March in Fort Pierce & Delray Beach

Pedro and Pete
Last minute info exchange

PEKABU went on the hard on 2/23/21. We expected about a week, Silly us! We still believed when Pedro (Unlimited Boat Services, Inc), our great mechanic here in Fort Pierce, gave us a list of the issues: replace throughout bearing (which was the original request and should have taken about 3 hours), investigating as to why the shaft has 4 inches of play (when it should be about 1/100 of an inch- no wonder we had a vibration when underway!), clean out the shaft log void (which Haven Harbor improperly filled with 4200!), repair shaft log with fiberglass, readjust the keyway from the engine that secures the shaft (as it only held on to the shaft by less than 1/8 of an inch), then replace shaft - (had to have 2nd made out of proper stainless), install a new PSS bearing (last year we bought one and gave it to Haven Harbor to replace the original (they didn't replace, but kept the one we gave them), bellows needed to be readjusted. The parts for the boat took longer than normal due to "interruptions due to Covid." Since she had to be pulled, we had the bottom painted by one of Pedro's relatives and another polished sides. Both did an excellent job and for considerably less then we could have had it done on the Chesapeake! Five weeks later, Pete made the slow & cautious ride back to Marina. As planned. Pedro returned to do a proper alignment 48 hours later. We now have 1/1000 of a inch deviation on the shaft and no vibrations!

PEKABU getting her bottom paint touch-up and prepared to travel to the launching area

While we were away, progress is being made on the new marina that is just north of the bridge from us. It will be able to accommodate very large yachts that currently have no place to go once they enter the inlet. It will be almost a straight shot into the marina basis from the inlet. To say B-I-G boats, just look at the boat hauler that was assembled on site over the past month. I don't think we have ever seen on so big. Look carefully and find one of the crew standing next to wheel.

Have you found him yet? (hint: in front of the orange)

Wanting Pete's attention

Thank heavens for great friends! We stayed with Ann & Howie for 5 weeks. Bailey was in boarding for 10 days. We couldn’t leave her there the whole time as she would have been so stressed. We were able to keep her in our room with periodic stays out by the pool. We took turns cooking, plus we were able to eat out at Sushiama, Poppies, Hunan Gardens, Jack’s NY Style Pizza, Habit Burger’s, Burton’s Grill & Bar, Shiitake Asian Bistro, Lily’s Hand Made Ice Cream, but somehow we missed dining at a Greek restaurant. Pete also found out that Publix has some fantastic desserts. Their Carrot Cake tastes just like mine; the Flourless Chocolate Torte was super rich, and their Double Chocolate Cake all were delicious while not being too sweet. Howie also made ribs using Sticky Fingers’ BBQ sauce that was YUMMY!

Ann with Sofie, Poe, Katia and Bailey

Great guard dogs in action!

We had some time on our hands so Pete and I decided to take a ride down to see the Haulover Inlet in Fort Lauderdale. He follows a videographer on Facebook, who catches boats trying to exit with the incoming tide and winds. It can be crazy. People bounced out of boats, others loosing equipment including their dinghy, and the smart ones who turn around. It was a calm day and the current was not an issue. There were lots of boats anchored along the shallows along the ICW and the park located on the northern shore of the inlet was fairly busy for a Saturday. Besides the beach and viewing for the inlet, there are playgrounds, roller and skate board areas, tennis, baseball, basketball, volley ball, soccer fields along with picnic, boat launch and other amenities. I would like to come back for some "street photography" practice plus see boats challenge the inlet.

Buildings along the beach in Hollywood, FL

Cool Sculpture outside a building in Hollywood

Great opportunity for cropping!

Scenes from the Haulover Park. . .The "Flats" and a kite

I have begun to feel more comfortable with my new iPhone. It is a wonderful camera that happens to have a phone and personal assistant attached. Now, if I could only reprogram my brain that to properly answer calls. I now have to press the icon on the right instead of the left (as it was on the Samsung.) I have unfortunately hung up on most of my incoming calls! During our stay with Ann and Howie, I made use of the time and available WiFi to take a course on Photography for iPhones. I caught a sale through Facebook so the 13 hour course was only $50. Boy! It proved to be a very wise investment since I have never had an iPhone before. There is so much that the iPhone can do! I probably would have stumbled through using a few of them, but the instructor encouraged and inspired me to be more adventurous and use them to better my phone photography. He also touched on some in-phone editing apps, like Snapseed, which has proven to be very useful and does an excellent job, and Lightroom I would recommend iPhone Academy to anyone who enjoys taking photos with their iPhone.

Clouds, full moon and reflected light from shore

Sunset from the south shore of the inlet

   After a frustrating few days, I finally learned that iPhone photos have changed their format to HEIC:  High Efficiency Image file. No wonder I could not process them in Lightroom or post them directly to the blog. I had to download Imaizing Image Converter, which is a very simple way to convert them to JPEGs.

The fishing lights
from MV SANDRA JEAN

Since January Pete has been super busy with work. He has been looking forward to taking the dinghy out to fish, but he hasn’t had time to fish. We often have people fishing from their small boats real close to our boat, since we are against the long dock. A few of them have landed a couple of keepers. Apparently, fish have light sensitive eyes. so they seek shade during the day. When the current is incoming, the fishing is supposed to be great! Don has caught quite a few snook and other fish from his boat, with the help of the underwater light.

Bailey likes to nest

We had a scheduled lunch with Jon & Marilyn, but due to Jon’s back issues we postponed it. Of course this happened as they were having the survey done for the pending sale of their boat, Escapade. Hopefully, Jon will be getter so we can get together before we head north.

I can’t believe that we only have a few more weeks before we start heading north again. Spring has arrived on the east coast with weather fronts that have created some very windy periods. We just completed 4 days with winds ranging from the upper teens to steady 28 mph and gusts near 40! Between the north winds and the incoming tides. Our boat was pushed into the dock and squeezed or fenders to almost nothing! I don’t know how they didn’t explode. Thankfully, our dock mate, Paul, lent us 2 extra large fenders that really helped. We made sure he had them back before he and his friend Scott, headed south to Key West & The Dry Tortuga’s for a few weeks. Hopefully, we will see him before we head north.

~  ~ ~ /) ~ ~   P & K