Fort Pierce art (by Jim)

There are quite a few sculptures around Fort Pierce. We spotted the diving man and the bird and snake at the city hall. They are both really pretty cool.

The Diving Man is at least 30 ft tall, There is what looks like an Osprey nest in the "V" of the tree. Not sure what kind of flowers they are supposed to be but they are really pretty neat looking. I think it is made from cast bronze.

Fort Pierce City Hall Art. Bird and snake.  It looks like it is made from sheets of stainless steel welded together.



Title:  Blind Date

Fort Pierce March 2011 (by Jim)

We've been in Fort Pierce for a couple of days and are already really enjoying being back here! They are having jazz music in the park next to the marina every day from 11:00am to 2:00pm. We can hear it plainly right here on the boat. We went for a nice walk yesterday and got to meet Jim, the man who owns the "printing press mailbox" that we took pictures of last March when we were here. What an interesting story he had about the press. The only problem was that he wanted us to take half of his junk mail with us!

We got a pretty good location in the marina, our bow is pointing right out the entrance channel. It was a real chore getting into this slip though, the slip is only 16ft wide and our boat is 15ft wide. Wind was at 15 mph and gusting to 20-25 when we came in. When I turned the boat around to back into the slip we ended up sideways to the wind. That made it a major pain to get into the narrow slip. Had to lean on one of the posts pretty hard to get the boat to turn. After that we slid right in with no problem.

Today we got to see the finished product on several old houses that were being restored when we were here last, wish now that we had taken some pictures so we could do a before and after thing.

On the move again (by Jim)

Well, as usual we stop in Titusville planning on a one month stay and end up staying three! A bad cold ended up delaying us for at least 3 weeks. Dr and dentists appointments had to be canceled and rescheduled, etc. We finished a few needed repairs and maintenance, restocked supplies and spares used during our travels and installed a new navigation system. We also enjoyed visiting with old and new friends and were able to see the last ever launch of space shuttle Discovery.

Weather fronts have delayed our departure twice and we finally left Titusville this morning heading for Fort Pierce. We are currently anchored just north of the Melbourne bridge and are enjoying an adult beverage.

Latest bird pictures

Wood Stork. These guys aren't very pretty when they are on the ground. But what a beautiful site when spotted in the air!!

Roseate Spoonbill. This guy is really "in the pink" his eyes are a bright pink. As you can see his legs are pink also! We see quite a few of these guys in the winter.

Crested Caracara. We haven't seen this guy in awhile so were tickled to get a picture of him. His head really does look flat. This is his favorite perch and he can be found on it fairly often.

Sandhill Crane. These guys are really pretty neat and we were also able to get a nice video. Paula stooped down to take a picture of one and he acted like he was going to take the camera away from her. This is at Fox Lake Park in Titusville.

Green Heron. This little guy has been hanging around the dock for the past couple of weeks. He gets upset pretty easily and yells at you as he flies off.

Wild Turkeys. We came upon this flock of wild turkeys during a trip recently. There were about 20 birds in the flock. We actually saw a larger flock earlier in the day.

Launch of newest rocket (by Jim)

Well, we hadn't been back in Titusville for a week yet when Paula nabbed a picture of the new SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that was launched! The launch was by a private company owned by one of the founders of PayPal.

Our personal water taxi (by Paula)

We thought we should post a picture of our dinghy or "dink" as we call it. When we are at anchor or on a mooring this is our taxi. This is what we use to go to shore, pick up friends, get groceries or just to go exploring the waterways! We also use it to fish from and just play. It's also our lifeboat, although we will hopefully never use it for that purpose! Our dink is a RIB (rigid inflatable boat). It's 9'8" long, has a 15 hp motor, and will go up to 28 mph. This picture shows it tied behind the Sea Eagle. When not in use or when we're traveling, it's kept on an upper deck. It's raised and lowered on a davit with an electric winch.

Heading for Titusville our "Home" port (by Jim)

"New" Bridge of Lions

We left St Marys, GA on Thursday, December 2nd, and traveled 72 miles to St Augustine, FL. We had a beautiful day and an uneventful (meaning nothing bad happened) trip. We arrived in St. Augustine and picked up our mooring around 3pm. St Aug charges $20 per day for a mooring ball. That includes dink dockage, showers, laundry access, etc. We walked all over St Aug for several hours Friday and Saturday, including a trip to the St Aug Winery for a bottle of port and seeing the Christmas Parade on Saturday morning. We had planned to stay until Monday, but a cold weather front was about to move in so we decided to leave on Sunday for Daytona. We traveled 52 miles and were anchored just north of the Seabreeze Bridge in Daytona by 1pm. Heavy wind out of the north beat on us all night long. We left Daytona about 8:30 am, planning on being in Titusville by about 2 pm. Unfortunately, crews were working on the JayJay Rail Road Bridge (aka NASA R.R. Bridge). We were stuck on the north side of the bridge with 8 other boats for about an hour waiting for the repairs to finish.

Black Raven and Freedom (St Augustine) tour boats

Of course Paula spotted this Bald Eagle as we went by Ormond Beach!