Disembarkation morning arrived. I woke up about 5:15 a.m. not feeling any movement so I checked the CruiseMapper app and saw that we had already docked, as had the NCL Jade. The Disney Fantasy was coming in next. So I went back to sleep for a little bit until our alarm went off
We decided to keep breakfast really simple and just walked down to decks to the Cafe Promenade. I was able to use a diamond drink for a latte. Paul got an egg, cheese, and sausage sandwich and I made do with stuff from bakery including one of my favorite donuts.
We then took a walk to the helipad to check out the other ships in port. The Carnival Liberty was pulling into its pier and linemen were ready to catch her ropes. The sun was just starting to peak out over the horizon. We had the helipad to ourselves.
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| NCL Jade, Disney Fantasy, and Carnival Liberty |
It didn't appear they had closed off the starboard side of the promenade where the ship was docked and disembarkation would happen so we walked that direction to see how things were going. It was a few minutes before 7:00 a.m. by this time. Walk-offs were estimated to start disembarking at 7:45 a.m. but they were ahead of schedule and so as we were standing there, crew gave the all clear and the line that had formed in the dining room was allowed to leave the ship.
We rushed up to our cabin to do the last bit of packing and carried our suitcases down to deck four where a steady stream of passengers were headed off but few enough to not cause any lines. They have facial recognition at Port Canaveral (at least at this terminal) and with no lines we barely had to stop for them to scan our faces and we were on our way. You pay when you enter the parking garage at the beginning of your cruise and so there was nothing left to do but drive off.
Our plan for the morning was to explore Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge so we drove the approximately 25 miles to the start of the Black Point Wildlife Drive where we paid our entrance fee and I hopped in the back seat so I could easily photograph birds out of either window.
The Black Point Wildlife Drive is a 7 mile auto loop with some spots to pull over and do a little hiking. It truly is a wonderful place, especially for birders.
Towards the beginning we encountered the welcoming party or maybe he was trying to deliver a warning and get us to turn around. A Boat-tailed Grackle landed on the hood of our car right in front of Paul and started squawking at him. After the initial moment of terror that he would try to enter the car through an open window, it was quite entertaining to watch.
Here are some of the birds we saw.
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| Black-necked Stilt |
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| Common Gallinule |
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| Common Gallinule |
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| Greater Yellowlegs |
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| Greater Yellowlegs |
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| Red-winged Blackbird - I love how they puff out when they sing! |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
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| Red-winged Blackbird |
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| Green Heron |
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| Tri-colored Heron |
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| Tri-colored Heron |
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| Tri-colored Heron |
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| Greater Yellowlegs |
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| Greater Yellowlegs - These were a new species to us and fun to watch! |
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| Greater Yellowlegs |
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| Greater Yellowlegs |
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| Greater Yellowlegs |
About half-way through the auto loop is the 4.8 mile Cruickshank Trail. We started off just planning to walk a ways until we decided to turn around but ended up doing the entire loop. It is a flat, wide trail, with almost no shade that follows a number of bodies of water.
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| This didn't look sturdy enough to hold a bird, let alone a human! |
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| A young White Ibis and a Tri-colored Heron |
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| A young White Ibis |
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| Adult White Ibis |
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| Eastern Meadowlark - This is not the greatest photo and honestly, I didn't know what I was photographing until I got home and looked closer but this is a new bird for us and so I had to include it. |
Back on the auto loop, we had a few more chances to see some birds plus an alligator (which I didn't photograph).
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| Blue-winged Teal |
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| Anhinga |
After the auto drive, we stopped in at the Visitor's Center briefly before leaving the island and heading to our hotel. We had originally planned to stay in Jacksonville that night but during the cruise had second thoughts about saving so much of the drive for Sunday so we had cancelled that reservation and made one for the Hilton Gardon Inn in Tifton, Georgia, about half-way home.
Hilton lets you pick your room when you check in online, so we had picked a top floor room on the end of a hallway that overlooked the electric charging stations. With mobile key, we headed straight to our room when we arrived. We were the first EV to arrive at the hotel so had our choice of spots. Two more Teslas would arrive before the end of the night. Fortunately, they have three charging stations.
After getting settled in, we walked to the Panera for dinner and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the hotel.
The next morning, we were down at breakfast when it opened. Hilton Garden Inns don't have complimentary breakfast for all guests but our loyalty status gave us a $10 voucher each which covered all but a little extra tip. They had a buffet for $13 per person but the made to order options were $8-9.50 and honestly were so good and more than enough food. My omelette was huge! The only thing I missed was having some sort of almond or dairy free milk for my coffee.
And then we were on the road to home.
A few days earlier, I had managed to crack the screen on my iPhone so we made a stop at the Apple Store just outside of Birmingham. They were able to replace it in the time it took to go find lunch and buy some groceries for the week. We even found a free charger near lunch to get a few free kWhs.
We made it home by about 2:30 p.m.
For this trip, we took the 2024 Tesla Model Y. The entire drive (round-trip) was 1,249 miles. We used at least 373 kWh (I believe we started the trip at 100% but ended charging at 78% when we returned to preserve the battery life). We used 713 free Supercharger miles which saved us $74.35. The rest of the charging was done with free destination chargers at hotels. We were really impressed with how little charge she lost while sitting at Port Canaveral for 8 days (only a few percentage points).
I don't recall any of our stops being long enough that we were just sitting and waiting. Between bathroom breaks and meals, it filled the time we needed for charging. Our shortest stop was 7 minutes. Our longest was 40 and that was only because we ate at a sit-down restaurant to kill time while they replaced my phone screen. Our other longer charge was 34 minutes and was because service at the Waffle House was a bit slow that morning. In both cases, we had enough charge to leave sooner. Including those longer stops, we averaged 21.5 minutes per stop.
One place where the electric car was a huge advantage was the auto loop. Without the engine noise, it made for a much quieter and peaceful ride through nature.
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