Stuart to Vero Beach

We pulled into Loggerhead Marina in Stuart on Thursday just ahead of the 20 to 30 mph winds which lasted from Friday through Tuesday. This is a nice marina in a decent location but the service was not the best we've experienced. As we approached we couldn't raise anyone on the radio so we called on the phone and were placed on hold. Once we were in touch with them they changed our slip assignment at least two times. One of the original assignments would have had us sitting on the bottom at low tide. I eventually tied to a “T” dock because I had trouble backing into my latest slip assignment, first time I've had to bail. Anyway, once we had the lines adjusted and the power connected Kim began researching places to go and things to do. She located the tourist trap area just across the St Lucie River from us about 1 ½ miles away, so off we go. We were joined by our friends Maurice and Renée from "le Marie-Sophie", a beautiful 36 foot Monk trawler. They had caught up with us at one of the locks on the Caloosahatchee River and were part of our flotilla on the Okeechobee crossing. The tourist trap was very nice, old buildings resurrected as boutiques and restaurants with people either shopping, eating or just milling about. Afterward, we walked the docks at the Sunset Bay Marina where we admired a hoard of beautiful yachts worth millions of dollars, but when it comes to comfort and economy we still feel our little Kadey-Krogen Manatee is tops. Speaking of Manatees, we saw two more at this marina bringing our total to eleven so far.
Everyone talks about the social aspect of this adventure, of meeting people and making friends, some lifelong. We have met some very interesting people and we run into Loopers we've already met at nearly every stop. One day a friend of a friend stopped by the boat, introduced himself and invited us to join him and his wife on an excursion to the Jupiter Lighthouse. Jim and Lori travel aboard a 42 foot Jefferson called Second Summer and she has an affinity for lighthouses. We enjoyed their company and the lighthouse made for an interesting afternoon but I mentioned it as an example of the kind of people we continually encounter.
Kim does not like to sit around, so she came up with a trip to a refuge house and a marine rehab center. We ubered (I guess we can use that as a verb these days) to the refuge house and noted the ancient artifacts uncovered over the years, toured the house as it appeared in 1875 and examined the rocky terrain which caused so many shipwrecks long ago. The next leg of our trip involved walking about two miles to the rehab center so we set off walking down a semi-busy road which had no sidewalks and eventually reached a neighborhood which, according to Google Maps, appeared to provide access to our destination. However, the road we were on petered out and we were left staring at a golf course on our left, condo's on our right and a 10-foot high fence in the direction we wanted to go. The road picked up again just about 20 yards away but there was no way around or through the fence. I saw a foursome of older ladies waiting at a tee-box, explained where we wanted to go and asked if they had any suggestions to which they replied: “not really.” Since the only alternative was to walk about a mile around the golf course I asked if they'd call the police if we climbed the fence to which they replied: “no, but I'll call 911 if you get stuck.” So, I looked at my beautiful 56-year-old wife and said “do you want to climb a ten-foot fence” to which she replied “sure.” I love this woman. With the ladies watching we found a good spot and Kim scurried up and over with no problem, I followed and must say that I did very well for a 63-year-old man wearing a backpack. When I reached the other side I did the Rocky salute, hands in the air while jumping up and down, and the ladies all applauded with admiration. We continued on our way and after climbing one more short fence-rail we reached our destination. The rehab center was very interesting and I'm sure Kim has gone into the details on her blog.
The winds finally died down late Tuesday so Wednesday morning we slipped the surly bonds of our shallow “T” dock and made way for Vero Beach with our friends aboard le Marie Sophie a short distance behind. It was very overcast, so dark at times that I turned my navigation lights on. A light mist continually made seeing through the windshield a challenge, my windshield wiper consists of Kim and a squeegee. We made good time and the traffic in these narrow channels was light, mostly sailboats moving slower than us. The six-hour tour covered about 46 miles with no locks or bridges to slow our progress, we did see a 27-foot boat sitting in about 2 feet of water; the owner was walking around checking it out. He must have hit the shallow area, which was marked on the charts, at a high rate of speed because there was a lot of mud behind him. We could see that help was on the way so we continued onward.
We reached Loggerhead Marina at Vero Beach where the good service was much appreciated, we got pumped out, tied-up and plugged-in just in time to unwind. We plan to stay here until 3/15.

Kim’s Korner:
Stuart is the Sailfish Capital of the World. The old historical downtown area of Stuart is very nice and offers a Riverwalk, restaurants, boutiques and gift shops. We ate at the Boathouse, Duffy’s and the Riverwalk Café while there – all very good.
We were invited and went to visit the Jupiter Lighthouse with Jim and Lori who are on “Second Summer”. Lori loves lighthouses and is on a mission to visit as many as she can. We bought tickets but were disappointed when they had to reimburse half since we wouldn’t be able to go to the top of the lighthouse due to wind gusts over 50 mph. We did enjoy the tour of the grounds and learning the history as well as a small museum on the grounds.
The wind howled at 20-25 mph almost constantly from Thursday night to Monday night – Tuesday was a definite improvement. “Overtime” was constantly in a state of movement due to the wind. David periodically checked her lines and the cleats on both the dock and boat to make sure all were secure. “Second Summer” was located closer to the ICW in the marina and received a spray whenever they get on or off their boat.
Tuesday we visited the House of Refuge which turned out to be very interesting. It was built in 1875 and was used to provide shelter and food for shipwrecked victims. Houses of Refuge were built every 30 miles for this purpose along the Florida coast and this is the only one that still stands. These eventually were taken over by the US Coast Guard. This one stands on a very narrow slice of land facing the Atlantic Ocean with the Jupiter Lagoon at its back. Check out my pictures if you are interested in learning more.
We also visited the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center – a 57-acre marine life nature center containing a huge game-fish lagoon, stingray touch tank, nature trails and educational sessions. I felt like a kid again! We learned all about sea cucumbers, horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, stingrays, sea turtles, oysters and various fish. I got to feed a stingray – really neat! We learned about self-sustaining fish that were “ok” to eat like Cobia and Tarpon versus fish that took years to reproduce such as orange roughy and Chilean bass that they asked us to refrain from ordering in restaurants so that they didn’t become endangered. They educated us on the law changes they are asking for so that the algae in Lake Okeechobee is eliminated. It was very interesting. We had a very good day!

David's Pictures!

Kim's Pictures!