Palm Trees, Mansions and Yachts

When we leave Fort Pierce, we have a full day on the ICW. Our destination is an anchorage in Cocoa. We expect it to be an easy run. We have great weather. There are a few bridges but they are fixed at 65' so we can cruise right under. It's a long travel day, but an easy one. Because of this, we have some fun on the bridge. When we arrive in Cocoa, we find an anchorage where it's easy to get the dogs to shore. The water is really murky so there will be no swimming here! We settle in, have dinner and some freshly baked brownies from our little oven.

When morning comes, it is gorgeous. We anticipate another smooth travel day. Our destination is New Smyrna, although spoiler alert, when we arrive there, we don't love the anchorage options. The kids and dogs seem content even though we've been on the move for hours, so we continue on our way and eventually find ourselves in Daytona Beach. Again, this is a one night stop over, we will pushing on until our three night stop in St. Augustine.

During this stretch of the ICW, we also passed the Kennedy Space Center. We couldn't see much from the water. We were hoping to catch a launch. Some people we met in Fort Pierce were lucky enough to see one on their voyage through Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately for us, there were none scheduled in the timeframe we were passing the center, so we admired it from the water and talked to the kids about the cool things that happen at the Kennedy Space Center.

The reason for the title of this blog, is because along the way, the ICW is lined with palm trees, mansions and yachts. The lawns are beautiful and manicured; their boats are up on lifts to keep them out of the salty water. Some areas are more pristine than others and some are in a period of change, where smaller homesteads are being knocked down for the larger more modern abodes soon to take their place. I didn't take any pictures of these areas that are worth sharing. It's difficult to capture the scenery on a camera and do it justice. It needs to be experienced as a whole rather than seeing a simple snapshot of a few impressive homes and their docks.