65′ Nina built by hand, 85′ Pinta- at Vero Beach City Marina docks for 10 days

I am sure that someday one of our stops at Vero Beach City Marina mooring field will be short, but this wasn’t the one. If only our MINI Cooper, Bonny was here to make the post title complete! The day we arrived at 1:15pm, mooring #47 was the only empty ball remaining. Fenders out, lines ready, prepared to raft we were. True to form, the more prepared the more likely “it” won’t happen.

From our ball #47 looking south- oh… who’s that boat?

Ortolan beat us here; her new owners taking the same window we did to get across. The window would shut for the next seven to ten days, so if you were interested and ready, now was the time. We chatted and lamented that very soon they’d be hauling out for the summer.  I really dislike being hauled out because it means work, work, work. Our next haul out appears to be two, yes TWO years away!! Yes, that’s really good.

How many bus trips in to Publix? I lost count; surely more than the trips to the ABC Liquor Store and other miscellaneous stores, oh and the post office and the Farmers’ Market- which we got to twice. Panera got two stops also. It’s located very close to Publix you know.

Yum, arugula shoots. Two weeks earlier I bought radish shoots- they held up very well

Dentist appointments checked off too. Another very important stop was a visit to Battery Plus Bulbs, a nationwide small chain of shops that sell all kinds of batteries and bulbs. Russ had called numerous places and mobile services in an effort to have my iPhone brought back to life with a new battery.  This shop required using two bus routes, but we were up for the challenge. Competent, professional and quick service; all for less than $50.

Packages arrived from our best friends at Amazon, Defender and Quill. After an easy (yes miracles do happen) tax prep and filing morning, we got ourselves settled and engaged in our respective cording/line endeavors.

First step- lots of online research, then some trial and error. Next, “borrow” 2ft of my new brass wire and success!

Remember Russ’s lifeline project last summer- the one where we saved a ton of time and money by not putting a new vinyl covering over the “in good shape” stainless lines? Now he was taking it a step further into the realm of “soft but stronger than steel” line, namely Dyneema. We first used it as a way to attach our bridle hook to the anchor rode back in Ortolan days. Russ next used it for the lifting bridles to hoist up the dinghy. After reading that it worked well as a replacement for stainless lifelines, he replaced the stainless lines at the bow. Every time we’d lean over the line to attach the bridle to the anchor chain, a bit of rust would rub off on our shirts if we weren’t really crazy careful. That was successful, so why not do that all around; eliminate some rattling and have no rust or teeny shards of stainless ready to attack you.

Lines, knots, braids, splicing- oh my!

I had the good fortune (I think) to be introduced to knotting/macramé by Erin on m/v Barefeet. She admired a bracelet I’d made using a smooth coral piece with a center space- perfect for using a Larks’ Head knot on either side to make a bracelet. Her version used knotted macramé and she sent me the link for the “how to.”   Gee, what is it about cording that might be more cruiser/boater/water friendly? Maybe the fact that it won’t tarnish? Could be some merit there, as I often have to remove tarnish from the silver and copper jewelry I make. Salt water and even salty air love to leave their mark on metals. Add a how-to book to that Amazon order and aweigh I go.

This Great Horned Owl swooped in one evening.

A first! Great horned owl on boat next to us at 7:45pm- dusk

We’d hoped to see PDQ34 friends Jack & Diane on Airlia, but the day after we arrived they took off for what must have been a mini cruise because as long we stayed they didn’t return. Hey, it’s not US… is it?

However; Soulstice not only arrived after our chores were done (two weeks later) but they got the mooring next door- which is the closest we came to being rafted. They’d spent mucho time in the Abacos, enjoying the seldom visited out (more west) islands and cays; just what they like. I gaped at Lesli’s collection of sea biscuits, sand dollars and baskets that she’d woven herself since George Town. Very handy to have pretty baskets to display collected beach treasures. And boy, that girl can sure stir the pot! As in it prompted a mini Manta moment on Sunday and that’s all I’m gonna say.

Twins & Soulstice- a mini rendezvous

Pizza on Soulstice– doesn’t she cut well?

