Leaving Fort Pierce

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Our stay in Fort Pierce has come to an end.

This is a fantastic place, and one we will keep in mind for the future. As already mentioned it is quiet, relaxed, less developed in a touristy way than its' surrounding cities and very friendly. The weather is perfect- just at the point in Florida where it starts to get warmer and the water gets more colourful. As a result there are less bugs and more variants of wildlife and sea life. We have made friends here, and we have always been made to feel welcome and part of the group. We could not have fallen upon a better place to do our repairs if we tried- we were very lucky to have accidentally stopped here. It is a place where many people just don't end up leaving... and the question when we said we were ready to go was simply "safe travels, when are you coming back??" Some were surprised and disappointed when we said Caribee was not destined to come back to USA. It has been a comfortable and fun time here, but Caribee is ready now so it is time to go and face our future.

We had been stuck in the mud for the last weeks at our dock due to the winds and moon cycle. Even though the water had started to rise we were nervous we would not be able to get out, so we asked to move to the end of the dock a few days ago where it is deeper. It is wonderful here.... a beautiful boat across the dock from us with nobody on it on one side, and the mangrove on the other. All day we have watched great blue herons, ibis, night herons, egrets, pelicans, cormorants, king fishers and jacks hunt. The occasional manatee has gone by, and I am sure I heard a dolphin yesterday morning. The space between us and the next dock behind us is much wider than where we were before because this is the section where the bigger boats dock, so it will give us more room to back out in any wind conditions. All good.

The wind is not favorable to cross to Bahamas until next Tuesday or Wednesday, but we would like to do a test run down the coast anyway so we will leave this afternoon and head down to Miami for a few days. We will anchor in No Name harbour and leave when the winds change to south. We were able to get a one month US cruising permit from customs yesterday somehow, so time is not an issue. A change of scenery will be good, and roughing it a little will be good too- we have been quite spoiled here.

We still have some last minute things to do so I will say goodbye from Fort Pierce, it has been a pleasure to be here!

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