A breathtaking experience. The ship docked on time and after a short wait the car hire shuttle bus picked us up and whisked us to the depot. About $35 later we were on our way to the Kennedy Space Centre. this proved to be the cheapest and best option, especially for 4 people, as the cab fare was over $100.

We had about 1 .5 hours before our tour of the launch pads, maintenance area etc, so we headed to the Atlantis Space shuttle pavilion. On entry you watch a movie about the shuttle and then progress to a spectacular movie about the space shuttle launch - great surround sound, plenty of smoke and haze as you experience what you believe has to be the next best thing to being there. At the end of the launch movie they restate what a magnificent shuttle she was and remind you that when she came back from her last and 33rd mission in July 2011 she had orbited the Earth 4,848 times, traveling nearly 126,000,000 mi (203,000,000 km) in space or more than 525 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. She cost $196 billion.

THEN the screen becomes see through and there she is In all her glory - 80 tons, 37.2m long, 17.2 m high with a wing span of 23.7 m. Complete with digs and dents from being hit by space debris.

At noon we embarked on the Mega bus tour of the actual launch facilities, maintenance areas etc, all the structures are enormous and well worth seeing and hearing about . We even saw an alligator sunning itself - they served as security guards for a long time.

The bus tour gave us seem free time in the Apollo pavilion - where they have all the actual Apollo memorabilia like the actual space suits, the dune buggies that were used on the moon and masses of interesting information as well as a cafe.

Back at the main area we just had time to visit the space shuttle launch simulator, which gives you a really good idea of what it would have felt like to be in the shuttle when it was launched, the enormous jarring and shuddering at take off and when the rocket part was ejected culminates in total silence as you enter space and the top opens to reveal the stars and earth below.

We dropped our trusty car back at the depot after visiting a supermarket for water and other supplies. As the depot was closed we had to catch a short cab ride back to the ship.
As we arrived the heavens opened and we had an enormous downpour, so we ended up reboarding the ship as drowned rats.