Another week in Jacksonville with no travel. However, we are starting to plan for our trip north hopefully at the beginning of May. Marinas along the east coast are beginning to open and we’ve decided that even though we cannot tour all the towns we would like to see along the coast, it makes sense to complete our loop this year. We can always explore the east coast at a later date either by boat or car. By monitoring Nebo, it appears that loopers who reside on the east coast are making their way home. Loopers who live in the midwest or Canada are exploring other options. Some have been able to extend their time frame and will stay in Florida or store their boat in Florida and go home, then begin again next Spring. With an uncertain date for the opening of the Erie Canal, along with the uncertainty of the Canadians locks, their trip around the loop is questionable for 2020.
We continue to order dinner from a local restaurant once a week. This week we ordered from Longhorn Steakhouse and Callin’ In Gone volunteered to bike to the restaurant for pick-up. The restaurant also had some family dinner specials for four. A few of us decided to order these specials for two reasons – nice steak dinners for two nights at a very reasonable cost – cheaper than if we ordered two individual dinners-plus another night that I didn’t have to cook. When dinner arrived, we had four 8 oz steaks, two sides each and a huge strawberry pecan salad. The salad was so large that I was also able to enjoy it for a few lunches. Having another night’s dinner just to reheat was nice. Definitely a good decision.
The staff at the marina continues to provide information by email and one person mans the office on a rotational basis a few days a week. Business is conducted through the office window. On the other hand, the cleaning staff continues to do an excellent job in maintaining the facilities twice a day – restrooms and pool – so one of the looper boats, Odyssey, organized a collection (approved by the marina management) so that we could show our appreciation for their work. At the end of the week we were able to provide a nice tip and the staff was most surprised and appreciative.
Another dinghy ride this week on the Ortega River with Maggie Jo, Odyssey, and Sabbatical. These trips have helped us all maintain our sanity and have been a safe way to socialize in addition to our weekly dinner. The dinghy has been in the water for a number of weeks and was getting dirty. Peter decided it was time to clean and when he raised it on the lift, the hull was covered in heavy algae and barnacles. He spent a good portion of the afternoon cleaning the bottom and decided to leave it on the lift and lower it each week we remain for our dinghy adventures.
We started this week with our dinghy ride. Another looper boat came to the marina a few days ago and plans to stay for a few months. On course we invited them to join us for our dinktails and told them about our weekly “support a local restaurant” and they told us to include them in these activities.
Even though we explored the Ortega River last week, we took the same route again since we had others with us – Callin’ in Gone, Destination, Maggie Jo,and Odyssey. Destination had engine trouble and headed back to the marina. They were disappointed as they had just had work done on the engine.
The next three days included our usual activities – walking in the sunshine, reading, boat tasks/maintenance, Governor Cuomo’s updates, etc. We also received our first food delivery from Walmart SuperCenter. When we traveled on the rivers we started shopping at the Walmart Grocery since it was generally the only one around. Here we have Publix but we found that for standard items, their prices are considerably more expensive. We still use Publix for certain items and Peter uses the courtesy bike and my list. I started a Walmart list earlier in the week and reserved a time for delivery and had until 1:45 am to add/change my items set for an 11am-12pm delivery. When I looked around midnight all of my items were still in the cart and available. By the time the morning came and I checked my list again, probably 20 items were no longer in stock. Fortunately I did not need anything desperately as I over ordered to start restocking the boat for our eventual trip north. I rarely walk to Publix now, maybe once every two weeks as Peter has taken on that task with the bike.
The next few days we had lots of rain and basically stayed on the boat. While we had bandana face masks, I took advantage of the lousy weather and took out my cotton yarn and crochet hook. Made masks with pockets for filters. Easy to make and then throw them in the wash and dryer. Peter posted the photo on his FaceBook accounts. The rain continued. Good thing we like to read and we have also been watching some of the original series on Amazon Prime and Netflix. Since there was so much rain we all agreed to postpone our weekly Wednesday dinner to Thursday.
We are still in Jacksonville and expect to be here at least until the end of April. The marina situation traveling north of Virginia does not look promising as Maryland has basically shut everything down on the Chesapeake. We anticipate that when we do have the opportunity to leave, it will primarily be a travel trip to get home without being able to explore some of the towns along the coast as previously planned. The good news is that we are both healthy and able to make plans even though they needed to change. We will continue to monitor the Waterway Guide and the AGLCA forum for changes on the water.
