Indian River Queen & Derby Street Chapel ... UNITED!
Indian River Queen, the paddlewheel dinner boat located at Cocoa Village Marina has UNITED with the Historic Derby Street Chapel located in Cocoa Village. "This is a match made in heaven", said Penny Flaherty, the Queen's wedding & event planner. She goes on to say, "Even though the Indian River Queen is a perfect venue to host an all inclusive wedding ceremony and reception, there is the occasional bride who has dreams of being married in a quaint little chapel. The Derby Street Chapel is just perfect!"
Read the full story with photos here. By Lei Lydle
Chris Kridler / Space Coasting / April 1, 2010, Florida Today
Every once in a while, one gets the sense of a moment that is unique in time. It might not be huge, but you know you won't see anything like it for a while.
Thus it was on the WFIT jazz cruise Friday on the Indian River Queen, the triple-deck paddle wheeler that sails out of Cocoa Village. Sybil Gage did some swinging singing on the second deck, shedding colorful boa feathers as she went. Her groupies clapped and danced as best they could between the cheek-by-jowl tables and chairs. On the upper deck, the moon and stars put on a show, as the breeze seemed to carry the boat down the river and the paddle wheel churned up a sparkling wake. And on the lower deck was vibesmaster Christian Tamburr and his quartet. Tamburr, who has taken his electrifying music from Brevard County to the world, entranced a crowd that included the county's best-known jazz aficionado, Jack Simpson, and several friends of Rene Arriens, marking the latter's birthday. Arriens is a member of the closeout crew, the handful of white-clad space workers who load the astronauts into the space shuttle. "Now what are you going to do?" Tamburr asked him. It stung a little. We all felt it. "I'm going to Disney World," Arriens quipped. The shuttle really is going away. Four more missions and counting. There was a sense in that little room on the boat that we needed to grasp this time, even though times are bad, and make it last. The mood lifted as an astronaut rose from the crowd to contribute his two cents. It was Winston Scott, two-time shuttle flier and, now, Florida Tech dean of aeronautics. He played his trumpet with the quartet for a couple of tunes, and the music buoyed spirits and a sense of appreciation of what we had right there, right then -- amazing people who have done and are doing amazing things on Earth and in space. If I could pack that evening into a time capsule, I would. Maybe someone could open it in a hundred years and see what the Space Coast once was -- a place where technology, the arts and the water flowed together. And then the trip was over, which is fine, because three hours is plenty of time to spend on a bag-lunch boat ride to nowhere. Its best moments fill a time capsule embedded in my brain, and when I'm gone, and the shuttle is gone, those moments will be, too. They were great while they lasted. Contact Kridler at 242-3633 or ckridler@floridatoday.com.
The nature side of our day left a huge impression, with an amazing abundance of wildlife all within easy viewing distance. We were extremely lucky in that we came upon a baby manatee, no more than 2 or 3 days old. It was resting with its Mum, with her underneath the baby so that she could push it up with her back to help it take a breath. They weren't disturbed by our presence, so we were able to watch them for quite a while. Just beautiful.
We managed to spend the best part of a day with the Island Boat Tours people this week and a truly amazing insight it was, too. It is quite astonishing how we can have been working in this area for SO long and not come across this before, as they have been running for almost 8 years.
We did a 4-part tour with them, starting with a fishing trip at 8.30am with Capt Pete Flaherty on the Banana River (river is actually a bit of a misnomer, as it is part of the intra-coastal waterway, or lagoon), and, while we didn't catch a whole lot (given just 90 mins, it wasn't ideal, as most of his trips go out for 4-6 hours) it was just beautiful being out on the river at that time, with an early mist lifting to reveal the full waterway panorama. The water is so shallow you can see plenty of stingrays and redfish, plus the occasional horseshoe crab, while there is also the spectacle of the occasional brown pelican 'dive-bombing' the water for fish! Pete can usually guarantee to find the fish, given the full tour time (and a slightly earlier start), but we thoroughly enjoyed the time we did have with him, especially seeing the mullet jumping JUST out of reach of our lines!! If we'd been there a day earlier also, we would have lucked into a huge school of redish, but then that's why it's called 'fishing' and not 'catching' (as Susan is fond of saying!)
