MELBOURNE, FLORIDA

          

Melbourne is only 15 miles from Cocoa Village. We stopped here because Prue & Burt on s/v "Exuberant" told us that there was a Seven Seas Cruising Association gathering called a "GAM". We had never hear of this association before. Prue was able to get us tickets to get in which are normally only for people who are part of the association. Judy, an organizer welcomed us with open arms and invited us to participate in all the seminars.

We participated in a demonstration of a life raft being deployed. It so happens that it was the same life raft that we have. I was given the opportunity to sit in the life raft with 5 other people (our life raft holds 6 people). It was very cramped indeed. I hope to never, ever have to use our life raft. 



I'M REALLY NOT SURE WHY THESE PEOPLE WERE SMILING? 

At the GAM there were several vendors and one was from Trinidad.  We had always thought of hauling out our boat in Grenada for the summer of 2015.  We asked the representative to tell us why we should go to Trinidad rather than Grenada.  It so happens that the representative was Jesse James, the SSCA representative in Trinidad.  He's done a lot for cruisers and did a good job convincing us.  He gave us a free haul out at Peakes Marine in Trinidad along with a free ride to or from the airport.