CHANGES at PORT CANAVERAL

by Robin

Let's take a virtual tour of the new  Port Canaveral changes.  I already showed the new recreational boat docks in an earlier blog, but here are the changes down George King Blvd and Flounder St.

Ok, pretend we're coming out of Jetty Park, headed back to A1A/ Beachline Hwy (528).

First thing you will notice is the new cruise ship terminal.

Here is the opening to the Terminal Parking deck.  The cruise ship is behind it.

(Above) From here, we turn right down Flounder St. You'll see the parking deck from the other angle.   Nice drop-off area here.



Past the parking deck is the check-in area.



Above is a different angle of the same building.

Below is the left side (inlet side) of the terminal.  You can see the Ron Jon booth and probably some other time-share booth.

You can see down the side of the large cruise ship here. This is Explorer of the Seas' new home.  This all used to be the former recreational boat docks and parking lot.



Ok, at this point, we have to turn 90 deg left and pass Grills on the right.   We have a new shark now and a new title of "World Famous" shark kabobs.   Ok??   I didn't know that all the times we have been here.



Grills added a new front to their building.  There used to be a gazebo here.  That's gone. It is super beautiful inside.  Love the look of the sports fishing bar with great mahi wood carving.



If you were to look back to get a size comparison, this is the perfect shot.  That boat dwarfs the restaurant.

If you look to your left, you will see the new bait/tourist shop. They have a great fish tank in there and plenty of fiberglass fish. Lots of little gifts you can get before returning home. This used to be the former home of the motorcycle parking and some parking.  Sometimes a boat would sit on the corner.

 


This is where the old bait shop was and it was torn down this week.



Ok, so we're past Milliken's Reef, which hasn't had changes and we turn down past Bluepoints Marina and Cape Marina, this is just a shot I took from the docks and fishing area under the bridge.



If you go over the bridge to Cruise Terminal A, north side of the inlet, you will see a great view of all the restaurants, marinas and cruise ship.




On the north side, there are usually Carnival and Disney lines in there.  Maybe even Royal Caribbean.  There were 3 in there today, plus a 4th in this picture.

How would you like to play on this??




If you don't like this, some have rock climbing!!



Ok, here, we've done a 180 from the northern terminals and heading back towards Hwy 528.  This is the bridge that overlooks the locks and Banana River.



This is not the same road (below) but this was taken from the road that heads out to the locks.  Nice little fishing holes.



And you might even see some mysterious old boats left out there.




Hope you enjoyed my tour!
Happy Fishing,
Robin

OLD LIVE WELL OUT!!!

by Robin


Yep, it's out.  And so is my chair.



And the new hoses are in.   I believe he even got the side put back together.


Possibly tomorrow is the installation of the new live well.  Jack tells me that I will have a newly welded chair sometime this week.  Mine will eventually look just like his chair- - one solid, long pole.



More pictures to come as it comes together.  Maybe some before and afters too.

Happy Fishing,

Robin

LIVE WELL - completed

by Robin


Top is completed!



Drain plug and one of the tabs to secure it to the deck.



In (higher to make bubble) and Out flow fittings.



Next step will be getting it installed onto the boat.  We are going to do some re configurations up there.

Happy Fishing!
Robin

WINTER PROJECT - LIVE WELL

by Robin

Ok, what else can you do when your foot/ankle is swollen & healing??

Sit and build something, you say??

Why, yes, you would be correct!!



Jack decided to solve our bait-dying issue by building a new live well from scratch.  Our other one swirls the bait around until they drown, which isn't good.  Plus, it was only about  9-13 gallons big.  This new one was constructed from a 30 gallon barrel with the top off.  Probably still is approx 25 gallons in size.  He put in proper tubing fixture today and metal pieces to hold it onto the boat deck.



Here, he is adding a nice piece that will hold the dip net.  Super feature considering how I lose my keys at home on a daily basis.  Best to have something handy so I don't lose the dip net too.




He has this awesome top he built too.    He put sealant around the top too to prevent water from escaping the sides.  I will keep you updated as we go.


Happy Bait, Happy Fisherman, More Fish!

 Robin

WHITE AND BROWN IBIS in FRONT YARD

by Robin

Posted up in sequence of events.  This happened when I pulled in the driveway with my new baby chicks.  How ironic that I had more than a dozen ibis in the front yard too.

Not paying attention to anything.


My neighbor opens up his front door to take out garbage.  What was that?? Hmmm.



Older son opens up garage door, spooking them.



Dogs proceed out of garage door. Good bye.



Pretty happy I had my continuous sequence on for these shots.



Bye-bye!!




Thanks for visiting.
Robin

OFFSHORE PORT CANAVERAL - 12/20/14

by Robin

Ok, I will be a little out of sequence with these next few blogs but these were photos already downsized from our last little excursion out before Christmas.

As you can see, we were heading out about 5:30 am and Carnival Liberty was coming in.



Wow, just a little bit HUGE and intimidating to pass by.



The sun rose around 6:20, I believe.  For the longest time, I thought it had already rose but was hiding behind all those clouds (which eventually rained down south of us).   I was so excited to catch the sunrise with the new camera.  Nothing like God's new mercies every day.  My heart overfloweth!!



It wasn't long before we were joined by this super-pod of approx 75 dolphin.  I realize some super pods get much bigger than that, but this was so beautiful.  I went to flip on my camera and I was so excited by the newborn baby dolphin that I didn't get my settings completely right (half-way between 2 settings), missed the baby shot.  Awwww.  He was adorable!!  Never seen one so small in all my years offshore.





