Ft. Pierce

We spent a lovely week exploring Ft. Pierce and meeting with lots of other Loopers.  We hadn’t realized how secluded we were in the Bahamas for the last 6 weeks.  The incredible noise all around us took us by surprise.  Cars, trains, music, sirens!  We almost turned around and went back.

We arrived at 11 in the morning and stopped at the fuel dock for fuel and a pump out.  This was the first fuel we purchased since we left Florida.  Diesel (as well as everything else) is expensive in the Bahamas.  There was a very familiar boat docked next to the fuel dock – Drift Away.  We’ve played cat and mouse with them since the Erie Canal. They invited us over for docktails along with Unruly, then we all went out for dinner.  It was a VERY long day, but as Drift Away was leaving in the morning we  stayed awake and had a great time.

Angie and Gary on Unruly were with us nearly the whole time and we enjoyed their company as we toured the area. There is a wonderful museum nearby – The Navy UDT –Seal Museum.   Ft. Pierce was one of the original training stations for frogmen in World War II. It is an incredible display of original equipment, videos, and lots of stories.

Outside was a continuation of history:

Some of the different types beach obstacles and “hedgehogs” found on the beaches during WWII. The Seals would come in first and blow up as many of these as possible before the troops landed.

These were “Seal Delivery Vehicles”. The Seals would lie inside like a coffin while this sped them underwater to their destination. Not my preferred form of transportation.

They had a wonderful obstacle course set up outside for the kids (of all ages) to “play” on.  Wouldn’t you love this in your back yard?

The next day I checked out all the docks (A-L) for other Loopers.  I found many Looper burgees (flags) but many seemed to be away for an extended period of time, but I did meet new Loopers that were just beginning and reconnected with Happy Wanderer that we haven’t seen since the beginning of the Erie Canal.  They had fond memories of singing The Erie Canal song with Sal, the Mule.  The marina is quite large and has two restaurants on site. They sell fish food at the marina gift store and people are always at the dock feeding the large schools of fish that know where to find the food!  I learned to identify Giant Mullets (a “trash” fish used for bait), sheepshead, and parrot fish (both good eating fish).

That night we had docktails on Unruly with Meg and George from Viridian and Mike from Dash Away after a quick visit with the crew of Serenity.  We hadn’t seen the last three boats for several months.  It was a nice reunion.

Saturday was farmer’s market day – supposedly the best in Florida, and I believe it!  A huge market with stall after stall of produce, bakeries, meat, drinks, etc.  There is a whole separate area dedicated to local crafts and merchandise.  I had a lovely croissant filled with cheese, bacon, and jalapenos for breakfast! We rented a car (Enterprise often has a great deal of $12 a day over the weekend), and drove to Vero Beach with Angie and Gary. We visited the Citrus Museum (did you know that Citrus is not native to Florida?  The sailors on Christopher Columbus’ second voyage were required to bring 100 seeds each!), Mel Fisher’s Treasure Museum, indulged in Country Citrus slushy's (fresh orange juice slushy's layered with soft serve ice cream) – highly recommended by several people and more than lived up to their reputation, and lunch at Squid Lips.

Here’s my pictorial of our day:

Vero Beach is a tourist haven beach town. There was a street fair/farmers market (not nearly as awesome as Ft Pierce, but a fun, small town fair).

We have never seen a mobile ATM before!  This should catch on.

Some of the treasure from Mel Fisher’s museum. Bob has been a fan of Mel Fisher since he was a child.  Mel started the first ever scuba shop in California before he and his wife (and 4 children) sold everything to begin treasure hunting in the Atlantic Ocean.  It was only 30 days later they found their first treasure right off the coast of Vero Beach.  They went on to make the largest find to date when they discovered the shipwreck of the Atocha – worth over 450 million dollars.

Mel was a man of many talents, a musician with his own band, and inventor.  He invented this underwater casing for a camera.  He also had a TV show and made Scuba training films for the US Navy. His wife was also a diver and promoted diving for ladies.  She once broke the world record for women staying underwater to encourage more women to take up diving, staying underwater for 50 hours!

We took a break for lunch at this cute, local chain restaurant – Squid Lips.  It is popular with good food, reasonably priced. We watched dolphins that looked like they were chasing a school of fish.  Too far to get good pictures.

A front came in while we were there and we were subject to rain squalls the rest of the afternoon. We still enjoyed our orange slushies', even though we ate them in the car!

Our last day at Ft. Pierce, we re-provisioned and cooked for a potluck that evening.  It was a fun evening with many cruisers from the marina, Loopers and more! This picture was taken after many had left!  When will I learn?????

 

Docked at Ft. Pierce City Marina – April 3rd – April 10th with Drift Away, Dash Away, Unruly, Serenity, and Happy Wanderer.