PEKABU 3 Cruising: 2025

Tillie lending moral support
to Pete as he works

Pete jump started the new year with a time-crunched project that had him working on New Year’s Day.
We missed January’s 1st Night and the next day’s Saturday Farmer’s Market due to wind and rain. We also missed Fort Pierce’s famous Dancing Trees. No, they don’t really dance, but the lights around the trees are synchronized to the music. It is fun to just walk around.
Our laundromat, out by the Jetty, didn’t make the jump into 2025 in a good way. Pete took our laundry over and found that the place was dirty, some washers as well as a dryer were broken, one machine ate our quarters, but wouldn’t run, and the change machine that does dispense quarters ate the dollar bill, but no luck on the quarters.
I drove the 90 minutes to Delray Beach, twice helping Ann prepare for showing the house. It is difficult, but I know it is appreciated.

Tuesday, 1/7/25 ~ I have been hoping for a chance to make mushroom soup. With the cold & wind settling in, Taco Tuesday was cancelled. I took advantage and invited our dock-mates onboard to enjoy hot soup. Melissa, Mike, Barb and Michael joined us, enjoying the soup, conversation and friendship.

Sunday, 1/12/25 ~ Melissa and Mike invited Pete and I to join them, plus the new couple on the dock, Gwyn and Sean, SV BLUEBIRD, for brunch at Little Jim’s Bait & Tackle. Ok yea, it’s also a bar! Today, 2 great musicians entertained us - Dave Goodman on guitar and Padrick King on fiddle & mandolin.

It was unfortunate for the staff that the Wi-Fi went down and severely delayed our orders. For us, it was a beautiful day, outstanding musicians and great food. The free round of drinks was really appreciated. We will definitely come back to Little Jim's and we definitely look forward to seeing these fabulous musicians play at Cobb’s on February 4th.

The maiden flight of Blue Origins New Glen rocket, named after John Glen, was postponed twice, so we were hopeful that the 3rd would be the charm. Pete, Sean, Tillie and I left the marina around 11 pm and watch the cloud cover build the closer we got to Cape Canaveral. We joined quite a few others on the western shore of the Banana River just north of the 528 bridge. We were able to see the New Glen lit and sitting on the launch pad. The 1 AM launch was pushed back numerous times until it was scrubbed 40 minutes before the window closed at 4am. It was a disappointment, especially for Sean, who hoped to see the launch close up. We were home by 5:30 am and asleep shortly there after.

Monday, 1/13/25 ~ The cold and winds have really enjoyed playing with us for the first two weeks of the new year. After looking at the forecast for the week, we decided to have Taco’s on Monday. With temps in the low 70’s and upper 60’s we only started to feel cool as the sun set. Tonight, the two new transient couples, Mary & Tom, MV ROSE, who are currently on A-Dock and Diana and John, SV (unknown name) who hail from England, joined in our Taco Tuesday celebrations.

Condensation on windows
due to cold temps

Tuesday, 1/14/25 ~ It was definitely a smart move for Taco Tuesday as tonight was cold, raw, and windy!

Thursday 1/16/25 ~ The New Glen, which saw another two scrubs, launched successfully early this morning. No, we didn’t even try to catch it as the cloud cover was heavy.
This evening, Musk’s Starship, which was launched from his starbase in Texas, experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” moments after launch. FAA had to divert numerous flights over the Caribbean, much to the astonishment of flight crews who were directed to “turn to the new heading immediately; space debris descending in the area.”

The New Glen Rocket Launch

and the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” during launch of Starship

Friday, 1/17/25 ~ I tried new laundromat in Vero. It is a smaller than our old one, and a bit longer drive, but the jury is still out if it is worth it. It is clean, all machines are front loaders & new, 18 washers and 18 extra-large dryers, all stainless steel as well as the large folding tables. The big negatives are that there is no air conditioning and most of their business is laundry drop off, so most of the machines are in use by the staff.

Saturday, 1/18/25 ~ We enjoyed our breakfast at The Sunrise Café here in town. I think this will be our go to more frequently. They provide great table service, a variety of breakfast and lunch choices, and indoor seating, so no weather concerns.
I met one of the Florida Fish and Wildlife officers. She had a sick loggerhead turtle in one of the dock carts while waiting for a biologist to come. The poor thing was in a bad way as she didn’t lift her head or seem concerned that she was in the cart. The officer thinks this cold weather has severely affected her.
It was a gorgeous day to sit and read in the cockpit. Later in the day we drove over to enjoy the inlet & jetty.

Sunday, 1/19/25 ~ Changes are coming in weather for east coast. Temps are dropping again and the winds are returning from the north. Before they arrived, Pete washed the washed dog, while I cleaned the interior of boat.

Tillie being groomed, shirt to absorb the wetness, drying her face and chillin' once dried

Monday, 1/20/25 ~ Gwyn & Sean (SV BLUEBIRD) headed north to anchor, probably Vero. Winds are now out of the NNW 13 with gusts to 21 (which is probably a bit conservative), which helped in getting them out of the slip which was against the bulkhead. Temps are remaining in the upper 50’s all day, but with the winds, I’m sure it was a long, cold, bumpy, and slow slog to their anchorage.
Besides being Martin Luther King Day, it is also the Inauguration of President Trump. Due to the cold, single digits without wind chill, it was held indoors.
This weather has temporarily sidelined Barb’s and my walking (and probably many others as well). We both miss it.

Sunday, 1/19/25 ~ The local weather people in the southeastern states were using words they were unaccustomed to; words like “snow, ““snow accumulations” and in New Orleans, “blizzard conditions” and “white outs,” “snow closures along Route 10,” as well as “schools closing due to accumulating snow” in North Florida.
On January 21 and 22, 2025, Florida broke its snow record with 9.8 inches of snow in Milton and 8.9 inches in Pensacola. New Orleans imported snowplows from Kansas. Our kids and grandkids, near Philadelphia, also experienced a couple of inches of the white stuff, but it was the cold and wind chills of -5 and temps in the single digits that closed schools and many places of work. Kent Island/ Queen Anne’s County, MD (where we keep the boat on the Chesapeake) closed schools for the entire week, using extra days that they need to make up! I don’t know the reason for the long closures as it wasn’t included in the KI Facebook postings, only in the re-postings of the school announcements.

Florida and Charleston with snow ~ While our temps were a bit better, but windy in in Fort Pierce.

Pete participated in an IDPA match up in Port Malabar. He managed to snag the last slot. Though on the cooler side, it was a great day. He knew a few folks in his group from previous matches and added more with this current group. He was pleased with his score as the recent mechanical adjustments stopped the problem that penalized his overall score.

USCG WM TATE off Savanah

Our “Coastie” son, Greg, along with his ship and crew, headed south from Phili to work on aids to navigation (AToNs) as far south as Jacksonville here in Florida. Somehow, their work coincided with the longest stretch of calm weather we have seen in winter! They had the better part of 5 days to work the sea buoys between North Carolina and Florida, as well as navigation aids in the St John’s, St Mary’s, Brunswick, Savanah Rivers when the weather turned iffy. Then another few days of good weather for Cooper and Cape Fear Rivers.

Towards the end of the month, the heavens began an an show that will continue for the next few weeks. The planets are aligning in the sky and many are visible with the naked eye.