{"id":1346,"date":"2012-12-05T13:20:10","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T13:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1346"},"modified":"2012-12-05T13:43:42","modified_gmt":"2012-12-05T13:43:42","slug":"cocoa-flora-fauna-and-some-nice-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=1346","title":{"rendered":"Cocoa flora, fauna and some nice homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Wednesday morning and today we head south to the SSCA Gam in\u00a0Melbourne\u00a0for three days and then on to home next Tuesday. \u00a0I can’t \u00a0believe that we have been away for nearly three months and our trip isn’t even half over. \u00a0That’s good. \u00a0 It seems like only yesterday that our total time aboard for a vacation was only two weeks. \u00a0I like this better. \u00a0Our trip home for Chistmas will be short and it’s really jam packed. \u00a0With less than an month to see everyone and finish up on shopping, we will be plenty busy. \u00a0After we come back to Pandora<\/em> we will have to high-tail it to the Bahamas in order to be there when the boys arrive in Georgetown in early February.<\/p>\n

I have been listening to Chris Parker, the weather router, each morning and am beginning to appreciate just how tough it can be to get a decent weather window to make it across the Gulf Stream and all the way to Georgetown. \u00a0If we were trying to make the run right now it would not be good as the winds are very strong and from an unpleasant direction. \u00a0Well, we will just have to be on our toes as we get closer to our return date in early January. \u00a0Weather, and keeping track of it, is a full time focus for cruisers and doubly so in the Bahamas as there are just not that many protected harbors. \u00a0This means that when the wind direction changes, you have to move to a new location. \u00a0 It’s for this reason that most everyone listens to the weather each morning just to be sure that they won’t find themselves on the wrong side of a key (island) when the wind shifts.<\/p>\n

As another key part of our preparation for our trip to the Bahamas, we visited friends Jeff and Susan aboard\u00a0Meltemi<\/em>, last night and learned to play a version of\u00a0dominos called Mexican Train<\/a>, <\/em>not a particularly PC name, if you ask me. \u00a0It was great fun and we are told that this, and other games are very popular with cruisers. \u00a0 While Brenda and I were feeling like we were ready for bed by the time we dragged ourselves over to their boat at 7:00, we perked right up and had no trouble staying awake for several hours more as we played with them. \u00a0However, everyone was pretty pooped as we approached \u00a09:00, “cruiser’s midnight” as it is known among the cruising set. \u00a0 Me? \u00a0I was plenty ready for a nap. \u00a0That’s for sure.<\/p>\n

Earlier yesterday, prior to nap time or just after our previous nap, depending on how you look at it, we went ashore again in Cocoa and enjoyed a walk around town. \u00a0As we had not ventured into the residential areas yet, we decided to see how, or at least where, the locals live. \u00a0We didn’t cover a lot of distance \u00a0but saw some really nice homes in a section just south of the business district. \u00a0The homes were modest and nicely maintained. \u00a0This one was our favorite. \u00a0We just loved the third floor glassed in room. \u00a0I did wonder how this would do in a hurricane. \u00a0Also, what happens in the summer when it’s blazing hot outside? \u00a0I guess it’s double blazing hot in there. \u00a0Very pretty though. \u00a0 As Brenda and I enjoy saying, “I would live there”.\"\"<\/a>Setting aside the pink shutters, this place would fit in well in our new home town, Essex CT. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>What a great color and I love this fence. \u00a0It’s funny how these colors look so great in Florida and yet in New England we’d be saying “wow, that’s a blue house”. \u00a0 I guess it’s always about location in\u00a0real-estate.
\n\"\"<\/a>House color isn’t the only thing that’s much different than at home. \u00a0 \u00a0On the arbor along the white fence, is this great vine. \u00a0I don’t know what it is called but some folks in Essex grow it in the summer. \u00a0Here, it’s a\u00a0perennial\u00a0 \u00a0Nice that they were able to color coordinate the flowers with their house color. \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a>There are loads of palm varieties. \u00a0I particularly like the pattern of these leaves. \u00a0Hard to believe that this sort of pattern is natural.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Perhaps there is no more\u00a0quintessential\u00a0tropical flower than the bougainvillea.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>That and the ever popular hibiscus. \u00a0 Another good one. \u00a0 And here, they grow year round. \u00a0I wonder what the locals use as house plants? \u00a0 Plants that will die outside because of the heat? \u00a0\"\"<\/a>This\u00a0ornamental\u00a0orange, with fruit just a few inches across, was very pretty.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>We have always enjoyed bamboo and had two grand stands in our yard in New Jersey. \u00a0In spite of fears of them getting out of control, we had no trouble keeping them in check for nearly 20 years. \u00a0However, our variety was nowhere as large as this stand where the shoots were 4″ in diameter and the stalks some 60′ tall. \u00a0 I’d hate to have to deal with older shoots of this stuff. \u00a0I used to chip up the old growth but it would take a really robust chipper to handle this.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>It’s also fun to see the little lizards scampering around everywhere. \u00a0This little guy seemed fine with having his photo taken even though I was only about a foot away. \u00a0 Of course, he changed his color to blend in with the cement. \u00a0“I’ll sit really still and then you won’t see me!”. \u00a0Sorry bud, I see you…\"\"<\/a>While not as elaborate as Charleston, St Augustine or some of the other places that we have visited, I recommend that you put Cocoa on your list. It’s a great place to spend a few days and we enjoyed our visit very much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Wednesday morning and today we head south to the SSCA Gam in\u00a0Melbourne\u00a0for three days and then on to home next Tuesday. \u00a0I can’t \u00a0believe that we have been away for nearly three months and our trip isn’t even half over. \u00a0That’s good. \u00a0 It seems like only yesterday that our total time aboard for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1346"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1360,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1346\/revisions\/1360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}