Friday, January 29, 2016

January 2016 Slowly Continuing South Vero Beach, Ft. Pierce, Peck Lake, Palm Beaches, FL

Friday, January 1

One the first day of this new year, I met an old high school friend for coffee at Starbucks near the Indiatlantic Beach in Melbourne.

Julie has lived in Melbourne several years, but the day before we were to leave was the only time we were able to meet up.

She had lost her Dad a couple years before and knew I had just lost mine the week before.  It was so good to just talk and share our stories with both laughter and tears.



 Saturday, January 2

Anchor up at 10:12 am. We motored back down to Vero Beach. After getting fuel and water at the Marina, we got the anchor down a little before 4pm.

Sunday, January 3

I spent the morning cooking ahead for the week, while B and the boys went kayaking.

Monday, January 4

After the boys finished their school work, we walked to the library, so I could do a blog update. For whatever reason, the Vero Beach library did not offer free wifi. I did not want to pay a $5 fee for a one year card just to use it one time, so we left.

We decided to hop on the free bus and go to the mall.  Once there, I got a good start on the blog, but was unable to finish before it was time to catch the last bus back to near where we were anchored.

Tuesday, January 5

While the boys did school on the boat, Brian and I went back to the mall so I could finish the update.  We shared a food court lunch and picked up a Redbox movie to bring back.  We chose the movie, War Room. It had been highly recommended in the Christian community, and was a good movie.

Wednesday, January 6

After school, we surprised the boys by taking them back to the mall to the movie theatre to see the new Star Wars movie.  We used our family gift card Brian's sister and her husband had given us for Christmas.





Thursday, January 7

Brian and I went on a long kayak while the boys did school on the boat.  On the way back we stopped by our friends' boats who are also members of our sailing club in New Bern. We invited everyone to a potluck dinner Friday evening.

Friday, January 8

The boys did school. Brian and I walked to Publix to get ingredients for our contribution to the potluck dinner.

That evening we met our friends in a covered picnic shelter at the marina for a feast of pasta, salad, garlic bread, chicken, mango, veggies, crackers and dip.  All of them would be leaving later in the month to cross over to the Bahama's for the winter.  It was a great evening with great friends.

John and Marcia Petersen, Tom and Ollie Foster, Doug Laurie


Saturday, January 9

After breakfast, we crossed the bridge and walked to the beach to go to the farmers market. It was very busy. We bought a bag of grapefruit, later learning we overpaid, but oh, well. Live and learn.  Then we went over to the beach.

We found a monster picnic table, we called the Kozel table.  The Kozel's are friends back in NC who are a family of 15.  This table easily sits 10 to a side, hence the name.





We decided to catch the bus and go to Burger King for lunch and then pick up a few things at Wal-Mart.

A while back I had signed up for an app called Shopkicks. You get points just for walking in certain stores, you get points for scanning certain item, and you get points for buying things.  After you get a certain number of points, you turn them in for a gift card.  I had close to 2,000 points, so Luke turned them into 2 $2 gift cards at Wal Mart.  The giftcard shows up on the phone and the cashier scans it to redeem it.

All that to say, we got free ice cream that day to enjoy, thanks to the shopkicks.

We picked up another Red Box movie for that evening. They didn't have the boys first choice, so they got the Minions movie.

Sunday, January 10

We did laundry off the back of the boat, while the older boys did water runs back and forth to the marina filling our water jugs to then pour into the water tanks of the boat.

We all walked to Publix to return the Red Box movie and had Pizza Hut Pizza for lunch.

Monday, January 11

Anchor up at 7:45am.  Leaving Vero Beach to continue a short distance south to Ft. Pierce. Anchor down at 10:10am  We anchored south of the bridge just outside of the Harbortown Marina.  The boys did a double day of school, so we could spend the next day at the library.

Tuesday, January 12

We dinghied to the city marina dock and went to the library.  That afternoon, Brian and I walked over to Hwy 1 and did a small provisioning shop. While shopping I had a great phone call from a close friend. It always makes my day when we get to talk.

After shopping we picked up the boys at the library and went back to the boat for dinner.

Wednesday, January 13

We woke up to a strange noise. Thinking one of the neighbor boats was running their generator, we tried to go back to sleep.  The noise continued, and it finally dawned on us, that it was OUR boat making the ruckus.

Brian figured out the bilge pump was running, and it wasn't supposed to be.  He trouble shot it and just had to do some rewiring. Thankfully he had everything he needed and did not have to make a trip to West Marine like he originally thought.






 The boys did school and we stayed on the boat all day.  In the afternoon, I dug out the sewing machine and did some much needed mending on several items.

Luke and Jacob made fried rice for dinner.

Thursday, January 14

Midmorning we pulled anchor to move closer to the library and dinghy dock.  That afternoon we stopped at the library and then all went on a reprovisioning trip to Deals, which is a giant Dollar Tree plus , and Publix.

