And so we leisurely cruised along the ICW, enjoying the water, scenery and most of all, nature! Dolphins, manatees, osprey, egrets and pelicans welcomed us back to the "Sunshine State" and a reminder about why we like so much here.
There are a number of NO WAKE zones through this stretch of the waterway, mostly to protect the Manatees that reside in these waters. These "sea cows" are large lumbering mammals often just a foot or two below the surface. As a result, they are often not seen by boaters and end up getting injured or even killed by passing props. We take their protection very seriously. That means there are times where we travel at idle speed (about 6 mph) for as much as 7 miles at a time. Yes, it adds to an already long day, but that's just what we do.
Even still, the conditions were so good today that once we were within site of our planned stop in Titusville, we decided to press on for another hour longer to Cocoa, FL and the Cocoa Village Marina (125 miles and 7 hours total). We are very familiar with this area since our home in Orlando is only about 45 minutes away by car. Although it was tempting to go "home" for a few nights, we still have another 4 days of travel ahead before reaching the west coast of Florida and our final stop in Longboat Key.
Tomorrow's forecast is for another beautiful day for our planned cruise to Stuart, FL
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