With Sea Sharp launched, Judy and Chopin are now en route to Fort Pierce. I have been asked to take a fellow boater, a very interesting fellow and former NHL hockey player to Fort Lauderdale. So I take Brian to Ft Laudidau (as it is not so affectionately known) and pick up Judy and Chopin at West Palm Beach Airport. Both are pretty shaky as I pick them up; Chopin was tranquilized; Judy should have been. None the worse for wear and tear thought and I'm glad to reunite with my little family.

I thought it too much of a transition from the comfort of Judy's family home in New Jersey to Sea Sharp in a working marina so we booked a hotel in Fort Pierce. Next morning to good ole Sea Sharp and move aboard. We met many new friends here and had a good time reading the boat and gamming with other boaters. We're anxious to leave but we are somewhat overwhelmed with stuff to do.

We do leave on Tuesday (the owner and her owner (Chopin) came on board on Sunday) heading for Stuart where there is a great marina where if you read last season's posts, we spent a week at the end of our cruise.

I was so pleased with the condition of the boat when we left but things went down hill as we worked our way the relatively short 30 miles from Fort Pierce to Stuart. The windlass (strong electric winch used to lift the anchor) didn't work. The wind instrument was erratic. One fan (yeah we really need all three fans below) crapped out. The autopilot stopped working. The macerator pump (a delicate one; the pump which pumps the waste from the holding tank out to wherever) quit. The bow lights didn't light, etc.

Notwithstanding, the boat worked great and we motored along with Night Hawk and Odyssey XX, new Canadian cruising friends to Stuart. We get to the "Sunset Bay Marina" http://www.sunsetbaymarinaandanchorage.com/ by mid day and are assigned a slip.

I back up, probably a quarter mile through the various slipways into my slip; a very difficult task with a single-screw, displacement vessel with current and winds. I was quite proud as we perfectly landed when the dockmaster commented, "and I thought sail boats couldn't back up".

This is a fabulous place; reportedly owned by the owner of the Miami Dolphins. We share our expansive docks with beautiful boats of all types but mostly larger than ours. But, it is relatively inexpensive and our intention is to hang around here to fix up the stuff that doesn't work, provision and relax for a few weeks.

Our little crew is happy here.