Thursday, March 2 - Ft. Pierce, Jupiter, and Vero Beach

Thursday, March 2 - Ft. Pierce, Jupiter, and Vero Beach

We traveled 58 miles yesterday, a long day for us, but we planned to cruise about that far again.  We want to have time to see Cape Kennedy and Daytona (it's Bike Week) on the way to St. Augustine.

This was our view when we waked up

And these were right next door

Jupiter Island was just a few miles north, and houses became estates with luscious, long lawns. 

The gas tank needed to be fed, so we pulled in at Ft. Pierce.  This picture shows 13 building of condos, and I think there was a second row behind them.  The guy at the marina said it used to be an old trailer park and woods, they bulldozed everything and put these up.  Couldn't they at least make them pretty?

We got a 10 cents per gallon discount since we bought more than 100 gallons (it was 100.87 gallons) and a 20% discount on lunch at The Original Tiki Hut. What a deal!  I finally got my shrimp and grits and they were delicious. 

Big bags of ice were discounted, so Danny lugged one back to the boat.

As we were getting to pull out, Danny spotted a manatee right behind the boat!  This is the only one we have seen except those in the canal behind David and Jane's rental house.  It's hard to take a good picture, they just lie there in the water.

At the first bridge we passed, there were about 8 dolphins playing around.  They must have been chasing some fish - they kept circling and didn't disappear or follow the boat.

A little later, three dolphins pulled along side and followed us for the longest time, what must have been two miles.  They are so beautiful to watch.  The largest of the three had a damaged fin, the smallest swam on it's side all the time except when it came up for air.  I could have watched all day.

Now the real story begins.  We anchored for the night in the Indian River, just outside the channel.  There was only a slight wind, so we didn't set the anchor alarm.  BIG mistake. 

We were watching a Civil War DVD downstairs when we heard a loud bump.  Very strong winds had come up and had dragged us until we hit a channel marker.  Danny started the engines, but we had been dragged onto a sandbar, too!  We called Sea Tow to come pull us off. 

Meanwhile, the weather kept getting worse, so I started calling marinas close by to find a port in this storm.  After three calls, the closest marina called back and said to pull in and tie up in any empty slip on Dock A.  Great.  How do we find the marina in the dark and where in the - - -- is Dock A?  Randy, the wonderful guy from Sea Tow, said he would pull us over there when he got us off the sand bar.  The approach to the marina was narrow and curvy, so we had to unhook when we got closer and follow him in.  Scary!  He even stopped and got off his boat to come help us tie up.  I could have hugged him!  The people in the next slip came out to help, too.  No rudder damage, a scrape on the side, and lots of grey hair from this adventure.  If it hadn't been so late, I would have poured a huge martini!  Lesson learned, no matter how calm it looks, ALWAYS turn on the anchor alarm!