Day 20: We have arrived!
09 November 2011 | Stuart / Port Saint Lucie, FL
Sunny
So in true Derek and Rachel style, we are a little late (okay 5 months late) in posting our final blogs from Leg 1, the trip from RI to FL, but I suppose it is better late than never...
We woke in Melbourne after the calm night at anchor (finally) and in true ICW form, pulled up anchor with groggy eyes and motored back into the "slow lane". We had only anchored in a small river just off the ICW, so within minutes we were headed south again with the wind gently blowing behind us. The sun was already starting to peak through; after weeks of "inordinate cold weather" per the locals, the prospect of sunshine was a phenomenal thought for our last day on the ICW.
As Derek posted last, we still hadn't figured out where to keep Soul Purpose once arriving in Stuart/Port Saint Lucie, so after some AM coffee and rasing the jib, I jumped on the computer and located several marinas tucked in behind the St. Lucie Inlet and the ICW. The cool thing about Port Saint Lucie is that you can enter another canal, just like the ICW, which takes you all the way to the west coast of FL and the Gulf. Unfortunately for us, we can't cross under all the bridges, so we won't be able to journey to the Gulf unless it is via the Keys, but for smaller boats (or ones without masts), you can easily run uner the 56' fixed bridges. Anyway, becuase of the canal that crosses FL, there are some deeper waterways in the Stuart/Port Saint Lucie area farther from open ocean and the ICW.
After a few calls to area marinas, we settled on Loggerhead, opting for a dock instead of a mooring. The per foot fee was too high for long term storage, but we deciced to figure out the long term plan once we were landlovers again and able to drive around to check out the other marinas and boatyards.
Now that business was compete and knowing we only had one final day of our water-trek, we settled into a relaxing afternoon grilling up the remaining food, catching some rays and sipping on drinks. The afternoon passed like many others and as the sun started to lower in the sky we turned off the ICW toward our destinatation a few miles inland. Coming into Loggerhead was a pretty straight forward besides the confusing dockhand...he really wasn't very helpful with directions as to which dock we were spending the night, but in true form, we winged it and landed safely tied up around 5 PM. We were excited to reach our destination 20 days after starting, but sad that it was coming to an end too.
Mom and Dad showed up shortly thereafter and helped us unload a few things - for the first time in 15 days, we locked up Soul and headed somewhere else for the night. She did a wonderful job transporting us to FL and we knew we'd be sad to leave her here for the winter, but at least we knew winter in FL was a better life for a boat than on the hard in RI! Tomorrow we'd start the search for a safe, suitable winter dwelling for Soul.