Yesterday, Saturday 5/4 we left Lake Worth Anchorage about 8:00 AM and headed out the Lake Worth Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean. This was not before having our coffee watching the sun come up and seeing some of the bigger boats heading out or returning.

 Out intent was to motor and sail as far north as the Ft. Pierce Inlet which was about 50 miles up the coast. We had decided to do this as long as the weather was nice since it allowed us a little sailing time and we could also avoid a lot of the bridges along the ICW. Things started out smoothly, as we headed north east out to sea so we could pick up the Gulf Stream which we understood would help increase our speed.to around 7 knots. However, the winds were very mind so we had to do some motor sailing, using our sails in conjunction with our motor. It didn't take long for us to realize that with the winds being so low and us only doing 4 to 5 knots, this was going to be long trip. Finally, the winds did pick up a little so just for the experience of sailing the TT2 only, we cut the motor and sailed a while. Then, unfortunately the back edge of our Jib (the front sail) tore and ripped most of the way down. We hurriedly dropped the sail and continued on with only the main sail and the motor.

We knew before starting out that the Ft Pierce inlet was the only one recommended for larger boats to go back inside. The seas started rolling, not too bad, but just enough to make one of the co-captains a little woozy.

 

 

The rolling seas, the lack of a foresail and very little wind was getting a little tiring, so even though the book said local knowledge was needed to enter the St. Lucie Inlet, we called a local marina and got the scoop on coming in via that inlet. It seems our shallow draft wasn't too deep to make it though the channel once we got past the heavy breakers at the mouth of the channel.

Once we got back into the ICW, we continued for about another 22 miles (we had only made about 28 miles on the outside after 6 hours) and dropped the hook in the Causeway Island Anchorage along with a few other boats at around 6:30 PM. We had known it was going to be along day, but we were both worn out.

 

 

Sunday:
We slept in this morning until 8:00 AM and then took coffee on deck. The sun was already up by this time and some of the early birds had already raised the anchor and headed out. I'm (Tom) just not one of those people that always feel one has to rush through life, especially now that I'm semi-retired. So, after having some fortifying oatmeal, we pulled up the anchor at 10:30 AM and started out. Of course, we only had to travel 14 miles to our planned destination at the Vero Beach Municipal Marina where we had a mooring ball waiting for us. We got settled in around 12:30 - 1:00 PM, after fueling up. We dropped the dinghy in the water, motored to the dinghy dock and took about a 1 1/2 mile walk into town and the beach. This was a difficult walk for me because a few nights ago while climbing the cabin stairs to the cockpit, I stubbed my left big toe and it's swollen and hurts like the devil. But, I think it did some good, Of course, the salty caramel and black cherry ice cream I had may have helped too. Nancy opted for the rum raisin. After a short walk back to the beach area from the ice cream shoppe, we had a nice dinner at an ocean front restaurant and then made the walk back. The marina has a lot to offer such as laundry facilities and nice hot showers which we took full advantage of before dark. Vero Beach is a little town and we hope to utilize their free bus service to do a little more exploring tomorrow and to stow away a few more supplies.