And then we thought Airlia had returned. I mean a PDQ34 picks up the only open mooring near the condo complex where they live, so why even check with the binoculars? But hey, no. It’s a new PDQ family member! Don and Lesli had returned from a shopping trip, noticed the boat and the next thing we know, it’s cocktails on Soulstice! Nick and Tayrn (rhymes with Karen) of (you’re gonna love this) Taryn Aweigh are new owners, bound for a couple of months in the Bahamas with a few other PDQs. We all shared as much about each other as humanely possible in less than two hours. Was really nice hanging out, even if it was up on the windy flybridge! 🙂

Our very first raft buddies from Nov 2010 arrived.  Vero is much like George Town, Bahamas; many boats stop to enjoy the pleasures of this protected lagoon so sooner or later you will run into people you know and you will meet lots of new peeps.  They played Uber and gave us a ride into town with their rental car so we had a quick catch-up and heard they’d be leaving soon, to do that “try and sail thing” up to St Mary’s inlet.

My marina shower buddy

To shower on board or use the marina shower, ah that is the question. As with many aspects of living aboard the answer isn’t always obvious. Although for Russ, who had the pleasure of a foot fungus a few years ago, he chooses “aboard” 99% of the time. This time I hit the bonus round and found a shower buddy.

Finally, the big day arrived. No, not departure day, although it was. This was the reason we’d spent 18 nights here; have our screens replaced. The Phantom Screens operate like an old-fashioned roller shade, either closing vertically, or horizontally as in the case of our door. The front window now has a finer mesh screen to keep out smaller insects and the little plastic gizmo on the roller set to a simple up and down and not “roller shade” mode. The door screen is now black instead of the old dark gray and is even less noticeable. It fits fully into the frame now. The old one didn’t fit because it had been trimmed a few times. The magnetic catch is new and the crappy screws got replaced with stainless ones. All for way less $$ and a much shorter lead time than if we’d had the Phantom franchise operation in CT do the work.  These screens are used primarily in Florida homes, boats are a minuscule (another “mini”) piece of their biz. Here anyway.

The job complete, Joe taken ashore. Only took 4 dinghy trips. Ate lunch, cast off the one remaining mooring line and bye, bye Vero.  Next stop, St Augustine. See you there!

Generally, for high mileage trips like a crossing, the prudent mariner creates Plan A, Plan B and perhaps even Plan C. We had all that and more if you really want to get into the nitty-gritty of it. The forecast (from all our sources) couldn’t quite settle in which meant we’d better have a few plans, just in case. I guess one plan was even staying put- we must be up to D by now.

A while back I’d said, “I do not want to cross back to the Fort Pierce inlet.” After hearing that the current would be coming in with us and the wind at our backs, I relented and agreed it could be one of the Plans.

Entering back in at Lake Worth/Palm Beach would be fewer miles and a better inlet. We’d have the option to anchor up in the north part of the lake, get a marina slip or continue on up the ICW. After calling 5 possible marinas between North Palm and Ft Pierce, only one, Ft Pierce City Marina had space. We didn’t reserve, just kept that in mind if we made it that far.

One departure day eve, we decided to zoom across, enter in at Lake Worth and continue north up the ICW to as far as we could. The forecasters promised an uptick in wind speed around noon, so if we left early, moved along at 3000rpm (approx. 13kts/ 15mph), got a push from the northward flowing Gulf Stream, we’d “get inside” before lunch. Amazingly the plan went, well, as planned. Wind and waves out of the SE made for a comfortable push, the Gulf Stream helped most of the way, even giving us a top speed of 19kts down a wave at one point, and we entered the inlet five hours later at noon.

Farewell Bimini as we depart out the narrow channel from Bimini Sands Resort

A handful came out from the marinas at North Bimini, some heading south and the rest of us heading back across. We passed a few sailboats who’d departed much earlier.

