Happy 4th of July!

WOW -- they really know how to do up the 4th of July here in Ft Pierce.  Fortunately for me the marina park is the center of the celebration.  I can just walk there.

They set up a stage with a big band doing all kinds of music -- Jimmy Dorsett to Amy Winehouse.

The local power company came and set up a HUGE snorkle truck and flew one of the largest American Flags I have ever seen.  You couldn't feel more proud being an American with that waving in the Palm trees.

I celebrated by putting up my festival flags to dress ship.  Surprisingly I was the only boat decorated in the marina.  It looked GREAT

They had all the street food vendors from the Farmer's market here too.  The crowds just built all day with probably more than thousand here at night for the Fireworks.

The fireworks were very good but not GREAT.  There was a distraction... a drone was flying above the fire works with flashing red and green lights.  I'm sure he got some great video but we all waited to see if one of the fireworks would knock it down -- I know morbid.  He did fine took a lot of video then came down to change batteries for the grand finale.

Sitting on the boat I had a great seat and very comfortable.

The plan is to leave here probably on Sunday to head North to New Bern.  Jill and Wayne from Born to Cruise should arrive here on Saturday then it's off to the races.  And it is a race a !#$%& tropical something may be threatening us by the mid to late next week.  Hopefully we can run 2 days offshore to make Charleston ahead of that event which may not occur at all.  Let's hope.

There are hundreds of pigeons here and they are well feed an smart.  Look at these that are sitting on a dolphin fountain patiently waiting their turn for a drink.

Enjoy my pics today from the celebration.

Still Here!!

Yep - still at the Fort Pierce City Marina. Sorry for the long delay since last blog.

I needed time to sort out our new direction since our plan to leave the boat at Brunswick Landing fell through and my desire to not move the boat north along the ICW through Georgia and Southern South Carolina.

I had to investigate several options which all take time because requests for information in the marine industry is a slow slow process. Phone calls not returned for days, emails not responded to for days if at all, etc.

I investigated getting the boat hauled out till the fall here but all the yards are already full. I wanted to see what that would do to my insurance but still no response. I could leave the boat here at the marina till October 1st but I am uncomfortable leaving the boat here during hurricane season. This marina did fine last year with hurricane Matthew and no boats here suffered damage. This marina is very well built (rebuilt in 2014 to FEMA standards).

We decided to take the boat back to North Carolina. Karen is not aboard right now because of the grueling heat and humidity. I don't really want to travel alone in this big ol boat but could if need be. I investigated hiring a delivery captain and of those that responded all were busy till mid July. The prices ranged from $200 a day to $550 a day with an extra crew at 100 - 150 a day plus food and provision and all travel expenses. On a trip that could take between 4 days and 14 days that could get very expensive.

Fortunately I reached out to old cruising friends Jill and Wayne from the Born to Cruise sailboat and they said they could help out. Thank You! It will be fun running up the east coast with friends. They too are not available until the second week of July so here I stay entertaining myself by doing all kinds of odd jobs on the sailboat.

Changed the main engine oil and filter, washed entire boat (free water here)and then waxed both top sides and hull. That took a few days because the sun is just too intense from 11am till 4pm. Lots of other miscellaneous stuff done too. Started cleaning and greasing the winches yesterday. No end to little jobs in site so I'm not bored.

There is also a good book exchange here so if I do run out of work then I have a lot to read.

Brain is squirming like a toad!

Aaaack my plans to leave the boat at Brunswick Landing Georgia have been dashed. No room now. They had space in early May but it is all gone now. Now I need a new plan.

I decided to go into the Marina at Vero Beach City and leave the boat for a month to look at options. I do NOT want to go up the ICW entirely. It is a mess in several places now. So what to do, what to do. They said I could stay til September 1. They put me on a face dock with weak, missing, loose cleats. I do not like leaving the boat only tied to a face dock with daily thunderstorms or worse expected. What to do, what to do. Hmmm go to the Publixs and grocery shop that's what. Got to eat. I've only been away from USA grocery store for a week and half but I acted like a kid in the candy store. Man I bought too much.

Thursday was a surprisingly rainy day -- all day. I did some boat projects - replaced the pump seals in forward head, cleaned aft head, and worked on diverter valve, read, and chatted but still no resolution on what to do. I kind of want to go back to NC but not up the ICW. A couple of days offshore is really too much for just 2 intrepid sailors and the weather is not good for the next week offshore. I could have the boat hauled out here but I don't like leaving a boat out of the water for an extended time. Maybe put together a team of three to return the boat to NC. What to do what to do.

