2-13-2016 – Hunting and Fishing in Hobe Sound

We arrived in Peck Lake, Hobe Sound on Thursday afternoon (2/11/16). On Friday, we decided to stay, and did a little maintenance. I worked on bills and income tax prep, while Chuck cleaned the barnacles off of the dinghy. Then he relaunched the dinghy while I swept all of the barnacle detritus off of the deck. We took a quick trip over to the beach, with no camera, and just walked. A lot of people were on the beach; a small ferry brings them over from nearby. We decided we like it here.

Beach at Hobe Sound

So today, we visited the beach again. This time with camera and gathering bags. I like to hunt for shells, especially the pretty, well-formed ones, with a natural hole in them. I keep thinking someday I will get inspired to actually make something with them, like necklaces or earrings. There are a lot of nice shells here. This beach is pretty clean, but I also saw a few lost flip flops and two more containers of “Capri Sun”. Tons of this kid drink, along with coffee, wine, bottles of oil, detergent and other household goods, were found here and elsewhere along the FL coast since December, when cargo containers fell from a 340 ft barge that was being towed by the 136 ft ship Capt. Latham.

And to my great surprise, I finally found a sea bean! It’s rather large, and heart shaped, which is sweet since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. We also each found one of another type of sea bean known as a “hamburger” since it really looks like a tiny little slider. It’s surprising to me that we’d both find sea beans in FL since we looked all over the Abacos last year and never found a single one.

Heart shaped sea bean

"Hamburger" sea bean is the little one in front

While we were walking along, Chuck chatted with some locals who were fishing, and gathered the intel he needed. We went back to the boat for lunch, and he couldn’t wait to get back to the beach to do some fishing. He caught 4 yellow jacks (Jack Cravalle) and one bluefish. I did more walking and hunting, but didn’t pick up much more, I have enough shells.

Chuck landing a fish

Surf casting

Filleting the fish, in our cockpit

When we got back to the boat, he filleted the fish, while I searched online for recipes. I made a NY Times recipe, “Fast Vietnamese Caramel Bluefish” which really was fast! And we had most of the ingredients. It uses fresh ginger, lemon grass or fresh lemon zest, soy sauce, Vietnamese Fish Sauce and brown sugar. I added crushed red pepper flakes in lieu of jalapenos, and skipped the optional decorations (scallions, fresh cilantro and chopped jalapenos). Chuck said, “It smells like we have a dog.” I said, “That’s the fish sauce.” I love the smell, but it is definitely a little funky; it’s made from fermented fish. I explained that it’s like cheese. It doesn’t all smell good, but it always tastes good. The fish was good too. Really good.

Making the caramel sauce

"Fast Vietnamese Caramel Bluefish" with brown basmati rice and carrots

We are both reading the same book, “The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing” by Melissa Bank. I hurriedly grabbed it off the “Free” bookshelf in Vero Beach one day, thinking that I could use it to learn a little more about fishing. Turns out it’s not a guide book, rather it’s a fiction of linked short stories, and a great one. Published in 2000, it was a NY Times bestseller. I started reading it, and one night while I was cooking Chuck picked it up, after having heard me laughing out loud while reading. He soon caught up to my place, and on our trip to Hobe Sound from Vero, I continued reading it out loud for both of us, while he piloted the boat. I finished it today, and he’s almost finished too. I still don’t know any more about hunting or fishing. But I only hunt for shells, and he’s already pretty darn good at fishing!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2-11-2016 – Leaving Vero Beach

After 70 days in Vero Beach, FL, we finally pulled up the dinghy, dropped the mooring lines, texted off a few more quick goodbye’s, made one last stop at the fuel dock, and headed south, with the current, and toward the sun.  It was a very cold morning, 37 degrees outside, 57 in the boat, with condensation dripping from the ports. As the day progressed, it got warmer and sunnier, and the water ahead sparkled in the sunlight. The “white noise” of the engine sparked imagination and creativity, just like a nice long shower or the noise of running a lawn mower (or snow blower!) can do, and I started thinking that it’s high time I updated the blog!

We are excited and feeling free! It’s fun to get back into our traveling groove. Chuck joked, “I forgot how to start the engine!” and I felt the same way about all of the “startup” tasks that I do – stow the coffee thermos and the water filter pitcher in the sink, put away the clean dishes, clear the table, check the stack of supplies in the “garage” (our forward berth) for stability, post charts, guidebooks, and binoculars outside under the dodger, and the radio at the helm.

After a few weeks since its last cleaning, our dinghy is lying upside down on our fore deck, covered with a brownish slime and tiny baby barnacles. It’s been rinsed with fresh water and lies drying in the sun. Chuck says it will be easier to scrape clean when it’s dry. Soon we will spend a day on boat maintenance in clearer water. We’ll clean the dinghy and the boat bottom, clean the prop and check the zincs. 

Our dinghy on the foredeck, in need of a good cleaning!

Meanwhile, today, we’re moving along and enjoying a version of our cold weather traveling menu: oatmeal for breakfast, chili and salad for lunch, and homemade soup with long noodles, chicken, vegetables and Asian spices for dinner.

Spinach salad with pears, chevre and pecans,
and homemade honey mustard vinaigrette.

I’m feeling happy to be back in the boat, moving, just the two of us. (As opposed to living in the boat at the mooring. It’s the same boat, but it’s such a different feeling.) NOT that we didn’t enjoy Vero Beach and the company of our wonderful friends there, but we were just so ready for a change.  I’ve never been the sort of person who moves quickly from one thing to another, or one place to another. I like to be where I am, and to make the best of it. It’s not hard at Vero. Not a day goes by without something fun or interesting happening. We have made a lot of great friends among the cruising community, and we do a lot of things with other people – go to the beach, go out to lunch, go to a movie, go shopping, analyze and fix things on the boats, get together for drinks or food.  Chuck and I also get out alone - by bus, by foot, or by bike and try to see as much as we can. We like to discover new routes, new restaurants, and new things to do. This year we discovered the Vero Beach Public Library, and we just found the jogging trail in the "park beyond the park" (south of the VB Art Museum) the day before we left.

Vero Beach jogging trail, in the park south of the VB Museum of Art

But now we are moving again and looking forward to what lies ahead. Tonight we are at Peck Lake anchorage, in Hobe Sound, near Jupiter, FL. Tomorrow we’ll stay here and maybe do our maintenance. We’ll see how we feel.

We passed a dinghy race along the way

Scene along the ICW
(looks very much like Vero Beach City Marina)

Peck Lake anchorage

Our plans are to continue south along the east coast of FL, using the ICW or outside routes depending on weather, whim and bridges. We plan to visit the Florida Keys, do some fishing, lobstering and scuba diving, and then head up the west coast of FL, stopping to visit a few friends and to attend our Baldwin Yacht Club Winter Rendezvous in Sarasota in March. Then we’ll head back to the Keys and see more of it, and, if weather allows, visit the Dry Tortugas before going back up the east coast of FL and beyond. It’s been a very difficult winter for weather.  We’ll just take what we get, and try to make the most of it.