April 5, Day 284 –Harbortown Marina, Merritt Island to Daytona Beach (with side trip to space shuttle launch)

The alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. For a minute we thought the whole loop thing had been a dream and that the alarm was going off because it was time to get up to go to work. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case; we just needed to get up for the launch of the space shuttle Discovery. We undid electrical and dock lines and were on our way up the Canaveral Barge Canal by 5:30. It was still very dark. Our trip all the way up the canal and into the Banana River on Saturday really paid off as we had a general idea where we were going, plus our GPS left a “breadcrumb” trail we could follow. Second Star dropped anchor and we rafted up with them around 6:00.

We got settled in, made coffee, and turned on the radio to listen to the countdown. Quite exciting!! Everything went off without a hitch and it was amazing. According to NASA the predawn launch was spectacular, picture-perfect and its most visually beautiful launch ever. Our pictures definitely do not do it justice. Neither camera did well in the dark with a blinding ball of light moving skyward. Within three or four minutes, the shuttle was out of sight. However, there was a second show beginning. The fuel burn from the launch leaves exhaust plumes hanging in the air. With the sunlight from the rising sun, these plumes took on a wide spectrum of colors -- gold, peach, blue, rose, and bright white. Coupled with the sun coming up over the horizon we had quite an impressive sight.

After the main event, and the encore, we headed back out the Canaveral Barge Canal at 7:30. With over 55 miles to travel to Daytona Beach, we knew we’d have a long day. The weather was perfect – sunshine and warm temperatures and the scenery was great. With the warmer temperatures, the water has warmed up and the dolphins seem much more playful. We must have seen upwards of 50 today and even managed to get a few pictures. We arrived at our anchorage a little after 4:00 and dropped the anchor. We had an early dinner onboard, relaxed on the flybridge, and then off to bed early. It had been a day we’ll remember forever.

Heading up the canal at 5:30 -- it was very dark ahead

6:21 a.m. and we have ignition

.... and liftoff

Still heading up

You can see the trail in the night sky

Just after rocket separation and the shuttle is on its way

Shortly after this picture, Discovery disappeared from sight.

This is the exhaust plume that was left from the burn -- it started out looking like a white cloud

This is the whole trail the rocket took ... starting from the lower left and then working up to the top right. Also notice the plume is starting to get a bit of pink in it.

Now it's white, pink and blue and you can see the beginning of the sunrise

The plume has spread out a bit

Just before the sun rose, most of the colors disappeared and all that remained was the white ... like a trail from a jet.

A close up of the plume

Took a shot with our looper flag to prove we were here

Some people go to dinner and a movie .... not Jana and Michael .... they go to breakfast and a shuttle launch (along with Radar, their cat)

It was a nice sunrise

Heading down the canal, back to the Intercoastal

Approaching the bridge

We saw many dolphins today .... here are a couple of shots

.... swimming beside the boat

Approaching the Addison Point Bridge -- one of many bridges today

Silly pelicans .... can't they read .... this is a Manatee Zone

This is the Titusville Bridge. We definitely had to have this bridge open for us as it had only 9 feet of clearance. They are in the process of building a new bridge.

Entering the Haulover Canal. It was more scenic than the Canavaral Canal

Along the shoreline of the canal people were fishing and watching for manatee. We remember being along this canal when we visited the Kennedy Space Center a couple of years ago.