Stuart to Fort Pierce, Florida
We took our time before leaving in the morning from Stuart. We were waiting for the tides to be in our favour as it was shallow at our end of the marina. We used the time to prepare the boat and Cam was able to get some work done. We asked for some help getting off the dock because it was a bit windy. Did we ever feel the wind as we exited the marina! It sure felt windier than the 13 to 15 knots predicted. However, the winds seemed more reasonable once we got on to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) and passed the St Lucie Inlet. It must have been the fetch that made it seem windier. Our trip was only about three and a half hours, and we were docking in Fort Pierce at Safe Harbor Harbortown Marina around 2:30 PM. Along the way we saw a Looper boat that was proceeding very slowly while we passed them so we hailed them to see if everything was okay. They had just crossed their wake a mile before! Crossing your wake means that you have gone all the way around the Great Loop and you are crossing the waters where you left your wake when you began your Loop. I guess they were just enjoying the moment. It's exciting to see people finish their Loop. This couple came from England to to embark on this grand adventure. Wow!
We ended up secured to the fuel dock in Ft Pierce at Safe Harbor Harbortown Marina. It was not ideal as it was a little challenging getting on and off the boat but it was manageable. At one point, Heather had climbed over the railing on the side of our boat and was trying to reach a leg back to the dock when someone came by to pull the boat closer for her to get off. Cam's legs are longer so it was safer to wait for him to disembark after that. After a little boat work, we went for a walk, and a swim in the pool. The pool was kind of unique with a shallow end at each end and the deep part in the middle.
On Thursday we went to the Navy SEAL museum. It was very interesting to learn the history of the Navy SEALs and their predecessors, how they came into being, as well as what they still do today. The history starts with the frogmen in WWII; the naked men in the Battle of Normandy, who wore only masks and underwear, and carried knives; to the official start of the SEALs in the 1960s Vietnam War; and
finally to more current manoeuvres like the killing of Osama bin Laden. There is an outdoor display as well including the Navy SEAL Memorial Wall, a Navy SEAL K9 Memorial for all the dogs who served, some boats and vehicles, and the obstacle course training equipment. We tried some of the equipment and decided we did not have what it would take to be a Navy SEAL! Just as we were leaving we looked up in the sky and saw the strangest and most incredible rainbow like display in a cloud that turned out to be a sundog. Cool!
Fort Pierce to Titusville, Florida
We got away from Fort Pierce early and went at speed wherever we could as we had a long day of 72 nautical miles. Whenever we were going slow, Heather took the opportunity to vacuum, clean bathrooms, and generally make the place ship-shape. It was nice to have a clean boat when we reached our destination. The marina called us saying they were concerned about 10 to 12 mile per hour winds at our destination and wondered if we were still coming, which seemed odd to us, but we said we were still coming. That should have been a red flag for us. Then the dock master was very specific about our time of arrival, so we complied, thinking that it must have been a slack tide issue. We got lots of help when we were docking, which was good because the Kennedy Point Park Marina doesn't have much protection from the wind - another red flag we didn't think about. We were docked and the boat was tied up well, so we went for a swim before dinner, which was really nice after a long hot day of 7 1/2 hours on the water.
We could look east across the water from the marina and see the distinctive Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. Very cool! It was too bad that there wouldn't be any launches while we were there, but we were still excited about touring the Kennedy Space Center the next day. On Saturday, we had a big breakfast to prepare us for our big day. The center is divided into different sections based on the time period of space
exploration. We bought a two day pass so we could see as much as possible. We did the Space Shuttle, where the Atlantis is on display, The Future and the Rocket Garden on our first day. It was so cool to actually see the Space Shuttle Atlantis! You might ask what a Rocket Garden is. This is where the replicas of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo rockets are and they are literally the seeds that grew into today's technology for space exploration.
On our second day, we did the bus tour past the launchpads and the huge Vehicle Assembly Building to the Apollo and Saturn V building. We enjoyed learning all the details about the missions as well as seeing the tributes to the astronauts who were lost. We got a mission briefing and saw an IMAX film on tracking asteroids and NASA's plan should an asteroid be on a collision path with the earth. We had fun
interacting with the exhibits and just getting perspective on the sizes of these rockets, especially in terms of living space. All exits leave through the gift shop and we were surprised to see some souvenir mugs that were very similar to mugs that Heather's parents brought back for all of us many years ago. Heather's brother Peter, still uses his to this day so here they are for your comparison.
