Ft Pierce City Marina has become one of our usual stops for fuel, water, showers, laundry, etc. In the past we have always anchored out and taken the dinghy in. With no rain during our nine day journey to rinse the salt crust off, C'est la Vie was in desperate need of a fresh water rinse. Her crew after the all night trip north from Miami was in desperate need of rest. We decided to request transient docking.

For those cruising newbies out there... Some marinas will accept "transient vessels". That means vessels that do not have a long term contract to tie up in the dock. I've seen fees for transient vessels range from .75 per foot at some city docks to over $3 per foot in Key Largo. Ft. Pierce City Marina is reasonable at $1.25 per foot for each night. Once in a slip the transient vessel and her crew then have access to the marinas amenities - water, power, showers, laundry, internet, etc.

The marina chose to place us in a transient slip along a row of huge offshore fishing vessels. So here we are, see image above, with a little perspective on the size of things. Note the height of the tuna tower and antennas of the "Terminator" tied to our right. Her tuna tower is above our spreaders (approx 35 ft over the water). Her antennas are taller than our 50 foot mast.

Once tied up, Anne and I both went into cleaning mode. We began with ourselves. After showers and lunch, Anne attacked the mountain of laundry and I removed the exoskeleton of salt that covered C'est la Vie.

Tomorrow we return to our northward migration up the ICW.