Life in Fort Pierce

Arrived in Fort Pierce today after a nice visit with Melody and Bob.   They are in the process of selling Melody's house and moving to her condo.  There are piles of stuff that they are trying to sell through a couple of garage sales.

On the way south today to Fort Pierce from Vero Beach we have a picture of a sail boat in front of us and a power boat being towed by Tow Boat US. 

Wanted everybody to see how blue the sky was today after several days of overcast.

Unlucky power boat guy heading north.  Hope he has insurance as getting a tow costs several hundreds of dollars.  That is why the word  BOAT spells Break Out Another Thousand.

Speaking of another thousand we still have not solved our dinghy engine problem.  Starts but stutters to a stop in 10 seconds of so.  Have now replaced the fuel hose, fuel tank and brand new gas yesterday.  We think the problem is in the carb or the fuel pump.

Fort Pierce has a great Christmas display,  Joy took some pictures of the lighted trees.

Leaving on Friday for Stuart, then north on Wed Dec 17 by plane and car

Joe

ORION LAUNCH

Today was the Orion launch.  It had been postponed from yesterday due to technical issues and there was a rumor that a boat was out in the range safety area where it should not have been.  The official reason is weather, high winds, and some valve issues on of the engines.

Anyway, we watched it from the second floor of the Cocoa Village Marina along with about 8 other boaters.  We all got up at 6:30 am or so, some people even had coffee with them.  Joy waited until afterwards to brew her own.

You only could see it for about 30 seconds, then up in the clouds.  The noise was loud just like a shuttle launch. Here in Cocoa the cable company carries the NASA cable channel so that was on in the clubhouse and you could watch the flight longer from the ground and also from the camera on the rocket looking down.  Saw the stage separations.

Then on to Travis Hardware where we bought a new lock for the dinghy cable and some wire to create tie downs for our Y valves in the heads.  Going to put locks on them so that we will not get in trouble if stopped.  Friends got stopped two days ago up in New Smyrna  Beach.

Still having dinghy engine problems. Followed Manny's suggestion and got some starter fluid to spray in the engine air intake.  Engine ran fine with the spray then died out.  Figure we have a fuel problem, not getting gas to the engine.  Possible source of trouble is leak in fuel line so that air is getting into the line and stopping the flow of fuel.  Also bad gas could be a source, but gas is only 4 weeks old.

Tomorrow is Christmas holiday here in CV.(Cocoa Village) with an arts festival all day, Christmas singing and Christmas movies in the park. Bring you Popcorn and chair and watch "The Grinch that Stole Christmas".  Should be fun

More later.  Leaving for Vero Beach on Sunday

Joe

on free dock - New Smyrna Beach,FL

Today and tonight we are tied up at the free dock at New Smyrna Beach, FL.  The dock is round so it makes for an interesting landing and tie up.. We are closest to the dock at the center of the boat so just the ends stick out.

We had an easy two hour trip, 2 hour trip as we only had to do 11 miles today.  Last night we stayed at Seven Seas Marina, a nice older marina/boat yard just a short walk to the beach, drug store, miniature goal, and supermarket, in Daytona Beach Shores.  Hit all of the above places, plus Joy walked out on their long fishing pier to chat with the locals.  Going to try her hand fishing this afternoon.

On the way to Daytona Beach Shores we passed by this large tug boat that looks like people are living on it as they had all their laundry strung out on the starboard side.

The weather has turned much warmer, in fact it is now in the 60s at nights instead of the 40s or 50s.

We continue to move south, aiming for Stuart, Fl to tie up for the holiday season.  Since we did the overnight from Charleston, we have now time to enjoy the small cities along the east coast of FL.


Joe