Today’s trip took Shorty and I from Indiantown to Wabasso, Florida. We finished our trip in the St. Lucie canal which was part of the Okeechobee Waterway system. We went through the St. Lucie lock and now face no more locks until the Dismal Swamp area in Virginia. The locking down of eight feet to the level of the Atlantic Ocean did not take to long and we did very good after worrying all night about it. We made 69 miles today and tomorrow we are taking a lay day to wash off the salt as today was pretty windy coming up the Indian River to where we are tonight. It was not so much the weather as it was all the traffic going south to the Boat Show in Miami. I had given it some thought as to going down through Miami to Port Everglades but the trip would have been pretty brutal with all of the traffic coming to Miami for the boat show. So when we arrive at the junction with the Intracoastal Waterway going north we just made a left turn and here we are tonight at the Jones Fruit dock in Wabasso, Florida.
The Jones’ have owned the dock since 1900 and it is on a strip of land that borders the ICW on one side and is 16 acres deep going toward the Atlantic side. They are in their 80’s and have had people staying here overnight since that time. They used to grow citrus and run a Christmas and gift operation for the oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and tangelos. But as always hurricanes wiped them out with the salt water that came up two feet high across their property. They now have a couple of different palm tree types that are growing in place of the citrus and they sell those to landscape people for all of the housing that is going on down here. It was warm on the boat today but the wind when you opened a window was pretty brutal along with the salt spray which is covering the boat tonight. At the Jone’s dock you are kind of tucked away from all this but still have a view of the ICW right at your front window.
The is a boat behind me tonight that is owned by a couple from Dallas who are involved in the restaurant business there and she was in sales. She was kind enough to send down some dumplings for me to have for dinner tonight. I guess she somehow knew I was going to just have a sandwich tonight because I was really tired from the long run today and was going to hole up in bed before long.
As of right now I have spent more money on dock fees than fuel for the motor. The place in Stuart, Fl which is at the end of the Okeechobee Waterway was wanting two dollars a foot for Shorty and that was only for one nights electricity and a shower and nothing else, the waste pumpout would have been extra along with any fuel I bought. So I headed off tonight to spend the night at anchor somewhere along the waterway. My goal had been that when it reached four O’clock this afternoon I was start searching for a niche somewhere that had about four or five feet of water in it which should be enough under me if there are any tidal effects at all. I was heading for my niche slowly when I ran across the dock I am tied to tonight. I am glad I am where I am tonight instead of the ritzy town docks. This way I can experience the calls of the birds and here the fish jumping and the faint slapping of the water against the hull of Shorty. There are only four lights visible right now and they are at a bridge in the distance. Peace and tranquility are just part of the things we need more of in life. When I leave here I will be going through and by the first Wildlife Refuge set up ever, by Teddy Roosevelt during his presidency because people were destroying the pelicans from up north who come here every year to roost and have their young before going back north.
No comments:
Post a Comment