From the moment we walked towards the empty dock on the Banana River, I knew this experience was going to be different.

Scheduled to leave in 20 minutes, there was no boat. A little panicked, as I had invited my sister-in-law and her husband to join us, I called.

A pleasant older man answered, and I explained we had booked a tour online, but we couldn’t find the boat.

“I’ll be there in ten,” he replied. I was more than a little shocked that I had reached the boat’s captain directly.

I relayed this to another couple standing nearby, also looking lost. They were from the Netherlands and were excited to see manatees.

Sure enough, the Blue Dolphin’s nose finally peeked around some mangroves and headed straight towards us, perpendicular to the dock. It was a pontoon boat designed to hold 49 people.

Suddenly, an 18-or 19-year-old male appeared from nowhere and jumped on as it pulled up.

“He’s the first mate and I’m Captain Mark,” the driver announced, and they both laid out the walkway for us to board. There were maybe 15 of us. Partly cloudy, the weather was not ideal as a nor-easter was forming north of us, and it was quite windy.

And sure enough, we immediately hit choppy water when we headed out, driving right into the wind. Steady on his feet, facing us, Captain Mark seemed unfazed.

In fact, he had handed the wheel over to his young first mate, whispering some directions on piloting more on an angle.

Then, as he remained standing, he shared his deep knowledge on everything from how the Banana River is not a river, but a lagoon (because it doesn’t have “flow”), and fun facts about NASA’s Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) as soon as it came into view (you know the building with the painted American flag. It’s in every space movie ever.) The massive Saturn V rockets (for the Apollo program) were built there, and eventually all the Space Shuttles. It’s the largest single-story building in the world.

As we veered right to enter the Canaveral Lock, I found myself focusing more on the captain than on the wildlife nearby. He had a wizened face, and I was drawn in by his low-key, confident approach to everything. There was just something about him.

And then we learned that his first mate was actually his grandson Zeb; short for Zebediah. This endeared him to me even more. I watched as they sat together by the wheel, talking softly. Then, Zeb jumped up and started tying the boat to the side of the lock as the water was going to rise quickly as the gates slowly opened.

We glided through to another world, passing a couple of shrimp boats (think Forrest Gump) and restaurants on the right. We ended up behind a large cargo ship trying to leave the port, but the wind looked like it was pushing it.

Captain Mark stopped his small talk to focus on the ship and the tugboat trying to help it. He got on the radio to listen and said a few words. I swear in one more minute, The Blue Dolphin would have gotten involved, but it seemed to resolve itself as the enormous ship ended up docking instead of continuing out into the Atlantic.

Then, the captain got really excited. “You are about to see something that 99.9% of the world doesn’t get to see, and that’s a used SpaceX rocket booster which successfully landed on a platform out at sea. It’s waiting here to be cleaned up and used again.”

It was interesting to be that close to an object that had just returned from space, re-entering the atmosphere and showing the extreme burn marks on its metal body.

And then, we were staring directly at three cruise ships, which were docked. They would leave later that day. This was one crazy-busy port. In fact, it’s one of the busiest ports in the nation.

My attention again returned to our captain. I noticed he was open to any question and took each one seriously. We learned he was affiliated with the Coast Guard and had Coast Guard training. This explained his intense focus on the cargo ship experiencing trouble.

Then, he was speaking quietly again to his grandson.

“He must be one hell of a cool grandfather,” I thought. Some grandchildren visit their grandparents for a Sunday dinner; Zeb was learning those wise grandfatherly life lessons standing by him helping with the boat; an old man and a boy at sea.

In fact, it was Mark and his wife who had purchased and refurbished the boat together 25 years ago. The Blue Dolphin was all about family.

 As NASA’s VAB came back into view, I thought about space, but not just the rocket kind. I thought about the space of this man; the world he has chosen to inhabit. He showed us he enjoys sharing his knowledge, has a strong sense of family and service and integrity, and has the strength to be unconventional with it all; like how he just appeared on the dock. No bells and whistles, no apologies; just unassuming but confident.

Oh, he has stories to tell. I am sure of it. And we’ll be boarding again to hear them.

At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.” – Robin Lee Graham