  There, we watched a video describing the launch experience and when that was over, two doors opened and we walked into a hallway to stand in front of more doors.  We could hear rumbling and machinery noises in the background.

After a few minutes a lady gave a short speech, basically saying once your in there your not getting out and if your wary, leave now.  And if you have marginal health, consider leaving.

Yikes, what they heck are we getting into?

After the speech, another set of doors opened exposing a room with a rows of seats.  Since there were only a dozen people we had our pick and chose the middle row.

Much like an airplane, you buckled up and then were scrutinized my a stern looking women who was not shy about tightening up your belt.  I was beginning to wonder if were were really going to be launched?   Jacks mother would have me flayed alive!

After the belt checks, the doors closed, and the large monitor came alive with a former astronaut briefly explaining the various launch phases and the meaning of the displays flashing on the monitors.

Suddenly, there were mechanical noises and the lights went dim.  Without warning the whole floor (and the attached seats) rotated up 90 degrees accompanied by louder mechanical noises mimicking I guess, the launch tower decoupling.  

On the main display I noticed the 1 was replaced by a 0.  Uh Oh ...

The ensuing rocket firing noise simulation was a saturating experience along with shacking and rolling of the seats.  The noise abated slightly and the shacking was replaced by vibrations.  I should rephrase that.

VIBRATIONS.

I found it kind of funny, vibrating like that.  Then we were thrust forward simulating the shutting down of the SRB (Solid Rocket Booster).  Immediately after, we were thrust back in our seats as the simulated main engines we're throttled up.  All of this took place within several few minutes, and was always in concert with a low frequency background, chest shaking wall of sound which, they say is pretty close to the real thing.

It was quite impressive.  And hilariously fun.  Even Jack offered his approval.

Jack rocketed back to the gift shop while I tried a few more times to land the shuttle.  I failed every time.   The pubescent young girl who calmly took over after me, landed the thing perfectly.  She smiled that, "this is so easy its boring smile" at me while I slinked away feeling a bit like a washed up old man.  Sheez ... 

Tired of the gift shop, the next best thing is a medallion dispenser

We ate lunch at the Orbit Cafe where you can place your order at any number of kiosk by passing the  long line at the ordering counter.

It was, edible food.  I think that's where we acquired the free space food, freeze dried ice cream.  And speaking of ice cream we stopped at one of the ice cream places and had some soft serve.  It wasn't cheap, but on a blistering hot day was a cooling treat

SpaceX and launch pad 39A

Next we went over to the where the buses are loaded and took a bus to the Apollo exhibit but first drove by Launch Control Center, the Crawlerway and the Vehicle Assembly Building, before driving by launch pad 39A which is part of Launch Complex 39.    We also had a closeup drive-by of the huge Crawler Transporter.

Launch pad 39A

Launch pad 39A was the platform where of many of the Apollo and Shuttle launches took place. Its now being leased by SpaceX.  There's even a building there with a large SpaceX sign but no rockets.

Crawler-transporter

We were able clearly see the all these places but weren't allowed out of the bus.  We ended up at the Apollo exhibit where they had the Apollo 14 capsule and a Saturn 5 rocket which is immense.  And there were some Apollo artifacts include some moon rocks, Jim Lovell's space suite and an Apollo Lunar.  And the actual Lunar Lander emergency procedure manual.

We only stayed here an hour or so before heading back on a bus to the main Visitor Complex.  It was in the mid 90's so we didn't have much desire to seek more knowledge from the outdoor exhibits.  

Apollo Launch Control

Wooses, we dashed to the promised comfort of an air conditioned car.

We had to drive over to Cocoa (not cocoa Beach) so I could make a quick stop at West Marine for an antenna connector.  That took us a good 30 minutes, and after I had the part it was another 45 minutes to the iconic Dixie Crossroads restaurant where Mary wanted to have dinner.  

Tuckered out after a day with the old folks

It was, well ok I guess.  Edible food but I think Jack enjoyed feeding the fish more.  The fish  congregate near the bridge which spans the area between the building and the parking lot.  And of course there is fish food you can buy.

