Fort Pierce and the MTOA Rendezvous

Friday, April 1

Arrived at Fort Pierce around 3:30 PM. Had to wait to get into the Fort Pierce city marina because there was so many other boats that were trying to pull into the marina. Once they called us and asked us to come in, we had to go to a gas dock and have our electrical system  tested to make sure we can go out into the new docks.  Some time ago, a hurricane wiped out a portion of this marina. New regulatory requirements forced the installation of electric pedestals that have ground faults receptacles out on the dock. These ground fault pedestals are super sensitive. If there are issues on a boat with ground faults, the breaker trips. In some cases, it can be just a timing issue, rather than a real problem.

We passed the test and were sent over to B dock at slips 67 B.  Once we got there we kept blowing the circuit breaker. We were getting ready to move us into the old section of the marina when a man came up and asked John if he had turned off his inverter. John thought about it and went back into the engine room to check. There was a unidentified switch above the inverter that he then turned off and our ground fault issue went away.  We are glad that we got to be on the new dock with our friends and we learned something about our boat in the process.

Oh yeah, this marina has a huge current running thru it. Of course, depending on the tide, it runs in both directions. Obviously, that along with the wind, made the whole docking process dicey. Fortunately, the dock hands are masters at what they do and that helped a bunch.

Our slip was out at the end.

The marina is very nice.  We decided that we would pay for a month in case we need to work on the boat while we are here.  Marinas offer rates by the day, week or month.  Sometimes if you are staying 4 days or more it is cheaper to pay the discounted weekly fee.  Since we were staying almost 2 weeks we opted to pay the discounted monthly fee.  There was a big current and wind when we arrived here.  John is getting really good at backing this boat into slips.

That evening, we met up with Mara Beel, Tenacious, Fruit cakes, Greek’s Folly, and others and went to the 2nd Street Bistro for a cocktails and then to the city park for their first Friday of the month music celebration.

 

Saturday, April 2.

We were really tired after the long trip and slept until 9 o’clock.  Pam met Becky and they went to the farmers market and craft fair right here at the city park by the marina. They have this farmers market every Saturday and Wednesday.  That afternoon John, Mark, and Becky and I went to an oyster festival just a little walk from the marina.  This marina seems to be right in the thick of festivals.

Sunday, April 3

This morning Mark and Becky, Tom and Coletta, John and I went to a nondenominational church called Family Church of Christ. It was quite an experience. We were met at the door to a lot of “God bless you” and more AMEN’s than I have ever heard in a church.  We left when they took a break in the middle of  the sermon since we had been out there for 1 1/2 hours already.

Unfortunately, we still have a high pitched sound coming from our props at certain RPMs. The prop shop in Fort Myers agreed to rework the props again so we had to hire a diver to remove the props. The scuba diver came around 11:00 AM and took off the props. However, the guy did not have a prop puller with him and could not get the nuts off. Fortunately, Jim O’Malley,  on another DeFever mentioned that he had a puller and that we could use it if necessary. Also, John had a very large crescent wrench. The diver used both and got the props off.

 

That afternoon around 5 PM we met with the MTOA rendezvous for a potluck dinner down at the city park by the marina.

 

Monday, April 4.

John and I drove all the way over to Fort Myers to take the props back to Coastal Props in Cape Coral.  Hopefully they can fix our problem with the singing that happens at certain RPM’s while we are cruising.   John finally got a haircut.  His hair had gotten so long, I felt like I was married to a pirate. After the 2 hour drive back to Fort Pierce we had hors d’oeuvres at the MTOA rendezvous.

Tuesday, April 5.

Today was the first official day of the rendezvous. Had lunch on board our boat with Mark and Becky, and John and Kathy Scott.

This years MTOA Theme is Dr Suess.

.

That evening we got dressed up as a group from The Cat in the Hat. Becky dressed up as  the cat in the hat and Mark, John, Tom, Coletta, John Scott, Kathy Scott, Pam G., Art and I all wore red shirts with numbers one through nine on them. It was so much fun dancing.

Wednesday, April 6.

John and I finished our taxes and sent them into our tax guy.  It took a long time to itemize everything that we had donated to Mother’s Angels, Kiwanis, 4 Square Church, Goodwill, and the Salvation Army.  Getting rid of everything from the house and extra stuff from the boat was a lot of work.

My job at the rendezvous was to drive the golf cart and transport people from the marina to the center where the rendezvous takes place .  I had to drive from 11:15 until four. It  was a lot of fun and I met a lot of people.  That evening I drove the cart to take the girls shopping downtown and the boys went to a Navy Seal Museum. Afterwards, John stayed back at the boat and worked on pictures while I went out to the second Street Bistro with the group for dinner.  One of John’s jobs for the rendezvous is to take pictures.  He spent hours and hours putting together a slide show for the final night.

Thursday, April 7.

Last day of the rendezvous and they had a general meeting at 9 AM.  Then, I drove the cart from 11 until four.

One of the sessions of the rendezvous is to present gadgets that you have found helpful on the boat.  As we have been on this boat we are finding that an important part of the day is the afternoon docktails. Docktails is the boating term for happy hour cocktails.  It is usually around 5 PM.  It is a time to gather with other boaters to  socialize and  unwind from working on the boat or traveling.   Wine is a big part of many of our docktail so Kay and I presented wine gadgets that we use like the Hayley’s Corker, the wine koozie, the travel stemless wine glasses and the icicles to help keep white wine cool.   That evening we had a gala dinner where they awarded prizes. I was on the social committee and messed up, not knowing that I was supposed to be there to help with hors d’oeuvres and I just thought I was supposed to help decorate.  Hopefully, they won’t put me on that committee again.