Day #1 Monday June 5th 2006 - Melbourne to Titusville - 27 miles
Thought of the Day: "Sunrise, the first day of an Either Oar row, is majestic" - or - "9 ½ hours is too long for a human being to be rowing."
Description: Launched at 6:30 am. Good friends and new friends showed up for the send off. Coincidentally, the Daily Word was "Success".
Made our first stop after 2 hours taking advantage of Gene & Barbara Millner's generosity and facilities. Thanks Gene!
Had calm conditions until noon, when wind picked up to 10 - 15 knots… on the nose. 27 miles never felt so tough. Bob asks, "How does a person really know when they die?" Buddy Cork replies: "The pain stops.". Had Stan and Sandy Hartman from Titusville Sail & Power Squadron escort us through this painful ordeal.
Day #2 Tuesday June 6th 2006 - Titusville to Merritt Island National Forest - 15 miles
Thought of the Day: "It's always good to hang out with people who make good decisions at 4:30 in the morning." - or - "Music, all music sounds better while you're rowing"
Description: Launched at 6:00 am. Fish are leaping everywhere. Down-wind run. Shark sighting turns into dolphin feeding in shoals. Ducked as we rowed under train bridge and rowed between two small Islands. Passed under Bascule Bridge and proceeded to surf down the northern fetch. Total 15 miles in 4 hours. Had Stan & Sandy as escort again (great folks). Land crew chanting "Row-Bob/Cork-Row" at ramp holding cold-cold beers.
Day #3 Wednesday June 7th 2006 - Merritt Island to New Smyrna Beach - 24 miles
Thought of the Day: "Anything worth while, takes a little effort." - or - "Always be prepared for the unexpected!"
Description: Launched at 5:30 a.m. with another beautiful sunrise. Marine mammals and fish every where. Water was like glass and as clear as the eye could see. Air was cool and the rowing meditative. Then …. Always expect the unexpected: "As I glanced at Cork, he and his boat suddenly raised up out of the water, and the water erupted all around him. His eyes were like saucers and you could see his white knuckles gripping the oar handles. Unintentionally, he had rowed onto the back of a manatee in a pod of probably 5 - 6 other manatees." Cork couldn't row for 5 minutes due to shock and Bob couldn't row due to laughter. Paul Reichert from the Ponce de Leon Inlet Sail & Power Squadron was our escort. Love these Power Squadron guys.
Day #4 Thursday June 8th 2006 - New Smyrna Beach to Ormond Beach - 20 miles
Thought of the Day: "You miss a great part of the day when you don't get up at 4.30 a.m. Thank God!"
Description: Launched at 5:30 a.m.. Can you stand another great sunrise? Come up on rowers from Daytona Beach Rowing Club. Pass under 2 very cool bridges with mosaics for boaters to enjoy. Power Squadron escort for second part of the day. Beautiful houses on both east and west side of the ICW. More commercial = Less wildlife. Hmmmm? Today, Daytona Beach Power Squadron members, Jim De Palma & Paul Stratton watched over us. Once again land crew had ample cold beer at ramp in Ormond Beach. Thanks again Land crew!
Day #5 Friday June 9th 2006 - Ormond Beach to Palm Coast - 22 miles
Thought of the Day: From Sue (a.k.a. Land Crew) "Never ask men about measurements".
Description: Boat ramp was actually only 2 miles from our starting point (which we missed). Then a MAN had us drive another 10 miles in the opposite direction to find the boat ramp which was around the corner. Bottom line, one hour drive to get to the boat ramp just around the corner from where we started that morning.
Launched at 8:00 a.m. (after tour of neighborhood) within minutes ran into an old friend from FWS, Fish and Wildlife Service who escorted us on coast to coast row in 2001. He was so excited to see us that it made us feel great. Dolphins are always with us, but this one had a special personality. Repeatedly leaped 5 to 10 ft in the air right in front of Cork. Cork sounded like a kid at Marineland with his hoots and hollers. Started seeing more boat traffic. Went through all our fluids, we started hallucinating about waterside pubs and burgers and beers. Bob reached breaking point with his cell phone. Luckily his aim was poor and it remained in the boat. Almost couldn't find our destination due to all of the new construction. Met great people at a marina who arranged for a magazine writer to interview us for 3 hours. We love ya Meg & Inna.
Day #6 Saturday June 10th 2006 - Palm Coast to St. Augustine - 26 miles
Thought of the Day: "Appreciate today before the whole area is developed." - or - "In this area of Florida the Southwest wind actually blows from the North." Hmmmm."
Description: Launched at 11:00 a.m. First real breakfast in what seemed like a lifetime. Inna's magazine writer) husband met us for photos before launch (what a great family). Experienced major boat traffic from start to finish. Extremely hot, the true June in Florida. Scientific ratio: 4 out of 5 boaters never slow down for courtesy/safety. The landscape reminded us of Hawaii, with tall ledges and eroding rocks along shoreline. This was the first day that we had the tide and wind in our favor. Rowed so fast, went right by our scheduled destination and continued down toward St. Augustine. The last 3 miles were not much fun. The tide turned and the wind increased. We rowed in 2' chop for about 2 hours. Whew! Land crew sure looked great (as always) at end of day. Weather report tells us depression #1 has formed.
Day #7 Sunday June 11th 2006 - St. Augustine to Jacksonville Beach - 33 miles
Thought of the Day: "When a tropical storm forms (1st of season) row your butt off then get the heck off the water." - or - "We do make a difference."
Description: Launched at 6:30 a.m. to catch incoming tide. Ramp very busy due to local Kingfish Tournament. Both Cork and I are considering doing a study of port-a-potti facilities. Met land crew at Palm Valley Restaurant and Market and had a great lunch with cold beverage, great experience, wonderful people and terrific food. Also met great guys at the bait store who worked very hard to help us with local tides. I picked a protected area to pull up the boats. When we returned, we were high and dry in oyster bed and mud flat. Once again "Sue, the Land Crew" had to get our butts out of trouble. (Note to Board, Sue needs a promotion and a raise) Met some wonderful people who provided us with beer and cheer along the waterway (Eric, Shannon & ….. real nice beer lady). The journey is not over until it's over. Wrong bridge, keep rowing. Finally arrived at destination to the shouts of many people. Come to find out land crew wasn't even there. These people where yelling at each other at the boat ramp. Oh well, a big high 5 to each other. Hold on, here comes land crew and shouts of "Row Bob Row" and "Row Cork Row"! Old friends from New Jersey (Walsh family) arrive and join in the celebration. All is well! Success! THANK YOU GOD, row number four is COMPLETE!!!!!!
