Thursday, May 9
Departed Fort Pierce a little after 7:30.  The winds would be in our face all day, requiring long sleeves first thing in the morning.  The weather has really been nice. Much nicer than what those in KS are experiencing. Even the nights that we've anchored out have been cool enough to sleep well.  As long as there is a breeze, that is.  Our journey for the day is roughly 42  miles.  We saw a group of at least 6 dolphins/porpoise near the boat.  I tried to get video of it, but it really isn't the same as in person.  Around lunch time we anchored about 100' on the protected side of  a small island.  Joe uncovered the grill and cooked hot dogs for us.  It was a nice 45 minute stop for us.  We made it to Melbourne, FL and stayed at the Telemar Bay Marina.  We walked about 1/2 mile into town.  Tim walked ahead to the hardware store for some heavy duty wire for the horn. He also dropped my mom's Mother's Day card in the mailbox for me.  Joe and I waited at a place called Doubles, for him to return.  It was a nice little family place, with tables/booths, a few pool tables, a little bar, lots of video games and tv screens and a decent sandwich/burger/salad menu. We ate dinner and then headed back to the boat.  This little marina had about 4 transient slips and not much else to offer.  They closed promptly at 1700hrs.  Watched a little TV, and settled in for the night.


 

Friday, May 10

Jessica drove up to see her newest nephew and has been sending Grandma pictures and videos. Thank you Jessica!!!

Tim wanted me to make a big breakfast before we pulled away from shore power.  That delayed our departure long enough for the marina person to show up for the day, somewhere after 0800.  The big decision for today was whether or not to go 38 miles or 68 miles.  Since we got a late start and since we needed to stop for gasoline at Titusville (38 miles), we decided to stop for the day.  Yesterday the winds were in our face all day, making for brisk weather.  Today, just the opposite.  Since the wind was at our back, traveling about the same speed as us, there was no breeze, and it was hot, hot, hot!  I even soaked a t-towel in the ice chest and wore it around my neck most of the day.  Thank goodness for shade and bimini covers!!  We were going to stop in shallow water and maybe get in and cool off, but couldn't really find a good place to do so.  Joe was up front, unhooking the anchor, just in case and decided to stay up there awhile as it was really nice.  While he was up there he hollered at us that he could hear dolphins.  Sure enough there was a large one just off the port bow.  It swam right underneath the boat and then resurfaced about 10 seconds later, farther off the port side, with a young calf.  We decided that the noise Joe heard was the larger one trying to corral the younger one away from the dangerous boat.

Joe, our figure head/hood ornament.

After we arrived, refueled, and settled into the slip we took the local 4 o'clock 'bus' to town.  Well, Joe and I did.  Tim departed about an hour earlier because he needed to refill a prescription at CVS.  He also needed to go to the hardware store because when we were getting gas, the aft bilge pump came on and ran a little too long.  Once we tied up in the slip, Joe found a fresh water leak (another one....).  Fortunately, the local ACE hardware had the heavy duty hose that we had previously been unable to find.  Anyway, this hardware store was 3.8 miles from the marina.  Joe and I waved from the bus as we passed Tim.  He arrived, sweaty and tired and declared that he had gotten his exercise for the week!  After the hardware store and CVS we decided to dine at the Colonel's (KFC).  Joe and I tried the new boneless chicken and we both agree we will not be having it again.

By far, the neatest thing of the day was seeing the manatees that came up to our boat.  Once we realized that at least one of our fresh water tanks was empty, Joe said to go ahead and fill it.  So, I got out the hose, hooked it up and started filling the tank.  After it filled, it was about a minute before I got over to shut the water off.  The tank started running over and down the side of the boat.  Next thing you know there are 2 really large manatees sucking the fresh water right off the side of the boat.  Before you know it there were 4, then there were 5, then 6, then 7.  I took the hose and decided to go ahead and wash the salt spray off the boat.  Well, they loved it.  I set the hose down, while I ran to turn it off. There were 4 of them fighting to drink from the hose.  Well, I HAD to get a video of this.  Joe previously told me that they LOVE fresh water.  He also said that we aren't supposed to give them fresh water because they may become dependent on it.  Oops.  

Five of the Manatee

Going to sign off for the night.  We have TV tonight and the finale of Blue Bloods is going to be on soon!  See you tomorrow!! Pleasant dreams....