For now, we are both doing lots of reading. Good thing I have three library cards and we can check out multiple ebooks for each of us. Our usual visit to the local library to find used books is not possible any longer. However, with the Libby app, we have plenty of choices. To offset some of our reading, we are fortunate that the marina has excellent WiFi and we are able to connect both the TV and Amazon Echo so we have access for updates on COVID-19 and Governor Cuomo’s daily reports and music when we want to turn the TV off.
The next dink ride only included us and Odyssey. Since we explored Cedar River last week, we decided to explore the Ortega River next. The river is twice the distance (8 miles long) so we traveled to the end and then headed back to the marina. We generally do a slow trip and speed up on the way back after drifting for dinktails of course. The idle is too high on the engine. Odyssey offered to take a look and show Peter how to fix it. It turned out to be a simple adjustment of the idle screw. It is now much quieter and we are able to run the engine at a slower speed and enjoy our ride that much more.
This week we ordered food from the Metro Diner located near Publix. While they do not deliver, they stated we could use DoorDash and coordinate a delivery through them. Downloaded the app, created a group so we could order and individually pay for our meals but it didn’t work. Continually wanted to charge all the meals on my card. To make it easier, we decided to order individually and Odyssey offered to pick dinner up by bike. While the food was good, they are not prepared to handle outgoing orders – no online orders, cannot order in advance for pickup, must call 15-20 minutes before you want it, cannot pay in advance, only when you pickup, etc. Doubtful that we would order from them again.
Plans for next week are to monitor marina updates, read, and take a dinghy ride.
The mechanic arrived around 10:00 am to begin work on the transmission. This was a long process as it involved the removal of the old and then the replacement with the new transmission. Kodey and I stayed out of the way by retreating to the pilot house. As usual, he slept and I read and did some computer work . After the mechanic was finished at 3:00 pm, we all took the boat out for a test drive. Peter and I were thrilled that everything worked as it should. The old transmission is now stored on the boat and Peter will need to followup with the warranty issue.
Sea C Rider and Maggie Jo arrived and got settled. They each reserved a slip for a month. We provided some information about the marina, what’s local, and talked about our dinghy ride the other day. They liked the idea of a group dinghy ride so we planned one for Monday since there is usually too much traffic on the water over the weekend.
On Monday, we took a two hour dinghy ride to explore Cedar River. We had a total of five dinghys – Maggie Jo, Odyssey, Sabbatical (a Gold Looper) and Sea C Rider joined us for the day. Everyone brought their own drinks and snacks and I decided that we should rename “docktails” to “dinktails” for the time being.
COVID-19 continues to have an increase in numbers in many of the states. New York seems to have the most at this point. We are the only New Yorkers in our group. Others are from Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida and Illinois. We notice changes in the area and decided that it would be a good idea to order dinner from one of the local restaurants each week in an effort to help maintain their businesses. Most are now doing curb-side delivery and very few do any actual delivery unless you coordinate it with DoorDash or UberEats.This week we selected The Loop Pizza Grill and Sabbatical offered to do the pick up since they have a car at the marina.
The marina has 192 slips and there are a number of loopers here and also a number of liveaboards. We estimate that about 25% of the boats have people onboard. However, a number of those who live on their boats also have homes in the area and cars here at the marina. The marina staff continues to work remotely but there are cleaners who not only clean but disinfect the restrooms, laundry room and pool area twice a day. We are all most appreciative of these efforts.
We are in Jacksonville at the Marina at Ortega Landing for the foreseeable future. With the COVID-19 situation in New York, we are not exactly rushing to get back. Actually, it would be difficult even if we tried. Status of marina openings on the east coast change daily and most of those further north are not even open as it is not yet their season. For now, we will sit tight where we are and our children are happy that we are not in NY.
There is little to do but we have completed a few small projects and tasks. With another looper, we took our dinghys for a quick ride but also brought our own docktails on the boat while we drifted and talked. We decided that this would need to become a regular activity as it provides an opportunity to explore the immediate area – Cedar Creek and Ortega River – by dinghy and socialize with others safely.
We found a Dollar Tree that is within walking/biking distance. This adds to our resources for miscellaneous items. Peter has used the courtesy bikes available at the marina. The bikes have rear saddle baskets so this has proven useful for shopping. He used the bike this week to go to Dollar Tree, Publix and the UPS Store to ship out the binoculars that require a lens adjustment.
