Sunday April 7: Ft. Pierce - SOS Deal

 The anchorage at Hobe Sound last night turned out to be very nice. We were concerned about the wind direction and strength when we first anchored but it seemed to be settling down - except of course when Peter and Cheryl made their way in and the wind came up (they travel about 6 knots and we travel a bit faster so we arrived and anchored first).

It made it quite difficult for them to pull up to us and get tied but like the pros they are, success in the end :-)

The anchorage wasn't terribly large but only 2 other boats stayed the night. You can see how close to shore we were.

There was a bit of work to be done though. Steve took apart the anchor windless to try and figure out why it quit running. The breaker had tripped so definitely some issue inside. The gears actually looked pretty good - probably the motor then. Time for a new windless.

Fortunately we can have it sent to Matt and Wendy's (we'll be there later this month) so we can pick it up then and have it installed before we start traveling through Georgia and farther north. In the meantime, let's just say Steve is getting lots of pulling exercise :-)

It was up early and off for a short 3 hour run to Ft. Pierce. Rain clouds were around but we were fortunate and managed to miss them.

And we are now in the land of the tall bridges so Surona will not be delayed waiting for the bascule (lift) bridges to open.

We've been to this marina before but they had a SOS (Save On Sunday) special that allowed us to dock for $52 for the night. Very inexpensive for this part of Florida - which is why we like to just anchor out if we can! A huge renovation is being completed with new barrier islands being built and the size of the marina being doubled. Lots of construction going on for sure.

The park next to the marina is really nice and is used every Saturday for a Farmer's Market.

Many fishing boats go out of this area as the Ft. Pierce Inlet is one of the best in the region (many of the smaller inlets shoal continually making it quite dangerous to go in/out unless you really know the waterway).

One boat had caught several large Amberjacks (like 60 lbs!!) and half a dozen other large fish.

It was appetizers on the flybridge (compliments of Peter and Cheryl) and then dinner below as Steve had made pizza.

I still marvel at how wonderful it is that we are so fortunate .....

and a great sunset again to boot .....