On our last day in town we went to Space Point Park to see the monuments to the space program. That included the handprints of the Apollo astronauts, so we tried our hands in several of the handprints. There was also a tribute to John F Kennedy who, after the first manned flight in space, announced that they would go to the moon before the end of the decade! Ambitious!
Saturday night we went to dinner with Heather's longtime work friend, Wendy, and her husband, Tom. We had a great visit and then they offered to take us on Sunday to get our propane tanks refilled. It seemed odd to us that the stores would be open, but we accepted the offer. Sunday was Easter and it felt like a very strange Easter to us. We couldn't even get the church service working on YouTube, but we did manage to watch it during dinner. We went with Wendy and Tom to get propane. Before they left, we took them down to see the Manatees in The Cove at the marina and they put on a good show for us. They were the first Manatees that they had seen during their stay in Florida.
Sunday afternoon, Heather took some laundry to the clubhouse and ran into the crews of Witness and Still Waters II who had gathered together for an Easter brunch. She had a short visit with them and came back with Cam later. Claudia, from Still Waters II, was alone cleaning up their brunch and her husband Dave was out driving the others back to their marina and giving a driving lesson to Witness’s oldest daughter. We had a great visit with Claudia, and then Dave joined in when he returned. Our boat was bouncing around quite a bit with the wind and waves so it was much more comfortable to spend time in the clubhouse, where we spent most of the afternoon. Claudia generously volunteered to drive us to the Space Centre on Monday, which we accepted.
When we returned from the Space Centre on Monday, it was too rough to be on the boat so, again, we worked in the clubhouse. Dave and Claudia had moved off their boat and to their trailer which was nearby. They came by later and left us their car to use while we were in town. So generous! We weren't going anywhere until the wind and waves settled down. We went out to dinner to avoid the rocking and banging on our boat. On Tuesday
morning, we learned that a boat had sunk on the dock. Crazy! It turns out that the marina is not allowed to build a proper breakwall because it is a protected Manatee area. So that was why the Dock Master was warning us about the winds, but we never imagined that a marina would not be sheltered! We were so happy to have Dave and Claudia's car and we used it to go and get haircuts, buy shoes, get groceries, and to go to Ace Hardware for boat stuff. It was getting a little more comfortable on the boat so we were able to work there that afternoon. At 6:30 we were still working away so when Dave and Claudia called and invited us to go out for dinner, we agreed and had a great evening out. They told us to hang on to the car keys for Wednesday too. We were stuck with these winds so we accepted their very kind offer.
Sometime overnight on Tuesday as the boat continued to move with the wind and the waves, Cam heard a loud bang and got up to investigate but he found nothing. Later, Heather heard voices saying something about the power being off on someone's boat. She checked to ensure that our power was on, and the voices stopped so she went back to sleep. In the morning, we heard a pump and lots of voices. It turned out that the boat a
couple of slips behind us had sunk!! We later figured that the noise Cam had heard in the night was the boat's muffler hitting the dock because that is what punctured the hull and caused the boat to sink. The owner had woken our neighbour for help when he realized that his boat was sinking. They shut off the power to the boat, which is what Heather heard them discussing,
and then they both rested on our neighbour's boat until daylight. It didn't completely submerge because when it rested on the bottom, half of it was above water. So many people were helping and we didn't know how to help but Cam donated some spray foam which sealed the hole, and Heather fed the owner. They managed to get it floating again, miraculously, but we heard it sunk again later in the season. I suspect that they didn't replace the spray foam, which is only supposed to be a temporary fix. Apparently, this was already a salvage boat. What a day!
We were very happy to see the winds dying down for a departure on Thursday even though the forecast showed that we might have to skirt around some rain. Anything to get out of there! We were so grateful to Dave and Claudia for helping make our stay so much better with the loan of their car!
Click on the photos below to view the images in slideshow mode. Coming up next, we head north to Hammock Beach and St Augustine.
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