Our next stop was a condo on Merritt Island. I have always seen that name when we have traveled through this area, and since it was on an island, when looking for a place I tried to find something there. It was a condo on the 5th floor (505) and had a great view over the water. Oh and a surprise…it is really a peninsula! Who knew!
What made it really nice is that we were above a canal that connects the Indian River and the Banana River and it was a marina where there were boats parked and rentals were available.
Not only could we watch the boats from the balcony, but it was also used very often by kayakers, which were also fun to watch. I loved to sit on the deck and read…but would often get distracted by the goings-on down on the water.
The first 2 days we were there, a crewing (think that is what they were called) team from the University of Tennessee were on the water. They must have had 10 of their own boats, or more, 2 pontoon boats that the coaches used and 2 big trailers to haul all that equipment. They would be down in the parking lot warming up for about an hour…doing lunges, crab walks, real push-ups, etc to get ready. Here are some of the pictures of that team!
They were working out on the water for the first 2 days we were there. And then they started to pack up to go and what team work it took to bring the boats in, clean them, wrap a covering on them, and load them on to the racks of one of the 2 trailers. I cannot imagine the costs of that trip for the University, including transportation and staying the resort where we were. College athletics must be expensive.
We were also next to the Christie McAullife Memorial Bridge. This is a lift bridge that has to open when the sail boats needed to come through. And of course, it made good use of its horn when in action…one long, loud horn when it was going to open and 5 short horns when it was going back down.
We could see NASA/Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral across the water from us. You could see 2 of the taller buildings and what we thought was at least one launch pad. We were lucky in that there was a launch that was going up while we were there…although it was 3am, we still got up to watch it.
I know crummy picture, but you get the jest. LOL
Right next door there was a restaurant…Dophin’s which was pretty good. Hard to get used to a restaurant that is really completely open…it does have a thatch roof over the top but open on all sides. It was kind of cool that night so they were putting out as many heaters as they had…just fun to be “outside” eating.
David had a Grape Canaveral and I had a Space Coast Sunrise! Cute names….and tasted good too! Took a long time to get our food, but it was nice sitting there. We forgot that it was Valentine’s Day, thus the large number of people in there!
Next stop will be Port St. John!
Be good to yourself!
Dandy Ventures 