While Florida still does not a have stay-at-home mandate as many other states do, Publix has begun a senior (65+) shopping hour from 7-8am on Tuesday and Wednesday. We walked up to Publix early so that we could pick up things on our list. The line to enter the store was very long and there were so many people waiting for the store to open. When it did, people were courteous on line and walked orderly into the store but people were still too close. There were no social distance guidelines at that point. Although we picked up a number of things, some items were not in stock. On the walk back to the boat we decided that while the stores are trying to accommodate seniors with a special time slot, one hour twice a week is not enough for the population here in Florida where there are many retirees. We actually found the store to be much less crowded any other time we went. The next step is to start a list and either have Publix or the grocery at Walmart deliver directly to the marina. We might fare better that way.
Good news! The mechanic is coming on March 26 to install the new transmission. More details, next week. In addition, two loopers who we have traveled with before, Sea C Rider and Maggie Jo will be joining us at Ortega Landing.
The mechanic from the ZF transmission dealer came and inspected the boat. He appeared to be following similar procedures that the other mechanics had but then shifted and did more testing. He identified a few issues that no one else picked up on and I guess when you specialize in transmissions, you are able to diagnose certain problems. He ran a few tests and determined, in consultation with his office, that the transmission needed to be replaced.
Although the transmission is still under warranty, it will be messy since the Yanmar dealer we bought the engine from buys the transmission and pairs it with the engine. They did not purchase the transmission directly from ZF but a third party so it is more complicated about reimbursement for the new transmission and who is responsible. Since Peter was a warranty administrator in his last position before retirement, he knows how to deal with this so we will buy the new transmission, get the boat fixed and deal with the reimbursement after it is finished. Having a working boat that can be trusted to get us home is critical.
Unfortunately, it will take 10 days to two weeks before they can get the transmission and schedule time to do the repairs. In the meantime, Peter found out that we could not extend our stay in St Augustine because they had a full marina for the next few weeks due to a regatta/rendezvous they had scheduled. Since our plans included a tour of the St Johns River, I located a marina on the Ortega River (just west of the St Johns) that allows outside vendors to do repairs. Reservations for two weeks beginning on 3/16 were made. The mechanic has previously done work there so no problems are anticipated.
With a few more days in St Augustine, we decided to continue our “tourist” journey. As mentioned last week, we are noticing changes with the impact of the Coronavirus and the increasing numbers here in the US. While Florida does not have the stay-in-place rules that are beginning to surface in other states, we noticed that a number of the churches we planned to visit were now closed for tours. Scheduled activities such as the St Patrick’s Day Parade and the 3 day Celtic Festival were cancelled. By Saturday, we learned that St Augustine Marina cancelled their event as well.
We still visited a number of churches in the area the first few days – Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine, Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shine and the Ancient City Baptist Church, but by the weekend Memorial Presbyterian Church and Grace United Methodist Church were closed. We expect that closures will only increase moving forward.
Since we would be leaving on Sunday, I wanted to pick up some provisions. I heard that it was getting more difficult and saw many photos of empty shelves. I walked the 1.7 miles to Winn-Dixie (closest grocery store) to pick up a few staples. The shelves were not as full as usual but the store did have plenty of food just limited paper products. We didn’t need much but I could only manage two shopping bags anyway since I was walking almost two miles.
We left St Augustine on Sunday and waters were calm with little wind. The only difficulty we had resulted from it being the weekend and lots of boats, especially center consoles, were on the water with most being inconsiderate by traveling too close, not slowing down, and waking us! When we got close to the inlet, we encountered an ocean going ship that was coming into the St Johns River/Intra Coastal. While we stayed far enough away, it was still intimidating.
The plan was to stay overnight at one of the Jacksonville free docks, either at Jim King Park or on Sisters Creek. No space at Jim King so we stayed at the latter dock around the bend. A few boats were already tied to the dock and while they came to help and grab a line, it is the first time there were NoHandshakes but ElbowBumps.
Quiet night at the dock and we timed our departure to coincide with the tide/current. Things were going well until we got squeezed by a huge (300-400’) ocean going cargo ship (Crowley) and tug in a narrow part of the channel. We were rolled pretty badly as there was no place to go.
Soon we arrived at the Marina at Ortega Landing. It’s a very nice place and close to Publix and West Marine; not a bad place to stay for two weeks. We immediately went to Publix to do more food shopping since we knew that groceries were becoming more difficult to purchase. Scheduled to be here for a few weeks, I wanted to pick up some things for the freezer and heavier things I couldn’t carry last week.
