Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Intercoastal Waterway to Vero Beach, FL
Monday, February 19, 2007. After a long President’s day weekend waiting out the wind and cold weather in Palm Beach, we finally cranked up the engines and headed out on the Intercoastal Waterway. We were happy to see the landscape change from the “Condo Coastline” of our last passage to the greener and more inviting sights along the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW). In this stretch the ICW is lined with large, tasteful homes of diverse architectural styles: Italian, Spanish, French, and Florida Cottage Style, all beautifully landscaped. Small islands made up of spoil from dredging the ICW are homes to pelicans, egrets, and cormorants.
It was slow going -- Minimum Wake and Slow Speed Manatee Zone signs were posted everywhere. A number of bridges also kept us crawling at less than 10 mph most of the day. We passed under the bridge by Jupiter Light and of course I snapped a shot of the lighthouse. Seeing the huge breakers as we passed Jupiter Inlet (one of the cuts that allows passage into and out of the Atlantic Ocean), we were mighty grateful to be traveling “inside.” By the way, Jupiter was our boat’s original home, so it chugged merrily along in familiar waters.
The ICW along here runs through the long, wide, Indian River. Near Stuart, FL, a regatta of sailboats (possibly Flying Scotts?) was in full swing. We wondered if any of our Muscle Shoals Sailing Club members were participating. By late afternoon, we reached Vero Beach, our destination for the day. The Municipal Marina there offers a mooring field as well as regular slips. We opted to hang out on a mooring for the evening. I gave a sigh of relief when catching the mooring rope in the bay was a piece of cake. It was a whole lot easier than tying up in a slip with pilings that must be lassoed as we pass! Looking for our fellow PDQ friends (Thomkat) who have a home here, we took a quick dinghy ride and promptly ran aground. This area is shallow outside the channel! But no harm done. We ate dinner on the flybridge, relaxing this evening in yet another beautiful location. Once again, we wanted to spend more time in Vero Beach – next time, for sure!
It was slow going -- Minimum Wake and Slow Speed Manatee Zone signs were posted everywhere. A number of bridges also kept us crawling at less than 10 mph most of the day. We passed under the bridge by Jupiter Light and of course I snapped a shot of the lighthouse. Seeing the huge breakers as we passed Jupiter Inlet (one of the cuts that allows passage into and out of the Atlantic Ocean), we were mighty grateful to be traveling “inside.” By the way, Jupiter was our boat’s original home, so it chugged merrily along in familiar waters.
The ICW along here runs through the long, wide, Indian River. Near Stuart, FL, a regatta of sailboats (possibly Flying Scotts?) was in full swing. We wondered if any of our Muscle Shoals Sailing Club members were participating. By late afternoon, we reached Vero Beach, our destination for the day. The Municipal Marina there offers a mooring field as well as regular slips. We opted to hang out on a mooring for the evening. I gave a sigh of relief when catching the mooring rope in the bay was a piece of cake. It was a whole lot easier than tying up in a slip with pilings that must be lassoed as we pass! Looking for our fellow PDQ friends (Thomkat) who have a home here, we took a quick dinghy ride and promptly ran aground. This area is shallow outside the channel! But no harm done. We ate dinner on the flybridge, relaxing this evening in yet another beautiful location. Once again, we wanted to spend more time in Vero Beach – next time, for sure!