Bye Bye Bahamas at 7 :06am

Yes, the wind came up; yes we continued on; no we didn’t anchor at Jensen Beach as planned (to my relief although I didn’t let on); instead we took a spot on “L” dock at Ft Pierce City Marina, the wind opposing the current and two guys to catch lines, easy peasy. Then we cleared back in, lowered our yellow quarantine flag and knew with certainty that “shades of blue Bahamas” had been left behind.

I give the marina two thumbs up for their responsiveness and attention to communications. About an hour out, they called to let us know a traffic accident had knocked out power citywide including the marina, “in case you wanted to make other arrangements.” Funny thing was, we hadn’t expected to have power there. Not because it was crappy or unavailable, but because on the new floating docks it was some new fancy set-up that the electrical system of many vessels wouldn’t accept. We’d talked to another PDQ34 who had that problem, so we had advance warning and the marina said we could run our generator if shore power wouldn’t work for Twins.

“Other arrangements?” No way honey; we are done for the day. 11 hours and 123nm/148land miles done. Got the generator going so our lasagna dinner could be warmed up (thank you Ann!) but within 10 mins power was restored so we plugged in, flipped the switches and lo and behold, we had shore power! Oh, did I mention “no charge for power tonight due to the outage”?  Ten years or so (don’t hold me to it) ago, marinas began charging transients a nightly/weekly/monthly rate for power based on the amount you need; e.g. 30, 50 amps. A typical charge is $5 for 30amp power.

Even the laundry was impressive. Two sets of front loaders flanked a table and several long shelves of exchange books. One dryer had a “not working” sign but mid-morning when I was using the other set, the repair guy was doing his thing. Even asked if all was ok with the ones I was using and ran a test on both washer and dryer when he was done. Nice young man too.

This green heron had the perfect spot for hanging out in anticipation of a meal.

A real life graphic, the green heron was so photogenic

Because we had power, we stayed two nights. Twins received a thorough wash down. We ate dinner at The Original Tiki Restaurant on site using a 20% coupon compliments of FPCM.

What rain? Russ works on

Our main fuel tank gauge read E when we arrived; the perfect time, no not to fuel up but to measure the tank! Measured, calculated, estimated and determined a formula for more accurately estimating fuel remaining or required. We tested it out the day we left (Friday 4/7) when we fueled up and came within 2 gals. Good deal.

Measuring tank size and amt of fuel in inches

Being in Florida (do you notice that “lori” is in Florida?) means scads of manatee signs and you really need to read them because they aren’t all the same. Depending on time of year, in or out of the ICW channel, you may need to go very slowly, or just not exceed a certain (usually very generous speed). The below is copied from an article in Cruising Odyssey which lands in our email In box every Friday. Very timely; as if welcoming us back.

From a link from article in Cruising Odyssey – Living the dream under power

There’s good news for the manatees, Florida’s official marine mammal. They are no longer an “endangered” species; instead, they’ve been downgraded to just “threatened.” The U.S. Interior Department, which is in charge of such things, announced the change just after Manatee Appreciation Day. (Who knew? It’s March 29, in case you want to celebrate next year.)

Manatees, which can live 60 years or so, have been around for the past 45 million years. They move slowly, spending most of their time eating seagrass or sleeping, although they can swim four or five miles an hour if they really push it. They’re usually 10 to 12 feet long, and weigh 1,200 to 1,800 pounds. One problem is that they reproduce at a low rate. A mother manatee can give birth to a calf every three years, but then the calf is dependent on the mother for the next two. The other problem is that they and boats tend to end up in the same place a lot of the time.

In the ‘70s, Florida’s manatee population was down to just a few hundred, but now, after all the slow-down-for-manatees zones and other protections, the state has a healthy population of 6,620 manatees. Still, the Fish and Wildlife Service, which did the manatee review for the Interior Department, says we need to keep all the legal protections in place so the manatees don’t lapse back the “endangered” category. It seems like we’ll have to live with all those manatee zones for a long time to come. Yes, I know slowing down all the time is a pain, but personally, I think anybody who’s been around for 45 million years deserves a break.

Next stop Vero Beach City Marina, where we landed the last open mooring ball that day. How long would the Velcro hold us? Place your bets now.