Melbourne to Daytona via Harbortown and Titusville

We left Melbourne this morning about 9:00 in dead calm. The water stayed very calm until about the time we arrived at the Canaveral Barge Canal. We came to the Harbortown Marina to get fuel, the least we have paid for the be entire trip, $1.689. We also expected to able to get a bus to the Space Center but there is none available. The slips have very short fingers which makes it very difficult for Muriel and Shelly to get on and off the boat. We made a reservation to stay at Titusville tomorrow and we will hope to be able to rent a car at a reasonable price to get to the Space Center. The weather is still very pleasant, light winds, warm days and pleasantly cool nights. There are some showers forecast for the next few days but nothing which sounds bad.
This morning we got to visit briefly with C-Life and Bella Luna before we got underway from Harbortown. We made a short hop up the Indian River to Titusville where we entered the Titusville Municipal Marina. Soon after we got checked in Muriel and Shelly and I walked into town to look around. Our bimini top has been leaking profusely since I washed it at Marathon so I was looking for something to treat it with for waterproofing. We walked passed a boat canvas shop and stopped in to ask if they had anything or could recommend something. They do not stock anything but they can order a waterproofing liquid which is formulated for Sunbrella. They said “do not use Scotchgard because it will cause Sunbrella to turn yellow.” Sure glad we stopped there because Scotchgard is one product I was looking for. We ordered some of his product which should get here tomorrow.
We will pick-up a car in a few minutes so that we can tour the Space Center tomorrow morning and back track to Cocoa which we missed on the way here. As we walked back into the marina we got to watch several manatee browsing right along the seawall.
Well….we enjoyed the Space Center and we got there as it was opening for visitors but by the time we got back to the visitor’s center it was too late to view some of the movies we had wanted to see and we had to get back to turn in the rented car. It was a beautiful day for our visit, sunny and not hot. We plan to get under fairly early tomorrow, Thursday, and get on up to Daytona so that Blue Max can meet-up with their friends there. We will spend the weekend there and then move on up to St Augustine and Jacksonville where we intend to turn back south into the St John’s River.
The waterproofing arrived today so we will probably get to treat the bimini while we are docked at Daytona.
We got away from Titusville about 8:00 with a pretty heavy looking shower moving across our path to the north of us. It had mostly cleared out, moving to the northwest, before we got there. We had good weather the rest of the way to Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona. We will stay here through the weekend while Blue Max visits with a good friend. Golden Lily is here and Goin’there is here in town so we will get to visit with them again. This is a very nice facility in every way. I have already selected the spot where I will be able to spread out our bimini to treat it with waterproofing.
Golden Lilly was here to help with docking when we arrived at Halifax Harbor. After a short visit we agreed to go to dinner later. Jim drive us down to Ponce Inlet to an early bird special he knew of there. It was a fun time.
We got to meet Blue Max’s friend before they left for the weekend. He is a fellow they know from home. He was born in Ireland and after living here in the states for most of his life he returned to the town in Ireland where he was born and became mayor of the town. He has now returned to the states to live and has a home here in Daytona. On Friday morning the girls went to the beach with Barbara from Golden Lily and I removed the bimini and laid it out on top of a poly sheet on the side walk and treated it and had it back on by the time they returned. Greg from Gon-Cruzin stopped by just in time to give a hand with getting it back on the frame.
On Saturday morning we walked to the farmer’s market a few blocks up the road. Muriel bought an assortment of fresh veggies so we will be having good vegetables for a while. We met Golden Lily at the market and they invited us to ride to the beach with them after noon. Muriel and Shelly went with them but I stayed on the boat and changed the oil in the port transmission again. It continues to have a dark color which I think is due to excessive wear in the discs. When they returned Jim, Bill and Shelly and I went in their car to the Harley shop so Shelly could look for a shirt. She could not find anything she could afford so we rode on out to look at the Daytona Speedway. It is quite large but not as impressive to me as the Charlotte Speedway.
Today, Sunday, Muriel is doing laundry and we intend to get back over to the beach again this afternoon. We intend to leave here Monday and head on up toward St. Augustine.