After motor/sailing through the big pond for eight hours yesterday we were delighted to see Port Canaveral finally on the horizon at 4:00p.m.  We didn’t know what to expect, but were not disappointed by the lack of welcoming signs, realizing this is an extremely restricted area we were just glad to be able to traverse it without incident.  Along the port were indications of the high security with several large warning signs and the Coast Guard’s boat equipped with unmanned machine guns. 

Off to our starboard was what looked like the top of a buried submarine, painted with the numbers 636 on its side.  Our research revealed it to be the USS Nathanael Green, named for a Major General who served with President Washington in the continental army and American Revolutionary War.  She was commissioned in 1964, converted and then tested at Cape Canaveral in 1972 to launch Poseidon missiles.  She ran aground in 1986 in the Irish Seas, was decommissioned in 1986, recycled shortly thereafter with top, known as the sail, dedicated in 2003 as a monument and welcome at the entrance of the port.  

Slipping away from our Cape Marina dockage at sunrise this morning we joined the crowd of fishermen and headed eastward in Port Canaveral channel.  About ten minutes into our trek Dennis says, “What’s that coming in the Port toward us?”  Outlined on the horizon sliding silently but stealthily along, flanked by two Navy pilot boats was the sail of a submarine.  As she got closer we could see ship’s crew standing atop her deck each sporting a different colored life jacket.  We abided by the navy gunboat blocking the channel as the crew was manning a 50 millimeter.  As the black torpedo turn into its port we continued our journey out the channel to the ocean.  It was definitely an exciting way to begin the day.

Once in open water, and careful to avoid the restricted area we sailed past the Launch area of the Cape.  Waters near the coast from Port Canaveral northward to Georgia is Northern Right Whale habitat.  Because they can grow to be forty or fifty feet long and weigh as much as seventy tons we definitely want to avoid an encounter with one of the big guys.  Tonight we are spending at Rock House Creek anchorage, a quiet hangout for the locals from Ponce De Leon Inlet, and New Smyrna.  Daytona Beach, only a couple of hours north on the ICW, is our destination for tomorrow where we hope to go ashore for a few provisions and get the Fritz off for a long walk.  We’re all looking forward to some time ashore.