Sunday June 20 back in the US

We ended up cutting our time short because of the uncertainty of the weather. There seem to be a lot of predictions of a bad summer weather wise. We have been watching the crossing windows for awhile and rather than take a chance by "staying too long at the party" we decided when we saw a while week of good windows to head on back to the US.
Our last week was a busy one. I went to stitch & bitch on Monday, We had Jay, Jan, Giovanna, and Gabriella ( our next door neighbors on Dickies Cay) over for pizza. Wednesday I went to Ladies Lunch.Neil came back from Brazil and opened Hibiscus Cafe just in time for us to enjoy a few meals with him. We went for dinner Thursday & Friday and lunch on Saturday and Sunday.
We swam a lot trying to get in our last few beautiful swims.
We spent a lot of time carrying all the junk we had carried up to the house back down to the boat.
I went to Church on Sunday.
We left early Monday morning. Jay came over to say so long and cast off our lines.
We went to Foxtown and anchored off Hawksbill Cay. It was a warm trip up -but oh so beautiful. We decided to go for a swim there.
Our passage through Don't Rock at Whale Cay was very smooth.
Tuesday we spent the day with Teresa and Neal. They have a very nice home in Foxtown. It is a small community and they know everybody. Teresa took us on a tour of the area. We went to see her brother Joe's land. We met Teresa through Joe. Joe has a Great Harbour boat also. Every year Joe says he is going to the Bahamas. He has never seen his property. Next year we ARE going to get Joe and Kathy to the Bahamas.
We made several stops. One to see the bone fishing flats -- passed a watermelon patch on the way. We stopped at a friends to see their new baby pig -- I always wanted a baby pig. Paul drew the line on very few things but the baby pig was one. Anyhow, the pig was off in the woods somewhere trying to stay cool so I did not get to see the baby pig.
Neal went all out cooking dinner for us. Teresa did make, my favorite, cracked conch. Neal fixed lobster, Mahi Mahi, Peas and Rice with conch --the very best peas and rice I have ever had, and a beautiful salad with some things fresh from their garden. Neal is a superb chef!!!
All too soon we had to head back to the boat to make it before dark. We did enjoy their wonderful hospitality and promised Teresa we will stay longer next time.
Now it was not enough that they cooked the fabulous meal but also loaded us up with the left overs -yumyum.
Wednesday morning we headed for Mangrove Cay to anchor. There were a couple of boats on the other side of the island but none close enough for our evening swim to need bathing suits.
We left before sun up on Thursday morning. We had what was probably out best crossing, this was #16, back to the US. The tide would have been against us if we went in Sebastian Inlet so we went in Ft Pierce Inlet --smart move. We decided to anchor in the same place we did last year on our arrival back in the states--up near Sebastian Inlet. We were a few miles out and when we got hit with a BAD storm. The rain was so heavy we had trouble seeing so we just followed the little red boat on the chart plotter up the narrow channel. The wind was blowing in the upper 40s. One of the fuses in the pilot house decided to pop. Of course it had to be the one with the chart plotter and weather works --so no more little red boat. I held the boat in a small area around the only marker we could see while Paul made quick repairs --Thank you God for Paul's mechanical abilities.
The storm only lasted about half an hour -- just long enough for the fuse to blow and Paul to fix it.
We had a nice anchorage but it was a little strange hearing trains and lots of traffic. We have no trains in the Abacos.
Friday we made the short cruise to Cocoa Beach. We tied up to the free dock. We went into town for lunch and for Paul to browse for over an hour in a famous "hardware store" --actually I think it was more like a junk store --they did have just about everything --that is everything I was not interested in.
We got an ice cream cone and headed back to the boat.
We met a nice gentleman from the boat docked in front of us. We were talking and suddenly heard a lot of commotion --people yelling and lots of sirens. Seems a young fellow has a falling out with his girlfriend and decided to jump from the bridge right next to where we were docked. The bridge has a clearance of 65 feet and at least 10 feet on top on that. By the time I got the binoculars out to look I could see a body on the small walkway around the bridge underpass. We watched the paramedics FINALLY get a small boat out to him. They made him get up and walk to the boat THEN ride setting up back to the dock and THEN --why now -- put him in a neck brace and on a back board. I guess he did not speak English and they waited for an Interpreter and FINALLY took him off to the hospital.
Enough excitement.
Yesterday we went to Mosquito Lagoon to anchor. It was another nice cruise, short but nice. Lots of Manatees and Dolphins. We saw a beautiful pink bird --very pink. Not sure what kind. There was not much to see at Kennedy Space Center.
We saw a bad storm but it stayed inland --thank goodness --we already had our storm.
Today we came to Ft Mantanzas. Being Sunday there were a LOT of boats here. We had to anchor near the entrance and again we saw a storm inland. I cooked and baked all the way up. I made pecan waffles for breakfast. I baked cookies, a loaf of bread and a pizza crust. I made round steak and gravy in the crock pot.
Guess that about catches us up --except for pictures.