2025-05-04 Coconut Grove and up to Fort Pierce

On Monday, we moved the boat over to an anchorage by Dinner Key, near Coconut Grove, Florida.  It was a bit skinny on water, seeing 4.9' at low tide but found a nice spot to anchor.

Once the boat was secure, we headed into the public dinghy dock, where we saw a small crocodile sunning himself about 20' from the dinghy dock.

About 4' of body and 4' of tail

At least they have warning signs

We walked into town up about a mile to the Home Depot for some engine oil, and new line for our sling seat.  Then across the street to McDonald's for lunch and then over to UK Sailmakers to get a batten we needed for our new mainsail, that we will pick up in Vero Beach.

We had called UK sailmakers, and they said that they had a batten that matched ours, but when we arrived, it was not there, so we ended up with something close, that should work.   It had some damage in shipping, so we got it at a discount for only $40, which was great.  Now we just needed to carry a 16' long flexible batten the 1-mile back to the dinghy through town.

Dean took the lead, and Kris on the back carrying our batten back 

We got some curious looks and a couple of humorous comments, but made it back to the dinghy with no issues.  Dean took the dink and batten back to the boat, and Kris waked the mile to a chiropractor, where she got her back looked at and adjusted.     

On the walk back, quite surprised to hear and see a peacock roaming the streets.

Why did the peacock cross the street?

Evidently, peacocks in Coconut Grove and Miami are common, and protected.   You can't harm them, and they are free to roam.  They are quite loud, and leave large droppings, but also pretty.  Some residents love them, some hate them.

Next day Kris was feeling a bit better, but still quite stiff and sore, so another walk in order to loosen her up.  Walked around and enjoyed some of the sites around Coconut Grove

Sculptures in park by dingy dock

Nice glass ball fountain

Quite a few spots of artwork scattered throughout town

Large lizard in the parking lot - boy can they run fast

Saw a few peacock statues - they are from 2010

Nice tile mural

Thought these were fake flowers at first, but all real.

Wednesday was another walk, as they help Kris's back.  The back is getting better, but still a bit of pain, although much less than when it started.

The weather looked good, so Thursday afternoon we upped anchor and headed out the Miami channel for an overnight sail to Fort Pierce.

Heading on ICW towards Miami

Downtown Miami

We had a very fast overnight sail - faster than planned, seeing 9 to 12 knots in the Gulf Stream heading north.   We got into Fort Pierce earlier than planned, and had to slow up a bit so we were not dropping anchor in the dark.  We anchored around 7:00 a.m. and both took a short nap.

After our nap and shower, we headed into Fort Pierce to go to Stingray Electronics.   

Our Raymarine(Airmar)  Depth/Speed/Temperature transducer started failing by showing the water temperature was climbing - all the way up to 135 degree Fahrenheit, until it failed completely and showed just dotted lines.   Since the transducer was under warranty we contacted Raymarine, and they authorized a warranty repair, if we just shipped it to them, they would take care of it.   We got them to understand we could not do that, as we would have no depth sounder, so they recommended taking it to an authorized repair center.  Dean found Stingray Electronics in Fort Pierce - contacted them, and they said they would just give us a new one, and send the old one back.    WOW - what great service.   

After Stingray, we walked around Fort Pierce a bit.    

Fort Pierce also has peacocks, and they are in an area downtown, where they hang out around the Crain House.  The Crain's brought the peacocks in 1952, and they still are there (not the same ones of course - they live 15 to 20 years in the wild, but up to 40 years in captivity)

Couple of peacocks up in a tree

Little known fact - Kris had peacocks as pets growing up on a small farm in Oregon - along with many other animals.   The neighbors were not happy about that, when sometimes in the early morning hours the peacocks would fly to a neighbor's roof and start squawking - which is quite loud if you have never heard it.  They had to trim their flight feathers so they would not roam the neighborhood.

Today we leave Fort Pierce, and will motor up to Vero Beach where it will be "Christmas" for us with a number of packages coming in.   We have been busy on Amazon, among others, and Vero Beach is a great place for us to ship things.  New sail, new helm seat, new foam and much more.   Kris will also get another chiropractor appointment and work on getting her back fully healed up.