On our way down the US East Coast we kept looking at the launch-agenda from Cape Canaveral (~120 nm from St. Augustine) and hoped that we could be there during one of the rocket-launches. And lucky as we were (we did contribute a bit to the “coincidence”), a Space X rocket was launched to the ISS on the evening we arrived there. Our normal schedule would have meant that the launch would be right when we were about to pass the lock at Cape Canaveral. So we decided to anchor in the middle of nowhere, pretty close to the launch-station, have some snacks and a juice, watch the countdown online and then see the launch right in front of our eyes. It was an amazing and humbling experience for all of us, imagining that 4 people sit in a rocket and were being shot up into the sky in front of our eyes (destination International Space Station). I read that there could be a sonic boom, when the first stage of the rocket re-enters the atmosphere and warned everyone about it. After having seen the rocket go up into the sky we were all so amazed that we completely forgot about it and were taken by surprise with a super-loud “booooooom”… There it was, the sonic boom we’d heard about. The rest of our time in Cape Canaveral wasn’t spectacular as we decided to save some money by visiting neither the Kennedy Space Center nor Disney Land. I did do some provisioning by bike which was good exercise but quite exhausting and we spent a few rolly days at anchor in murky water, surrounded by dolphins and Manatees.