Time to eat some crow and take Marks suggestion to go to the Fort Pierce City marina. He wanted to do that when we crossed into the Inlet Tuesday but I wanted Vero Beach. Fort Pierce City marina had great reviews on the docks there but there is a mean cross current in there. So I decided to go there and leave the boat for a month. I'll either have the boat hauled, stay at marina, or take it back to NC --- brain is squirming like a toad!

Today we left early to get to Fort Pierce at slack tide. Ohh boy now I have a favorable current all the way and even slowing the engine down 200 rpms and we still arrived about 45 minutes early. Still a current running but not bad then again it is nearly low tide. Ohhh man I can't win.

We worked our way through some confusing marks and the lowest water we saw was 6.7' -- I draw 5.5' so close. We made the marina which is much larger than I expected and the dock master guided us into a great slip. Only one slip away from all the amenities -- showers, office, laundry and the famous Tiki Hut. Wow the facilities are GREAT. Floating docks on massive pilings, thick concrete walkways, massive firmly attached cleats, and everything is super nice. All commercial washers and dryers. However in the check-in process every thing is printed on a dot matrix printer -- ever heard of one? 1970s technology. After lunch it was laundry time and the machines I used were just FINE. Unusual for a marina.

Temptation had one surprise for me. The fresh water pressure switch failed. It would not turn on the pump until all pressure ran out. Fortunately I had an extra and replaced it -- working fine now.

WOW this place is nice -- it is right downtown in Fort Pierce and all has been revitalized. We are going to have some fun exploring this place.

Back in the USA!!

I'm Back...

Wow what a couple of days. We left Green Turtle Cay on Sunday and made the 60+ mile trip to Great Sale Cay and anchored for the night -- a 10 hour trip. Then Monday morning we waited until nearly 11am to head for Fort Pierce, FL - a 19 hour run with all of it over the Gulf Stream at night. I timed it so we would hit the inlet at daylight. I've never been in this inlet. With the delay and the run up to Vero it was actually a 23 hour run.

We had a great run across the banks and once we hit the Gulf stream I had to slow down -- yes slow down in a sail boat. We were going to get there at 4am or the dark. The sailing directions said this was a very rough inlet on an ebb tide and SE winds. Unfortunately that is what we found.

I had both hands on the steering since this is a narrow inlet and LOTS of current. I got scared at one point because without the engine we would end up on the jetty in a heart beat. I told Mark to get my very sharp serrated knife in case I had to drop an anchor quickly. Both anchors were tied down for the crossing. It was slow and we made it in. I then decided to go onto Vero Beach City Marina rather than go to the Fort Pierce City marina because we would have to stop in Vero for provisioning anyway.

The run across the Gulf Stream was as forecast with 2 -3 foot waves but they were directly astern and we could not sail without beating the Genoa to death. It was a very rolly ride. How rolly? While at the restaurant for lunch both Mark and I felt like we were rolling in our chairs -- uncomfortable. Nice to be bouncing on the boat on a mooring tonight.

Boy the Vero Beach marina is nearly empty with only about a dozen boats here. We had our pick of moorings. Away from most since I planned to run the genset tonight and the AC.

We both immediately took an hour nap since neither had any sleep last night. Then a quick shower and lunch at the riverside cafe then onto the Fort Pierce airport to check in with Customs via Uber. It was 30 minute ride for $24 each way but cheaper than the $2.25 a foot at the Fort Pierce marina and still an Uber ride to the airport.

Oh man it took all of 2 minutes to check in but we are legal entries now. Oh you will get a kick out of this. When you enter their office there is no one around just a chair in the middle of the room with a bell like in an old motel and a note that says "ring for service but only once"!

Still at GreenTurtle Cay

The weather forecast this morning was not good -- lots of showers and thunderstorms crossing the little Bahama Bank which is where we would be today. We elected to wait another day. The weather window is remaining open.

In the mean time we went for dinghy ride into Black Sound and the lagoon across from the Bluff House. Lots of wrecked boats on the shore line -- this hurricane hole is NOT living up to its namesake.

Changed the spark plugs in the dinghy outboard motor. I thought it wouldn't get us back but it did.

We will try to leave again tomorrow morning.

Enough fancy eating -- tonight is spaghetti and meat -- the meat is a "surprise" meat. They said it was hamburger and we will find out.

Ready set GO!

Ohhh boy. Looks like our weather window has arrived.

We are heading to Great Sale Cay tomorrow and spending the night. Sunday we will head to the northern banks near White Sand Ridge and head out. Depending on how it goes we might make Fort Pearce, Cape Canaveral, or even Brunswick Georgia. Depends on weather and how we feel in the gulf stream.

