We woke up Friday morning, figuring Mark would work on getting the GPS fixed. Then it hit us that we have a handheld GPS and everything else was working. At 10:00 am, we decided to set out for Port Canaveral. The wind was around 15 kts. most of the time, but we were almost headed into it therefore we reached Port Canaveral after dark. We could have entered the channel, as it is well marked and lit, but there is a lock and lift bridge we had to go through to get the to anchorage and after 10:00 pm the lock and bridge stop opening for the day. Not wanting to get all the way in and have no place to stay other than overpriced marinas, we kept going. The moon was almost full and the sky clear enough to make the water fairly well lit. During my watch, I saw a huge falling star right next to the moon. This morning, after the GPS hadn’t been working for a day and a half, it suddenly came back on. We have no idea why, other than perhaps some connection was damp or loose and corrected itself. Or maybe the “trick” occurred when the GPS stopped working and today we got the “treat” when it came back on. (See date.)
Just before we entered the channel about ten spotted dolphins came alongside us and were playing with each other, diving down into the clear blue water and then racing to the top, jumping out of the water, crossing under us, swimming between the hulls, and just plain having a great time. It’s the first time I’ve actually seen them spend so much time around us and also the first time I’ve seen dolphins this animated. Usually, they swim slowly toward us, see that we aren’t creating a big wake, and they leave. I’ve tried on multiple occasions to get good photos of dolphins and always fail. This time I could have gotten great pictures, as the water is very clear. I could see them swimming below the surface and then jumping out of the water. However, it was such a pleasure to watch them, especially after this long (for us) tiring journey, that I just enjoyed the show.