After the fishing tour (in a 4-person flatboat that just skims across the water - a bit cool first thing in the morning but quite blissful by the time we came in at 10) we embarked on one of their typical 2-hour Eco-Tours on the Thousand Islands on the river-side of Cocoa Beach. Now, we knew a little bit about the islands but we had never paid them much attention as most people tend to focus on the 'beach' part of Cocoa Beach. What a mistake. This gentle putter in their 43-seat (covered) pontoon boat was an absolute revelation as it goes right through the many bird-covered cypress-mangrove islands that sit just off the inland coast side of Cocoa Beach. You also get a close-up view of the river-front homes hereabouts,  which are quite eye-catching, to say the least! The 'wildlife' part of the tour certainly lived up to expectations, with multiple sightings of dolphins and manatees, plus all manner of birdlife, from huge blue herons to falcons sitting on the treetops devouring freshly-caught fish! Our captain, John, and wildlife guide, Susan (another one!) were an absolute mine of information on the local waterways and the flora and fauna, as well as offering a variety of  fun anecdotes. The 2-hours passed WAY too quickly and we could easily have spent all day just gently cruising through the area and soaking up the rich variety of the sights and tranquil vibe that exists hereabouts. This will definitely feature prominently in the next edition of the Brit Guide!
Company owner Penny then took us 'back-stage' at the Marina where they operate from to catch a breath-taking view - upwards of 30 manatees just lounging around in the little basin behind the marina I've never seen anything quite like it anywhere else in Florida and, while the weather was largely responsible (the cool winter has had manatees searching out these little 'warm spots' ), it was heartening to know this  endangered creature can exist in large numbers in places (although they also think as many as 200 may have died in Florida waters this winter because of the extreme cold at times ).
Penny then took us for lunch at Captain Ed's River Roost, another new location to us. Right on the Banana River, on the Merritt Island side, this offers wonderful outdoor dining with great river views, and is obviously popular with locals as it was quite busy, even for a Wednesday.  Their Tiki Bar and dockside facility (with Jetskis for hire) is ideal for a casual lunch or sunset drink, and we thoroughly enjoyed adding this to our list of 'must-visit' places on this part of the coast (we also had a great lunch - shrimp tacos for me (delicious!) and grouper sandwich for Susan, equally good).
Then it was time to head over to the Port Canaveral marina (in view of the big Carnival cruise liner tied up in the cruise port) to meet the guys of CB Sport-Fishing,  who Island Boat Tours have a marketing arrangement with. While Capt Pete offers the inshore fishing option, CBS are the ocean-fishing alternative, with an immaculate 33ft tournament-rigged boat that is geared for everything from mahi-mahi to sailfish. Capt Bo and his brothers (Brandon and Brett - the Killer B's as they announced themselves!) are hugely impressive and enthusiastic fishing guys and it is hard to believe you wouldn't have a LOT of fun (and great sport) on any of their half or full-day tours. They also carry up to 6 passengers, so it can work out at just $100/person for the half-day rate, and some of the pictures of their various catches were truly eye-opening!
Finally, we left the Port Canaveral area and headed back to Merritt Island and the Cocoa Beach Marina to visit Penny's pride and joy, the Indian River Queen. This massively restored former riverboat has been her great passion for several years after she bought it at auction (which came as a bit of a surprise for her husband! ) and then spent 2 full years working to refurbish and effectively rebuild it from a near-hulk to the sparkling dinner-cruise tourboat which it now is.  Decked out like a traditional paddlesteamer (although the sternwheel paddle is largely for show), it features two open-air decks and an interior saloon which is beautifully decorated (and is also very popular for weddings, for obvious reasons). There are two bars and they offer two weekly sailings in addition to their private charters, a Friday evening dinner-cruise (with full buffet meal) and a Sunday afternoon Jazz Cruise. Both cruise along the Banana River, hence also offer the chance to see dolphins and manatees, and there are also periodic Shuttle Launch cruises, as they can take up position barely 3 miles from the KSC launch platforms. The amount of work that has gone into restoring the Queen is truly astounding,  and it was easy to see why they are so popular for local parties and other corporate events. Just click through their photo gallery for the full effect.
That concluded our Island Boat Tours experience, but we left with a very impressive picture of this family-owned business that we were utterly unaware of beforehand. And it served to underline, yet again, just HOW much amazing natural fare Central Florida has to offer. While the theme parks are still the main reason to visit, and provide genuine thrills and fantasy, it is hard to beat this kind of natural experience for a lasting impression of the REAL Sunshine State.
Read Blog HERE
Paddleboat may do record business in 2010, owner saysThe weather wasn't the greatest, but the mood was festive Saturday evening as the Indian River Queen churned away from its dock at Cocoa Village Marina with about 100 employees of Tropical Realty & Investments of Brevard Inc. aboard.
The ship, a triple-deck paddleboat, was lit up like a floating Christmas tree as it cruised the river on a three-hour party excursion. The chill in the air was kept at bay by the see-through plastic window treatments that allowed perfect views of the lights from the homes lining the river.
Among the happiest guests on the 100-foot boat this day was Penny Flaherty, the owner of the Indian River Queen. Read the full story HERE (by Wayne T. Price : Florida Today : March 2, 2010)
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