Cocoa Village City Hall, a beautiful building
Cindy and Alex Shue at Cocoa Village
Steve Parrish & Cindy Lyons at Steve's house
Steve's daughter Mirina, Steve, Cindy & us
Us at the beach
Jess and Mike at the beach
Thursday when we arrived at Harbortown Marina on Merritt Island, Steve Parrish had his Ford 250 diesel truck waiting for us in the parking lot, the keys and a map to his house. He invited us to join him at his home for dinner that evening so we were able to meet his daughter, Mirina and friend Cindy Lyons. He also suggested we bring our laundry and we took him up on it. Wine & dinner were awesome but the conversation was even better. Other than seeing Steve briefly in the Quad Cities a few years ago, we last saw him in Florida way to many years ago.
Friday morning Tom spent a couple of hours changing oil while I cleaned. I’m not sure how he manages to squeeze his body in those small compartments, but he does.
Steve had arranged for the two of us to take a tour of the Merritt Island Sea Ray plant with his good friend Wendell Newsome . Wendell was so gracious to offer his own time off to personally escort us through this beautiful well organized, detailed facility. It was very educational seeing the start to finish production of a boat. The smallest production boat constructed at Merritt Island Plant is 58’ in length. We saw the finished product of a 61’ 2 million dollar and 58’ 1.5 million dollar boats. I’ll let Tom expand on the production process: Tom was like a kid in a candy store, especially when he saw (2) Mann diesels sitting on the floor ready to be dropped in a new constructed vessel. This tour was an eye opener for us to see the emphasis Sea Ray applies to engineering, plant efficiency, safety and quality control. Meridian Yachts are also manufactured at this same facility. Interesting to witness the difference in the two vessels specifications.
We had a lunch at the restaurant here at the harbor and then headed to Walgreens for a prescription. From there we drove to Cocoa Village and as we were looking for parking we spotted Cindy and Alex Shue off “Tug Hill Tug” on the sidewalk. We found a sidewalk café to have a coffee with them and catch up on their travels. In the village is a very old hardware store called BF Travis Co Inc. where Tom found some needed items for the boat. Cocoa Village is an interesting area with lots of shops, restaurants and a marina close by. We stopped by the Coca Village Marina for a short visit with looper friends Ted & Nancy off “Aloha Friday”. Nice Marina and another very nice community here on the Eastern Coast of Florida.
Saturday afternoon we connected with hometown friends Jesse Brady and Mike Brinn. After a visit at their beautiful condo on Merritt Island and a walk to the nearby beach, we drove over to the “Port” for beverages at Milliken’s water front restaurant. It was a beautiful afternoon on the water, with good conversation, and live entertainment. We then drove a couple of blocks to “Fishlips” restaurant only to find an hour wait. Back to Milliken’s where Jess and I lucked out finding a great table that was just being vacated. We had a wonderful dining experience in a very nice setting and a fun evening.
Sunday we reconnected with Steve Parrish and Cindy Lyons for a fun educational experience driving through the Canaveral National Seashore wild life sanctuary. We were fortunate to see about a dozen Florida alligators up close and personal. (Pictures to come later) Steve is very knowledgeable about where to go for a drive through “Old Florida”, gater hangouts, and an area where we were able to see several Manatees. We had a late lunch at “Grills Seafood Deck” located in the “Port”. Jesse and Mike joined us for beverages and to watch the cruise ships as they depart Port Cape Canaveral. The ships pass so close to where we are sitting it was very exciting. This has been a very enjoyable 4 day visit with great friends
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