WINTER 2013

January 8 - 3:45 a.m.  
     Alarm bells rang, lights flashed.....it was time to get up, pack the car and set off on a 2,300 km drive south to spend another winter on 'Southern Vectis'. There was no snow in the forecast, though we'd seen a lot of it over the past month, both on Vancouver Island over Christmas, and in Ontario.

    Our drive south down the I75 went smoothly and we made record time, needing only one overnight stop en route, in Knoxville. The winding mountain drive through Tennessee was spectacular in the soft winter sunshine. Luck was with us as we managed to avoid the many speed traps along the way!
We arrived in Ft. Pierce around 8 p.m. on 9 January and checked in to the Sandhurst Hotel on the water's edge beside the Ft. Pierce inlet.  We just had enough energy to stroll along the waterfront to the neighbouring 'On the Edge' restaurant for a dinner of fresh and delicious mahi mahi. It was such a strange feeling to be free of coats, boots, gloves, and to feel the warm sea breezes blowing off the ocean.

'Southern Vectis' was launched the next day. We spent the following two days sorting out all the equipment we'd stored on board and cleaning and scrubbing everything in sight. The boat is stored in a sandy area, and the winds of summer had done their best to deposit gritty sand inside the boat as well as sandblasting the outside! 

But it hasn't all been work.  We've treated ourselves to our regular 'favourites' as well.   Before we set to work on the boat we had to have a 'Full American Breakfast' at the Captain's Galley on Seaway Drive.  You can only survive one of these breakfasts a trip - though some of the clientele looked as though this was a more regular treat!  We've eaten dinner at Capone's Hideaway, and already spent quite a few hours at the marina's Harbor Cove Inn.  We've also become part of the regular Happy Hour drinks gang who meet on our dock each evening.  It was good to see friends we had met here in previous years, and also to meet new boaters, many from Ontario.  There are sailors from Queen City Yacht Club and from Toronto Island Marina just a few docks away, so we feel quite at home!