We made it back to the boat and went to bed since I had to get the car back by 7:30M so we could leave the dock for Rockhouse Anchorage near New Smyrna Beach.

I was up and talking with Simon, the young and very competent Enterprise guy by 7:35 and back at the boat by 8AM.

After doing all the things we have to do before leaving a dock, and then actually leaving the dock, we still made out to the ICW by 9AM.

One of the unusual things we had to do this time was securing the dinghy to the port side of the boat so it wouldn't catch the dock as we powered away.  Once we were out in the channel I loosened the line securing the dinghy to the port side and it just floated back and was caught by the tow line and off we went towards Haulover Canal and Mosquito Lagoon.

That's right.  The water temp was  92.3

This section of the ICW through Florida is, well boring.  Low marshy shoreline with occasional spoil islands and plenty of never ending shallow (2-3 feet) water outside the channel.  And it was hot.  In the mid 90's again and very humid.  And the water wasn't cool either, it hovering in the 90's.

We don't run any AC while cruising so all we had was a pittance of a fan blowing hot air around in the fly bridge.  The crew, dedicated more to remaining comfortable I think, remained on the sundeck reading in the cooler breezes while I, stalwart captain that I am, fried and sweated up on the fly bridge.  They owe me! 

A dolphin duet

However once again the dolphins decided to mock our slow progress by circling around and zigzagging in our bow wave.    Mary, ever the dolphin singer, had Jack out there too.  So the poor dolphins were able to listen to a duet.  They did leave soon after but I'm sure all the singing had nothing to do with their abrupt departure.  Nope.  Nothing at all.

The nice beach in the upper center

We didn't have to have any bridges opened for us and glided around the somewhat troublesome curve at New Smyrna Beach and entered Rockhouse Creek which is adjacent to Ponce deLeon Inlet.  We were the only boat there except for the dozen or so small boats pulled up on the beach in the distance.

It was delightful in no small part because of the discernible sea breeze which offered some respite from the heat.  We were in plenty of water and the anchor was well set so we got in the dinghy and headed over to the beach.

The beach before it got busy

I walked up and down the beach talking with several people who had their boats pulled up to shore.  And from them,I learned a number of interesting bits of info about the beach, and the inlet.

Jack and I Shot the Pooch too.  Shooting the Pooch is a local term riding the down along the beach.  The current here runs about 3-5 mph so its a fun ride.  We did it three times, twice with noodles one of the kind boaters lent us.

Talked for quite awhile with a guy who lives nearby and makes a living flipping houses.  He seems to be doing pretty well.

Two guys in another boat next to us would Shoot the Pooch and the return to the boat to smoke a joint before heading back up stream to Shoot the Pooch again.  And yes they did offer but I declined.

Wash down!

After a few hours the tide was beginning to encroach on the available beach so we got back in the dinghy and rode out the inlet.  It was a bit rough with the tide running so we didn't go out far but ran back towards New Smyrna and around that troublesome curve and came back to the boat.

Cocktails

It was cocktail time so Jack and I took chairs up on the sundeck roof and enjoyed sausage and cheese with a beverage.

Had dinner and watched Big Hero 6 before going to bed.  There were thunderstorms in the area but we they seemed to bypass us all night.

The next morning we left Rockhouse around 9 AM and headed for Marineland Marina which is about 12 miles south of St. Augustine.  It was another hot muggy day and we more dolphin encounters.

A pretty good helmsman 

Jack took the helm for a while too.

Line handlers preparing lines for docking

Approaching the Marineland marina dock

Marineland Marina is one of those quaint marinas that are small and just plan friendly.  A bit skinny(skinny meaning shallow water) at low tide but doable without much trouble.  And its right off the ICW.  There is a beach across the road Marineland,an aquatic research place which has a dolphin experience and a few turtle exhibits.

Tomorrow we go feed the dolphins at Marineland research institute.

After we tied up I bit the bullet and fixed the aft head which had been acting and sounding like it was near death.  I have a whole new macerator which I was going to install.  But when pulled out the old one I found the chopper blade and shaft intact but wrapped in some sort of cloth.  Once I removed that I put it all back together and it works fine albeit a bit noisy.  But I'll save the new assembly for when it really breaks.

