Gifts from the Sea (by Paula)

One of the "joys" of boating is waking up in the morning to find that a night heron has used the bow of your boat for romantic moonlight patio dining.

Happy Anniversary (by Paula)

March 10th was our 4th wedding anniversary.  Jim totally surprised me by having these beautiful roses delivered to the marina here in Fort Pierce.  Sorry, but I just had to show them off!

Friends come to visit (by Jim)

One of the really cool things about cruising is hooking up again with friends we have met along the way. These are our friends Bud and Elaine who we met last year in Georgia. They are stopping here in Fort Pierce to visit for the day. Paula was able to get this picture as they came into the marina.

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.