Sunday, March 24, 2013 – Cocoa:

            After the heat of yesterday, the night was cool so it was good sleeping.  The temperature this morning is warm, but the sky is a little gray with some sunshine mixed in. 

            We are going out to brunch (lunch – dinner?) with the boat neighbors that have a sailboat here, so we have a light breakfast in anticipation of a large meal in the middle of the day.  We meet our friends at 12:30 p.m., and they drive us to an Italian restaurant in Cocoa Beach called Branos.  They serve a three-course meal with not one, not two, but three mimosas or glasses of champagne.  I am thinking that a nap will definitely be in order when we get “home.”  All this for the reasonable price of $15.00 per person.  Even though the restaurant was Italian, the waiter recommended the medallions of pork dish, so that’s what Bob and I ordered, and we weren’t disappointed!  It was delicious! There was a singer to entertain us, and we had a great time learning each other’s stories, and solving the problems of the world.

            After lunch, our friends asked us if we would like to visit the beach where they spend time almost each day, and so we drove the short way to the beach, and parked the car with intentions of maybe walking along the water after our midday feast.  But as we got out of the car, we looked skyward at an ever-darkening sky.  We took a quick walk, and then decided that we better head back to the car and our boats.  The sky got blacker and blacker (and I mean black), and we could see whitecaps everywhere on the water as the wind picked up as we drove back to the boats.

            Cocoa Beach is only a short drive from the Village of Cocoa, but as we pulled into the parking lot of the marina, we knew we would have to run fast as large rain drops started falling with big “plops”.  Fortunately, we just made it back to the boat in the “nick of time” as the skies opened up with thunder and lightning and a proper downpour, which lasted long enough to really clean off the boat.  The boat rocked around in the slip for a while, but eventually the rain stopped and the sun began to peek through the clouds again.

            I will admit we didn’t do much the rest of the day – well, we really didn’t get back to the boat until almost 4:00 p.m., and the day was practically over.  Tomorrow will be a busy day – getting the boat ready to leave for two weeks, laundry, and, of course, packing.  I guess the cat will figure something’s up and will not be too happy.

            I wonder if the TSA people at the airport will think she is a panther again?