Patrick AFB

We had a fairly uneventful 2 day trip to Patrick AFB at Cocoa Beach, other than a HUGE squall just before we anchored. We were watching the radar carefully and thought we would anchor with 10 minutes to spare – the storm obviously did not pay attention to the radar!  Poor Bob was on the fly bridge when the wind kicked up, the smooth water kicked up white caps, the rain blew sideways, and it decided to hail! We made it to the anchorage and I literally crawled to the bow to deploy the anchor!  We were both soaked through when we made it back inside. We watched the anchor carefully and were happy that it didn’t drag.  We didn’t want to end up like this boat!


The rest of the trip was scenic.

An introductory dragon boat crew lesson?

From group sports to single – I’ve never seen a scooter on the water before!

This crab boat was very popular with the pelicans.

We saw smoke in the distance and then heard on the radio there was a boat on fire.  The police boat went flying by us. About an hour later we came upon the beleaguered boat getting ready to be towed. We feel so sorry for them!

This crane moved along the bridge with the guy inside the bucket!  Trust!!

And of course, lots of beautiful homes!

This is truely a house on the water!

On their own island

With their own boat.

and picture perfect palm trees!

The pelicans are back!  I never tire of watching them land and take off.

We made it to Patrick with a strong north wind and were happy the dockhands were there to help with the lines.  They seemed impressed with Bob’s driving and commented “you’ve done this before”.  We were here 1 1/2 years ago looking at a boat for sale and knew it would be a good spot to come back to.  It has a very active marina with almost nightly gatherings at the club house. They sponsor Grill and Chill (a type of potluck), Trivia night, music nights, movie nights, and once a month pancake feed on Saturday morning. The Commissary and Exchange are within walking distance.  Sure is nice to have a store close by.  This is a rarity on the water.
We had a lovely 80+ year young neighbor who still lovingly looks after his boat when he can.  He would love to do the Loop – here’s to you, Earl! You are such an encourager!


We bumped into Jacki and Bill (Fancy Free) at the commissary – they started the Loop just after the rendezvous in Alabama where we first met them when they were boat-less!  It was fun getting to know them a bit more.  Not a lot of Loopers here as you must have a military retirement of some kind, but being with military boaters we have 2 loves in common!  It is also a great place to meet up with old friends.  We had a marvelous lunch with Liz and Jim Tomor who we knew in Scotland and have retired here.  They cruise as well, only on the big cruise ships! Of course I forgot about the camera. 

After church on Sunday, we spent an incredible day with Jonathon and Rosa – Looper friends on Salty the 22 ft. C-Dory.  They are home at Honest John’s Fish Camp in Melbourne after completing the Loop for the 4th time!  Rosa is an awesome cook and taught me to make chili rellenos the “right” way!  We are spoiled for life!

You’ve never had chili rellenos this good!

Jonathon and Rosa, some of their animals, and the boat they took to the Bahamas – a small sailboat they spent a lot of time rowing! Jonathon’s family has owned this land since the 1880’s!

My favorite chicken

Rosa’s parrot – quite the character – he is “posing” for the picture!

They drove us around the property on their 4-wheelers.

We look forward to meeting up again!

We then met up with Art and Sherry Spurrell, family friends from our college days, who also retired here.  We had them over to the boat and all went out to lunch.  That afternoon we went to their home for dinner and to watch the Space X rocket launch (that ended up being postponed). They are both gifted “givers” and spoiled us rotten.  He fixed us lovely barbecued steaks while Sherry made baked potatoes, fresh asparagus, a gorgeous green salad (we don’t get many of those as my fridge has a tendency to freeze lettuce), and Crème Brule for dessert!  We also stocked up on fresh herbs from their garden and pulled pork that Art slow roasted for 14 hours!  They even sent some pork with us for our fellow Loopers on Fancy Free! Can you ask for better friends??  The sad note is Art came down with the flu the next day. We were so grateful he didn’t share that with us and he has since recovered!  We look forward to treating them to a boat dinner on our return trip late this fall.

Go to Part two for the rest of our stay at Patrick.


Docked on D Dock, Patrick Air Force Base – April 11-April 24th 2018 – with Fancy Free, visited with Jonathon and Rosa, Tomor’s, Spurrell’s, and met Dan and Jeanette.