In spite of the slightly romantic, moonlit setting, dinner on Carina on the Eve of St Valentine was not one of my better efforts. I think I’ve gone off brown rice, and I really must remember that when you use yoghurt as the basis of a sauce, given half the chance it will irreversibly curdle, ruining the aesthetics, if not the flavour, of your creation. But then I never was very good at Cooking With Gas.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the weather in Florida in the winter is at least as capricious as in England.
We had to stay in the marina yesterday, because to venture out would have been foolhardy, in the gale force winds.
This morning I awoke shivering, and not just because I’d had nightmares about intruders on the boat and swimming with manatees. It was 7C. That’s about 45F, for my American family. There was condensation running down Carina’s windows, and outside, mist was gently rising from the water.

We continued our journey along the Okeechobee Waterway, travelling east along the St Lucie Canal towards Stuart.
The trees were different – the pines lending some height to the panorama.

Ian is usually meticulous about planning the day’s route, but for some reason it had escaped him that just before arriving at the St Lucie River, there would be a double bascule bridge that had only 9′ headroom, and this would need to be opened before Carina could pass through. This necessitated a hurried call to the bridgemaster on the VHF radio.

Our plan had been to anchor at a place called Manatee Pocket, which sounded pleasant and picturesque.

But when we got there, it seemed rather crowded with boats, so we went back and anchored in the quieter Hookers Cove.

And a few minutes later, the moon rose.