Cruising To Vero Beach with Friends

Our day began with a beautiful sun rise...although it is said, “Red in the Morning, Sailors take warning”....turned out to be better than the forecast: partly cloudy with a cool wind.  But the day warmed up nicely......nothing could have dampened our day on Miss gg with these dear friends.

Here comes Mavis...but where is Glenn?

There he is!   Piloting the boat while Walter put the mast down for the only low bridge on today's trip.

This is one of the many high pretty bridges we went under today.

An example of one of the large homes along the Intracoastal Waterway near Ft. Pierce.

Lots of folks out in sail boats today.

We are pretty sure this is a homemade sailing catamaran. Very colorful sails!

The water started getting a beautiful blue-green as we got closer to our destination in Vero Beach.

We also picked up a bit of speed …..here you can see we are coming in on a rising tide (blue/green water)......turned out the water color indicated the fresh ocean water coming in the inlets.

A Coast Guard boat had her flashing blue lights on and was sticking close to a small fishing boat just about out of sight on the left of the photo.

 It appeared two Coast guard men had boarded the fishing boat...not sure what was going on but we were trying to beat the rain and so we moved on.

Yes, dark clouds invaded our day but we only got a few drops of rain on the bridge Isinglass.  The water had taken on the color of the angry sky.

This is a wonderful restaurant called the Lobster Shanty located on Royal Palm Point. Glenn & Mavis took us there a while back when we were visiting in Florida.  I didn't remember it looking like this.......fresh perspective.....everything looks different from the water.

Townhouses within our marina village.

Entering Loggerhead Marina.....yes, it has the same name/owner as the one in Stuart.

Here are our not so energized guests.  Did we wear them out??

Just kidding!!....they did manage to smile.

We all went to our car rental place and then we took the guest-crew home.....it was a fun day but it started early and all of us could use a good night's rest.  We will be here in Vero Beach for a couple of weeks awaiting radar repair and mail.  When we are on the move again you will see it here on the blog.  Blessings to ALL!

Indiantown to Stuart

My day began with a loud banging on the head (bathroom) door behind which I stood dressing. Well, I guess it really started before then but my brain only remembers being rudely summoned from the other side of that door!  Yes, My gentle?-man Captain wanted to alert me to the fact that the marina had just asked him to leave as soon as possible because a large boat was coming in for fuel....we were parked on the fuel dock. We were leaving today but I had thought it would be a leisurely departure...you know, around 11a...we were only going 2.5 hours to Stuart.

The “Knock” so startled me that I jumped and hurt my back....later the Captain said he thought he was knocking softly.....HUH?? Hearing aid??

We moved out of the marina and into the St. Lucie Canal.

Beautiful sky today and the temps did climb quickly...wind made it chilly on deck but very warm on bridge.

A little ways up the Canal we came to a low railroad bridge....they were also doing construction on it.

We called them and they soon opened it.

New Construction along the way....probably housing development.

Some houses on the St. Lucie Canal.

Kayakers

Our last lock!  A sail boat ahead of us and a small boat behind us.

The lock informed us that they were locking west when we arrived so we awaited the boats in the lock to come out so we could lock east.

Two boats came out of the lock and the second large boat looked very familiar!

It was a Hatteras exactly like ours! The First mate aboard her called over to me saying, “I like your boat!” Ha! Of course I told her the same thing.

After the lock we were on the St. Lucie River.  Nearing Stuart we passed this marina with MANY boats on mooring balls...they looked so close!

Then this lift highway bridge and right behind it a railroad bridge before the high span that would mark the end of our day's cruise....marina on Port side just after that bridge.

Arriving at our Marina.

This was not a simple docking and tie up! They directed us to the first row of docks all the way inside the marina....since we have guests coming tomorrow I was glad for this as it would be easy for them to find us. HOWEVER, the marina failed to tell us to stay close to the piles on the starboard side...and we went HARD AGROUND!!! Had to dig our way back out...slowly. They apologized and sent us a dock with deeper water.  When they came by again to apologized I asked if they would get a diver who could go down and check the props which did sound different (Uh Oh!) . They knew divers but none they would hire for us...….Captain said we won't know until we run them up tomorrow.....

Started cleaning the boat immediately after securing it on the dock...most of the ash from days of being near the sugar cane burning washed off....looking forward to our cruise to Vero Beach tomorrow.

Too Cold for Trip Down Memory Lane!

Today we were going to Peck Lake where the Captain and his family use to anchor when he was a young boy. They spent many happy summers living aboard the “Eleda” cruising the Chesapeake and up and down the East coast of Florida.  Often spending many days at Peck Lake...never saw another boat there.  We have learned that now it is filled with boats on the weekends.

But this Adventure was going to have to wait.........We thought the cold spell was over but the temperature is suppose to be close to 28 degrees here in the morning!...the coldest yet! The Captain did not want to be anchored out and have to run the generator all night for heat.....so we postponed this anchorage for tomorrow night.

