Rusty’s best day ever!

Our trip was Cocoa was just about perfect. It started lumpy with wind and clouds and ended perfectly.

Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral FL

We saw the towers of Cape Canaveral pass in the distance including the big rocket tower.

Titusville Marina

We continue to pass other Loopers. We passed Darrell and Lisa on Why Knot in Titusville. I hope they saw us wave.

Titusville Marina where Why Knot was docked

There is a lot to see on the trip between Cocoa and New Smyrna. Other boats, fishing boats, people with dogs, families playing in the water. Our favorite is sunken boats. We have lots of photos of sunken boats.

There is a channel portaging the ICW on this route called Haulout Channel, with marsh along both sides and lots of fishermen.

Family fun on the river

We arrived at New Smyrna mid-afternoon. The New Smyrna Municipal Marina had no room so they suggested the Fish House, a new marina right on Indian River which is the ICW.

Sunken boat!

A mobile home water park!

Bigger houses now that we are closer to New Smyrna

New Smyrna

Boot Scootin tied up at the wall in New Smyrna

It was squeaky clean new too. New wooden promenade made of Brazilian wood. Cement floating docks with new cleats. Nothing else is installed yet. They expect to put in a restaurant, tiki bar, a swimming pool, and about 20 “Key West” style homes.

We slid right into the marina on the port side of the river, turn around to face downriver when we tied up.

Boot Scootin, our new friends from Cocoa, tied up to a wall just around the corner but they stayed on their end of town. We will catch up to them in St. Augustine I think.

Funny info re New Smyrna. I think it should we pronounced SMRNA, all run together. The locals call it “Samerna”, like it has two syllables. Fun fact.

Rusty with Coda, picking a fight

Rusty chasing Coda

The best part of New Smyrna was Rusty’s new buddy, Coda, a large black lab whose tail got lopped off in an accident when he was a puppy. Coda is 4 years old and now is Rusty’s best buddy. Rusty followed him around, running, jumping, and sniffing like he was connected in some way.

Rusty got so close to Coda a few times that his head went up Coda’s butt a few times. They ran from one end of the marina to another over and over, down one dock and up another. Rusty was running like a puppy! We haven’t seen him so happy in ages.

The next morning Coda was still there and he and Rusty played some more before we left. It was great to see!! Of course another aspirin was in order when we left.

Can you get your nose further up his butt? 

Coda’s owner is a fellow originally from Chicago. He grew up in Winnetka just a few blocks/miles from where I went to college. We had a great talk about his youth in the near Chicago suburbs and his later decision to move from Atlanta to New Smyrna to care for his parents with is college age guitar playing son and his tween aged younger son. He particularly loves to be close to the ocean so he and the boys can fish in every spare moment.

Check out the tongue-wagging running going on

After rusty got tired out on Sunday afternoon we gave him an aspirin and walked into town to attend the Cinco de Mayo.

We walked over the bridge. The town on the other side of the river is really cute. Turns out Tom and Char Houser like coming here. I can see why.

Dolphins in the river

 There was music in just about every restaurant and bar and drunk people wandering the streets, just like Put-in-Bay!!

We kept walking all the way to the ocean to have dinner at this restaurant right on the ocean.

Beach at New Symrna

See the traffic signs directing drivers on the beach? 

As we walked up we saw the most unusual thing. You can drive your car on the beach! That is correct. The road doesn’t end. It moves forward down a ramp to the ocean with signs that direct traffic in appropriate directions. The sand is tamped down like cement so it looks doable. The beach was closed to traffic that day because the ocean was pretty wild.

We ate a the restaurant right down on the beach at the entrance to the ocean, the Breakers Beach Restaurant. Kermit had a burger and I had a blackened fish sandwich. When I texted Micheal from One September about this great find he pointed out the texted photo of his great burger from 2 weeks ago!

On the walk back to the marina the parties were really getting wild. A guitar player ran out of a bar still playing his guitar, ran around the streets, jumped on a car, then ran back into the bar!!

It got a lot quieter as we walked back over the bridge back to the boat. Check out the picture of the river at dusk. The little marks in the water are an entire pod of dolphins swimming in circles. At least I hope they were dolphin and not sharks!!