Rrrrrrrrip

 3/26- Vero Beach to Melbourne Florida, Dragon Point

   We ripped off the Velcro and we headed out this morning. It was tough to leave but I think we probably used up that town so it was time to go. It was quite the exodus this morning as 4 or 5 boats left before us. Once we got out onto the ICW there were boats lined up in either direction, most headed north. We are now part of the great migration northward. 

    Today is an easy run as there was not many tricky spots but there was a fairly stiff breeze. It was behind us though and it was interesting to watch all the boats popping out their head sails all in a row. We motor sailed most of the day so we could shake out some of the cobwebs out of both the sails and ourselves. 

    We ended up anchoring behind a bridge in Melbourne at a place called Dragon Point. This is the long pointy end of Merritt Island. At one time there was a sculpture of a dragon at the very end of the point. It had been destroyed in a storm and now people are trying to get it re sculpted. Merritt Island is where Kennedy Space Center is and where they launch rockets like every other day or so. There is a big one going up on Thursday weather permitting. 

    It is interesting to be in a wide open anchorage. In Vero you were protected by the mangroves but you couldn’t see much beyond them. Here I can see all kinds of city lights with the bridges being all lit up. It is a very big sky here which is quite different from Vero. 

   The other thing I have noticed is that the traffic on the bridge is damn near constant. There are people rushing back and forth trying to get on with their lives. The one thing about the traffic is that it pretty much calms down late at night. So when I wake in the middle of the night I can usually tell how close to morning it is by how much traffic I can hear. At 5am there might be one or two cars but by 7 am there is a steady stream that will continue until evening sometime. 

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