It wasn’t until December 18th that we continued on to Stuart, which is about seven miles off of the ICW down the St Lucie River. Stuart is a popular spot to sit and wait for good weather for those planning to continue on to the Bahamas. Like Vero Beach, it is a very comfortable anchorage with mooring balls, ready access to good shopping and a comfortable shore-side facility.
Upon our arrival we made a beeline for the dock where we were able to get a pump out (still the bain of our cruising experience), take on water, and spend a couple of hours washing down the boat. Saltwater is very hard on things and it can be disheartening to see the rust and salt accumulate right before your eyes.
The other boat tied up at the dock was Siggy’s Dancer. They maintained a website of their first trip to the Bahamas seven years ago on a C&C 30, and so showed that this whole thing really was possible on a smaller boat. I used to check their site every morning at work. Towards the end of March there were no more postings, and I always wondered what became of them. We introduced ourselves and had a nice visit.
On the 20th we were off to Lake Worth. This is perhaps the most popular spot from which to head off to the Abacos, the northernmost part of the Bahamas. It was a long day getting there, though, made even more so by the cantankerous bridge in this picture. Through the southern section of Florida we are encountering an increasing number of bridges which open on a schedule, not necessarily aligned with ours.After waiting for fifteen minutes for the bridge to open, and then carefully timing our approach to coincide with the bascules being fully open, it came as a bit of a surprise to have the tender radio us saying, ‘Cap’n, better slow DOWN, I’m having a bit of a problem with the bridge.’ It seems the arms stuck when only partially opened.
Two and a half hours later they were able to fully raise one arm and we were on our way to Lake Worth.
