Settling In
We are really feeling good about our choice to keep Nepenthe in Fort Pierce. The water is so much clearer than what we are used to up around Cocoa Beach. And at times it is feeling a little surreal having our own sailboat. We are taking her out sailing on the Atlantic every chance we get. We are getting more practice and more comfortable backing her out of her slip. The reason I say that is there is not a whole lot of room between us and the boats at the next dock behind us and in reverse Nepenthe does not respond as quickly to turns as she does going forward. Its Brian that does the driving in and out of the marina, he has the experience with docking, and does an excellent job.
Our routine has been to get out sailing, after all it is summer in Florida with the usual afternoon showers, so we try to be back before the showers hit. On one of our sailing excursions out we saw tons of jelly fish.
On the dodger the middle window unzips and rolls up to allow the breeze through to the cockpit, oh what a difference it makes on these hot Florida summer days. It feels good to kick up the heels and relax.
Sailboats are so photogenic.
After sailing for the morning and early afternoon and we were soundly back in the slip. The usual Florida afternoon deluge of rain, this was simply a down pour and no wind, it was nice to watch from this point of view.
After the rain in the marina we were surrounded by these fish that at the time we thought looked like small sharks. There were many many of them and when they would breach the surface of the water their dorsal fins would break the surface just like a shark. Talking with someone later at the marina restaurant and bar we were told they are tarpon fish, don’t know if that is true or not.
The sky is beautiful at sunset after the late afternoon showers. We spend the evening after sailing sitting in the cockpit and enjoying the views and the peace and quiet. We sometimes walk down to the bar for happy hour or just enjoy our own after dinner drinks in the cockpit.
The dock that Nepenthe calls home for now is not a floating dock. At low tide she sits even with the dock and is ideal to walk on. The fingers at the marina are short, shorter than we would like and I would have to say at this point is the only complaint I have about our marina. We pull in bow first because of the short finger, board at the bow and walk all the way back to the cockpit, sometimes with bags of supplies. This is not the most comfortable thing to do. At high tide she sits pretty darn high and at times is a challenge boarding her, so maybe that is complaint number two. We have had to creatively crawl on board.
We are not alone is this conundrum, we noticed that some of the other boat owners in the marina have a ladder on the dock finger to assist them getting on their boats so we brought a ladder from home. Not the safest because it just sits on the dock but we are very careful so that we do not go for a swim.
From the first time entering the marina by boat we saw this sign about Manatees. We talked to the bartender at the marina restaurant once and was told they see manatees all the time. I think that is pretty cool, I wanna see some manatees!
We were on our way out sailing one day and stopped at the fuel dock to fill up on diesel and for a pump out. What to our pleasure beside the boat we see several manatees eating breakfast. How cool is that!
We are really starting to explore Fort Pierce. At first we knew where West Marine was and that was it. Now we are finding some good places to enjoy breakfast, we have found a good New York style Italian pizza joint near by where we can even get just a slice of pizza if we want. There is a Jetty Park along the inlet that is a very nice area to walk with a few restaurants right there as well, one of which is right on the beach with a few tables right on the beach and sand volleyball courts. I wanna play sand volleyball! We have passed Jetty Park on the boat so many times it was nice to see if from this point of view and explore what was in the area. We found out that the one restaurant is where we stopped to eat dinner on our way home from seeing Nepenthe for the first time. We had not realized that prior, the restaurant was right there and we pass it every time we go out the inlet to sail.
The Pearson 323 was produced by Pearson Yachts in Portsmouth, Rhode Island from 1976 through 1983. Although the exact number is unknown, it is believed that 385 or more were built. Designed by Bill Shaw, as most Pearsons were. Pearson Yachts, as we knew it, closed in 1991. So if there were 385 Pearson 323’s built according to our plate in the cockpit Nepenthe is hull No. 254.
In case you are wondering like we did what the name Nepenthe means. It was on our way home from seeing Nepenthe for the first time that I had to look up the meaning of the name. A potion that induces forgetfulness of grief and suffering and pain and sorrow, sounds good to me. I think that when you are out sailing that is easily accomplished.
