April 29, 2016
NM Today: 84
NM To Date: 4633
We stayed in a wide-open anchorage last night which seemed calm when we arrived. By the time we went to bed the breeze must have picked up some as the boat kept bouncing and bouncing. As I laid in bed trying to sleep with the motion, the thought came to mind that it was going to be a "Ye-Haw, Ride-em-Cowboy" kind of night. At first I found it humorous, but as it continued to prevent me from falling asleep, my mind started drumming up all sorts of dire things that could happen to us anchored in such an exposed area with no other boats around.
Eventually I got up to talk to Clark about the fact I could not sleep, but when I called his name, he ignored me. He was fast asleep! Maybe just seeing him so relaxed calmed my anxiety, but when I returned to bed, I fell asleep rather quickly where previously I had been wide awake. Mysterious!
As a result of my inability to sleep early on, I did not get a lot of sleep last night. Still the alarm went off at 6:25 for the Chris Parker report and I knew Clark wanted to get the anchor up and be on our way as quickly as possible for the long ride to Florida today.
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| Sunrise at our last anchorage in the Bahamas Sunrise today was rather pink. |
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| Memory Rock - waypoint to the states |
The picture above shows how calm the Atlantic Ocean was today. Rarely does it lay flat like a pond! No swells - no pitching and rolling - just calm with a few ripples whenever a soft breeze blew!
We left Sandy Cay anchorage at 8:00 a.m. and arrived at Fort Pierce, Florida at approximately 6:00 p.m. For navigation aids, we aimed for clouds that sat on the horizon at 295 degrees. The problem with that was that the clouds drifted and faded rather rapidly, so a new cloud was often being sought as the next target.
To arrive at Fort Pierce which is located northwest of our starting point for today's trip, we aimed 12 degrees west of the chart plotter designated course line of 307 degrees. By aiming straight for Florida and letting the Gulf Stream carry us north as we passed over it, we reduced our distance traveled for the day. We also picked up 2 plus knots of speed from the Gulf Stream. Working the Gulf Stream into our calculations for our heading, we arrived right where we wanted to be without fighting the Gulf Stream to get there.
I drove for just over an hour at noon so that Clark could go take care of miscellaneous tasks below like make his lunch. With him busy below, I was all alone at the helm for basically the whole time. This was very unusual as Clark does like to hover over his "baby".
I enjoyed my independence at the helm. I looked for my cloud targets, watched the flying fish zip out of the water and fly for safety to points somewhere away from the boat, admired the blue, blue water, and relaxed and enjoyed the feeling of being alone in the world. No other boats could be seen in any direction during the time I had my turn at the helm.
In the morning, the sun was behind us, and I moved as far forward as the bench seat would allow to stay out of the direct sun. By early afternoon the sun had moved to coming from the bow, and I shifted myself towards the stern. Clark had no such option. As the day progressed the sun continued to bake us, but Clark more so in the captain's seat. Eventually he put a towel over his legs, and I hung up a towel across the front of the full enclosure to provide some shade and sun protection.
By late afternoon Clark said he could see land. I looked and saw what I thought was a sailboat and nothing else. It turned out the sailboat was a skyscraper - our first view of Florida since the end of March. As we got closer, more buildings appeared on the horizon.
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| Interesting Cloud Formation Little dots on the horizon are buildings in Florida |
We pulled into the Fort Pierce inlet at 4:45. The only movement on the water here was caused by the wakes of the boats - our own included.
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| Breakwater for the Fort Pierce Inlet Flat - Flat - Flat - Atlantic Ocean Clark sure knows how to pick a day to cross from the Bahamas! |
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| So calm!! Only water moving is from our wake! |
We called Fort Pierce City Marina on the VHF radio and got a slip for the night. With a fill up on fuel of over 100 gallons, we could get a coupon towards a meal at one of the two restaurants here. We needed fuel, so we took them up on the offer and put just over 160 gallons of diesel in our tanks. The hose from the fuel dock reached our boat in its slip, so we did not even have to move the boat to get fuel.
We checked in with the marina office for the night and then called customs to check back into the United States. Earlier in the year, when we were in Sarasota, we went to the airport there to complete the process for the SVRS (Small Vessel Reporting System) to simplify the check-in procedures upon our return from the Bahamas. It worked well. As we had hoped with taking the time to do the upfront work, we never had to step one foot off the boat to get processed back in through customs upon our return entry.
Given we have been in anchorages for a number of days and seriously needed to watch our water consumption, neither of us had showered for more days than I care to admit. As soon as we got the word that we had cleared customs, we ran for the showers. Feeling refreshed we took our dinner coupon and headed up to Cobb's Landing for dinner where we had scrumptious crab cake dinners with cheddar mashed potatoes and asparagus (Clark's favorite vegetable).
Sadly Clark told me just before we sat down to eat that he has been struggling with a scratchy throat all day today. That is how my illness started. At least we made it back to the states before the captain took ill. We will have to see what the morning brings as far as abilities to move on to our next stop. Meanwhile Clark has given me instructions to go to the farmer's market held tomorrow from 8 to 2 and bring back fresh veggies. I should be able to handle that on my own.
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