Clean up the boat! Deep cleaning....sort of...necessary after being such slouches for the past couple of weeks...all the cat hair and errant litter and cat grass dirt from the two crossing attempts and general laziness about beauty and order, never mind dust and dirt and general wear and tear. Cleaning day before we left Stuart. Good thing nobody wanted to see the inside of our boat while we were there. We wouldn't have been allowed back.
So I did the "deep cleaning" of sweeping and damp dusting the floors, washing dishes, re-stacking the refrigerator while David checked the engine and tidied up the aft deck and got the mooring lines down to one. Actually, I helped with that because one line had become twisted and I'm really good with a boat hook. We stopped at the fuel dock to take on water and retrieve his bicycle and we were off at exactly 11:59!
Holy cow! Travel by boat is so slow. Kathryn and Lew drove us about 20 minutes to Jensen Beach for lunch on Thursday. Today it took us two hours to get to the same place, parallel to Mary's Gourmet Kitchen, by water. David got us down the river and back into the ICW at St. Lucie Inlet (I think). Then I took the helm so he could "do the bungs." Bungs cover the screws that are set maybe 1/4" deep in the wood. Who wants to see a stainless steel screw in the beautiful teak wall? Or trim piece? There are lots and lots and lots of screws in Grace.
So I had the helm for about four hours of easy motoring...minus the lumps of high speed power boats "waking" us. There were the dolphins, the pelicans, the osprey and an occasional great blue heron...the regulars. We passed some grand houses. I read a bit about Hutchinson Island which has a huge power plant, just to the right of the power line holder pictured.
With the autopilot on there wasn't much to do...punch a button to change course a degree or two in order to avoid another boat or stay in deep enough water. But there was enough deep water and boats were few except near city crossroads (water intersections?) or inlets. Finally, as we neared Vero Beach, I was clearly, though slowly, gaining on a sailing vessel. So I got to use the radio! Excitement! Hailed the vessel, "the sail boat heading north toward the 17th St Vero Beach bridge, this is Grace coming up on your stern." "Hello Grace, channel 17?" " Grace on 17. I'd like to follow you through the bridge then pass on your port side, Captain." " Roger that. Standing by on 17." Whoot! Did it. My big moment.
So David did bungs...those five little circles...not yet finished but a great start to these and to lots more in the head. The glue has to dry in all of them then the part standing proud has to be eliminated...cut their little heads off...sanded and stained. Tedious. He took a nap. Well deserved.
After the 17th St Vero Beach bridge David set the fenders and lines for rafting up with our buddy, Fordyce, who is rafted up with another boat. They were the first boats immediately after
turning into the marina creek. I didn't want to bring the boat beside Sea Dyce to do the rafting so David and I played "who has to pee most" game. He went first so he would be at the helm for rafting up. Perfect approach and "landing." Fordyce was on his deck to accept our lines. His fenders were already out...eh, deployed...or the non-military term...hanging around.
We had a lovely reunion with Dark & Stormys, our ingredients on our aft deck but with his ice cubes. Our refrigerator does 6 tiny ice cubes if we're lucky. His is more giving. We traded stories of our adventures since parting in our first effort and his successful crossing to the Bahamas. Great sharing.
Dinner here for David, Amelia and self. And soon to bed. Maybe a little listening to Spanish as I'm still trying...nope still learning, listening and occasionally speaking.
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