Where to Begin.

Probably at Fort Pierce.

We rented a car in Appleton and drove to Fort Pierce.  We kept the car for a few days for running around and getting stuff.  We drove straight through on election day.

We were supposed to launch Hiatus the day we arrived.  The wind was up.  The dock master was hesitant to let us launch.  The weather would be better next week.  The dock master is a nice, thoughtful guy.  His name is Dan.  What more can I say?  We started working on him.

The wind was worse our second day, but we had convinced Dan we could get Hiatus into her slip.  We did.  BTW, the wind was the approach of HURRICANE IOTA.  Good timing, huh?

We spent roughly the next two months doing  planned and  unplanned upgrades to Hiatus.

What's it like being in a Florida marina for two months?  Get real.  Florida.  Marina.  Pool.  We had manatees and dolphins - egrets, ibis, great blue herons, and brown pelicans in our marina.  The dive guy, who cleans boat bottoms, said there's also sharks.

Get real.  That also means a lot of work.  Here's a partial list of the planned and unplanned projects we took care of:

• replace battery charger (unplanned)
• replace batteries (unplanned)
• replace windlass (unplanned-but loving the upgrade - 3x the power and capstan only to capstan/chain gypsy)
• replace backstay split stays (planned and love the Hi-Mod terminals)
• replace autopilot (planned, except the N2K connection to the chartplotter and the rudder position sensor - and the 1 boat dollar to pay an installer to figure out that I needed both)
• upgrade to Mantus anchor and add 50' of chain (unplanned, but such a sweet anchor)
• install boom hardware for mains'l 3rd reef (planned)
• add galley foot pump to freshwater system and filtered freshwater spigot (planned)
• run NMEA 0183 data cable from VHF to chartplotter to transfer AIS data (planned)
• a few other things (planned and unplanned).

Isn't reading a list fun?  Okay, no.  So here's a quick slideshow that may be more entertaining. 

 

We can't finish talking about Fort Pierce without saying how welcoming F-dock was to us.  Kevin and Judy, Jay, Jeff, George, Alan, Dave and Sharon, Tom, Mike, Jimmy, Bill.  It's a real neighborhood.  We don't all share the same politics (just ask), but we share a connection to the water, share tools, and look after each other.  We hope to see them again on our return north.