We’re Loopers!

 

Ft. Pierce – Melbourne, Florida                        

Day on the Cruise:    1   

Statute  Miles            54.9   

Time  underway       6 hrs, 1o mins                        

Cumulative Miles   54.9

Right after 8 am Bob cast off the dock lines and Cathryn took us out of Harbour Isle Marina for last time until next year.  We’re no longer Looper wannabe’s; we are in fact on the Loop.  It’s great to be underway.   

Yesterday was busy.  We decided we wanted to add one more battery to our inverter bank, and Darrell of Performance Marine Electronics accommodated our last minute request.  Dave Arnold, trusty marine technician, also came and ran us through  the process for doing an oil change, which is a bit more complicated than doing one on a car.  For example, it takes 12 gallons of oil!  And Malcolm the dock master came by to complete one last free pump out of our black water tank.

Afterwards Cathyn took our truck over to Malcolm's house where it will spend the next year. We were bummed when we discovered we’d come away without a photo of the Marina Manager, Sarah.  Not only is she a lot better looking than Malcolm, but she was absolutely great to us, accommodating us in many ways throughout our stay.

 

About 10am today we reached a milestone: Hole in the Wall Island.  This is where early last month we spent our first real overnight anchoring out.  We were SO proud of ourselves!

This one’s for you, Crawford (click on the photo to enlarge)

It’s a Saturday, so lots of folks are out playing, and it was a great day for it.

At 2:30pm we turned off the ICW and went about a mile up the Banana River, through our first swing bridge, to our anchorage. You can see the exact location by going to the SPOT post just below this one.

With Cathryn at the helm, Bob did the honors with the anchor, in a routine that seems quite natural now, as did all the other tasks of the day.  Thanks again, Captains Chris and Alyse, for making us ready to undertake this voyage!  We are happy and having fun.