Monday 10^th Dec

Once again because of the lack of wind, we motorsailed through the day and night to Fort Pierce, arriving on Tuesday 11^th at the new Harbourtown Marina. We stayed there last year, a very nice little marina, where, when doing your laundry you can sit outside on the rocking chairs, sippin’ beer watching the sun set!!!!! Tough huh?

Having found out a few days ago that the wind instrument at the top of the mast wasn’t working properly, we decided it was in our best interest to replace it. So Roger went up the mast again and fitted the new one.The system he has rigged up using the anchor windlass, works extremely well making it easy for me to get him up there.

As the marina had complimentary bikes, we grabbed a couple and cycled the couple of miles into the town. It’s very hard to describe Fort Pierce. It’s a quaint little chocolate box town, but there are no people!! That’s not exactly true, obviously, it just seems like that. There are however, lots of policemen. We can only assume they had to saturate the town with them because most of them were so overweight, they wouldn’t have been able to chase after anyone!!! The town also has a very imposing Court House and lots, and I mean LOTS of lawyers.

It was a pleasant bike ride and I finally got to see one of those mythical Floridian creatures ….. a Manatee. No, not a real one, remember they are mythical, but a fibreglass one and a video at the local manatee observation station. It is situated at the water outlet pipe of the local electricity generation station. They claim manatees congregate there, but until I see one, I am not a believer!!