Fort Pierce, FL Again
Tuesday, April 7
We are back in the USA! Fort Pierce, FL. Got in at 2:00 am. Long trip. Tired. Will fill in the details later today.
1). Wow! What a day yesterday was! Sunday night we looked at a lot of websites to see if the weather window to cross had stayed the same. It was 111 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Bahamas weather looked good-finally. Florida's weather showed storms coming in early Wednesday morning but we still had Tuesday as a buffer day. We looked at the tides leaving Bell Channel and entering Fort Pierce Inlet. The currents looked in our favor. The winds (ESE) and waves (1-2 feet) were low but we knew the Gulf Stream would give us a push with 3.5 knots of current behind us. I sent our Float Plan to the kids and we took off at 8:30 am.
3). And about 45 minutes of the spinnaker flying a pop up shower settles over us. Rain! Down came the sail and up went the main sail. The winds increased slightly as did the waves. Kim could see the storm on the charts so knew we would travel out of it soon. And we did. More pop up showers were expected so Kim put the wet spinnaker back in it's bag and pulled the now heavy sail to the cockpit.
5). Now it's dark and we still have 5 hours to go. We start to see lighting in the distance. We both are listening to audible books to distract us. We are moving good but at 8 knots it is just a crawl. It gets down to the last 10 miles. Two storms are on either side of us but still staying away from us. Waves start to build. We see the red light of the buoy that marks the channel. The winds pick up slightly but still manageable. 10 miles at 6 knots still will take us about an hour and a half. Again with the lightening and thunder. Let me tell you, I have prayed more on the journey then I ever have! Prayers answered and we enter the channel with the current pushing us in. They are dredging the channel so we had to squeak by the barges to make our way to the marina. Rain started but it was just a drizzle. Back into our slip and tied up. 2:00 am. We zipped the enclosure up and the heavy rain started. (I took this picture in the morning :) Slip C-6 right by the Tiki Taxi and restaurant. We are hear for a month to get some boat work done before we go to Jacksonville to haul Dorothy's Gale 2 out of the water for Hurricane Season.
4). Eventually the weather cleared up and we entered the Gulf Stream. It was great. We had a southeast wind and a strong current pushing us north towards Fort Pierce. We had hoped to get in to the marina around midnight. We knew our slip assignment and have been to this marina 2 other times. So coming in at dark was not a big deal. However, the Coast Guard comes on the VHF radio and is taking about gale force winds, water spouts, building waves between the Bahamas and Florida. We finally heard that Miami was getting nailed with storms and the storms was headed to the Bahamas.
2). We traveled along the coast of the island for about 3 hours. Saw 10-15 freighters outside the Freeport Harbor. And there was about 3 cruise ships in port. Kim decided to throw up the Spinnaker (Go Eagles!) due to the light winds.
Tuesday & Wednesday, April 7-8
We are taking care of things that needed to get done. Kim a much needed haircut. Laundry.
We took down our tattered Bahamas flag. It definitely shows how much wind we had. We went to Skipper's Cove for dinner Tuesday night and listened to music before we crashed early.
Today it is "monsooning" and windy. Good day to stay inside and veg.
Thursday, April 9
Still windy and rainy but we needed to get some papers in the mail and pick up Kim's prescription at Publix so off we went with rain coats and umbrellas. Walked by The Peacock House and peacocks were crossing the road. It's an Art School/Gallery. 7 miles later we were back at the boat. Whew!
Kim has started his boat projects. Boat is a little messy. And of course a couple from another boat want to tour the boat because the woman wants a bigger boat like ours. Oh well!
Went up to Skipper's Cove for dinner and to listen to music. Band was really good!
Friday-Saturday, April 10-11
The boat projects have begun. We did take time today to go to the Farmer's Market.
Sunday and Monday, April 12-13Again, boat projects, pool, listening to music from the band at the restaurant. Nothing super fun going on right now.
Week of April 14-20th
Not much going on except boat projects. Two new inverters, new shelf behind the cushions by table for more storage, new AC control displays, fixed the high water alarm, selling old parts on eBay, waiting for parts to arrive. We did walk to the Farmer's Market again on Saturday and had lunch at the Funky Cuda. I went to the pool and no one was there.
Mystery ship came in at night and tied up on the fuel dock. Was there for a week. Police came to investigate. Yesterday it was gone. Still do not know any details.
Wednesday, April 22Another rainy, windy day. Our smoke detector went off at 4:00 am. It's saying "Get out now! Smoke in the basement." No clue why since there was no smoke. We looked high and low and found nothing. So we started a day very early!
Kim had more holes to cut in the boat. Circuit breakers for the inverters. We did take time to go to the store in between rain drops.
Thursday, April 23
Another rainy day. At least the wind is not so strong. Still working on boat projects. Kim calls it doing his boat yoga.
Marina had an end of the season potluck. Talked to some YouTubers, "Sailing Dauntless". They have a big catamaran. Also, I won a Yeti cooler in the raffle.
New invention. Shorts with a bottle opener! Things you see at a potluck!
Saturday, April 25
Finally a sunny day. No wind! Our new friends, John and Donna, left this morning. They were here for 4 days and hopefully we can connect with them in the future.
Walked into town to go to the hardware store and the Farmer's Market. Went to an art show. Stopped at the Funky Cuda for drinks on the way home. Live music, John Connor, was good! Stopped at the fish market for fresh salmon, smoked fish dip and smoked mahi-mahi. 7+ miles! Whew!
The Boston House was built in 1909 by William E. Jones, the third sheriff of St. Lucie County. It is not opened yet but will be a fine dining restaurant. Probably too fancy for us!
Wednesday, April 29
Boat projects are pretty much done. Now we are organizing each compartment. We took way too much stuff back in 2023 when we left and have never used most of it. All these extra items are coming off the boat and coming home.
Side note.... it is bull shark breeding time and there are a lot of sharks outside the fuel dock. We are trying to get good footage of them for you all.
Michael's next ride!
So Kim carried this free drink card from Crabby's in his wallet for a year. We walked over from the Farmer's Market and see this sign on the door.They defaulted on their taxes and the city closed them down! So sad!
SARAH! Boiled peanuts!!!!!
