Failure to Plan For This Will Cost You Time

While heading down the coast from Hilton Head, SC to Fort Pierce, FL, we hit Cape Canaveral late in the evening of November 7, 2023. Little did we know, our trip coincided with the launch of Falcon 9, CRS-29, a Starlink Launch. Approaching Cape Canaveral, we started to hear notices from the Coast Guard about the prohibited zones, including mariners hailing the Coast Guard requesting permission to pass...which they denied. We spent several hours trying to figure out the coordinates of the zones. To add to the anxiety, the Coast Guard (or someone) must have been making broadcasts via AIS indicating that the area were closed...ignorant to these notifications, I had no idea as to whether these messages were broadcasts or specifically to us. We have AIS and so it is possible to send messages directly to us. Long story short, we were sufficiently offshore and, in fact, probably much further offshore than we needed to be. We went around the cautionary zone but apparently could have transited the cautionary zone, even though is suggested to avoid it altogether. We never saw a Cape Canaveral launch and while I suspect being closer is probably pretty cool, we had a cool perspective as the rocket and the booster came past us, out to sea. Here's some important links for those transiting the area: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/events-calendar?pageindex=1 https://www.patrick.spaceforce.mil Here's a useful website to have the Coast Guard to send notifications for special areas https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/subscriber/new #sailingcatamaran #boatlife #catamaran #travelvlog #digitalnomad #lifestyle #sailboats #sailing #cruising #offgrid #nomad #sail #boat #multihull #whileone #sailingwhileone #bigseas #lifeafter50 #sailinglife