By Wednesday, the numbers of those with Coronavirus – now referred to as COVID-19 – are increasing throughout the US. Individuals and businesses are putting new policies into place. Marinas are impacted throughout the east coast – some closing, not accepting transients, etc. The Waterway Guide is updating the list of marinas on a daily basis so at least we have a resource to track.
The marina staff is now working remotely but the cleaning staff will continue to come in twice a day to maintain the facility. By Wednesday, other things have also changed – the lounge is now closed except for pickup of deliveries from UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc.; only one person at a time in the laundry and social distancing of 6 feet is expected to be maintained by boaters. It’s strange but that seems to be the new normal. We immediately called the staff to extend our stay for a month and will consider renewing monthly until it will be safe and practical to leave. The dock master returned the call and indicated that we can stay as long as we want/need. That brought us some relief and security since it is a good place to be stuck and we have discovered other loopers here.
San Sebastian River – St Augustine
Memorial Presbyterian
Ancient City Baptist Church
Grace United Methodist
Saint Photios Shrine
History of Greek Immigration
Castillo de San Marcos – imposing site from the water
We left New Smyrna Beach on Thursday morning and headed to Palm Coast. Our plan was to stay for two nights and then spend a week in St Augustine. Originally, we were to meet up with our friend Frank who lives in Palm Coast but since he was planning to travel to New York, he joined us for dinner in New Smyrna Beach. Palm Coast was still a mid-point to St Augustine so we let our reservations stand since sometimes it is more difficult to change especially when a weekend is involved.
Traveling to Palm Coast was basically calm with a bit more wind than predicted. Of course, the wind picked up when we got to the marina and needed to dock. The forward gear issue still exists and makes docking a bit more difficult than usual. We got settled and planned to walk around town as usual and just relax. Peter received a text from Frank that he cancelled his trip to New York based on his doctor’s recommendation that he not travel by train at this point with the coronavirus. So, we made plans to have lunch on Friday with Frank and his brother Larry.
The nearby town within walking distance was not the usual local town but the EuropeanVillage, a quaint and unique place with a great selection of restaurants and bars. It is designed like an Italian open-air piazza with shops and restaurants on the ground floor and colorful residential condos above. Vendors were set up under small tents in the piazza, some selling merchandise and some selling their own crafts. An enjoyable walk with lots of activity and lively music for entertainment.
On Friday, Frank picked us up at the marina and we met Larry in a local restaurant, Portugal Wine Bar & Grill. We have never gone to a Portuguese restaurant and asked them for recommendations. Both told us that we wouldn’t go wrong with anything on the menu. Peter had Pork & Little Neck Clams that he thoroughly enjoyed, even his leftovers for dinner. I took a leap and selected the Mixed Picadinho, that included cubes of pork, beef, shrimp, chicken, and Portuguese sausage in a red wine sauce with fried cubed potatoes. A very large helping so definitely a two meal portion. I enjoyed the dish and located a recipe similar on Pinterest that I would like to try at some point.
We also took a ride to see the beaches of Palm Coast and we saw the impact of one of the hurricanes a few years ago. The towns are still in restoration mode. However, with “bike week” at Daytona, there were many visitors resulting in a cash infusion for the economy.
Our plans were to leave on Saturday. The weather prediction indicated that the wind would be more than we would prefer for travel so waited until the morning to make a decision. Saturday morning we woke up to strong winds. We were able to spend another night in Palm Coast and pushed our reservation at St Augustine until Sunday when the wind was to be much calmer.
Sunday brought calmer winds so we left and arrived in St Augustine without issue until we tried to dock. Peter prefers to dock stern in and St Augustine had long fingers so if necessary we would be able to go bow in and still get off the boat. While the wind wasn’t bad, the current was very strong so bow in was the easiest. Even with dock hands on the finger to catch lines, it was not an easy docking – forward gear issue continues. We were happy to get settled, knowing that we would be staying put for a week.
One of the first things that we did when we got settled was to locate a dealer for Yanmar engines and ZF transmissions. Knowing that we still have 1,200-1,500 more miles until we get home, we cannot continue to have forward gear issues. A call was made on Monday and arrangements for the technician to come check things out on Wednesday was a good start for the week.
