Taking possession and moving Nepenthe
Taking possession and moving Nepenthe from Riviera Beach to her new home Marina in Fort Pierce.
It’s Monday July 6, 2015, paperwork all signed and we take possession of Nepenthe.
We arrive in Riviera Beach at the marina where the current owner was keeping Nepenthe and immediately begin cleaning. We removed all the things from the boat that the previous owner left aboard that we did not want. We did a little of exploring and found a few things that we did not know were aboard like a dodger cover, hatch covers, and a wind scoop. We spent the night on the boat, our first time sleeping on a sailboat and in a V berth, it was a little claustrophobic for me. We got to bed early so we could leave at first light.
We were up before the sun and left at sunrise to head North to Fort Pierce where we had decided to keep her in a Marina. It was beautiful watching the sunrise and we were both very excited to be on our own sailboat.
We headed out the nearby inlet and passed a cruise ship coming in to have work done.
We continued on and headed out onto the Atlantic and the plan was to simply follow the coast North and if we ran into bad weather or rough seas there would be options to shoot over into one of the inlets and travel up the Intercostal Waterway. About an hour into our journey I began to feel a little sea sick, we had the sails up but it was slow going at about 3 knots, so we motored increasing our speed to about 7 knots, today was about getting to Fort Pierce as quickly as possible. A few hours into the trip I was hanging over the port side of the cockpit puking, and was down for the count. So much for all my plans of cleaning and exploring Nepenthe as we sailed, I could not move and just laid in the cockpit between puking.
Brian sailed us single handed all the way, I was absolutely no help that day. The move took about 8 hours and it was only the last 30 minutes that I perked up and was able to move about the boat. We joked that as soon as I could see the inlet in Fort Pierce and knew that we were almost there I miraculously got better. I felt good enough to take our first selfie on board Nepenthe.
Our first selfie on board Nepenthe
Mind you it is July in Florida, we were lucky enough to dodge the afternoon thunderstorms, but they were there and all around us. We felt very lucky that we did not get rained on.
We arrived at our Marina about 2:30 pm.
We pulled into our slip for the first time without incident.
The proud new owners
Our good friends Paul and Judith helped us by picking up our car in Riviera Beach and bringing it to the marina in Fort Pierce for us. So they were our first guests aboard our new sailboat.
Paul and Judith look great on a sailboat. Perhaps they should buy one too!
Once we were securely parked in our slip, since I had nothing to eat all day, I was starving, so we got something to eat. We gave Paul and Judith a little tour of Nepenthe and then decided to take Nepenthe out for a spin. So after the 8 hour journey and only being parked for a few hours we untied her from her new home and took her out into the inlet turned around and went a bit south on the intercostal waterway. While we were out in the inlet we were approached by the coast guard, they asked where we were coming from and where we were going and how many persons were aboard. They were satisfied with our answers and there was no boarding of our vessel. We were out for about an hour before returning to the slip in the Marina. Paul and Judith spent the night with us aboard.
The following day after breakfast we went sailing. On our way out of the marina we stopped and got our first pump out and first time we put gas in the boat. We had trouble getting the cap off for the waste tank to perform the pump out, and we broke it in the process. Ahhh, our first thing to be fixed on Nepenthe. We headed out of the marina and Brian, my captain, looks so good behind the wheel.
We then proceeded out the inlet and on to the Atlantic and what do you know, I did not get sick. Yesterday was the first time I got sea sick and my empty stomach with no breakfast on top of going out the inlet onto the ocean which was the roughest I had ever experienced and it scared me, I am sure were contributing factors.
This wonderfully warm summer morning and the water is beautiful, so clear, the water depth was 25 feet and we could see the bottom.
We sailed for a few hours with great wind and calm waters. Brian enjoyed giving sailing lessons to Paul and talking about the boat.
Once back at the marina we made a trip to West Marine for a new waste deck cap and replaced our first part on the boat. It came time to leave the boat and head home. The marina is about 2 hours from home and we would be back next week, but leaving Nepenthe for that first time, it was hard, we just wanted to stay and play, but life and work was calling us home. We left Nepenthe in her slip at the Marina.
