Howdy! We learned a lesson: in late October: finding a slip in Florida is near impossible. Some marinas are fully reserved 2 years in advance! Since we’d just bought the boat in July, we were sweating bullets. We wanted to find a place we could stay for several months that would allow us to take several trips home and to prepare for the loop. We called at least 15 marinas and we finally found a place in Titusville at Kennedy Point Marina (Thanks Bruce). Kennedy Point is right across the river from the Rocket Assembly building at Cape Canaveral and we’d get to see several rocket launches!
We left the New Smyrna Beach City Marina on October 24th in the late morning. Momma was worried about the Haulover Canal because of the YouTube channel that shows boats sometimes not making it out of the Haulover Inlet. BUT, it wasn’t the same thing. The CANAL was just a narrow passage, and the trip from New Smyrna to Titusville was pretty uneventful.
There was a pop-up shower that slowed us down as we approached the Brewer bridge just past Titusville Marina. By some stroke of luck, it only rained a few minutes and we had enough of a window to get to Kennedy Point before it started raining again. Momma had set up the fenders for the starboard side and had the ropes ready as we came down the canal. She had practiced the knots several times and was ready to help Poppa position us in the slip. What momma didn’t realize was that we were going to a fixed dock with pylons, and the knots she had reviewed were for a floating dock with cleats. Thankfully, Bruce was there to help us out.
Potty spots
Once we were settled in, Momma and I went to checkout the Marina and the potty spots. The walk to the nearest grassy area was pretty close! At the end of the dock, there was a gate with code lock which leads to a sandy parking area and green space. This was nice but it turns out the pretty flowering grass also had sand burrs that got stuck in the pads of my feet. Ouch! Momma made me wear shoes again for a few days, but they’d get filled with sand and flip when I had the zoomies.
Titusville has several small parks along Highway 1 where people can watch ricket launches. Kennedy Point Park is just south of the our marina’s parking area and also has a small boat ramp. Some days this park was great, but somedays Momma would hustle us out of there because the random cars parked really close to the shrubbery was a bit sketch. The good news is that since we didn’t have a place to go on long walks, I got to go to the dog parks several times a week.
Titusville Marina Dog Park
The dog park at Titusville Marina was about 10 minutes north by car. We were so bummed we couldn’t get a slip there, but they were booked up. I met Scout and Baby and several other great dogs. There was a few shaded spots and it was a decent sized yard to play. The small dogs had their own area and you can see the mooring field from the yard.
Fay Lake Dog Park
Fay Lake Dog Park is about 15 minutes south of our marina in Port St. John. Our boat neighbor Claudia told us about it (thank you Claudia!). After the first visit, it became our favorite. The area to run was HUGE! I could get up to full a full run and get tired before I reached the end! There were lots of trees and separate area for small dogs. The nice thing about this much space is that I could avoid some of the dogs that were afraid of me. No idea why they didn’t want to play, but when they get snippy I got scarred. Am i allowed to say Zoinks?
Rocket Launches
I’ll write up more about his later, but we got to see quite a few rocket launches. Some were in the middle of the night, and a few were during the day. Not sure which I prefer. The night launches are more dramatic because you can see the burn, but in the day you can actually see the rocket.
Things to do
There weren’t many restaurants within walking distance to our marina. That may depend on your version of “waling distance” but it was too far for me! There was a Walgreens and a gas station close by though. We don’t go out to dinner that often but hit a few places in Titusville. We drove the short distance to the Playlalinda BrewPub/Brix Project. It seemed like a popular spot because we had to wait a few minutes to get a table on the patio. Once again, I only got to have water, but Momma and Poppa said the food was good. We couldn’t stay long because the mosquitoes under the table were eating us alive. Some nice people next to us let us use their bug spray but it was too late.
Another day we walked around the shops and restaurants in Historic Titusville. Looks like it could be a really cool spot someday once some of the renovations are done. We walked around the historic Pritchard House, and Momma took a picture of an actual lemon tree. She said she’d tried growing one before but it didn’t go well. She said it reminded her of Muncle.
At Kennedy Point, we saw our first manatee and alligator! Momma thought she saw a giant snake, but it ended up being an anhinga, which is also called a Snake Bird. All in all, Titusville was ok and it served its purpose. I think the town itself is maybe turning around and rebuilding. The marina is basic, but has really nice people. There are plans to build a condominium which I guess explains why all the big equipment is around. I bet it will be really nice when that project is completed. Paws crossed that they make an off-leash pet area!
Random pics!
