Cocoa FL (2014-03-12)

N28° 21.063', W80° 43.215'

Tonight we are at anchor in Cocoa FL, just around the corner from Tony Nelson's place in Cocoa Beach.  Wonder if he and Jeannie are still living there... 


We arrived in Cocoa yesterday afternoon, and tied up to the town dock.  It's marked as no overnight, but the comments in the Active Captain entry for the dock state that it isn't enforced.  We've found a number of free docks that have such signage, but aren't enforced.  Probably as a means to provide a legal enforcement if required.

Cocoa FL town dock

Our friends Rob and Serena in S/V Vita were also headed for Cocoa, and unbeknownst to us, they had anchored near us on Monday night and had left before we did.  We travel about a knot faster than they do, so we caught up to them around noon.

S/V Vita

After getting in to Cocoa, we spent a bit of time walking about in the town near the dock, and then got ready to head over to Vita for sundowners, the sequel.  The wind was starting to pick up by then, so we had a bit of a wet ride over to their boat.  Once there though, they made us feel quite welcome and we had a good time visiting with them.  They are travelling in one of my favourite sailboats, the Bayfield 29.  Serena gave Dar a tour of Vita, and Dar was quite impressed with it, especially with all of the work that Rob and Serena had done before they cast off the lines.

We had originally planned to leave Cocoa this morning and make a quick run up to Titusville, where we'd hole up in the anchorage we were at on our southbound trip, and wait out the passage of a front that was forecast to come through today and tomorrow.  When I checked the forecast this morning though it looked like the rain was going to start in the morning, and while our boat is quite well suited for travelling in inclement weather, we usually prefer to sit it out and travel on nice days instead.  So, plan B had us relocating to the anchorage to the south of the town dock for the day, where we'd have good shelter from the winds that were forecast to build out of the southwest and clock to the west.  Tomorrow the winds are shifting to the northwest, but staying up in strength.  We're planning to head back to the town dock and sneak another night on it, but we may also just stay here at anchor if the conditions are good enough to dinghy in.

On Friday the conditions will be improving, so we'll head out in the morning and continue on to New Smyrna Beach, where we hope to spend the weekend.  We're looking to tie up at the town dock there as well, but if that doesn't work out there are lots of spots to anchor.