More Goodbyes

Days on cruise:  310

Craig and Barbara on “Blue Heron” spent a third, final night in Fort Pierce and visited the Navy Seals Museum, so we went out for a final dinner at Chuck’s, a nice waterfront restaurant across the street from our marina. We had an outside table on the deck, and this is where we ate our very first dinner in Fort Pierce more than a year ago, the day we completed our 4,000+ mile drive from Seattle. We were thrilled with the beautiful setting, warm breeze, shore birds and sunset last year, and again this year.

Hmm . . . honestly we’re not one of those couples who wears matching outfits. I had on black slacks, tan ones for Bob. We hated to say goodbye to Craig, Barbara and their lovable yellow labs Joey and Bailey too, after Cathryn went to their boat for one last “play date” with the pups.

The next day Dave returned to tackle a few more boat projects, and the plan to re-caulk inside the master stateroom window that has recently leaked a few drops in heavy, wind-driven rain turned into more. After further assessment, Dave ended up entirely removing the window, scraping away the old adhesive and sealer, applying new stuff, re-seating and sealing all the screws that hold it in place, then re-installing the window. Coincidentally our boat broker dropped by while this was going on (showing other clients a boat here) and said “What are you doing to the boat??? I’m supposed to sell it to Jack and Sara next week and you’re busy tearing it apart?”  We promised it would be in better shape as a result.

Fellow Gulf Crossing buddies Paul and John (father and son, plus their rescue cat Sparta) on “Memsahib” are in Vero Beach this week and invited us to join them for the evening. The last time we saw them was in Marathon when we had Seattle friends Jim and Phebe visiting too.

We had a glass of wine on Memsahib, then went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. It was great to see them again, and we’ll follow the rest of their Loop on their blog.

We’re counting down the remaining number of sunsets to enjoy, as soon we’ll be back on the “Left Coast” of the United States, in an east-facing house. We don’t see sunsets there unless we go to west-facing Seattle to visit our kids or other friends.

Sorting and packing up the boat is going so smoothly that we’ll probably be ready to depart for home on March 30.