Saturday, January 23, 2010 Vero Beach to Peck Lake, Fl

Wow. In the weeeeee hours of the morning (between 3-6am) I could hear the surf from the Atlantic, here in the protected little cove of Vero Beach. I think that that’s a first. It was so very still and quiet that whenever a breeze came across the boat, it carried the sound of the surf from the east. I laid there in our berth for the longest time, straining my ears, just listening to it. I think I actually woke Wayne up and asked him if he could hear it! It was so faint. He couldn’t hear it. If there’d been any car traffic or the wind was coming from any other direction, I would never have heard it. It was lovely. I was glad we weren’t out there in it. Some of it sounded like it was really pounding.
It was nice to lay there and snuggle to the sound of…. nothing... But at 7 am I finally roused myself out of bed to make some coffee. Once I started pouring coffee, I heard “is that coffee I hear?” “Yep. Time to get up.” Timing is everything isn’t it? We listened to the weather reports and vacillated whether to stay or go? We both decided that a 3 day weather window doesn’t seem to be in the forecast anytime soon. So we decided that we should mosey further south so when we do get a window we can take it. Two days to get to Lake Worth (West Palm Beach) via the inside route or one long one outside. Hearing the forecast with large waves and winds on the outside, we opted for the inside.

Everything got stowed, the dingy put back in the davits and we finally released the mooring line that has stabilized our home in this anchorage since December 30th. We made our way over to the fuel dock to fuel up, fill our water tank, pump out our holding tank, and take care of our bill. Waved goodbye to Flex Time and told them that we hoped to see them either at Lake Worth or Lucaya. I’m sure we’ll run into them somewhere :)

It was a beautiful morning for motor sailing. We had a good westerly breeze, the sun out with turquoise skies and white cotton candy clouds hovering above us. I couldn’t believe the amount of turkey vultures (?) soaring in the skies, circling up on the thermals created by the small island landmasses that dot the Inter-Coastal Waterway. Small fishing boats and powerboats must have agreed that this was a good day to be out. There were 12-15 boats of various sizes from the small 2 man fishing vessels to the power yachts and pontoon boats, all fishing IN the ICW channel out front of the Oceanographic Institute. Most moved to the sides but some we had to weave around. Guess they didn’t know that we had the right of way in the channel? I also guess that I know where to find the fish if I ever want to fish in the ICW.

We only had one bridge to open today - the Ft. Pierce North Bridge. As I approached it Wayne sighted a manatee crossing in front of us. I never saw it. I guess they can move faster than our 6 knots because it dove under and I never saw nor felt it under the keel (thank goodness for that). Near the Inlet you could tell it was an outgoing tide. We picked up speed to 7.8 knots. Weeeee… with another 20 knots we could almost be a power boat LOL. The sun dappled islands, aqua green waters and turquoise skies were wonderful. The moisture-laden breeze blowing across my face had the scent of fresh seawater. No dead fish smell lingering here…

View of Nettles Island from the Boat on the ICW.

A little before 2pm we passed Nettles Island. I’d forgotten about this place. I’m still not sure of its origins – other than it’s got to be a man-made island. It’s a perfectly square island that’s built up with brightly colored homes and condominiums. Interesting little place. South of Nettles near the bridge (Jensen Beach) there’s a nice park area that looks like a nice anchorage (south of Red marker 220) near mile marker 981. I’ll have to keep it in mind if we ever need a short hop from Vero due to weather or laziness.

At the St Lucie Inlet, I must confess I let my eyes stay on the chart to study the little bit of the St Lucie River that cuts away from the ICW and heads west to the Okeechobee Waterway. This is the route to take if you don’t want to go around the Keys to get to the Gulf side of Florida. It looks like the project depths from the St. Lucie River to Lake Okeechobee are supposed to be 8 foot. But I’m not sure of the depths to actually cross the Okeechobee. We’ve been told that some areas are shallow and we need to check on this. I’d like to make use of this route if possible. We could head over to Cape Coral and pester Di & Joe :)

At 4pm we approached Peck Lake and rounded south of Green Marker 19 on a heading of 80 degrees (magnetic) and dropped anchor just north of the danger sign for the evening. There was a boat here I recognized from Vero – Wandering Bird (?). I recognized the old wooden two master with a missing letter off the name on the stern, but more than that – I recognized the large black dog and little old man with the long beard. We anchored next to him between 3 powerboats (2 left as night approached). Its time for a sundowner, some computer work and then dinner. Tonight’s menu: ginger/garlic/dill salmon fillets with tossed salad topped with ½ an avocado and sweet & sour dressing. The winds tonight are strong and our wind generator is humming along. I can actually hear another sailboats wind generator a few boat lengths away, the spinning propellers creating energy to keep their systems powered.