Not long into the crossing, the wind strengthened and caused the sea state to become choppy then rough. We had to slow down to avoid reaching the inlet at Ft. Pierce before daylight. Ft. Pierce has a very straight-forward inlet, but I did not want to enter it in the dark. We furled some sail to delay our arrival. Shibumi sailed between the inlet's channel marker's at first light. We were securely tied to a mooring ball at Vero Beach 24 hours after we pulled anchor at Great Sale Cay.