We only travelled a little over two hours. We immediately fell in love with this little village that was established by fishermen in 1860. Downtown Cocoa was having a huge craft show and we bought some Christmas gifts, but for the most part, a lot of the stuff was overpriced, but that's my opinion and everybody knows what a tight ass I am.
John's sister, Gay, and her main squeeze, Terry, arrived in the early afternoon and we started the birthday boy's celebration. We had drinks and appetizers at Murdocks, which came to be our favorite place to go. Actually, by the end of our stay in Cocoa Village, we ended up liking all the restaurants/bars that we visited. After a lunch of drinks and appetizers, Gay and Terry went back to their hotel to freshen up for dinner and we continued on with the craft show. Later that evening, we met at Norman's Raw Bar and Grill for a late dinner. Gay wanted oysters, so she and Terry split two dozen. I only mention this because the next morning she told Terry "I'm sorry we didn't get any oysters last night". LOL! That should tell you what a birthday celebration we had.
The next morning we met for breakfast and afterward went for Bloody Marys. With all the stuff in the Bloody Mary, we could have skipped breakfast.
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| Breakfast of Champions. The best Bloody Mary I've ever had. YUM! |
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| Cocoa Beach on 12/8/13 |
John and I at Cocoa Beach.
The weather is absolutely gorgeous here. But we know it's going to get colder, so we'll eventually head further south.
In front of the lifeguard stand.
On our third day in Cocoa, John discovered the most unusual hardware store he'd ever seen, S. F. Travis & Co. They are a fifth generation store that was established in 1885. Check out this link to read the history of Travis Hardware. http://www.travishardware.net/#/history/4545252553
John went to that store every day for five days. And... every day he bought something. Thank goodness we're only going to be here for a few days or we'd go broke. Uh oh! I take that back. We've decided to get a slip here for a month and a half. We were originally going to stay in Ft. Pierce for that time but after talking to a lot of the people on the dock, they suggested we stay here. They claim there is more to do here and also that Ft. Pierce marina is currently under construction. John talked to the dockmaster here and they do have a slip available, so the boat will be here until the third week in January. Our bank account is doomed!!! Just kidding. Travis Hardware prices are very reasonable.
On Tuesday we decided to walk to the library and buy bus tickets (senior citizen rates are 50 cents a trip). Sometimes it pays to get old. Keep in mind we are not city slickers by any stretch of the imagination. Neither of us have EVER ridden public transportation, so this was going to be a lesson in and of itself. The first trip we took went pretty well. We went to Walmart, then Walgreens to pick up a prescription, and then to the mall on Merritt Island. So far, so good. We got back on the bus for the marina and after travelling about ten minutes, we realized something was wrong. We were riding through neighborhoods, letting people off and on. When the bus stopped for the umpteenth time, John got up the nerve to ask the bus driver if this bus was going to Cocoa Village, to which the bus driver replied, "no, this bus only stays on Merritt Island". He was a very nice man, though, and let us off at a bus stop that "our" bus would come to. He told us to watch for the "Route 6" bus and get on that one. Everything turned out fine except that we lost a good bit of time. Needless to say, we haven't ventured on the bus again. And... we still have 12 senior citizen tickets that we didn't use. So much for discounted rates. :) P.S. John went to Travis' (again) and bought a fish door mat.
On Wednesday, we decided to take the bikes down from the hardtop. I guess on bikes, we control where we go, not a bus driver. The next day we took a five-mile bike ride around Cocoa and Rockledge, the next town over. The ride was along the Indian River and it was beautiful, but whoever said that Florida is flat needs to ride a bike for five+ miles to realize that it isn't. I was exhausted by the time we got back to the marina. In fact, I walked the bike the last half mile. P.P.S. John went to Travis', this time for Christmas lights for the back of the boat.
Christmas lights on Bonnie Blue 2013
Later that day, we went to "What You Love To Do", a sort of health/massage place. They do all types of massages, such as, regular massage, sound and vibration massage, cranio sacral therapy, and ionic detox foot bath. We settled on the ionic detox foot bath because Terry (Gay's friend) recommended it. After that bike ride, it really did feel wonderful. However, the water in the foot bath looked gross after we were done. They claim it takes all the toxins out of your body through the hundreds of pores in your feet. I didn't believe it worked when they told us about it, but after seeing the water (mine and John's were different in color), I'm a believer.
On Friday, the marina was having their monthly get together in the lounge. The second Friday of every month they have a get together and everyone brings an appetizer to share. This month they had a "Pollyanna" gift exchange. We ended up with a book written by one of the men living in the marina, Floyd Tapp, called, "The Saga of the Sailing Hillbillies". It was a hilarious book that was an easy read. The get together was a great time. P.P.P.S. John went to Travis'. This time for a frying pan.
The next day, John went for a bike ride to find a liquor store. We googled it first and off he went. A half hour later, he called me and said to look it up again. I did and it was a hundred miles away. OOPS! Wrong location. I googled another one, and it was two miles away. When he got to that location, it was an empty lot. He told me to forget it. He would ask somebody. He did and they told him it was over at the Publix. Nope. Wrong again. All in all, he pedaled 18 miles to numerous phantom liquor stores to find vodka. Boy, he must really be thirsty! He finally did find one. Maybe take the bus next time???? Probably not.
Those are "pedaling fool" legs
On Sunday, the fiberglas guy came to check out the damage we sustained while in Charleston. He gave us an estimate of $800 to fix the damage plus a few other spots. We have a check from the insurance company for $2600. WOW! Are there any other sailboats out there that want to hit us? You gotta love an $1800 profit.
P.P.P.P.S. John hasn't been to Travis' in two days. Ha. Ha.
We rented a car from Hertz on Monday and left Cocoa Village early on Wednesday, December 18th, for the ride home to Delaware for the holidays. We'll be back toward the end of January. Till then...
1048 miles from the Bohemia River.
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