We had an early dinner at Checkers, a little walk up burger place.  They had a special of $2 burger and fries.

Friday, January 15

Rainy day. Boys did school. We caught water in the kayak to do laundry the next day.

Saturday, January 16

Laundry in the morning, then family day in town.








One interesting thing about Ft. Pierce, is that there is a certain point where fresh water meets the ocean salt water, and they do not mix.  Pretty cool to see.







Sunday, January 17

The weather was windy and rainy. We just stayed on the boat and listened to church on the radio.

Monday, January 18

Time to move on.  Anchor up at 8:50 am. Anchor down at 12 :56pm at Peck Lake.  We enjoyed Peck Lake. We were able to anchor close to shore, so it was a short kayak to land. Once there, it is a short walk down a path to the ocean side.









While walking the beach we discovered a lot of Capri Sun drinks washed up high.  Brian and I grabbed what we could and took them back to the boat as a treat for the boys.  I think we got close to 50. We also found two unopened bottles of oil.






We figured they were part of the cargo ship that lost several shipping containers several weeks before.  When we were in Melbourne in December, we heard of two times people found coffee washed up and at another beach, bags of wine washed up.

Wednesday, January 20

We took the boys back in the morning and gathered up what we could. All told, we brought back 200+!

If you are ever a guest on board with us, your drinks are covered!

That afternoon, we pulled anchor and continued south.

On the way we passed Jupiter, FL.  They have a beautiful lighthouse.



We got to Lake Worth, FL at 5pm.

Thursday, January 21

We had been warned that the dinghy dock at the northern end of Lake Worth was not safe, even locking the dinghy, people had had thefts.

We learned there was an Aldi grocery store about 4 miles away, and needing to do a big shop, five of us donned our backpacks and Caleb taxied us to shore, then stayed on the boat while the rest of us went to town.

Six hours and 8 miles round trip later, we called him for a pick up. All of us were so loaded down, but we had fresh food! Brian bought us Little Caesars pizza for lunch on our walk back.

Friday, January 22

My load from the day before wasn't as heavy as most of the others, but it was enough to tweek my back.

Brian had gotten up to make coffee and was in the cock pit.  I got up and went to sit with him.  I asked him to bring me some coffee, then I started to feel sick and asked for the little bucket we keep in the cockpit for cleaning.

The next thing I know, he and Luke are picking me up off the floor and putting me back on a cushion. I had blacked out from the pain, I guess. I the process I had also crushed the little bucket, oops.

I spent the day mostly on my back sleeping or resting.  Luke made muffins for the family for breakfast. They made pb&j's for lunch and Caleb and Jacob made dinner.

It took a few days to totally get over it, but each day was an improvement over the one before.

Saturday, January 23

We decided to move a little further down, about 5 miles. The wind was crazy all day with regular gusts of 40-47mph.

Sunday, January 24

The boys worked on water runs and Brian changed the oil in the dinghy engine.





That afternoon, we decided to move back up a couple miles to be closer to the library.  The boys did school on Saturday when the weather was so bad, so they could have Monday off.

Monday, January 25

The boys and I walked two miles to the library.  They did their devices and I actually just sat and read a whole book. Not sure when the last time I was able to do that.  It was the new Debbie Macomber book, Silver Linings. Part of the Inn at Rose Harbor series.

Luke had downloaded a movie to his tablet that he had earned free money from the Google Store by taking occasional surveys.

Back at the boat, we had dinner and watched Indiana Jones.

While we were at the library, Brian had gone exploring in his kayak.  He was excited to show us Peanut Island.

Tuesday, January 26

After breakfast, we all loaded up in the dinghy and went over to Peanut Island. It was a great morning, walking all around and learning some of the history.















My favorite part was watching this manatee feeding.



Back at the boat, we pulled anchor once again and moved a few miles back south, to be closer to the Red Robin Restaurant.

Luke had gotten an email for a free birthday burger, so he and Brian walked the two miles for that.

Wednesday, January 27

Rain all day, non stop.  The boys had turned the kayaks right side up to catch water for laundry.  God did his part and both got full.






While the boys worked on school, Brian put on his swim trunks and decided to clean the decks in the rain.





After school we broke out the Monopoly game. Everyone played except Nathan. Of course Luke won, Luke always wins. His strategy is to buy the expensive properties and then put houses and hotels on them, thus bankrupting everybody, one at a time.




Thursday, January 28



Luke's 17th Birthday!!

Hard to believe our first born is 17.


His brothers gave him little gifts and Brian gave him some $.







For lunch, we picked up Checkers Burgers and Fries.





Dinner was homemade subs and apple pie.

Friday, January 29

The boys did school, Brian rode the bike 3.9 miles to get a propane cylinder refilled, and I did laundry with all that water God provided us with.

This afternoon the boys and I are at the library.

I think now we are just waiting for a weather window to go on the outside the 70 miles south to Miami.

This is the Lake Worth Inlet that we will go out.  It is right next to Peanut Island.



















































































































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