Welcome Aboard Port Canaveral

1,436 miles from Port Canaveral!

We’ve had another person sign on to follow the Log of Ibi blog. Welcome aboard. I’d like to express my appreciation to all who have been so devoted as to follow Ibi’s blog through the lean times when there hasn’t been much to write about---or at least not much to write about that I felt anyone else would find interesting. I think the newest member of the family is from Cape Canaveral, Florida. That was always one of my favorite ports when I was doing vessel deliveries. It is an all-weather port, and until the turning basin filled with marinas, it was a great place to pull in and drop the hook for some sleep while running up and down the coast, or coming in from offshore. One little anecdote is from a trip taking a trawler from New York to Puerto Rico. I was approaching the channel entrance after making the loop around the Canaveral missile range restricted area. I heard, then saw a submarine breaking the surface a quarter mile off my port quarter (over my left shoulder). There’s a sub base just inside the port entrance, and my immediate reaction was, “Great! He’ll get in the channel and tie things up for half an hour while tugs join him and jostle him into the base.” I reached for the throttles and nudged them forward, determined to get in ahead of him. I was wasting my time. The skipper flew in there and right to his berth like he was piloting a little Boston Whaler. I was impressed. The speed and maneuverability was mind boggling.

On another occasion, we were anchored in there when the menhaden were in there in the millions. And these weren’t the little bunker fish you generally think of; these were all around a foot long. They were leaping from the water in such numbers that the splashing was making sleep difficult. They had the cat all excited, since a couple had already landed on deck, and one had come to rest in the dinghy tied off the stern. We were sleeping with the forward hatch open, and I commented to Jean, “You know, it’s only a matter of time until one of those come down the hatch and land in bed with us.” Splat! Then there was a lot of scurrying to corral the thing before the whole bed was covered with slime and scales. Sometimes she accuses me of making things happen just to prove a point. Anyhow, Peter, thanks for joining us.