Once we arrived in Vero Beach, we prepped the boat for our next visitor, Craig. We, of course, picked the hottest day of the week to reorganize Alaya’s storage areas. Nothing like guests coming to motivate you to clean up your house. Craig joined us later that evening.
We started Craig’s indoctrination into cruising the very next morning. We needed to return Craig’s rental car at a shop about five miles away. Since the county buses do not run on Sundays, this mission required a creative mix of driving, walking, dinghying and some light trespassing. Craig drove to the rental car office, returned the car and then walked approximately 1.5 miles to our designated rendezvous point. Not knowing the area super well, we tried to pick a spot using Google Earth with beach access within reasonable walking distance and minimum chances of gator sightings. Lucas and my job was to get the dinghy to the rendezvous point. As we zoomed along the ICW on Margaret, a huge manta ray jumped completely out of the water right in front of us. It was AMAZING!
As we approached the pick-up location, we could see Craig waving to us on the shore. Target acquired. He only had to lightly trespass in the county park to reach this point and he hadn’t been eaten by a gator. We clumsily made our way to shore and Craig gracefully climbed on board. On our way back to Alaya, we saw a few more dolphins, continuing Craig’s dolphin-spotting training.
We all had a few goals for Craig’s trip. One of the primary goals was to see a rocket launch from the boat. Amazingly, we were able to check this one off the list that same evening. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully sent another batch of small satellites to space from Cape Canaveral as the sun was setting. We had a great view of the launch, even though we were more than 100 miles south of the launch pad. I was surprised that we could also hear the rumble of the launch that far south but the sound took about eight minutes to reach us after liftoff. While this was a great launch, we had another one in mind as we planned out the rest of the week. SpaceX had a Falcon 9 launch planned on Wednesday and we were determined to get Alaya and Craig as close as possible.
With this launch in mind, we left Vero Beach on Tuesday morning. The minute we motored Alaya away from the morning ball, we achieved another one of the trip’s goals. Over the past four years, Craig has helped us a ton with boat projects, including some pretty nasty fiberglassing jobs. Despite all that time on board, he had never seen her move!
The next two days were some of the best cruising weather we have had this entire trip. We saw so many dolphins that we lost count. Craig was a quick study in the art of dolphin spotting. We also saw Sea Doo engineers out calibrating their latest jet skis on the ICW. This was particularly hilarious for us because Lucas and Craig met while working as calibrators at Ford. We had a good time imagining what life as a jet ski calibrator must be like. “Alright Craig, lets do a WOT run here, I’ve got a new extemp cal. HIT IT, CRIAG! Shit, ATI just bluescreened.”
As we approached Titusville, we had a decision to make. Option 1: Anchor in a more protected spot near the Titusville Municipal Mooring Field, where we had been before to watch the launch (approximately 12 miles from the launch pad). Option 2: Anchor in a more exposed anchorage as close as possible to the launch pad (approximately eight miles from the launch site). Lucky for us, there was no wind forecasted for the next two days, so either anchorage would be comfortable.
I think you all know which option we chose…
As we headed to the anchorage nearest the launch site, I stood on the bow looking out for crab pots. Craig and Lucas started shouting at me from the cockpit – dolphins! As I ran back, we could see many dolphins heading right for us. It was like watching dogs running across the field to play. They were jumping completely out of the water making a beeline to Alaya. As we motored along, we were treated to the most amazing dolphin show. They had us surrounded, playing in our wake and jumping for joy at our bow and stern. They were so close we could hear them squeaking at each other. I’d been waiting this whole trip for a show like that. I was very impressed that Lucas was able to keep driving the boat, as I was totally worthless just sitting on the bow watching these beauties and joyfully screaming every time they popped out of the water (which was often).
Eventually, the dolphins left and we calmed down enough to get anchored. The launch was scheduled for 6 p.m. that evening. Then it was delayed by an hour. So, we made dinner and started a game of dominos. Then the launch was delayed again. Eventually it was scrubbed for the night and rescheduled. Dang it!
The next morning, we had another decision to make – stay here for another day or move anchorages. There was no wind and the anchorage was calm, so we decided to stay another day. There was no good shore access point so we spent the day on board. Lucas and Craig worked on a wiring project while I spent the afternoon scheduling doctor appointments for when we are back in Michigan. The launch was scheduled for 7 p.m., so as we got close to liftoff, Lucas and Craig set up their camera gear. We were all on deck watching the countdown on our phones. The countdown froze at the 2:00 mark. Eventually, SpaceX shared online that they were having mechanical issues and the launch was scrubbed again. Double dang it!
The next morning, Friday, we had another decision to make. It was starting to feel a bit like Groundhog’s Day. The launch’s new date had not been confirmed and we hadn’t set foot on land since Monday. Given that we were all starting to get a little smelly, we made the tough decision to move Alaya closer to shore access (and showers).
There was very little wind, so we decided to try something new. We hoisted the mainsail and lifted the anchor without Pierre’s help. Once the anchor was out of the water, we sailed away from the anchorage, again without the engine. We slowly sailed the five miles to our next anchorage. As we approached the anchorage, we decided to try anchoring without the engine too. We did a few tacks to gauge the depth of the anchorage area and then dropped anchor. The only time we had to turn on Pierre was when we backed down on our anchor to make sure it was properly set. Success!
After glorious showers and burgers ashore, we reassessed our launch plan. By that time, SpaceX had confirmed it was going to try again that evening around 7 p.m. We loaded up Margaret, packing everything into a dry bag and hit the road. We decided to motor Margaret to a tiny island we passed earlier in the day for the launch since it had a direct line of sight to the launch pad. The wind was blowing 15-20 kts, which made the ride there a wet one.
We didn’t realize until we landed, that the island was called “Hobo Island.” We landed Margaret on Hobo’s beach and readied ourselves for the launch. “Island” is a very generous description for this piece of land. It was no more than a small sandy beach with a few palm trees. But we were high and dry enough on Hobo and we were now 11 miles away from the launch pad.
As the official countdown neared the 10 minute mark, the clock stopped. The launch was delayed again. Luckily, it was only delayed for about 30 minutes. We bid our time on Hobo Island as the sun began to set and the wind continued to blow. Would this rocket ever launch?
10 minutes to the new launch time. 2 minutes to launch. It was now fully dark. 1 minute to launch, we heard “go for launch” on the livestream. This thing might finally go to space.
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1 Lift off!
After two days of delay, we finally got to see our launch. It was a stunner from liftoff to the return of the booster back to earth. A minute or two after the launch came the low popcorn growl sounds from the launch- Lucas’ favorite part.
We’ve now seen ten rocket launches. Each one is a bright reminder of the awesomeness of people working together to accomplish something. We are in awe each time.
After a very eventful seven days, Craig headed back home the next day. It is safe to say we accomplished all of our goals for his trip and then some. Thanks for being a great crew member, Craig!
