Stuart- St. Lucie River

The so called Okeechobee waterway that crosses Florida is a routh from the Gulf to the Atlantic that avoids the Keys and about twenty five percent of lower Florida. It is a busy place certain times of the year. This is off season so it is not too busy now. The Atlantic terminus is the St. Lucie Inlet at Stuart, Florida. Yesterday, we motored up from Lake Worth, a distance of 29.5 nautical miles through some really beautiful areas. Some of the ditch was through several parks. The ditch intersects the outlet of the St. Lucie River and that intersection was lively. Forgetting the many boats heading out the inlet, the river flow was opposing the incomming tide. At times, in short order, we were fighting just to maintain course and speed. The trip up river was about five miles and opposing the tides, we could keep speed at abou t 3.5 knots near full throttle. We decided to take a slip, do laundry, get mail and do some prop research. The marina is Sunset Bay which has a huge mooring field in addition to slips. There are some really huge boats moored here and most have for sale signs on them. Hailing ports are from all over the US and the Caribbean.

Footnote to June 7,2110

Anchor down, Old Port Cove, Lake Worth, Florida

Sitting here at anchor in Lake Worth, the thunderstorms in the area have provided some relief from the heat with shade and cool breezes. It occurred to us today that we are no longer in the swimming pool clear waters of the Keys. In fact, we left the Keys when we left Key Biscayne a few days ago. Now, the water is dark tea colored, except at the Atlantic inlets. Methinks it is because of all the homes along this waterway. While we are glad to be here, the water of the Keys is remarkable and we shall not see again such clarity for several months. The swamps of Georgia and the Carolinas will put the "river grin" stains on the bow of WK just as did the water of the ICW in Texas and Louisiana. Since we had some health issues and a desire to move along (feeling the hot breath of hurricane season upon us), we took little time to dive and dink in those clear waters. We spent days looking at the shadows of WK and ourselves on the bottom of Hawk Channel, the Keys and those isolated places that we visited. We did not bar hop or do the normal stuff that cruisers have to do to keep Phydeaux happy, hence our dink has been wet only a few times underway. That will change and we will use it to explore, but the memories of the crews of Heart of Gold and the surprise vist of Safari has made memories of the Keys so good.

Had to edit this post after popping topside and noticing that most boats in this anchorage are flying the US Flag from their starboard spreader, meaning as a courtesy flag. For the non sailors in the audience, when visiting a foreign port, it is custom and in some cases law that the foreign vessel display from their starboard spreader the flag of the host country. Whipping out the binoculars, with cat like reflexes, and training same on the boats around us, there are very few US flag vessels in this anchorage. Two boats are from Germany, Hamburg to be exact; one boat from Sydney, a boat from Istanbul, two boats from countries that are unreadable at the distance. Then there is that boat from Texas, The Republic Of.

Palm Beach- Lake Worth

Where on puts one's thirty feet tender

That is a mast sticking out of the water.

That is a helicopter on the quarter deck.

Ocean Avenue Bridge, Delray, Florida.

We slipped our dock lines this morning at 0900 (and the shore power) bound for Lake Worth, which is on the ICW. The morning was hot, very hot without any breeze whatsoever. We had ten bridges between our start and our anchorage. We worked on timing today and hit all but two on time with no wait. Not sure it is was superior planning or just dumb luck. Methinks the latter is more accurate. We had the ICW to ourselves today until we got to Lake Worth inlet. The inlet is a combination of commercial dockage and hidey holes for folks waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and get to the Grand Bahamas. Sailing boats are everywhere around Lake Worth.

We started calling bridges but different bridges answered sometime. As it turned out there was another Y Knot underway south bound. We met them between two bridges and I am sure there might have been a moment or two of confusion on the tenders parts.

The trip today was uneventful except for that lop eared prop we have. It rattles a bit at slow speed but does not seem to vibrate much. We arrived at the anchorage at 1330 and actually thought about going on futher. The big question is whether or not to anchor out in this heat. Although we have the capability to run our a/c at anchor, it requires the generator. We decided to anchor out. After all, if the afternoon showere occur today, we will see cooler temps later today.

Our solar panels are doing a fine job of keeping up with the refrigerator and other dc requirements during the day at anchor. Thus we do not have to run the generator unless we have a melt down. Tomorrow we head north for more of the ICW.

66 years ago

This is the day that sixty six years ago a few folks took a little swim on behalf of freedom. The beach was just fifty miles long so it was crowded on the water side and on the beach side. There were no beach chairs or floaties as such but there were lots of boats; over 5,000 of them. The skies above the beach was filled with over 13,000 aircraft. Give or take, there were about 160,000 fellows in funny clothes caught in one hell of a rip current simply trying to get to those beaches. Some made it and some did not. A few folks stepped out of aircraft and had an incredible view of the actions. They all landed for sure, but many never moved from the spot of their impact. D-Day, Normandy, June 6, 1944 cost America and our allies 9,000 souls so that we could have today. Ask me us if we are planning to make the most of what they gave us?

Think we will put the dink in the water today. It has not been wet since Ft.Myers. Since we have no pets aboard, a daily dink ride is not required. We will not tow it offshore due to the possibility of swamping and it slows the boat by about a knot. However; in the ditch we can tow it fairly safely, except for those knuckleheads that must make the biggest possible wakes who might flip it.

I spent much of yesterday working on a pesky water leak. After replacing the accumulator tank, the new connection would not stop dripping. I tried combinations of teflon tape and yucky puck to no success. Finally, I launched the bicycle and found a hardware store where I got the fix. Bottom line: the drip cost me a 3 mile bicycle ride in the heat and boy was it hot yesterday.

I met a fellow yesterday on the dock that just got back from the Abacos. He loved it. That is our destination when it gets cold up north. The mobs head south when there is a chill in the air on the Cheaspeake. The guides say that if you open the hatch one morning and there is a chill in the air, you waited too long to start south. I think the crew of Rima discovered that a few years ago. Anyway, the fellow keeps a boat in Delray but lives in Connecticut. He mentioned many places that are "must see" places. Some like Mystic and Newport we have seen by land. Some like Cuttyhunk and Martha's Vinyard are accessible only by boat. That will be some time away. First we have to see several places along the way like St. Augustine and Savanah.

Enjoy every minute of today because a lot of fine folks paid dearly for us to have it.