Merritt Island

 1/7- Titusville 

   We had a very busy day today. We headed over to the Merritt Island wildlife refuge. We walked a ways down the beach talking to some of the fishermen. I must be a jinx because everywhere I go I ask the people fishing what they are catching and the answer is universally nothing. Nobody seemed to be catching anything today either. We drove down to the end of the road driving past high sand dunes with no vegetation. This was a narrow stretch of beach between the ocean and Mosquito Lagoon.  Nobody was catching anything here either although one guy told me he catches sharks and then tags them and releases them. 

   From there we drove down to the Haulout Canal. This is a narrow canal connecting Mosquito Lagoon with the Indian River. They have a manatee viewing station here and we did see a couple of manatees hanging out. For some reason no one can explain they seem to like hanging out at this spot. We had sailed through here several days ago. 

    Then on to the Merritt Island refuge which was a driving trail. This road wound through mangrove trees and swamps. There were tons of new and different birds that we saw. We saw a flock of Roseate Spoonbills which are a mostly pink bird. We couldn’t begin to identify all the different herons, cranes, and ducks that you could see from your car. On the way out we saw 2 very large alligators. A woman told us they were as big as she has seen and she was there all the time. They were easily 12-14 feet. Also on the way out we saw an armadillo which was actually alive. 

   We then went back to the boat and watched another rocket take off. This one was another Starlink rocket. We finally got to eat dinner and head back to the boat to rest up as there is a bigger rocket launch tonight or tomorrow morning at 2:20am which we hope to watch. 

Whew!!

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