On Friday we leave New Smyrna Beach just before sunrise and get a jump on all the boats heading south. The small sailboat anchored just off the ICW that has a full size backyard grill in the cockpit was still there. With a BBQ grill that big you must wonder what his priorities are. I wonder how it made it through all the storms. We see a few manatees in the Haulover Canal by the Allenhurst Bridge. Originally we were thinking of stopping at Titusville but we got there just after noon so we fueled up and headed further south and then the wild hare caught us about just going outside at Port Canaveral to Ft. Pierce overnight which would move out schedule up a day and we could catch up with SEA JULES and WHITEBIRD in Stuart. Just before entering the Canaveral Barge Canal we anchor outside the ICW to lift the dinghy on deck and get some preps out of the way. We eat lunch and I have the Friday afternoon 2 PM conference call for work before we get underway. With all the non planning we forget to check the bridge and lock schedules and push to make the last opening of the Christa McAuliffe Bridge before it shuts down for two and half hours for rush hour. We make the last opening and then head for the lock. Still it hasn’t sunk in to check the schedules. The lockmaster is surprised but states the lock is on demand and come on in so we make it through the lock and then realize we are in no man’s land between the lock and the 701 bridge which just closed for two hours for rush hour. We tie up on the barge wall and continue checking weather and make a few phone calls to update everybody on our hare brained plan (scheme). Finally the bridge lets us pass at 5:30 and we are off to the coastal cruising. We get to the inlet about dark and set sail which only lasts about 30 minutes as it is quite rolly and the wind is just enough to get us an additional 0.1 kt while motoring so we take the sail down and roll some more. Our, not so good, entertainment for the first hour or two is the USCG radio call to the cruise liner that just departed about having to send a small boat out to retrieve a person that had a stroke just after getting underway. That is no way to start a cruise.

Our plan is to reach Ft Pierce inlet at 3AM to meet slack before flood so the entrance is under control. As we continue south our speed over ground (SOG) continues to drop so we end up targeting 4AM and then 5 AM. We continue to roll throughout the night and the French seasick medicine Lana got me is tried and it failed. We never get into a formal watch keeping as I fall asleep for an hour and half and then she for an hour then me for an hour and so on through the night. We see two ships on the horizon all night and then another radio call just after 11PM about a report of a red flare near Sebastian Inlet. As I had not seen the flare and am mostly unable to perform chart work (due to seasickness) to find out where we are with respect to Sebastian Inlet, I don’t pay much attention. That is unlike the white flare we saw in these same waters when returning from Great Sail to Port Canaveral last spring with HEARTSTRING. That one occurred while we were refueling from jerry cans underway after the engine stalled at half tank (remember the previous story of stalling at half tank, I see a trend). While fueling I see a flare off the bow about fifteen degrees above the horizon. We called HEARTSTRING as they were about 5 miles ahead of us but they had not seen it and all was well with them. Once we get the fuel in and the motor seems to be running good, there is a radio call from a boat that left Great Sail Cay when we did but was heading to Ft. Pierce so they were 20 or so miles south of us. He was reporting seeing the flare and the USCG had all sorts of questions. After their discussion is complete I called in my sighting to USCG and gave them all my info. About two hours after that the USCG called us to ask a few more detailed questions. In answer to my inquiry of what was up they stated they have sightings of flares in the area several times a week but are unable to track any issues each time. The mystery continues.

Finally we make the Ft Pierce inlet about 5:15A and get quite a ride in. Good thing it was flooding after slack. We make it in the cut and are doing 9.9 kts SOG. After things settle I back off the throttle to idle and we are still doing 4.7 kts. Next issue is how do you anchor in 3+ kts of current? Or do we go down the ICW in the dark (which is not recommended). We end up turning around in the ICW intersection and heading back to the USCG station anchorage where we put the hook down and are asleep within 10 minutes (actually Lana is asleep in 2 and it takes me awhile to wind down). Let sleeping hares rest.