Sadly, later today we found out that Peck Lake which is actually part of the Intracoastal Waterway, is now filled with dredging equipment, barges & pipe and there is no way a boat can even get into it.

Our friends on “Journey”, Tom & Melesia, also changed their plans and decided to stay here another night.  So we got together for supper and a card game.  

It had been a while since I did laundry so that is how I spent the morning.  Though it was quite cool outside this morning the sunshine on the bridge made a toasty dryer for our shirts....drying them in less than an hour!

Tom and Walter walked to town for groceries and had a long talk coming back....no doubt solving most of the world's problems.  I walked to town for exercise and later discovered I didn't have all the ingredients I needed for white chili so had to go back between laundry loads.....guess I finally got my exercise today......although it was less than a mile one way.

Here is the trawler, Journey, parked around the corner of the dock from us.

This is their sweet sea dog, Mango. Tom & Melesia love to anchor out.....and yes, with a dog on board most folks must dinghy in to land at least once every day you are anchored.

After eating Tom's Clam Chowder and the First mate's White Chili on our sun deck we played SkipBo...Tom won!

Tonight's Moon shone so bright over our marina.

We will stay another night here and then head to Stuart, FL, where we will be delighted to welcome aboard our friends from Vero Beach...Glenn and Mavis...they will travel back to Vero with us.   Also, we needed a return address for Garmin to repair and return our radar dome so we will be enjoying their town for a couple of weeks.  

The blog will continue when we leave for Stuart.  Good night from CHILLY Florida!

Crossing Lake Okeechobee

We began early...too early for cruisers! We were the last boat on the dock when we pulled out at 830a...two boats went toward the west coast and two, “Journey” and “Miss gg” toward the east. We were up early because crossing a large body of water is usually best in early morning...water calmer.

We came to the first lock right away.

Don't be fooled by that gorgeous blue sky.....it was 36 degrees when we woke up and 40 when we departed!  We certainly didn't bring warm gloves knowing this would happen to us in Florida! huh?.....I don't remember being so cold on water!  We use the lock's lines which dangle in the water and it is the wet end I must cleat on the fore deck and side deck.  I was glad for the Captain's help..... and that we were only going up about one foot in the lock so I soon was back inside on the bridge.

However, the sun kept behind the clouds for most of today's trip so the bridge was also cold. The Captain is trying to keep his hands warm.

  

And the First mate is wrapped in a blanket!

We attracted about 20 sea gulls all flying behind Miss gg...looking for fish we might churn up I suppose... I didn't want to unzip the sundeck smiley to take this photo so snapped it through the Isinglass.... a bit blurry.

We were making our way toward Lake Okeechobee in a narrow canal that became even smaller when we came to this construction area!  We had to stay between those red balls and the green ones attached to the bottom of this steal structure.

Here the canal has widened.  

We could not see the lake for all the high weeds beside this canal.

It was very shallow just off this channel...sometimes only inches deep!

Then we were finally in the Lake....we could only see the land in one direction as we got further and further out into the middle of the lake.

  

This Lake is the 2^nd largest natural fresh water lake within the lower 48 states.  It is 730 Sq. miles, the size of Rhode Island and the average depth is only 9 feet.   It is a limestone basin.

The Sugar Cane burning continued today and we could not only see it but also SMELL the fires back on the land behind us.

Since we could smell the fires we should have known that the ashes were falling on us.  After we docked today the Captain tried sweeping them off but they tended to crush and smear black on the deck.....Miss gg will need a good hosing down at a port where we will be away from the continuing ash fall.

There was a light chop on the water but it became a bit worse making me decide to put on my sea bands just in case.  As we approached the other side of the Lake this eased up a lot....we were then protected by the curve of the land around the Lake....even though it seemed far away it made a big difference in our ride.

This is the Port Mayaca lock and we think # 149 for us.... and it will always be our favorite lock. Can you tell why?...before I reveal it?....

We are heading into the lock.

AND here we are piloting the boat THROUGH it!

YES! The water level was such that they didn't need to bring the water up or down ...we didn't tie up....both gates were opened!  Everyone going through it kept remarking on the radio how it was the best lock of all....must have been lock-wearied Loopers!

Right after the lock we came to this raised railroad bridge.

Now we were in the St. Lucie Canal which will take us to Stuart, FL on another day.

We are docked at Indian Town, FL next to our buddies on “Journey” but will probably go separate ways tomorrow.....we are back to the no-plan plan....lovin' it!

We have one last lock to traverse...yeah, we will be glad and at the same time a bit sad knowing our wonderful Adventure has to come to an end one day. We are so blessed to have been able to do this....we also know that many of you have prayed for our good health to continue...we are again thankful for you.