Days 306 -309

Fort Pierce FL - Melbourne Harbor Marina, Melbourne FL

• Start 8:00 AM
• End 1:30 PM
• Underway 5:30 Hours
• Distance42 Miles
• Total Miles on Trip 4879
• Av Speed 6.9 knots
• Weather Sunny , 69 Degrees, Wind Knots 7 ENE

We had another perfect travel day. For the most part the winds have been very kind to us on travel days, and not so kind when we are in port. That works very well for me! It is one thing to get bounced around when we are on the dock, that is a lot better than getting bounced around getting to the dock, or worse yet as we are trying to dock.

To make a perfect travel day even better, as we were leaving the channel to approach the marina once again we were treated to a dolphin show. Several dolphins decided to play and jump around us on our way in. Unfortunately I had to pay attention to driving and Angel was on the front deck without her phone, so we do not have any pictures. Angel also spotted a sea turtle swimming alongside of us. What a day to not have her phone with her. I would have stopped while she got her phone but the channel is very narrow, and in spots very shallow, and I did not want to risk hitting the bottom.

My first goal in Melbourne was to go to West Marine to see if they had a sea strainer I needed for my air conditioner pump. Our air conditioners work by pumping sea water through the units, and the sea strainer prevents debris from entering the system. While in Key West, the sea strainer got attacked by barnacles and needed to be replaced, and I have not been able to find one. Dan (Cheri Baby II) and I rode our bikes there we after searching through boxes of strainers I was able to find the right one. Part of the problem was I did not know the correct part number for this strainer and I needed to match the old one to each of the ones they had in stock to find the correct one.

While we were in Melbourne we were also finally able to resolve a parking ticket that was issued to Angel's "car" in July. In September Angel received a court notice for failure to pay a parking ticket for this ticket. When looking into it we found out that the make of the car on the ticket was a Chrysler, Angel's car is a Honda. This has been an ongoing fight with the City Of Trenton NJ to get the ticket dismissed. The prosecutor would not dismiss it without going to court, and the court cancelled 4 previous hearings. (All virtual hearings done with either Zoom or conference calls) Then we had a hearing while we were in Key West, and when Angel said she was pleading Not Guilty, the judge said they had to schedule a trial for another day. For the "trial" there was a different prosecutor, who after we proved that we were out of the state with the car in storage when the ticket was issued, and the ticket was issued to a Chrysler not a Honda agreed to have the judge dismiss the ticket. Unbelievable how much time and money was wasted over a ticket that was wrong to begin with. When the prosecutor told the Judge she wanted to dismiss the ticket because Angel proved she was out of the state when the ticket was issued, the Judge said, but someone else could have illegally parked the car. When the prosecutor told the Judge it was also issued to a different make of car, the judge wanted to know if the officer that wrote the ticket was consulted before offering to dismiss the ticket. What a waste of time!! We are both glad it is over and done with.

After dealing with the court, we joined Dan and Cheri with their friends Todd and Mary, who will be starting the loop in the next couple of weeks for lunch. After lunch they drove us to Sebastian Inlet State Park, where we watched the surfers having fun on the waves (Good day to be in port, the seas were 5' and bigger) and the fisherman on the jetty.

On Friday it was rainy so our entertainment director (Angel!!!!) thought that an indoor activity would be a good idea. So off bowling we went. It was a blast, even if I stink at bowling. Dan did pretty good but the rest of us could have used the little kids bumpers, I think it would have been less embarrassing that way.

Our final hurray at Melbourne was to go see another play. We went to the Melbourne Civic Theatre to see Cash On Delivery. The theatre is small seating less than 100 people, but the show was top notch! It is a comedy about a British Landlord that has been scamming the welfare system, by multiple benefits for, multiple people that live at his address. When the investigators come to verify his claims, he has everyone pretending to be someone else. It was a fast paced show with everyone laughing the entire show. It was a great way to finish our time in Melbourne. From Melbourne we are off to Cocoa Village Marina