The cold north wind keeps on blowing so no passage to the Bahamas anytime soon. So today I ferried some water and fuel, spent some time exploring the Fort Pierce Inlet / Indian River Lagoon area in Dinghy, cooked up some more of those yummy shrimp, and climbed the mast to fix a loose tether on the radar reflector.
On the way back with fuel, water, and ice cubes. Even just sitting at anchor we use water (cooking, dishes, occasional showers) and fuel (battery charging and refrigeration). I have jugs to carry 10 gallons of water, 10 gallons of fuel, and 5 gallons of gasoline (for Dinghy). Filling all of the water and fuel tanks from zero this way would be hard work — keeping up with daily usage isn’t too bad.Andante is anchored just south of a group of small mangrove islands. Lots of birds and fish and dolphins to see.A gathering of white ibis. According to The Google such a grouping has many collective nouns including a “congregation”, “stand” and “wedge” of ibises.Great blue heron. She blends in well and held perfectly still as I drove past — but made a huge racket a few seconds later when startled by something. A great egret. Not exactly their native habitat but she seems perfectly content. And probably a better boat driver than some folks who rent this little center console at the city marina. Yikes.
These guys seem to enjoy sneaking up on me and making the biggest possible blowing noise right next to the boat. Can be unnerving when its otherwise quiet. You can hear one of them make a little squeak in the last few seconds of the video. Sometimes I wish I had a hydrophone with me.View from the lower spreaders. From this height you can hardly see the dirt. One of the lines securing the radar reflector had come loose so I went up to secure it. During the day I pull the boom off to one side during to minimize shading of the solar panel. The wind and current here are constantly changing so i have to adjust the boom frequently. On a good day we generate 40-50 Ah (around 500 Wh or 0.5 kWh) of energy. That’s about 20-25% of our daily usage when at anchor. I run the engine for an hour in the morning and evening to generate the remainder and to cool the freezer. Finally, I used the last of the big brown shrimp from the farmer’s market to made a risotto. All the shrimp heads and shells were toasted in a pan with onions to make the stock. Yum.
Sail Andante 
the color of the water!
LikeLike