We did a laundry in the morning.  Well, I nly hauled it to the laundry place and Mary actually did it.  Its free here so we do as much as we can.  So while Mary was slaving away in the laundry room, Jack and I took a cooling dinghy ride 5 miles up the ICW to Matanzas Inlet.

Matanzas Inlet has an old fort and is an anchorage if you know how to get in.  And I do now having used the dinghy to sound out (using the dinghy depth sounder) where the deep water channel is located.

Matanzas fort

After we did a few sounding runs Jack and I anchored the dinghy near the beach and strolled around a bit.  It wasn't possible to get near the fort but the beach was great!

Mantanzas Beach

We couldn't stay long because we had to be at Marineland for the dolphin feeding encounter by noon.
  

Mary had the laundry pretty much completed and we made it back in time so we headed across the street to Marineland.  We checked in, wandered for a few minutes looking at the 3 sea turtles they had before heading over to the dolphin encounter area.

The dolphin area is comprised of a number of pools and gates which let the trainers control which dolphin(s) enter which pool.  Very efficient.

We opted for the feeding experience which was, highly priced, over the swimming experience which was three months of fuel.  Per person.  Ouch!

The rather limited turtle exhibit

We waited for a about 20 minutes before we were led up onto the encounter deck bordering the pools and given instructions.  Once that was complete we put all our stuff, cameras included, into a little locker space and walked to the edge of the pool with our trainer whose name I forgot.   But I'll never forget the image of her in a wet suite carrying a huge bucket of dead and smelly fish.

Dolphins may differ with my assessment, insisting how aromatically delicious they are.  But for me  they smelled like dead, rotting fish.  We were informed though that they only feed them the finest of dead fish.  Gourmet dead fish it would seem.

We began by meeting the dolphin, whose name we've embarrassingly all forgotten.  We splashed her and she drenched us, and I mean drenched.  She'd use her head to toss a wall of water.  The interesting thing about this was her aim  It was perfect.

She really enjoyed the belly rubbing

Next we rubbed her belly.  It was quite impressive.  She rolled on her back and we all rubbed her belly and she closed her eyes as if really enjoying the whole episode.  When I asked the trainer about it she said yes, they do relish touch.  Who knew.

We got drenched!

Next she ducked her head down in the water and raised her tail up and we all grabbed on.  We didn't know, but this was a photo opportunity.  You cant have a camera when your involved with the dolphins so the staff conveniently takes pictures for you.  And yes, you pay for them after.  But in this case we let go too soon for them to take a picture so we all raised our hands and she popped up out of the water for a few seconds which gave the photographers enough time to snap a few pictures.

Like were all doing some disco dance at a wedding

Jaack holding her fins

Jack feeding her fish

Mary smooching the dolphin

Next we shook her flipper.  Mary though got to plant a kiss on her forehead.

The we we started feeding her fish.  You'd pick up a nice juicy dead fish out of the bucket and she'd rise up out of the water with an open mouth and you drop the fish in.  There was no chewing even though she had an impressive row of very sharp teeth..  She just swallowed them whole.  We each fed her maybe 5 fish before our time was up.

Then we waved goodbye and were ushered out being careful to stay outside the blue line which wound around the pools.

Checking the line Jack?

Bike path along route A1A to Publix

Once we returned to the boat, Jack and Mary went to the beach while I worked on the water maker and entered routes into the navigation system.

Needing milk and a few other essential items I took my bike don and rode off to the Publix about 4 mils down the road.  It was a very pleasant ride because there was a paved bike path virtually the entire 4 miles.  Nice

For dinner, Mary made squash spaghetti.  Jack, a smart and vegetable savoy young man,  noted the spaghetti tasted like vegetables.  Busted!  He then went on to speculate that Mary didn't have the skills necessary to create spaghetti from icky squash.   Quite funny.

We were planning on leaving the next day for St. Augustine.  It was less than 20 miles so we decided we'd wait until the tide started rising which puts us around 11:30.  S I guess we can sleep late tomorrow!