The plan was to play “tourist” for the week since St Augustine is rich in history. It is the oldest continuously settled city established by Europeans in the continental United States. It was founded by the Spanish under Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. It is commonly called the “Nation’s Oldest City.” We had a number of guide books from the marina and used Google Maps to outline a few of the places we wanted to visit. We also have a “local” to join us and make sure we don’t miss the most interesting. Frank is a short ride from the city and decided that since he generally takes his guests up to St Augustine since he enjoys it so much, felt it would be perfect to join us for a short tour and dinner at one of his favorite places,Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille. Harry’s serves a mixture of southern, cajun and creole dishes. It’s been great catching up after a few years. Plus, having local guides add to the adventure.
We walked around the city, exploring certain sites and spent a few hours at the Castillo de San Marcos, a 17th century fortress with drawbridges. We also visited the Colonial Quarter, Old City Gates & Historical Marker, Oldest Wooden School House, the Lightner Museum, Flagler College, and walked St George Street and their quaint shops.
Due to the spread of the coronavirus, expectations are that more closures will continue. At this point we do not know what impact that will have for our return and will need to follow the news more closely than we had been these past number of months.
Palm Coast Marina
European Village
Arrive at St Augustine Municiapl Marina on the ICW
Accomplishing routine tasks in a city is so much easier than in the small towns where we usually stay along the loop. Titusville has a bus system similar to the one we used in Fort Myers. As “seniors” our fares were only $.75 each so a roundtrip cost us the equivalent of what the tip would have been for an Uber or Lyft. The bus took us to a Walmart SuperCenter with a HomeDepot across the street. Definitely a good investment to get what we needed. We took four shopping bags so we could each carry two since the bus stated “only what you could carry” yet we did see people bring shopping carts on the bus. If necessary, we could make another trip before we leave or just take advantage of the local Save A Lot grocery store within walking distance.
The Space View Park and American Space Museum & Walk of Fame were an easy walk from the marina. We enjoying touring both and had hoped that there would be a launch while we were there but the next scheduled launch was a few days after we were scheduled to leave. We decided not to extend our stay to view the launch. If the weather did not cooperate, the launch could have been rescheduled so we might not have been able to see it anyway. The weather was nice, little wind and calm water so we were able to leave as planned and headed to New Smyrna Beach.
Arrived in New Smyrna Beach and after we docked, the dockmaster told us that she had a Manatee years ago. In fact, she had Jim Krogen’s Manatee named Sumo. Told her that our boat had been Skipper Bob’s so we shared a few stories about our “famous” boats.
While we were in New Smyrna Beach, we toured the town, visited the local library and picked up a few books as usual. We didn’t visit the library in Titusville as Peter bought a few books at the Space Museum. New Smyrna Beach is a nice town with a walkable historic district. It seems as though the town has two distinct “downtown” areas – the historic district and the “new” downtown located near the actual beach.
Peter also had a high school friend who now resides permanently in New Smyrna Beach after years of being a “snowbird” so we planned to have dinner together. Also, another friend (who was in our bridal party so many years ago) lived close by and drove up to have dinner with all of us. It was great spending time with Tom and Jeanne, and Frank. Lots of laughs and good conversation. Although we all said we needed to get the waitress to take a picture we were having such a good time that we all forgot….had Tom and Jeanne send us a selfie to post here but since we would be meeting up with Frank again in St Augustine next week we hoped that we would not forget again!
Our original plan to leave Fort Pierce on Thursday changed because of the weather. Winds were high and it looked as though we would need to stay until Saturday when they were projected to be more favorable for traveling. Fortunately the marina was able to extend our stay and we changed our reservations for our next two stops at Melbourne and Titusville
We took advantage of the extra time in Fort Pierce to visit their small aquarium and attend the annual open house at the Smithsonian Marine Station. It was interesting to see experiments/research in action and interact with the resident scientists. As for the aquarium, it was “cute” but took only 15-20 minutes to see everything.
The Farmers Market on Saturday was terrific. It was much larger than any other one we visited along the loop. Lots of vendors, plenty of fresh produce and some interesting “gourmet” items, even for Kodey. Obviously we did some shopping. In addition to the market, we viewed a simulated cattle drive, the annual Cracker Trail Riders Parade where over 100 horseback riders travel the historic cattle drive route through Downtown Fort Pierce. There was whip cracking, tall tale telling, and horse petting, by the Marina, through the Farmers Market, and ended at Cobb’s Landing.
The weather predictions were correct and we left on Sunday for Melbourne Harbor, a good midpoint stop before Titusville. We planned to stay in Titusville for a week. They had an excellent weekly rate so we figured it was a good place to “slow down” traveling north and take advantage of touring the “space coast” since it was right near Cape Canaveral.
