Titusville explorers, with an eye to the south Lindsay McRory December 26, 1995 We've been at Titusville, Florida, for just over a week now. Our rented car has delivered us to most of the major attractions in the Orlando area. I had nightmares of Disney World being crammed with people, cheesy toys, and giant mice with ear problems, but it is actually very well done, nothing cheesy about it at all. The only surprise was the price, but we all agreed it was worth it. It was hard not to compare the price of our four-day pass to things we need, like a new anchor or an A/C inverter. Titusville municipal marina is the home of several manatees. These large, harmless "sea cows" are usually quite shy, but here they will float right alongside a docked boat and nap for a couple of hours while the kids pet them. Florida has initiated an extensive manatee protection program throughout the state. The slow-moving animals swim at the surface and have no concept of what a fast-moving propeller can do to them. They are not nearly as intelligent as the dolphin. One manatee we saw had propeller wounds from three separate collisions. While the manatees are both an attraction and a concern for the people of Florida, most locals have a different perspective. The popular phrase among the locals is, "Florida takes better care of the manatee than it does its children." I assume they are talking about the homeless but I never pursued it. We received a Christmas present from Telecom Canada. Our MSAT satellite system is on its way down to us. It is supposed to be operational January 2. The bad news: There will be no coverage for areas south of the Bahamas or Cuba until June. Spending some time in the Bahamas was on the schedule. We are starting to plan on where we want to be for the 1996 hurricane season. Essentially from mid-July to the end of November we wanted to be south of the hurricane belt, in Grenada or Venezuela. The other option was to stay in a safe place north of the hurricanes. But this could mean going as far north as the Chesapeake. With 1996 forecast to be nearly as high in tropical depressions as 1995--which was a record-breaker--we have some important decisions to make. Most cruisers, including us, are thinking twice about spending time in the Caribbean during hurricane season. Stories are still coming in about the devastation caused by this year's hurricanes, including Marilyn in September. One of the hardest hit areas was Simpsom Bay Lagoon on St. Martin. More than 800 boats of all types were sunk or destroyed by one hurricane that carried winds of 173 miles per hour. At least 10 boat people died in the storm, including a mother and baby who tried to ride out the storm on their boat. All these sinkings and deaths are from just one small area, and the hurricanes swept far and wide across this part of the world. Needless to say we are planning our summer now.