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Trip's Log
Date: Apr 13 to Jun 13
Total Distance: 126 nms
Destination: Dragon Point (Melbourne), Addison Point (near Cape
Canaveral)
Route: ICW, Banana River
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| Fort Pierce City Marina was our home for two
months. The water here is a beautiful azure blue,
not unlike Marathon's, and it's amazingly clear. And like Marathon,
fishing is BIG here. People were fishing on our docks left and right, and
up until the wee hours of the morning. We saw fish - jack crevalle,
mullets, sheepshead, catfish to name a few - jumping around, jack
crevalle chasing the smaller fish. Up until May, a farmer's market was
held at the marina grounds every
Saturday morning.
One vendor was from a French bakery - their baguettes were the best in
all of Florida! Literally steps away is the library. And let us tell you
this is a library with a view - its magazine section has comfortable
sofas overlooking the shimmering blue waters of the Indian River. Most days when we
took a break between projects and chores, you could find us there surfing the net or reading magazines. For entertainment, there are 2
tiki bars on the marina premise with live music on the weekends.
Alternatively, there was HBO on the boat. Life indeed was good.
During these two months, we had several visitors - Mine all Mine
(from Beaufort, NC.; these guys follow us around, ha ha) and Firecat
(from Arizona; we met them at Marathon) stopped by the marina one night
while en route to
Chesapeake Bay. Roger, Sophal's college
buddy, on a business trip from Singapore, came to visit for a couple of
days. Island Time is docked here also; we hung out with them at
the marina as well as at their condo on Hutchinson Island, a mere 20 minutes
away.
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Any of you readers heard about Magic Fingers, a popular machine found in most
hotel rooms back in the 70s and early 80s? Pop in a quarter and the bed
will shake giving you a massage. Well, we met its inventor here at the
marina. John lives on his boat Magic Fingers. The man is so fit it's
hard to believe he's over 80 years old! Then there was this couple Cherry and
Jimmy Carter, who live on their sailboat with their birds, cat and dog. They got married
at the docks
Jun 8 and invited all the boaters. The wedding was held at the gazebo
in the park near the marina, followed by a reception at a nearby gallery. Jimmy is a jack
of all trades, artist being one of them. The whole affair was very
interesting and one of a kind, and the food was splendid.
Jun 5 We happened to tune in to the TV and all the reporters
were gushing over Endeavor's lift off. We immediately rushed out of our boat to see if we
could catch it. There was Endeavor roaring off into the sky, creating a stream
of smoke below it. It was so cool. We were darned lucky to stumble upon it when we did.
Lots of boaters try to schedule their cruise around a launch at Cape Canaveral,
and more often not the launch gets cancelled.
Jun 13-19 It was time to go. When getting out of our slip, we underestimated the water
current so the captain did not make a wide enough turn. Before we knew it,
the current had pushed our boat, now broad sided, towards our neighbor's boat. Our railings
rubbed, but fortunately, the fiasco left both boats unscathed. Except for
that 30 seconds of adrenaline rush, our passage to
Daytona Beach was quite uneventful and may even be considered boring! Most days, it was
predictably hot and humid with
thunderstorms and scattered showers. We anchored past Dragon's Point
in Melbourne on the Banana River, took the dinghy out and explored the
surrounding area. Other than some runabouts with waterskis, it was pretty
quiet. Another night, an oncoming storm forced us to anchor at Addison Point near Cape
Canaveral. Strong winds rocked us all night long. At New Smyrna Beach, we
enjoyed a calm anchorage overlooking some newly built condos.
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