There were so many spotted and two-toned dolphin.  One day, it is my goal to learn the different dolphin species.



I did catch this one action shot.  The sun was still so low and the glare was bad on the water, but other than that, I think I did ok capturing his breaking the water.



I really have many more of these group shots.  What I should have done was taken a video so you could see all the multiples of groups coming up for air.  Offshore dolphin are just SO MUCH MORE friendlier than inshore dolphin.



Just gorgeous.



Ok..... now, this is HOURS later, after we pulled in so many fish, my muscles hurt.  Sharks, red snapper, white knobhead porgies (we call them chocolate chip porgies), flounder and various reef fish.  NONE of them came home with us because they were either out of season or undersized.  :(  Boo.  But, we had 2 large black sea bass, which I did fry up for the kids.  It was a great day hanging with my favorite man from sunrise to sunset.

Disney was coming out of port, so we just stalled at the entrance waiting for them to head out and catch the sun setting.  Oh my... speaking of that... I got some amazing pictures of that too.  Some belong in a magazine but I will have to put my watermark on them before I put them on the blog.



Here is the pilot boat which goes before each cruise ship and clears the way.




I am certain that there is more to this photo....  I guess that is for the best because I have about 2 that belong in Disney's brochure too.  Gorgeous setting sun making the cruise ship glow.  I need to watermark those too.





These are in no particular order, in spite of me trying to get them somewhat in order.  There was some fishing in-between that has pictures yet to be downsized.

Be Blessed! Happy Fishing!
Robin

(part 2) GALEON & PORT CANAVERL NEW DOCKS!!

by Robin

Had a few more minutes to downsize some more pictures from yesterday before we get to the New Dock pics below.  Here is my youngest with the map room behind him.  There is also a dining table.



He had many questions for the French men that were learning how to sail this vessel. These two had pretty good English.



Here is the lamp that lights up the front of the boat as it travels.  It is actually at an angle but I changed that  for the blog.




****************************************************
Ok, here are the OLD DOCKS for Port Canaveral.  This is where you used to stage and un/load boats onto trailers.  They're filling it all in with dirt.  There will be no ramp follies to watch any more from Grills restaurant.  Btw, Grills has made some beautiful new construction to its existing building and added a bait/tackle store to where the motorcycles used to park.  I have no idea where motorcyclists will go after that.  Hope they made plans for more parking!!




Here is the side view of the new terminal.  Still off limits but I think they said it opens up this weekend.





Ok, so if you go past all the  old dock area on Flounder St., and continue heading down toward Jetty park, you will see the NEW DOCKS, just before the park entrance.  Turn left there.  Here are the new docks.  There is plenty of concrete for backing in trailers and place for boats to drop off drivers to pick up trailers.



Here's the same view to the left, looking back at the parking area, which is very spacious.




They put in fish cleaning stations, which I love.  There are nice restrooms.  To the left is a bait/tackle store.  I would think they're probably going to upgrade that trailer that sits there now into something more concrete in the future.




This property is adjacent with Jetty Park camping grounds.  No more slow cruising until you get to the rocks.  As soon as you launch, you can hit the gas right out to your fishing grounds.

Although I wasn't thrilled with the change originally, I have to say that I do like this new space much better and away from the tourist (if you can get past the tourist traffic).   I look forward to seeing how it all works with spring/ cobia rush of recreational fishermen.  I wonder if they'll even be able to find the new docks if they haven't been around for a while.  :)

So, I hope this blesses somebody.
Tight Lines,
Robin

SPANISH GALEON

by Robin

I have been so time-challenged for well over a year now.  Got one son graduated and in college and the other one begins a new journey called high school.  Every weekend seems to be filled with events and volunteer work.

All those things are wonderful but it is great to come back to some of the things we really love.  Last weekend, Jack and I took an overnight trip to Sebastian Inlet.  We fished there and docked at Captain Hiram's.  More on that another day.  I have to downsize pictures for that.



But, now that most the focus is off the big kid, I am able to do fun stuff with my baby.  We had a superb field trip today down at Port Canaveral.   A Spanish Galeon is here through the end of the month.  He was so excited to get on the ship and out of the bitter cold wind (above).  He was first on the ship.



Immediately, I fell in love with all the wood and rope (lines).   So many cool angles to shoot from.  Below is the crow's nest at the top of the front mast.



Below is my son standing in front of the crew cabin doors.



Up on the bow, there were plenty of lines.  I am assuming they to go the sails when they are finally down and full of air.



This galeon is a replica, constructed in 2009.  It truly sailed across the Atlantic, from France, over 28 days to Puerto Rico.  Then, they were in Port Canaveral last year and up the Atlantic seaboard.  Now, they are on their way back down the coast.  My youngest tells me they are headed back over to Europe and Asia.



They have a crew of 20 and some are there to learn sailing technique.  A couple are there from a French culinary school and fulfilling some school requirement of cooking for over 20 people for 6 months at a time.

Below is the Poop Deck, Captain's Quarters (down below the deck) and the Ship's Wheel.


Here is a picture from the outside.  You can see the faux cannons through the windows.  Back in the day, these were carrying cargo (not war ships) but they did have to defend themselves.




Hope you enjoyed my quick tour of the ship.  It was about 48 degrees but I guess that beat having snow & ice like the rest of the country.

Maybe the best part of the field trip was our lunch date afterwards.  Hot cocoa warmed us up and then a good meal fit for any pirate - mahi mahi and wings.  Great conversation with my son.  Priceless.

God bless you & happy fishing,
Robin