Well, we made it through the night with calm waves and winds. It was a cold night , 54 degrees, but great for sleeping. We had only been up for about 45 minutes when all of a sudden it went from complete calm to being blasted by 30 mph winds! Luckily Chuck was on the bow of the boat checking on our chain and snubber. All of a sudden I heard Chuck yell over to David, ‘are you dragging anchor or are we’? Whisper and Happy Hours II were close, very close together. Dave’s bowsprit could almost reach inside our cockpit if the guys hadn't fended the boats apart! It actually turned out that neither of us were dragging. The guys figured that our boats were in different wind patterns and as soon as they turned facing the same direction , everything would be alright.
It wasn't much later that Rita called. Her friends, Dennis and Diane, were picking them up to lunch at the 12A Buoy. This restaurant is a popular and fun place to eat. It’s right at the start of the Fort Pierce South Bridge…..and we were invited! Now that the winds have died down a bit, we feel comfortable leaving the boats and were to meet our ride at 10:45 am. We had to get to the restaurant when they open if we want to get a table for 6. We got a table inside since it was too windy and cool to eat out on their deck. The word circulating around town is that the clam chowder is to die for….and as good if not better than the chowder made in the Boston area! In fact, all the meals prepared here have a reputation of being worth coming back for….and they were!
On our way back to the marina, we had Dennis drop us off at the West Marine. I have to say this…once again they didn't have what we needed. Chuck wanted to buy some back up fuel filters. That’s okay, we’ll stop at Whiticar Marina, a Yanmar dealer, that’s in the Harbor Town Marina compound. We made one stop before the marina. Rita wanted t shop at the Thrift Store that we could see in the plaza across the street! She loves to see if she can find a bargain. It turned out she bought a top for $3, and it was new. I bought a new beach coverup for $7 What bargains!
We spent the rest of the afternoon on our boats. It’s a good thing that we did. The wind shifted more out of the east. Happy Hours II was facing the wind out of the east but Whisper, with her full keel, decided to face the current. We were once again almost touching. Chuck went to the bow and hauled in 10 feet of chain thinking we’d have plenty of room between our two boats. I’m not sure that it did any good. Yikes! We’re hoping the winds die tonight. It’s going to be one long restless night checking on our two boats….they seem possessed!!
After dinner, we checked on our location in respect to Whisper. We seem to be even closer than before. This isn't good. Dave says that the full keel is dictated by the current and our wing keel moves with the wind. We can almost reach out and touch each other! So, we decided to move…in the dark…not good. The first place we anchored, the lady in the sailboat didn't want us beside her. She had her spot light on us. At first she yelled over and wanted to know if we dragged anchor….no! She then shouted that she had 100 feet of of chain out….why? We were in 7 feet of water. We hauled anchor and moved over between Keith and the IP. I thought we had plenty of room. The current was so strong that by the time the anchor set, we were practically on top of Keith. So we moved again! This is getting old and I’m getting frustrated not to mention tired!! My depth perception is terrible at night, so this isn't easy for me to be motoring around in the dark. We finally went in as close to the bridge as we dared and dropped our anchor again. By this time, we were both wired, and I knew sleeping wouldn't be easy. We've had great luck with our Delta anchor so I felt 99% sure that we would wake up in the same location.
When do you push north. We will be in Stuart around April 1 with Mar-a-Lago. Hope to see you.
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