Happy Holidays from Fort Pierce Florida

It's December 24th and we've spent the past few days in Fort Pierce in warm, sunny, dry weather - a welcome change from the first couple of weeks on the boat. No more mittens!

We're at a marina because we can't get our Yamaha 8hp dinghy engine to run. With no working outboard it's not very inviting to anchor somewhere remote or pick up a mooring ball. We do have oars, of course, but rowing any distance and/or in strong currents isn't very much fun, so we're at a dock for a week at least.  It's looking more and more like it's a carburetor problem. If so, we'll need a to get a new one. And, of course, as these things usually go, it's a weekend. And a holiday. So no place to get parts or assistance for a few more days. Oh well. There are worse places to be stuck than Fort Pierce.

Backing up a tiny bit, after leaving Fernandina Beach (last post), we stopped overnight in St Augustine, which was uncharacteristically quiet, as you can see below.

We decided to keep pushing south to warm up a little more and made only a couple of stops before reaching New Smyrna Beach, where we stayed three days at the city marina. This was an early morning photo of the ICW along the way.

The days are so short now that if we're trying to go a decent distance (which for us means 40 miles going 5 or 6 knots an hour - 8 hours of chugging along), it means getting up before dawn and aiming to reach a destination well before sunset, just in case there are hold-ups along the way. Delays at bridges that only open on a fixed schedule, adverse currents that slow us way down, running aground in very shallow water at low tide (yep, we've done that a few times already since the recent hurricanes have caused a lot of unmarked and sometimes unavoidable shoaling along the ICW), or other delays.

Along the way the scenery varies from wide open sawgrass lowlands with egrets and dolphins to homes that look like someone dreamed of living in Disneyland. This one was just north of Daytona.

In New Smyrna Beach we were just in time for the catered holiday party at the City Marina. It was AMAZING. Cruisers brought sides and deserts and their own beverages, but the marina provided turkey, salmon, trout, and ham, and some of the people who came were locals who operated restaurants, so we were treated to lobster bisque, grilled asparagus, and other treats. That night was the boat parade of lights and many boats at the marina were decorated for the holidays as well.

One day we walked the couple of miles to the New Smyrna beach. Yup, it's Florida.

After New Smyrna Beach we anchored a couple of nights en route to Fort Pierce since the weather was much warmer and we could survive chilly nights. We have a little space heater on the boat but we need to be plugged into shore power to use it.  We would have continued south, but we need to deal with the outboard. After making lots of phone calls to try to locale Yamaha parts and a mechanic, we decided to stop here. Fort Pierce may have the help we need, but only after Christmas.

While here, we've enjoyed the outstanding Farmer's Market....

...where Jim got crab cakes Benedict for breakfast yesterday morning...

And there's abundant, beautiful fresh produce and lots of people-watching as entertainment.

In the background is the Fort Pierce Library, which unfortunately seems to be closed for the week between Christmas and New Years.

We bought some of this excellent Parmesan cheese at the market.

Of course there are Christmas trees (fake) and palm trees (real)

And of course there are several tiki bars and restaurants right on the waterfront

As you might expect, there are lots of tile roofs and stucco this far south, and the downtown area has many art deco facades too. Fun for walking.

Because we have some time on our hands and we're plugged into shore power, I walked to the Ace Hardware yesterday and bought a heat gun so we can tackle removing varnish from the toe rail on Neverland. I'm keeping up the varnish everywhere else, but can't stand the thought of varnishing all around the stanchions, sail tracks and other hardware on the toe rail. So off it comes and we'll leave it as raw teak to weather to a nice grey color. Here's a photo of the most nasty part to clean up. All those little nooks and crannies are a pain.

 Clean bare teak now at the bow, with lots of removed varnish to sweep up on deck.

 And one last photo of the taped off and newly varnished and drying teak elsewhere on deck.

So yeah, as I've mentioned before, cruising is often about fixing things and working on your boat in exotic or not so exotic places. But it's rewarding work and sometimes it's even fun! We love this boat and she brings us a lot of joy, no matter where we cruise.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. We love to tay in touch and send you warm wishes for the holidays and a healthy and happy 2018!!