Valentines Day, Farmers Market & what is that noise!

We lent a freedom fender out during high winds she is returning it along with a 12 pk if Sam Adams how nice.
Jim bought a new roller for the pulpit now it needs some beefing up so we can put on the new manson anchor and begin anchoring out.
Jim decided it would be best to add extra support by backing the pulpit up with aluminum so we are having plates made. measurements being taken here.
Our Valentines gift to each other. I have been eyeing this engel cooler for sometime we figure it should pay for itself in 6 months. Its suppose to keep ice for 7 to 10 days.
stocked and chilled I will let you know how long the ice lasts. The last cooler needed all fresh ice 2-3 times per week.
...... before..........sanded......2 coats of marine poly

almost like new

A trip to a Farmers Market is always a treat! Yesterday our friend Jerri and I went to the Jensen Beach farmers market, great deal there on fruits and veggies they also had herb plants and orchids which most of the FM in Florida seem to have. Something else you don't see up north is huge binds of oranges and grapefruits the size that pumpkins come in up north in the fall. We also made a trip to Publix (grocery store) to stock up. Its nice to have the marina shuttle for shopping but way better to have a friend with a car. It was very nice that Jerri invited me along, Thank You Jerri. Our next trip in a few days will be to Wallyworld haven't been there in months. Ahhh yes, sometimes its the little things.

Well its just after 8am and I have been up for nearly 5 hours ugh during the night (3am) I was woke up by this loud screeching noise figuring Jim had to hear it too I laid there until I couldn't take it anymore and went to investigate. The wind had picked up and the line had stretched so the stern was rubbing up against the piling, yes we are once again in a slip that is really too small for our boat. Since I couldn't tighten the line enough to get us off I threw another fender out. I couldn't sleep again after that and had to readjust the fender a couple more times during the night. How could Jim sleep through that? Hmmm it might have been the multiple bottles of wine he went through the night before. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day.

Our theme song, Knee Deep In Paradise

The end to our first week in Stuart FL

And what a beautiful finish to a wonderful warm week in the sunshine state
during the week Jim started to tackle those nasty dining chairs first sanding them
The guys taking a break and watching a Cat boat that the 40kt winds got a hold of, see next picture.
oops Cat boat picked up a mooring rope in his rudder unfortuately another boat was attached. No real damage to either boat but Sea Tow to the rescue took hours for them to get there.
This is what the guys were doing for a few hours as the wind blew in. One boat at a time. Adjusting lines and fenders.
These divers took a look at the bottom of our boat for us. The report had no surprises. zincs need replacing, shaft and props in great condition, Bottom needs a cleaning but not that bad. It will need new bottom paint in the near future. SO now the bottom is clean and the zincs replaced.

Stuart Fl Sunset Bay Marina

Weather has been extremely nice its been in the 80's everyday since we arrived. This marina is beautiful all newly built in 2009, new everything. Very boater friendly, entertainment at the restaurant every night, the marina has a shuttle that takes you to many different stores including home depot, Publix (groceries), Walmart, and some other stops twice a week. They have a meet and greet every Sunday (pot luck) , a ladies social afternoon, and other social gatherings, where people can meet on a beautiful patio area with a gigantic grill, and rocking chairs all around the porch. This Sunday is a Superbowl party in the Club House a social on the patio and other assorted dock parties.


If your planning on using these facilities plan ahead the place is packed. The mooring field has 70 mooring balls and there's 128 slips at the marina, free dinghy dock and a pump out boat that comes around every week.



We went out for some GREAT pizza with Pete and Jerri (5 o'clock) a couple we met a week ago in Melbourne, they are here at Sunset Bay for a month or so. It was a very nice night, when we returned to the marina we all grabbed some wine and met up again in the porch area, shared boating adventures and rocked the night away.

Week 16 We have a schedule.... of sorts

sunset in Fort Pierce
That was a mighty big fish
big fish still moving around

So, if you are a member of the AGLCA one of the first thing they advise, schedules while boating are meant to be broken due to all the unknowns. While we have never been people to schedule much of anything, we thought maybe some type of time line would give us some focus. So here it is, tomorrow we leave Fort Pierce and travel to Stuart (a whopping 25 mile trip) there we shall tie up for a month and consider our southern bound trip complete for this winter. From there we will have 2-3 weeks to travel North back to Jacksonville where we will have some work done to the boat (that's about 250 miles). We will then go home for a couple of weeks while the boat is being hauled out and work done. Once we return, we will then have 4 weeks give or take, to travel to the AGLCA rendezvous in Norfolk VA (2nd week of May) that is a 720 mile trip to ICW mile marker 0. We are also planning to do the Dismal Swamp this time around. We will be in Norfolk for 1 week (scheduled). From there we continue north. The only other stop we really would like to do is Washington DC. While there are many other stop overs we hope to hit, these are the big ones. We figure we will be at NYC or on the Hudson River sometime in June.

So this seems to be the goal, for now, and the immediate one is Stuart tomorrow! We shall see how this works for us, stay tuned.

Fort Pierce great stop over plan on a Friday/Saturday stay

And entertainment as well
all kinds of fruits,vegies,pastry and breads,plants and flowers
lots of food mostly mexican, cuban and BBQ cooked to order
AHHH crusty bread

WOW more than just a farmers market (Sat-8am to 12noon) Lots of crafters with unique products. Food galore! very nice day, traveling with a pet? you will blend right in. Its an easy walk right into downtown many resturants and stores. If your looking for a supermarket its a taxi ride away. We will be here 1 more day, tomorrow we will look at the charts to plot out where where we will head to next, looks like it will be Stuart which is a jump off for the Bahamas. We will not be heading there this year, that is the plan for next winter though.

Melbourne to Fort Pierce

This is an island complete with firepits and picnic tables for boaters to enjoy
got 3 of them there now if i can catch them out of the water
Cocoa beach Pier

We headed out of Titusville on Thursday traveled 50 miles to Melbourne it was a beautiful day to travel. Spent the night at Melbourne Harbor had a late lunch (meal of the day) at Ickabods right at the marina great food! Went back to the boat for drinks and met up with a very nice couple from California who spent a couple of months at Pope Island in Ma. we ended up on their boat (named 5 o'clock) for docktails it was a pleasant evening. We both left the next morning, us heading for Fort Pierce and they are booked for a month in Stuart.

Traveling today we had dolphins playing in our wake on and off most of the day, they are so fun to watch and very difficult to photograph.

We will be here for 3 days and then on to Stuart/Jupiter area not sure where yet we will just take it day to day.