After 5 days at anchor, I wondered if Cat Maudy had sprouted a new “home port”. Ft. Pierce, Florida. Earlier in the week, with 2 ocean sail, back to back hops —
(1) Ft. Lauderdale to Lake Worth (45 miles), and
(2) Lake Worth to Ft. Pierce (60 miles)– it looked as if Cat Maudy was cruising on a northbound ROLL. We were in the mindset that nearly every day would be a sailing day.

WRONG. The weather windows had completely evaporated. Each day introduced worse sailing conditions than the prior day. Strong winds from the EAST produced whopper seas and sea conditions. Exasperation, frustration, and resignation that “there’s no place like home” – resembled Ft. Pierce.

We made the best use of our time at anchor…getting work done for clients…staring at every imaginable weather service on the Internet hoping that ONE day would look favorable….and staring at each other. There is only so much one can take….and Paddy knows when I need to get to shore and exercise. 5 days without land endorphins is well over any girl’s limit. We bought a night at the inn (i.e. dock slip space at the Harbortown Marina) – and within minutes I had the tires pumped up on my roadbike (Ms. Trek Madone).

It’s hard to put into words the feeling when clipping into your roadbike, prepping for a high cadence workout….when tires meet an actual road surface. Unable to ride my Trek roadbike on land (it’s been hooked up to a trak stand on Cat Maudy) for 4 months — I had forgotten that breathtaking feeling about riding on real pavement. It was glorious beyond description. My mood picked up considerably….and it suddenly didn’t matter that we had been stuck in Ft. Pierce.

Paddy knows a good thing….and bought us a second night at dockside. This allowed me to exercise fanatically making up for lost time on land — with a day filled with biking…running…and swimming. Life is good!

We also prepped the boat for eventual sailing. I said “we”….but really this means Paddy. He handles the much needed boat chores while I get my happy-face on. Paddy removed all of the fresh water from our storage tanks — and replaced it with good ol‘ chlorinated drinking water. Turns out we had a bit of a problem with our drinking water supply. While spending time on Biscayne Bay we had gotten into the habit of MAKING our own water, and filled our storage tanks with de–salinated, filtered water from the Bay. It wasn’t until I experienced a gut wrenching dose of intestinal unpleasantness….that we figured out our “made” water was not so good. Enuf said.