After we arrived and got settled, Peter sent a text to Rob and Claire, members of the Peekskill Yacht Club who were “snowbirds” for a few weeks. While they knew we were scheduled to stay at the marina, they also had family visiting so weren’t sure whether we would be able to get together. As it turned out, they received the text on their way to the beach and were just passing by the marina so stopped for a short visit. While they were there, we had two other visitors in the slip behind the boat, two manatees – a mother and her baby. I guess when you go looking as we did in Fort Pierce, they remain hidden and then surprise you when you least expect it. Throughout our two days at the marina, we caught more glimpses of manatees and a few dolphins.
Melbourne Harbor was a good stopover and we headed to Titusville on Tuesday. Our first few days were spent on routine activities – some food shopping, boat maintenance, mechanic adjusting the intermittent forward gear issue, etc. We then searched for locations for our “tourist activities” and made plans for the next few days.
We left LaBelle early Thursday morning since we had to go through a number of locks and wanted to get to Clewiston. The locks on the Okeechobee were not as high as we have done before so did not anticipate any problems…..we were wrong. The lock at Ortona was only an 8′ lift so we figured, short, simple, etc. This was not the case. The locks on the Okeechobee appear to leave the doors partially open and that causes turbulence inside the lock making it difficult to hold onto the lines especially when it is windy. Fortunately, we were the only boat in the lock since not only could we not hold on towards the end but it spun the boat around. This was also not a very wide lock making it difficult to turn the boat so we exited the lock in reverse. Fortunately the boat waiting to enter the lock waited for us to exit and turn around. The lock at Moore Haven is a 1.5′ lift; no problems at all. The last lock of the day before arriving at Roland Martin Marina was the Clewiston lock that is normally open at all times. The charts indicate that depending on the level of the lake, the lock may be open but we were advised by the marina that the lock is always open and the lock leads directly off the lake to two marinas.
Roland Martin is right off the lake and was one of the recommended stops. We met a few other loopers who were planning to stay two nights – we booked for two originally but were flexible about leaving the next morning depending on the weather conditions on the lake. Staying for the second night would mean that we would have others to travel with so we decided to stay and the next morning took the courtesy car to pick up a portable Thermacell bug zapper and made a stop at the local library. When we returned to the marina, we were only gone an hour, the other boats changed their minds and were gone even though the wind was worse than what was predicted for the next day. Since we had a longer day to Stuart, plus two locks, we stayed the second night since we would have had a late start after we got back.
We left early on Saturday morning to cross the lake and travel to Stuart to RiverWatch Marina since we were unable to get a slip at Indian Town. The weather seemed OK with predictions for a light chop on the lake. We went back through the Clewiston lock into the lake and started our day’s journey. The first hour was good but in the second hour the wind and waves increased, more than any of the weather apps predicted, so it was not pleasant. It did get better for a bit of time but then the wind picked up again. We arrived at the Port Mayaca lock at the other end of the lake and were advised that the lock was open (we had heard that this was a possibility because of the level of the lake) and received permission to come through. According to the information we received at Looper Palooza, the lock is normally a drop of 1′. We traveled along the St Lucie Canal and arrived at the St Lucie Lock, a 14.5′ drop. We waited about 20 minutes for the lock to be ready and all went fine. After the experience at Ortona, I was concerned about the locks since we have never experienced locks with the doors partially open. We arrived at RiverWatch (construction underway so limited services) before heading to Fort Pierce, one of the recommended stops along the east coast.
Reservations were made for 3 nights in Fort Pierce based on comments from Done Diggin. They had enjoyed the town and advised there were a number of things to do within walking distance and we also planned so visit with some of Peter’s high school friends. As it turned out, we needed to expand our stay another day to meet up with them. We were sure we would find other things to do.
It was great seeing Vinnie and Mike again. We met at Cobb’s Landing for dinner and talked for hours. Port St Lucie is now their permanent home after being snowbirds for a number of years. Before they moved, we were only about 10 miles away in New York but rarely saw them. Peter would see them every few years at their neighborhood reunions but I stopped going to these a number of years ago.
The public library was right on the other side of the park and Peter found a few new books. We visited the ManateeObservationCenter but even though we went a few times, never saw a manatee. We strolled through the mid-week FarmersMarket but heard that the one on the weekend is much better. We planned to be gone by then. As usual, we walked to a local grocery store to replenish a few things.
Next stop is Melbourne Harbor since it is midway to Titusville and friends from the yacht club are staying there for a few weeks.
Around the Great Loop on the Answer 