Sort distance planned for today so we left a bit later at 0900... only 6 to 7 hours to New Smyrna Beach where we have plans to meet with our dear friends Charlotte and Peter.

Sunny and windy all day... winds was producing some decent waves in Mosquito Bay and the Indian River... but it did not stop the small boats from coming out... there were tons of them... and a few larger boats. WE had one large SeaRay type boat wake the crap out of as he passed... he had hailed to ask for a slow pass to our port side on the VHF... I acknowledged and slowed down to allow him to give us a nice slow pass... NOT!!! he passed digging a huge hole in the water and putting out 5 foot wake about 30 feet off our port side... I let him know what I thought about his "slow pass" on the VHF... no response from him... it would have been better if he had just kept the boat on plane and passed us at speed than what he did.

We arrived to New Smyrna Beach City Marina at approximately 1630 and we were secure on the dock with power at approximately 1645... our position for the night N29°01.638', W080°55.233’. We traveled today for 6.75 hours covering 45.1 nautical miles averaging 6.78 knots.

We pulled anchor this morning at 0700 and were underway at 0715 leaving Fort Pierce bound for Cocoa, FL for the night.

Cocoa is one of favorite stops along the trip... Ryan's Village Pizza... we love it... last few trips we have just not had good timing and arrived in the Cocoa area on either Monday or Tuesday... Ryan's is closed on those two days... but not today...

Had quite a bit of north bound boat traffic today... all running faster than we were so we had a lot of boats pass us... probably close to a dozen... sure not use to this many boats heading north this early.

We did have favorable current for most of the day that... nothing tat slowed us down which is very nice.

Was a brisk (windy) day... starting out very gloomy until about 1030 then the sun popped out and it was mostly sunny the rest of the day.

We like to dock at the Cocoa Town Dock which is free... no power or water but it is very close to Ryan's Village Pizza and it's FREE... we arrived to find the dock with 4 boats on it and about a 60 foot opening... plenty of space for us... there was a large catamaran hovering around the dock... looked like a 60 footer to me... guess he was trying to figure out if he would fit... He decided "NO" and was headed away from the dock when someone on the dock hailed him on the VHF... telling him he had plenty of room that he had paced off the opening and had maybe 70 feet of space and to come on it... plenty of people on the dock to help you...

Anyway, he whipped around and with the help of several people on the dock he made it into the space with 4 or 5 feet clear on both his bow and stern... so we were not getting a FREE space tonight.

We called Cocoa Village Marina to see if they had any space open for the night and luckily they had one post left... a T-head just inside the marina... not the easiest marina to get into... very tight entrance with two 90 degree turns with in 75 feet of each other... we made it in...

We secure on the dock with power at approximately 1600... our position for the night N28°21.467', W080°43.542’. We traveled today for 8.75 hours covering 59.6 nautical miles averaging 6.8 knots.

We pulled anchor at 0645 and entered the Port Mayaca Lock at 0705... first boat to lock through for the day...

We were dropped about 6 inches to the level of the St. Lucie Canal... hardly seems worth the times it takes...

Yesterday we were in a pack of boats... today we saw very few boats... go figure.

We transited the St. Lucie Lock and it dropped us 13 ft to the level of the St. Lucie River... takes longer than you would think... maybe 30 to 45 minutes total from in to out... sure kills your average speed for the day.

Approaching the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart, FL we saw the Railroad bridge adjacent to it lowering... just bad timing for us... spent another 45 minutes waiting on the train to pass and the bridges to open for us.

Did well from there...picked up a great boost in speed with the outgoing tide... we ran 7.5 to 8.5 knot all the way to the ICW... then turned north into the ICW and slowed to 5.5 knots...

We arrived to our destination for the day... Fort Pierce around 1600 and were secure on the hook at 1615... our position for the night N27°28.022', W080°19.053’. We traveled today for 9.25 hours covering 54.4 nautical miles averaging 5.9 knots.

Dropped the dinghy and took the dogs to the beach on the small island we were anchored next to... they can run off lease here and they really enjoy it.