The cruise down the New River was rather uneventful. We had lowered LeeLoo's antennas and bimini to make her as short as possible to get under all the bridges without waiting for them to be raised. It was an easier trip and boat traffic was light as we entered the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway).
Our cruise north on Thursday was to an anchorage in Boca Raton. The plan was to meet up with Vicki and Tom Blaser on Grand Baron who were cruising south. Our cruise went well, although we did have to wait for bridges to open. And there are a lot of bridges in Ft. Lauderdale! We met up with Vicki and Tom just as they were entering the anchorage. Our timing was perfect! We anchored successfully and took the dinghy to their boat where we spent the afternoon and early evening talking and laughing about all our experiences.
The next day (Friday) we said goodbye to Vicki and Tom and continued our cruise north, destination Harbortown Marina in Ft. Pierce. We were glad we got an early start as we encountered a lot of bridges. Some were tall enough for us to go under, but many we had to wait for them to open up. As we cruised north, we went by many huge beautiful homes along the ICW as we passed through Boca Raton and Palm Beach. Who lives in these huge homes?
The landscape of the ICW changed a lot as we cruised north to Ft. Pierce. After we left the Palm Beach area, the homes were smaller and we even saw an "upscale" trailer park!
Boat traffic didn't build up until we got to Jupiter. Because it was Friday and the weather was sunny and warm, there was a lot of boat traffic. Navigating and watching for other boats was a bit of a challenge, but we managed ok as we headed north. The ICW in Jupiter is Caribbean blue because Jupiter has an inlet to the Atlantic Ocean. But, as we went further north to Ft. Pierce, the sun disappeared and the water turned more brackish.
There were a lot of big boats cruising the ICW and we were worried about wakes from the bigger boats. Fortunately, there were also Manatee zones where you have to slow down so the wakes from the bigger boats (for the most part) was not a problem.
We had one more night of anchoring along the ICW before we made it to Ft. Pierce. We anchored in Peck Lake alongside about 5 or 6 other boats in a howling wind (20 mph). Fortunately, by nightfall the wind died down a bit.
Monday, April 4 - We are now in Ft. Pierce at Harbortown Marina waiting for the survey of our new boat which is scheduled for Wednesday. Harbortown Marina is a very nice, clean marina. It has great facilities (clean bathrooms, nice boater's lounge, decent WiFi, workout room, a restaurant on site, etc.) and we are enjoying our stay. This morning we even saw an otter that was fishing alongside the shore. That is the first otter we have seen! Unfortunately, it was a very "short" sighting and there was not enough time to get a picture of the little guy.
We hope to leave on Friday and continue north on LeeLoo with the plan to drive back to Ft. Pierce for the closing on the new boat. The weather has been a problem lately with rain and a lot of wind. Our next major stop will be Titusville, although there will be another night of anchoring in between. It's funny to think that when we started the Loop, we had literally no overnight anchoring experience. Now we both really enjoy anchoring out, although we hope the wind dies down a bit!
Congratulations on your new boat. Charlotte and I know how much you wanted a bigger "home". It looks marvelous. We will keep an eye out for you in the Chesapeake. Enjoy!
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