Champ III: Going Places

The adventure starts here.

Melbourne Harbor, Melbourne, FL to Cocoa Village Marina, Cocoa, FL — April 16, 2014

01-Morning-In-Melbourne-Harbor
01-Morning-In-Melbourne-Harbor
02-Just-Because-They-Make-The-Color-is-No-Reason-To-Buy
02-Just-Because-They-Make-The-Color-is-No-Reason-To-Buy
03-Morning-In-Melbourne-Harbor-Champ-III
03-Morning-In-Melbourne-Harbor-Champ-III
04-Melbourne-Harbor-Looking-Back-Toward-The-Office
04-Melbourne-Harbor-Looking-Back-Toward-The-Office
05-Shoreline-Across-From-Melbourne-Harbor
05-Shoreline-Across-From-Melbourne-Harbor
06-Florida-Institute-Of-Technology-Evinrude-Operations-Center
06-Florida-Institute-Of-Technology-Evinrude-Operations-Center
07-Leaving-Melbourne-Harbor
07-Leaving-Melbourne-Harbor
13-Looking-Back-Toward-Marina-in-Melbourne
13-Looking-Back-Toward-Marina-in-Melbourne
08-Shoreline-With-Inhabitant-at-Cocoa-Village-Marina
08-Shoreline-With-Inhabitant-at-Cocoa-Village-Marina
09-Official-Greeter-at-Cocoa-Village-Marina
09-Official-Greeter-at-Cocoa-Village-Marina
10-Looking-Toward-ICW-Marina-Office-at-Cocoa-Village-Marina
10-Looking-Toward-ICW-Marina-Office-at-Cocoa-Village-Marina
11-Looking-North-On-ICW-From-Champ-III
11-Looking-North-On-ICW-From-Champ-III
12-View-Toward-Village-Square-In-Cocoa-FL
12-View-Toward-Village-Square-In-Cocoa-FL

Had a little wind this morning and the sky started out gray but the clouds thinned and life was good.  We got a reasonable start so Lenore could sleep in a little.  We were only going 21 miles to Cocoa Village Marina today.  It received rave reviews from John & Deni Lillis, our Mississippi travel mates.

Not a lot of traffic on the OCW and we have passed thru the area with all the low bridges so we do not need to wait for any more until the Georgia portion of the trip.

This section of the ICW is wide and the wind gets the water stirred up some but not bad.  Because most of the water area is shallow the wave only get to about 1′ or so but they are real close together.

We arrived at Cocoa Village marina early and got setup so I was able to take a walk around the Village Square.  It is an are about 3 blocks wide by 4 blocks deep and has a lot of nice shops, restaurants and ice cream shops. There was even a small farmers market on but nothing of the scale of Fort Pierce.

The weather is supposed to be rainy and stormy with wind for the next couple of days so we are going to hang around waiting for better travel weather.  John & Deni are headed this way one of these days so we will probably see them again.  The marina is really nice with a large boater’s lounge, classy showers and laundry with 4 washers and 4 dryers so there is not a lot a waiting.

I cannot remember the last time I took a bus to go somewhere in any town/city.  Well I took the local bus to the Publix Supermarket and back.  It was about 2 1/2 to 3 miles away on Merritt Island and the fare was $0.60 each way.  Pretty well used by the local people and I must have fit right in with them, nobody paid any attention to me. On the way back I got back on the eastbound bus and took is a couple of miles to the end of the line where it turned around and then came back to Cocoa Village. It really worked well for what I needed to do.

Candy like the walks.  We varied them thru a residential area and thru the Village Square area.  The early morning walks were thru the Village Square before everyone woke up and the hustle and bustle of the day started.

The weather was as they predicted and John & Deni were able to make it up from Fort Pierce on Friday.  We had a good cocktail hour with them and planned on going to dinner with them on Saturday.  They have been here before so they are the resident experts.