We had a first time experience while at the docks in Cocoa. Shortly after going to bed at approximately 2230 we had a man knocking on our hull and yelling... "Steel hull... yep... steel hull" We yelled to him that there was people aboard and to please stop knocking on our hull. That just fired him up and he walked up and down the side SAILS rapping on the hull. I asked again to him to stop and he continued. I went to the side deck where he was now standing knocking on the hull and asked him to stop... he continued and yelled to me... so what are you going to do about it... Well, I replied this... I started blasting him with the water hose... he charged at me and jumped onto the side deck... well should better phrase that he stumbled and fell onto the side deck blocking the stream of water from the hose as best he could with his hands... once he got back to his feet.. he started up the steps toward me... I continued to blast him with the hose. He then asked that I stop and quit f...ing with him... I told him I would stop ponce he got off the boat... which he did and I stopped the water... he then marched away saying he was going to call the police... I said please do call them. He hung around for while but in 15-20 minutes he left and we never heard from him or the police that night.
Of course this did make for a very unsettled night... neither of us slept very well and every little noise woke us up... was very interesting though.

Alarm went off at 0600... way to early after an night like this and we went through the morning routine which basically revolves around feeding and walking Beecha. We departed the docks at 0730 bound for New Smyrna Beach. We had plans to meet Peter and Charlotte Behr there and spend what I sure will be a much better evening than our night at Cocoa.

You could tell it was still the weekend with the number of small pleasure boaters out on the water... and a fair amount of cruisers that you could tell were moving north or south on their boats.

Had to deal with three bridges today... NASA Causeway Bridge, Haulover Canal Bridge and the George Musson Bridge. The first two gave us the third dgree when we hailed and asked for an opening... asking what our air draft was... and if that was with the antennas down... and other similar questions but both finally agreed that we needed an opening. The George Musson Bridge we just arrived at the right time with it already open and passed through with no delay.

We normally go to either the free docks just as you arrive to New Smyrna from the south or anchor in Rockhouse Creek. The free docks were loaded with people fishing, swimming, kayaking, etc... after last night's experience we opted to continue on to Rockhouse Creek. Susan made a phone call to Peter and Charlotte to let them know we had arrived and that we were going to anchor in Rockhouse Creek. Peter informed her that it was full of boats... Peter and Charlotte can see the creek from their lanai... so, plan needed to change... I had seen an anchorage on Active Captain just across from the US Coast Guard station... which happens to also be directly adjacent to Peter and Charlottes home... we decided to give it a try... strong current but good holding were the reviews I read.

We anchored at approximately 1430 at N29°03.691', W080°55.002' just west and outside of the channel. It's a "No Wake" zone so the boat traffic should not be an issue.

We traveled today for 7 hours covering 47.8 nautical miles averaging 6.8 knots.

Off to an early start this morning... 0600 up and off to land on the dinghy to walk Beecha at the boat ramp just north of the Fort Pierce North Bridge... got a nice shot of the sunrise coming back to SAILS. Pulled the anchor and were underway by 0730... bound for Cocoa today.

First thing hail the Fort Pierce Bride for an opening... they are on demand so there was virtually no wait and we headed north... 7.8 knots with an incoming tide... VERY NICE! Of course this did not last for long but we did get a good boost of speed for a few hours.

It's Saturday!!! the weekend and the boats were out in full force... weather was great and the trip was pretty routine. A few morons passed and waked us but nothing that I fell out of my chair with... :)

We arrived to Cocoa to find our "FREE DOCK" totally empty... not a single boat tied up... figured we find at least one other boat on it... NOPE! We had our choice of location... but in 150 feet of dock there really is not a lot of choice anyway.

We were securely tied to the dock at 1600... location N28°21.255', W080°43.322'. We traveled today for 8.5 hours covering 58.3 nautical miles averaging 6.9 knots.

We departed from Pahokee this morning at 0730 and headed out across Lake Okeechobee toward Port Mayaca Lock. Little choppy but not bad. Upon arriving at the lock we were able to go straight through... lake and St. Lucie Canal at the same level and no need for locking... awesome!
One more lock today... the St. Lucie Lock and we would be on the Florida east coast... Stuart, FL.

Running up the St. Lucie we came to Indiantown and the Indiantown Railroad Bridge... Closed... supposed to open unless a train is coming and we have waited here before for a train to come... they are SLOW trains. Anyway, hailed the bridge and luckily he told to keep coming he would open as the train was not due for another 15 minutes. Luck was with us here.

Arrived at the St. Lucie Lock and had a slight delay entering and a little wait for another east bound boat to arrive and get secured... 12.5 foot drop in water level from the lake to the St. Lucie River.

We arrived to our destination for the night at approximately 1800... Fort Pierce... and anchored just south of the Fort Pierce North Bridge at approximately N27°28.146', W080°19.463'. We were in the middle of four other sailboats that were also anchored here.

We traveled today for 10.5 hours covering 64.3 nautical miles averaging 6.1 knots.