Leaving Fort Lauderdale with Fort Pierce as our next destination, we pull into the channel with Jaxon following behind in the dinghy. Jaxon drives the dinghy up to the port side of Holy How and we hoist it up with the crane and set it on its crate on the bow. It feels good to be away from the dock at an early hour.
Our plan is to duck out of the ICW today and travel along the outside. It's supposed to be a fair weather day, so the wind and seas should be in our favour. We have a couple of bridges to request passage from and then we are on the ocean side and ready to cruise north.
The view to the East as we turn Holy Cow northbound is spectacular. At first, it appears as though we are the only boat on the water. Soon, instead of dodging crab pots as we were in the Keys, we are dodging massive sport fishing boats along what must be a reef. These spectacular vessels are out in their glory with the outriggers down, lines in the water and some are flying kites high in the air. Gord, being the curious type, sends a message to Steve (Holy Cow's previous owner) to find out what these peculiar things are. Steve knows fishing, and tells Gord those kites have bait on them that stays on the surface of the water to lure fish. There are so many boats of all different sizes. For most of our journey, Gord dodges big boats, little wee boats and bait kite lines. Maybe the crab pots were easier.
Almost the entire run from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Pierce is great. It's so smooth we are able to move around the boat. The kids do their school work, Gord and I both get some business done, meals are easily prepared and I also spend about 4 hours prepping the next few blogs. Sometimes we leave Gord up on the bridge all by himself. Not often, but sometimes. Today is a day he's up there on his own a little more than usual because the rest of the crew can move about the boat. Don't feel badly for him. He gets scheduled bathroom breaks, his meals are hand delivered and on this day, the iPad isn't charting his path, it's broadcasting the Masters for the entire run to Fort Pierce. He will tell you he was lonely on the bridge, but we all know that's not true. We could hear him talking at his favourite club swingers, although I don't think they could hear him through the iPad.
When we do a run like this, Gord likes to get Holy Cow up on plane for about an hour or so. It gets some miles behind us, but it's also good to get the engines working. It's later in the day now, and the timing is perfect. The wind has picked up a little and the waves are rolling in. They are closer together today which makes for a slightly rougher ride, so going up on plane now relieves any discomfort.
When we near Fort Pierce, Gord slows down and navigates through the channels to the marina. We call the Dockmaster, who is friendly and helpful, and they have us call the dock staff that are waiting at our slip to help us in. It's a lovely marina and we enjoy our cruise in to our slip. Docking goes seamlessly. We tie up, get our shore power hooked up and, if you haven't guessed, we start hosing down Holy Cow. We want to get off the boat and see the sights, so we do this as a team. All four of us, hoses in hand, wash Holy Cow off like a massive elephant. Everything is salty! The boat is salty. The dinghy is salty. Even the dogs are salty! In fact, the only thing not salty is our attitudes.
If you're tired of reading about the hose down, imagine what it's like doing the hose down. Is it really necessary you ask? Like how much salt can there possibly be from one travel day and not even a splashy travel day. Here, I'll show you. This is how much salt came off one hand rail on my way to the bow. One small handrail and this isn't all of the salt, it's just the amount that collected on my thumb and pointer finger as I ran my hand along the rail. Now imagine how salty the entire boat is and where it hides to start corroding and eating away at things. It's a necessary work and a big job.
Not hard to imagine Gord up there by himself talking to the golfers! All-in-all sounds like a good day at sea.
This brings to mind the salty sailors crossing the Atlantic in wooden vessels exploring this continent for the first time. How did they manage? Sea salt on sails. Rolling seas. Not a voyage I’d care to be on.
For memories sake and documentation. I’d like to add to at Doug and I replaced a gasket on the port engine. Not a big job but I really want to keep the engines in the clean condition they are in. It was a successful change over. no leaks after Fort Lauderdale .
Crazy amount of salt! How long does the hose down take?