continued
We passed Sebastian along the way, where we crossed the Sebastian River that leads to the Sebastian Inlet, an inlet that feeds out to the Atlantic Ocean. There was plenty of natural beauty along the way from Sebastian to Vero Beach. The pine trees are numerous in this area adding a rugged beauty to the coastline. The ICW followed a straight and narrow course to Vero Beach.
We left the Vero Beach Yacht Club around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Another perfect day in front of us with temps in the high 70’s again with plenty of sunshine. Unfortunately, the winds were out of the SSE, at 15 to 20 knots, which put them right on our bow…slowed us down some, and again, we were unable to put the sails out. We traveled about 12 miles along the open waters of the Indian River where small ‘spoil’ islands dot the river. Boaters were out in droves, fishing, picnicking, and camping enjoying the small islands.
We woke early Monday morning as we knew we had eight bridges to get through and the goal was to make it to Lake Worth, MM 1015. (See the next section, The Gold Coast) We got off to a rocky start as we tried to leave the anchorage and ran aground. Thank goodness it was soft mud and we were able to get off relatively easy, however our next few attempts resulted in the same experience. Finally, Tony, with his abundance of patience and focus under tough situations, was able to get us back into the channel. In the meantime, we had hailed the bridge tender requesting the 7:30 a.m. opening, she had opened the bridge for us and was coaxing us to “put the peddle to the medal” and get through the bridge. Since we no longer have the stress of the work world, we have to get our stress in different forms!
We had another perfect day, except for the fact, yes, you guessed it, the wind was out of the south, directly on our nose, forcing us to motor the entire way. It wasn’t so bad, especially with all the bridges, it’s hard to sail anyway. Our travels took us through the ‘crossroads’, which is where the St. Lucie River, the St. Lucie Inlet, and the Okeechobee Waterway meet. There was tons of boat traffic, moving in all directions, confusing buoy markers and swift currents. It was a bit nerve racking getting through it, but we did just fine. After this experience we found the stretch to Jupiter quite tame. Jupiter is a beautiful community that straddles the ocean and the ICW. The vegetation is so tropical, and naturally lush, it almost looked like scenes from ‘Gilligan’s Island’.
