St.Augustine, day 4 – trip to Cape Canaveral

Tuesday 12 Jun: Tourists again today, road trip to Cape Canaveral to visit Kennedy Space Center.
Very early rise, and we were in the car before 7am, as our aim was to get to the Kennedy Space Center by 9am, to make a full day out of it. We were bracing ourselves for the long drive, but it was actually a very pleasant and fast journey, on autoroute, A95. Much quicker than we expected, and in some areas we felt like we are driving through thick forests.
We arrived just in time for the opening, and being over enthusiastic we also bought ticket for the special bus tour. It felt a bit daunting where we start the visit and how we plan the day, as the daily schedule lists lots of activities but no real clear explanation of what each event was about.
We had a short walk through the Rocket Garden and briefly joined the tour to listen to facts and explanations from Sputnik to the Apollo program.
Then it was time for the special bus tour, which we hoped would be the highlight, with stops in the Launch Control Center or the Vehicle Assembly Building. Instead, it was just a guided bus tour, seated for 2h, with 3 stops to take photos of the buildings and the launching pads miles in the distance. Slightly boring and unexciting, but maybe kids would find it interesting.
The not so special tour ended at the Apollo/Saturn-V Center. Now this was quite something. After a short video you enter the hall and there in front is the business end of a Saturn-V rocket with its 5 massive engines towering above us. To think this huge machine went from zero to 17,500 mph in 8 minutes….. and in the 1960s! It made us come out in goose pimples all over!
During our very short lunch break we came across a hot dog stand, another new American experience for Oana to try. Verdict for this one: ticked, and to be repeated!
The other exhibit well worth a mention was the Shuttle Columbia and a mockup of the Hubble Telescope. Again, incredible pieces of machinery. Also of great interest were the new programs in development including going back to the Moon then Mars. The few movie projections and presentation which we attended were OK but not a highlight. All in all a great day out.
Our original plan was to stay till 6pm, closing time, but by 4pm we kind of seen what we wanted to and decided to make a move.
For the return drive to took the scenic route, on the beach road. Which we haven’t seen much of unfortunately, as a thunderstorm came with very dark clouds and heavy rain. In between showers we managed a very short stop on Daytona Beach, somewhere between two tower blocks (or hotels), but the overcasted sky took away any attraction that this strip of beach might have had. And during all this time we were thinking of Cloudy Bay, alone on her anchor, hoping she will not be hit by lightning or pull her anchor in a thunder squall.
So we continued for objective number 2 of the day: Best Buy. Well, this visit was certainly exciting! We haven’t been in a large electronics store for half a year now, so we took our time to buy most items we had on our shopping list of ‘toys’. A spare battery and a set of lens filters for drone, new GoPro so that we can return the current one which is faulty; a gimbal handle for the GoPro to be able to take more stable action shots or when we are filming whilst walking.
Come to think of it … all toys are related to improving our video productions. We now just need to find a “fluffy cat” for the GoPro microphone, to stop those horrible wind interference noises. Of course, you can buy all these things on line, but a)we barely have internet and b) no address to have delivered to.
It was almost dark by the time we left Best Buy, so we didn’t continue on the scenic rout, instead returning on the same A95. We were very relieved to return to the dinghy and find it dry and still floating! Yesterday it was so full of rain water it almost sunk!
Back at Cloudy Bay a leisure evening, playing with the new gadgets. We’ll have more fun tomorrow!