Early morning start to give us sufficient time to cover the 45 miles to Fort Pierce and arrive at high tide - well, that was the plan. As the sun peaked over Peanut Island we cast off and motored out of a much quieter Lake Worth. All went well for the first 10nm, a steady easterly wind gave us a good course for our waypoint. We passed through fishing competition (on Tues morning..??) - numerous small boats moving haphazardly around - time to join in - we set our trailing line as well!! Then the wind veered to a northerly (headwind), dropped ominously as dark clouds began to approach - yes the predicted thunderstorms at mid-day were arriving! But we were ready - sails reefed, full waterproofs on. Winds up to 30 knots and torrential rain. A tough few hours trying to stay on a course. Finally the rain gave way to a very helpful easterly and we motor-sailed close to the shoreline. Arrival at Fort Pierce within 6 minutes of high tide - impeccable timing (what a plan)! Re-fuelled and tied up near our old dock we made new friends, exchanged stories of Bahama cruising, re-provisioned and settled down for dinner and rest - back after 4 weeks away, a wonderful time with Annelise and other shared memories. Now we have some work to do to get everything restored, genoa down to be re-stitched etc...etc... but that is for tomorrow - for now we are safely "home". Oh and we didn’t win the fishing competition – in fact no catch at all…typical!

Phil and Di