Fort Pierce, Florida

We made it to the east coast of the ICW in Florida this morning. We left Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart in a Small Craft Warning. But do we listen to the experts?  Oh no, we forge on ahead. We wanted to stop for fuel and pump-out before the bridge opened up at 10 am (it opened on the half hours). So we left our slip at 9:00 anticipating we would have plenty of time.  The 20 kn. wind was blowing from behind the fuel dock, blowing us off of it. It took us three tries to get docked so we could get fuel. 

Once we finally got docked, things went fast. They had a high speed fuel pump faster than any we’ve seen before. Pump-out also was quick. By the time we had paid, the open bridge horn sounded and boats started moving.  We pulled away from the dock and ended up being the last in line.  But we made the 9:30 opening, a half hour early on our schedule.  

As we turned from the St. Lucie River into Hell Gate Point, we noticed our AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association) burgee was missing from the bow of our boat.

Where's our AGLCA burgee?!

We had the burgee earlier!

Oh no!! Our AGLCA burgee that has been seasoned over 3,000 miles in six months on the Great Loop! That’s how other boaters recognize us as Loopers. Our hearts sank. I said to Fred, well, let me go out on the bow and see if it caught on something. So I donned my PFD (personal flotation device) and set off to the bow. As I came around where I could see the part of the bow that we couldn’t see from the fly bridge, there it was. Just laying on the bow with the flagstaff still attached!  The winds from the Small Craft Warning hadn’t claimed it. I waved the burgee in jubilation so Fred could see I had it!

The flagstaff at the front of the bow snapped off.

You can see the broken part of the flagstaff.

You can see that the flagstaff broke off at the point where it joins with the apparatus to screw it to the rail.  Metal fatigue almost caused a disaster. 

So, crisis averted, we cruised along finally reaching the east coast of the Florida Intracoastal Waterway. Shortly after we started our northern heading, a sea turtle poked his head and one flipper out of the water right in front of the boat. 

The sea turtle was too quick for a photo, but this is the animal we saw

For those of you on Fred’s Nuclear Power Plants tour, it’s been a long time since our last sighting.
But today we went past the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant. 

Another different look on shore too

They use all their land and water in Florida. Each of the bridges
we went under had a park built under it as far as just before the middle opening:

All I can say about this picture is that it’s a huge boat to have on a single home pier.

We’re in another nice marina with a L-O-T of boats. Taurus is the last boat at the far end of the dock in the picture above.