Vero Beach to Faber Cove in Fort Pierce, Florida

 We set an alarm to get up in time for the 6:30 am marine weather on the Single Side Band radio. It was still dark out and we could hear loud and clear that the weather for crossing is unsuitable for several weeks. We pulled anchor and headed past Vero Beach Marina and under the North Fort Pierce drawbridge and over to the Fort Pierce City Marina for fuel. While at the dock we met another PDQ power catamaran owner, New Hope. We headed past over a dozen boats anchored in our usual spot along the causeway of Hutchison Island and continued into the sheltered Faber Cove. We have anchored here once before and it is nice and protected with four other boats anchored here. The sun was out the entire day and the temperature is back up into the 70's. The wind picks up Friday night and the temperature drops on Saturday so we will be snug here. Glenn took a test ride in the dinghy around the cove and it was probably a good thing we did not leave since the trawler behind us dragged anchor and we are waiting for Coast Guard to deal with it. 

Cute nesting pair

Turning into our usual anchorage along the condos

View off the bow of Faber Cove anchorage

Sunset over Faber Cove

We took advantage of the warm temperatures and calm winds to head into town. We pulled into Cove Point Marina and tied up to their dinghy dock for a $10 fee. The wind was going to increase in the afternoon and we did not want to get caught coming back from Fort Pierce City Marina. This is the first time we walked the Seaway bridge and then walked down US1 to the Marine Supply store looking for windshield wiper blades that seem to be out of stock everywhere. We stopped back by CVS and Publix and ended up eating lunch at Seaway BBQ that was our closest visit to a tiki hut so far. We enjoyed the pork and smoked chicken sandwiches and mac and cheese and some cold draft beers in icy mugs. Our original intent was to continue to walk over to Ace Hardware down past the City Marina but decided nothing was desperately needed on our shopping list. The sun came out and we stopped to buy two pounds of shrimp from the local lady near the entrance to the marina. They were setting up a sound stage and had the pork butts smoking looking like Friday night party time. It was a warm evening to enjoy happy hour on the fly bridge followed by a delicious shrimp and grits dinner

Foggy morning walking across Seaway Bridge for our 8 mile hike

Misty view of Fort Pierce City Marina 

Egret at the base of the bridge

Fort Pierce Yacht Club

Nice park and boat launch

Nautical bait shop

Passenger train waiting on the tracks

Kite flying above inlet park

The howling wind woke us up around 2 am and we tightened down the canvas helm cover and life sling cover that were flapping along with some ropes that came lose on the weather clothes. We were so comfy we ended up sleeping in until almost 10 am. We cranked up the generator for heat as it was 47 degrees but with the brilliant sunshine the cabin became toasty warm. We'll work on our to do list of getting the boat ship shape. With the windy and the cold conditions, we hated that we had to miss the great Fort Pierce Farmer's Market. It is predicted to be near freezing temperatures tonight.