Titusville to Stuart
13 February 2012
Nancy
After leaving Titusville, we ran for a short while with the Charleston group and stopped to anchor in Cocoa. Cocoa Village is a charming area full of shops, outdoor cafes, and a farmers’ market on Wednesdays that we were just in time for. We especially enjoyed the olive oil and vinegar tastings at one shop. And of course, we just had to visit the Travis Hardware store, a huge, ancient place that carries everything. One note of caution: if you anchor out, you need to be a gymnast to climb up on the dinghy dock; otherwise stay at the marina.
Next day we headed for Vero Beach, and were buzzed by such a low-flying (ultra-light) plane that I could see the spinach on his teeth – he was smiling like the Red Baron and gave us a wave. Lots of dolphins swam along with us on this trip. We mainly did chores and shopping on this short stop, but did take the long bus route to the grocery store and ended up seeing a lot more of the Vero Beach area – homes and landscaping are very pretty here.
We inched along and landed at the Harbour Isle Marina in Fort Pierce, on the east side of the ICW, where we spent almost two weeks. This is a quiet place about 2 miles away from the busy city noises of the city, a doable distance for a bike ride or long walk, and the staff couldn’t be nicer. There is a pretty park and beach across the street that borders the Fort Pierce inlet, and this is the place where we finally got to see several manatees swimming – they looked like floating logs at first. We also happened to view a barge rescue – its load had shifted and the whole barge was tilted over. It was accompanied by two tugs and two coast guard boats as it came through the inlet. Cars were streaming into the park to gawk – somehow they had found out about it -and kept stopping to tell us about it.
It goes without saying that we had a small boat repair to do while here, and thanks to email we were able to get good advice from friend Alan (YachtCare in Maine) and another friend Steve who was here in the marina. In between chores we met up with old friends and met new ones, so were fairly busy socializing – Superbowl party, dinners, and cocktail hours.
Yesterday it must have been blowing 30 knots, and everyone was bundled up in winter clothing. Today it is mild and warm again, around 70 degrees, and we are headed to Stuart.