After we clean Holy Cow, and settle up with the Dockmaster, we are anxious to start exploring. The town looks pretty and inviting. It's Friday and we are only here for one night and want to make the best of it. Gord has told us there is a farmer's market just outside the marina tomorrow morning. The kids roll their eyes and say "Oh mom, here we go, you always love a farmer's market." They are not wrong. I don't typically enjoy shopping, but I do love browsing a farmer's market.
We lower the dinghy and hop in to see if we can find a beach for the kids to play on for a little while. We find one and it is literally water and sand. There are no shells, no weeds, no stones. The sand is super fine and dense. Gord sets up a chair and checks his eyelids for cracks. It's good to see him unwind a little. The kids play in the sand and I wander around to see what I can find. I end up catching a small fish by hand and show it to the kids. I also catch a tiny crab. Gord is awake by now and just shakes his head at me. The tide starts its ebb and creates quite a current. We watch a woman enjoy swimming in place like she's in a swim spa.
It's a long slow "no wake" ride back to the marina so we decide it's time to be on our way. We take a little detour along the way and are not disappointed. We see this creature on the surface of the water that could be mistaken for debris. The kids and I think it's alive so we turn the dinghy around to have a look. It is slow moving and super interesting. I don't pick this thing up. What we have found is a Sooty Sea Hare or basically a sea slug but that doesn't sound nearly as cute. We watch it propel itself through the water like a small manta ray and then make our way back to the marina. The video I have is terrible. Sorry.
We unload from the dinghy and flush the motor with fresh water. We decide to walk the town and take in a couple of historic sites. We see a few signs indicating there is a street party Saturday night. We also check the Geocache App and there are many caches in the area. When we get back to the boat, we decide as a family that Fort Pierce deserves a two night stay. When I call the Dockmaster to see if they have room for us for one more night, they grumble a little, but are glad to rearrange everything so we can stay.
As the evening comes, the breeze settles in and it is cool! The Canadian's put on sweaters for the first time on this whole journey. Outside, Gord has made friends with several of the nearby boat owners so he is busy discussing boating life and the Great Loop (in a sweater). He finds people to chat with at every singe one of our stopovers. You know Gord ...
In the morning, we can already see the bustle just outside of the marina. The farmer's market is setting up. One side will be produce, fresh baking and other delicious items like honey, seafood and breakfast burritos. The other side is mostly handmade wares, clothing and souvenirs. At 9:00, the whole family, dogs included, head up to the market. We can't get 10 feet without people asking about our dogs. People want to pet them, learn about them and also share their stories about their dogs, some of them have had Rhodesians as well.
The market is great. It is really busy and it takes us a good deal longer to meander through all the vendors than it should because every 10 feet someone stops and makes a fuss over the dogs. In my experience, it seems, Americans are more familiar with the breed than Canadians. I actually start to tire of the fuss and the social interaction. I want to focus on the market. Gord and the kids take the dogs to the crafty side of the market and leave me to purchase some fresh produce. When I catch up with them on the other side, Gord said that this side was equally as interested in the dogs. While we are on the topic, the dogs have been amazing on this trip. I really wasn't excited to have them along on this large journey. It feels like they may have known that because they have been on their absolute best behaviour. Well except for the fact that Brodie hates Bermuda grass. Like, he hates it, won't even step on it, and when he does he soon jumps off of it in disgust. So he's been a little fussy about where he does his business.
The kids talk about the street party that's planned later in the day. They are excited. When we are done at the market, we head back to the boat. Gord knows of a marine liquidators store that he'd like to Uber to but he doesn't really want to leave us. I assure him there is lots for us to do. There is a Manatee Observatory around the corner and I've found a Geocache that is called A Trek A Round Fort Pierce which should take about 45 minutes and is a great walking tour around the town.
Gord leaves and we head off to the Manatee Observatory. It's a nice walk over to the building but it is windy! Like skirt lifting, hair flying wildly, flag whipping kind of wind. I'm really glad we aren't on the water today. The Observatory is a fun spot. It's small, but the kids and I spend a good deal of time here. There aren't any manatees in the water and none are being caught on the underwater cameras, but that doesn't seem to disappoint them. The kids soak up the information from the learning center. They read about nonnative species and invasive species in the area. They learn all kinds of facts and details on manatees, like that they eat 110 pounds of vegetation every day! They also learn why they are protected and what threats cause them to be endangered. I quiz them later and they did quite well retaining the information.
We move on to Geocaching. The "Trek" cache is an interesting one. We must attend five different locations in sequential order. When we get to the location, a question pops up on our App regarding the spot of interest. If you answer the question correctly, the next destination is provided. The five locations the hunt brings us to is a sculpture by the pier, back to the Manatee Observatory, then to a historic mural on a wall by the train track that runs through town, over to the old movie theatre and finally to the Boston House, a historical landmark (which is also recorded as being haunted). The walk through Fort Pierce to earn this cache is fabulous. We get to see the town and learn something historical at every stop. The kids answer the questions correctly and we earn the smiley face on our Geocache map indicating a found/completed cache. When Gord finishes at the marine liquidators, he finds us and joins us for one of the finds. To be honest, I can't believe he's only carrying a bucket filled with items. I expected a car load of treasures that he just couldn't leave behind.
Our feet are tired from the miles we've put on them today so we head to the boat to rest up. We have some more walking to do at the street party in a few hours. Tonight, we decide to take the kids out for happy hour at a treat. Gord and I order margaritas and the kids get a Shirley Temple. We have a couple of appetizers and enjoy people watching before heading back to Holy Cow for dinner
They've got a live band, vendors, and the shops are open for business during the street party. It's a celebration of the anniversary of the Sailfish Brewing Company. It's a fun night on the town. We brought the dogs, so of course every 10 feet we stop to greet people wanting to pet the dogs. The live band, East Harbor, is great. There were pirates walking around making balloon swords for the kids. Jaxon and Brooklyn were lucky enough to get one each and it entertained them for most of the night. Eventually, the kids were tired from the big day. We really did put a lot of miles on those little feet so we made our way back to Holy Cow and called it a night. It was worth the stay in this pretty place. It may go in the books as one of our favourite stops. It has a lovely marina and offered a ton of things to see and do and learn.
We'd like to be early off the dock again. We have a long travel day up the ICW to an anchorage in Cocoa. We don't know if there's much to do there, and we aren't too concerned about anything other than being able to get the dogs to shore. Our next stop is just to pull off somewhere safe for the night and head to Daytona Beach from there. The next few days we are on the move.
In the morning, even though the wind had calmed down, it was cool outside. The weather app said a chilly 8C. To those of us acclimatized to the warm weather of the south, 8C is definitely sweater weather.
Fantastic blog! Wow on all the photos (family first) but those pictures of the sand formations underwater are amazing. Everyone must hit the pillows at night and crash until morning with days so filled with adventures. Love reading these so much!!!😍