We arrived at Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage at about 2 PM today. We didn't leave Vero Beach until 7:30 because we waited until almost sunrise to take Fuzzy ashore in the dinghy, as we have no navigation lights for the dinghy yet. Once back on board leaving was pretty quick. No power to disconnect, no dock lines to release and no worrying about getting away from the dock. We did have to take the gas can off the dinghy and tip the outboard up. Then we moved it to tow from the stern, Bud fired up the engine on Earendil, and I uncleated and dropped the mooring pendant.

We weren't too worried about the time as this was the shortest leg from St. Augustine to Stuart. We did bump the bottom twice today, after I made the comment yesterday that the ICW hadn't given us any problems in Florida. Just as we were nearing the St. Lucie Inlet we passed a Coast Guard barge putting up a new day mark. Not long after we went by them, they finished and started to come our way. Bud was keeping to the starboard side of the channel to let them pass to port. He was still 30 feet inside the channel when we bumped the bottom for the first time. It made Bud very nervous, but the Coast Guard barge passed us safely.

Then we made the turn from the ICW to the St. Lucie River to come up to Stuart. The information I had said to keep to the south side of the channel from Red 4 to Red 6 (markers). We were just passing Red 2 and going slowly to allow some boats to pass so Bud could move further out into the channel before Red 4 when we bumped again. This time it was more worrisome to me, we were going slowly and bumped at least twice; I was afraid we might get stuck. But we didn't and had no more trouble. After the inlet there seemed to be no more shoaling on the 7 or so miles of the St. Lucie we traversed.

This marina is very nice. We are again at a mooring ball, it was warm enough today that I was in short sleeves a couple of times. It's a big marina with a lot of mooring balls and a crowded dinghy dock. I guess we can put up with that kind of traffic jam. The photo above is of the marina taken from the sidewalk of the bascule bridge we came under on our way in. I put a photo of the mooring field from our place in it and one of the traffic at the dinghy dock in the gallery.

We'll be here until a package we ordered arrives. It is due in on Tuesday afternoon. We also have that vet appointment for Fuzzy on Monday, and some shopping to do (we need a light for the dinghy, for one thing). We'll have a taste of the life to come, commuting from boat to shore in the dinghy. It should be interesting.