After a wonderful few days in Lucaya, our weather window for a good crossing of the Gulf Stream back to Florida opened up. We left with our buddy boat, Kendra and Jeff, on Finley for the 24 hour trip. It was a bit rougher than was forecast but once you are out there, you just keep going!
Reed and Eric decided to get a last bit of fishing in as we were in the deep water and in a short amount of time, they hooked a skipjack tuna. It was very strong and fought hard but in the end, we got him on board, filleted and ready for eating once we got to land. There weren’t a lot of other boats so it was nice to always have sight of Finley’s mast and chat on the VHF about course heading, wind, etc.
The Gulf Stream was moving northward quite quickly so as we headed due west, our course was actually more northwesterly in nature. We had great wind so we didn’t need the motor for most of the journey. At one point, we turned north with the Gulf Stream and had a blast sailing along at almost double our normal speed, surfing waves under the moonlit sky. As we approached Fort Pierce, the sun was rising behind us and some thunderstorms were developing as well. It was a good feeling to have those behind us! We entered the inlet and headed north to pick up a mooring ball in Vero Beach and get some rest!
After resting a bit, we walked with Jeff and Kendra to a little brewpub called Orchid Island Brewery. The beer was good, food so-so, but company wonderful. It was a pretty walk down green, tree-tunneled streets with orchids growing in the branches (hence the name of the general area, Orchid Island!). We all slept very well that night and were ready for the next adventure to start!
The next day, we rented a car and drove south to Boynton Beach to see our friend, Elfriede, and pick up a bunch of cold weather items we had left there on our way south back in January. On the way, we stopped in Fort Pierce at our favorite Cuban restaurant– Mervis’ Café. It’s a great stop, with authentic Cuban cuisine of sandwiches, platters, and desserts. Yum! We made it to Elfriede’s and spent a couple of days visiting with her and her brother Harry and his friends. It was strange to sleep in a “real” bed again after many months – Ava got used to it pretty quickly, though! It was hard to say goodbye to such a wonderful woman but we needed to start our journey north toward New Bern while the weather was good.
We returned to the boat and got ready for our trip north. We did have one potential hijacker, a cute little frog who must have climbed up our anchor chain to look for a place to rest for the night. Despite many requests to keep him as a pet, we set him free before we cast off.
Thanks for following and hope you enjoy the post!
Reed and Eric decided to get a last bit of fishing in as we were in the deep water and in a short amount of time, they hooked a skipjack tuna. It was very strong and fought hard but in the end, we got him on board, filleted and ready for eating once we got to land. There weren’t a lot of other boats so it was nice to always have sight of Finley’s mast and chat on the VHF about course heading, wind, etc.
The Gulf Stream was moving northward quite quickly so as we headed due west, our course was actually more northwesterly in nature. We had great wind so we didn’t need the motor for most of the journey. At one point, we turned north with the Gulf Stream and had a blast sailing along at almost double our normal speed, surfing waves under the moonlit sky. As we approached Fort Pierce, the sun was rising behind us and some thunderstorms were developing as well. It was a good feeling to have those behind us! We entered the inlet and headed north to pick up a mooring ball in Vero Beach and get some rest!
After resting a bit, we walked with Jeff and Kendra to a little brewpub called Orchid Island Brewery. The beer was good, food so-so, but company wonderful. It was a pretty walk down green, tree-tunneled streets with orchids growing in the branches (hence the name of the general area, Orchid Island!). We all slept very well that night and were ready for the next adventure to start!
The next day, we rented a car and drove south to Boynton Beach to see our friend, Elfriede, and pick up a bunch of cold weather items we had left there on our way south back in January. On the way, we stopped in Fort Pierce at our favorite Cuban restaurant– Mervis’ Café. It’s a great stop, with authentic Cuban cuisine of sandwiches, platters, and desserts. Yum! We made it to Elfriede’s and spent a couple of days visiting with her and her brother Harry and his friends. It was strange to sleep in a “real” bed again after many months – Ava got used to it pretty quickly, though! It was hard to say goodbye to such a wonderful woman but we needed to start our journey north toward New Bern while the weather was good.
We returned to the boat and got ready for our trip north. We did have one potential hijacker, a cute little frog who must have climbed up our anchor chain to look for a place to rest for the night. Despite many requests to keep him as a pet, we set him free before we cast off.
Thanks for following and hope you enjoy the post!