The day we left Peck Lake anchorage it was cloudy with a chance of rain. Randy pulled the anchor up and it was so muddy it make a huge mess on the deck. Thankfully, we have a deck wash down hose up there and he was able to clean it to some degree. We left the anchorage around 6:55am and sure enough, by 8:30am a squall hit us just as we were approaching a bridge. Since we couldn’t see anything, we dropped anchor outside the channel and waited it out. Four hours later, we were on our way again.

Once we arrived in Fort Pierce, we navigated to the anchorage. There were a few other boats there already and the wind was going against the tide. The water resembled being in a giant washing machine. Several catamarans were literally spinning in circles on their anchor. We found a spot far enough away from the other boats and dropped anchor.

Thankfully, our anchor held and the next day we headed to shore. The winds were still kicking up and it was a bumpy ride to the Fort Pierce City Marina where they have a free dinghy dock. Once there, we checked in the marina office to see if they would allow us to do laundry. At first, we were told no because they stopped letting non marina guests use it during COVID. A quick check with the manager revealed that they were now allowing it. Yay! We planned to come back the next day with our laundry since our plan that day was to provision some groceries.

Since it was a Saturday, the Fort Pierce Farmer’s Market was going on. We found a couple of produce stands and loaded up with fresh veggies and fruit. We planned to also walk to Publix and back which was a 2 mile hike there so it worked out well to already have the produce and drop it off at the dinghy before our walk.

After the grocery run, we took Sophie by dinghy to the nearby causeway park. There’s a dinghy dock there as well and it was nice to walk her in the lush green grass under the shade of huge oak and banyan trees. Later that day, back on the boat, we noticed that our anchor was dragging so we pulled it up and anchored again. Once again the tide was against the wind which makes for a difficult anchoring situation. About an hour later, we dragged again so we reanchored this time, successfully. This tough situation has Randy second guessing our 50lb Delta and possibly looking into a new one.

Finally, it was laundry day and time to gather up all 4 loads and get them into the dingy. Since we had a decent dingy dock and close-by laundry, I took the opportunity to wash everything (sheets, towels, rugs, Sophie’s bed, etc). We were let into the locked facilities by staff and got everything going. Between loads, we enjoyed sitting in the shade people watching and looking out over the marina. Once the loads of laundry were done, Randy loaded them into the dinghy and we headed to the bar to treat ourselves for happy hour at Cobb’s Landing, a bar and grill in the marina area.

We’d planned the leave the next day but decided to stay. I wanted to get to shore to run and Randy wanted to get fuel and water after that. After our run, we took the boat to Harbourtown Marina and took on 40 gallons of diesel and filled our water tanks. After that, we decided to head to the nearby island for an afternoon at the beach. The little island usually fills up with day boaters, but there were only one or two this time. We let Sophie off leash to explore and found a picnic table in the shade to sit and take in the view of the beach and our boat and dinghy.

We loved Fort Pierce with its city marina and easy access to shore. The current and tides mixed with windy conditions , however, made it difficult to anchor. The next day, it was time to head north again. More soon!

Peck Lake to Fort Pierce = 25 nm
TOTAL miles = 370 nm
Total Bridges = 7