2011-11-14 - to Titusville, FL (mile 878)

It was a great day for sea life!  In the morning, we saw a large Sea Turtle in the water  after pulling anchor and heading out of Halifax Harbour in Daytona.  It was very neat to see.  Immediately after, however,  a boat approached us from behind.  It was a motor boat and, usually, we slow down a bit to let them pass quickly.  Kerry slowed and then waved them on.  Strangely, they just kept getting closer to our stern.  When they got close enough to have a chat they introduced themselves as the police and wanted to board our boat.  What they wanted to check is to ensure that our sewage tanks were closed to the outside. Another cruising boat, Silverheels III, had warned us of this, so we were slightly prepared. (thanks Silverheels!)  Instead of checking to see if the valve was tied off - they put a dye in the head and flushed.  The remaining officer in the boat checked to see that nothing was leaking.  We passed...phew!  We got back to our schooling when Kerry called us out again for dolphins.  It is hard to resist.  We see so many of them but each time, it is still wonderful.  As we were checking out the dolphins, I looked closer to shore and saw a much darker creature in the water - that looked very close to a small whale.  We turned the boat around so we could have a closer look.  There was two of them and they were quite active.  We watched them swim about in the water and we figured that it was a pair of manatees. 

As we were watching in amazement, the pair started to come to our boat.  They both popped up right at our bow and nudged the boat.  I called to Kerry and he shut of the motors just in case they somehow got underneath.  I wanted to ensure that they didn't get hit.  All was well.  They went on their way and so did we.  It was quite the discovery and Connor was thrilled to have seen an actual Manatee in the wild!  We arrived in Titusville later in the day.  We pulled to the dock to refuel and noticed a mast sticking out of the water a couple of docks down.  It had appeared that a boat had sunk right in position at the dock.  Later we found out about the full story.  What we got from two marina employees was that that boat was lent to a couple of friends who, decided to leave the boat at anchor for 35 days.  At the beginning of October a no-named storm ripped through and tore this boat from his anchor.  He ended up dragging through the moornig field, and onto a dock in the marina.  The waves and wind were so powerful that the boat ended up on top of the dock slamming hard down and tearing a hole in the hull.  The unfortunate thing was that the owner did not insure his boat and there is going to be a lot of issue on who pays for the salvage.  Titusville has a large mooring field now that costs only $15 for the night.  It allows for the use of showers, pump out machine, trash, laundry, etc.  Not a bad deal!