December 14
We had such a good time, I didn't have time or the energy to blog until we left, this morning.
At Fort Pierce, we had lunch with Howard and Marilyn, Frank's uncle and his wife. What a delightful couple! They're no nonsense persons who say it as it is. We got along so well. Howard entertained us with his boat delivery adventures (he's a boat broker). And, Marilyn and I hit it off as soon as we met, talking about family, men and life in general. They mentioned a farmers' market on Saturdays just beside the marina we were staying at.
Fort Pierce had everything we needed: groceries, West Marine and a tiki bar. When we arrived in the afternoon, we decided to go to the tiki bar instead of having a beer on the boat. Sitting on stools along a side bar, we met 3 lovely French Canadian couples. They all had a place near Okeechobee Lake, an hour away. We discussed sailing and spending winters in Florida, exchanged contact info while sipping margheritas.
The following day, our friends Dale and John from Jensen Beach (15 NM down the ICW) joined us for breakfast. Dale and John chartered sailboats in the Caribbeans and are members of a yacht club by their condo in Toronto. So besides being friends for many years, we have a lot in common and to catch up. Dale was pleased to sail down to Jensen Beach with us after breakfast. We chose Jensen Beach mooring field to be near their condo on Hutchinson Island.
Dale and John have been so generous and patient with us during the following week. They drove us to all the stores we needed to provision and buy some boat parts. We even spent a couple of nights at their place where we witnessed a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. Very cool! We also met some of their friends during a dinner that they hosted. Frank never tires of talking about our sailing journey. The Fort Pierce farmers' market was worth it. It is divided in 2 sections: food and all imaginable stuff (clothes, decorations, cosmetics, etc.). Now that we're in the noseeum land (tiny mostiquos), my legs have many bites. It looks like I'm wearing polka dots socks. So I found a natural bug repellent - it works! Dale and I went for a pedicure yesterday. I loved every moment spent with both of them.
It was a bit of a challenge going to shore for showers and then lifting the dinghie on the davits this morning with 2 foot waves, wind and rain. You should've seen me hanging on the davit ropes trying to land my feet on the transom with the dinghie bouncing below me. I really looked like a wet monkey, with a smile no less.
Frank has done some google searches and called Bell about getting internet data in the Caribbeans. We're not successful so far. Bell's offerings are either voice focused/little data or ridiculously expensive data or $15/day for 2 gigs. Where do you go with 2 gigs these days! Honestly!!! So at this time, again for data, we're not sure what final decision we'll make. Of course, Iridium Go is providing us with emails/texts and 150 minutes/month of calling. So family and emergency communication is covered already.
Remember in one of my blog I mentioned we were going to cross 9 bridges on that day? Well ... tomorrow we'll cross 19 of them! And they're all too low to pass through so we need to call ahead each other them for openings.
We're now near Palm Beach, heading down to Miami (another 2 days). From that point we'll leave the USA for Bahamas Bimini Islands (a day sail). So we should be in the Bahamas for Christmas.