Today we made final preparations. I dove on the boat bottom and cleaned it with the last 1000psi in my scuba tank, we went to towns and provisioned for a few more days -- mainly Oj and Gin and Coconut Bread.

It was off and on showers this morning so we had to work around that. I dove on the boat bottom and when I came up it started to rain so I took my shower stuff to the showers here and took a nice long hot one. When I came out it was pouring rain so I didn't even dry off and put my wet swim trunks on and put my back pack in a garbage bag and walked in the driving rain to the boat where I dried off and put dry clothes on. Actually great fun. The pool here was full of young kids swimming in the rain. Great fun.

The trip to town was a bit rough in the dinghy but we had a great time once we got there. We went to Shorty's Take out and had lunch. It was good and relatively cheap. We both had lunch dinners and drinks for $24. That is what one lunch is any other place. Then off to grocery store, liqueur store, and bakery. Have got to get one more Coconut bread for the road.

The McIntosh bakery was at its best today. They had coconut cream pies, key lime pies, with huge domes of merangue, cherry pies and all other assortments. Ummmm good but we left with only the coconut bread and Mark had a coconut ice cream for the road. A great afternoon in GTC.

Cleaned up on the boat this afternoon and made more preparations to depart tomorrow. Topped off the diesel full and water tanks and put the dinghy and motor away. If it is not raining in the morning we will be off -- I never leave in the rain!

Wish us luck and check the position reports on this web page to track us. We will be out of cell phone and internet until Monday or Tuesday.

See were we ended up.

Doing the Turtle Shuffle

Well I was told I still have to leave the Green Turtle Club marina on Saturday the 8th because of reservations.

This caused a lot of consternation. The weather forecast was for frequent severe thunderstorms Wednesday through Friday and a lesser degree on Saturday. The wind on Thursday was supposed to be low 20s gusting to 30s and I did not want to move my boat out of that slip and around all the mega yachts that have already arrived in the Marina -- it is tight.

We decided to move out Wednesday in only moderate wind and try and get a mooring ball in White Sound. I first dove on the propeller to check its condition. It had a lot of very fine grass like structures growing on it as well as the rest of the bottom but they brushed right off -- no barnacles. We then checked out and left the marina -- it was blowing moderately but we made it out with out any white knuckles or yelling -- a good thing. We saw a nice orange mooring and went for it. Well it took 4 attempts to finally get the bridle attached and then we could read the little float that said "RESERVED" -- aaaack. The wind was the factor. It would blow us away before we could attach the bridle.

What to do.. There was no other viable mooring available so I called the Bluff House Marina and they said I could stay tonight but they had reservation and I may have to move tomorrow. Ohh well, Chris Parker was calling for the worst storms tonight into tomorrow so we took a slip. That went pretty well and we were all tied up. Good thing because during the night we had numerous storms roll over and one had lightning so packed together that it looked like a continuous light!

It was a nice day. We met the folks on the 2 other sailboats here and they are all holding to cross back to the US too. Sounds like we might have a buddy boat or two which would be grand. The rest of the afternoon was on again off again showers.

For you cruisers here in the winter where most boats here are either sail or trawler, both marinas are full of large powered mega yachts now. No wonder they wanted me to be gone. These folks spread BIG money around although most are quite rude -- could be that "Kalik drip" they have all day long.

After a stormy night it has been a quiet windy day with just a couple of showers. I cleaned the knot log transducer and launched the dinghy. Installed new cam cleats on the dinghy davits. The old ones were slipping occasionally. We met the locals on a Catamaran on that orange mooring so it was good we didn't stay until kicked off. My old slip at the Green Turtle Club had a small mega yacht in there this afternoon.

So far they have not asked us to move. I hate when I can't have a definite plan!

Mark and I went to lunch at the Tranquil Turtle Beach bar here today. There were only a couple of folks there and we got waited on quickly. We ordered a couple of Kaliks and then tried to order lunch but she wouldn't take the order. "We are out of gas but more is coming". Grrrr this is the same place where my Christmas Dinner -- Special Sweet and Sour Chicken dinner -- consisted of 3 wings and a broken drum stick.

Well the threat of rain was high so we just enjoyed the bar and finally ordered about 45 minutes later. I had the Cracked Conch and it was good. Long lunch -- we didn't get back on the boat till 2:30pm

We have just been puttering around the boat and trying to look scarce so they don't ask me to leave -- wishful thinking I guess.

So we will probably be here tonight. I sure don't want to anchor out here because the holding is poor.

Now what's for dinner?