Waiting for a Weather Window

We are still in Fort Pierce, still tucked up behind the sewer treatment plant.  It’s been almost a week and we are still waiting on a weather window to cross to the Bahamas.  For years we have been talking about what a luxury it will be to be able to wait for good weather.  All of our other crossings were done with such tight timeframes that we just stomached what was handed to us.  With one exception, it usually wasn’t something so great-not necessarily dangerous, just a bit more “salty” than our preferences.  Thus, waiting for weather is a bit of a novelty to us, though it it’s starting to fade a little and we are anxious to get into some swimable waters.

We’ve done a pretty good job of making good use of our time here while waiting.  First, we discovered that the city marina that we are anchored near is quite friendly and very beautiful.  They have a free dinghy dock, though it does come with plenty of complimentary oysters on the pilings and requires some creative tying up.  The fuel is a dollar cheaper than the marina just to the North (the one without a free dinghy dock), it has free water, and if you ask for a walking map the passcode to the free wifi is printed on the bottom of the map :). 

Early in the week Keith found something that we didn’t have two of yet-an extra dinghy motor propeller-and decided to order one from the West Marine in town.  It should have been a simple purchase but turned into a complicated ordeal with a bunch of phone calls and special orders but we  got it ordered and it even arrived the next day so while Keith hopped on the bike to ride to West Marine, I sat on the side of the road across from the marina and kept an eye on the dinghy and snagged some wifi.  Keith got a bit lost on the way and a quick mile and a half ride became quite a bit longer and he got to see some of the less pretty bits of Fort Pierce.  Ooops.  He eventually got back and we hopped into the dinghy for a very wet ride back to the boat as it had started blowing stink. Back on the boat he discovered that they ordered him the wrong hub. Ugh; he called back and oddly, or amazingly, they had the correct one in stock.  Huh? I did write that there was a hassel with the whole special-order thing right?  He got off the phone and was looking at getting back in the dinghy and making another trek to West Marine when the manager called him back, realizing he was the lost dude on the bike, and offered to bring the part to the marina. Woohoo for sweet customer service!  We still had a soaking wet dinghy ride as the winds picked up even more, but we’re pretty stoked with the delivery service. Of course, while stowing this propeller that we may never even need, Keith sees that it is bent. By this time, we just had to laugh.  If we ever do need it he will take a hammer to it and straighten it out and we will have a story to remember while doing so.

 Back to loving the Fort Pierce City Marina, we loved them even more when we discovered that they have a farmers market every Saturday and since we’ve already put a good dent in our veggies we dinghied in to check it out.  Wow!  It was a very generously attended market with great selections, live music, and a fun vibe.  We loaded up with four bags of produce for under $20.00 and even though we practiced our new cruising-budget cheapness and passed up a couple of venders that were putting out some pretty gloriously smelling plates of prepared food we did splurge for a half-gallon of fresh squeezed orange juice for $5.50. It was so worth every penny.

Way better than Publix!

 The bread was hard to resist, but we are holding out for fresh Bahama bread-Keith’s favorite.

Fruit shell all stocked up!

 

Though we’ve enjoyed ourselves, I hope the next post is from the beautiful Bahamas!

 

And on that note, hang in there with me as I figure out the details of keeping up this little blog while being so disconnected.  I am working on navigating the offline App and have a ways to go still.  I plan on writing much more frequently now that I will have more time and photos. I’m just not too sure how regularly I will have a chance to post them up. So patience please :). Also, we love your comments-keep them coming!! I’m working through a glitch trying to reply to them, so please know we appreciate them even if we haven’t responded-I’ll get it worked out.  

 

We are rocking and rolling at anchor right now, but if the forcast is correct the weather should moderate tomorrow and we will hopefully be heading across on Tuesday.