Stuart! We Have Arrived!

Good morning friends, family, and followers! 

Paul and I are settling in at Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart and are so happy to be back!  A lot of friends who were here last year are still here and it's great to see everyone again.  We really love this marina - the facilities are so beautiful, the staff is super friendly, and we so enjoy the area.  Also - our good friends from last year's trip - Don and Susan from Nova Scotia are here - probably for a week - waiting for a good weather window to cross to the Bahamas where they will spend the winter.  It is such fun to see them too!

When last I posted, we were en route to Titusville from St. Augustine.  We did indeed see the NASA rocket launch that morning and I was able to grab a few photos - we were about 70 miles north of where it launched.

Off it goes to Mars! 

Even some birds were watching with us!



In the middle of the photo, you can see the smoke trail left behind.

 The ICW in Florida is always beautiful - as we headed towards Titusville, we enjoyed some cool sites along the way:


This area is known as the Palm Coast - beautiful residential area.



This house is definitely in the holiday spirit!  WOW!

 


Some pelicans hanging out on the "no wake" sign.

We arrived in Titusville just before sunset - we ran a total of 100 miles - a long day.  This is the town that is closest to Cape Canaveral - they just built a brand new mooring field, so we grabbed a mooring and enjoyed the sunset and evening.  We made some dinner and relaxed.

On Sunday morning, we woke up to clouds and some light showers and untied the mooring and started heading south again towards Vero Beach - this day would be shorter - only 70 miles.  By mid-morning the clouds had cleared and it ended up being a beautiful sunny day.  Lots of dolphins along the way and sunshine.  

The Ponte Vedra Lighthouse - this is a popular area to go "outside" - out into the ocean -  because the inlet is so big, the currents and tides here are very strong.

We arrived to Vero Beach in mid-afternoon on Sunday.  We had heard amazing things about this marina and area, but we were a little disappointed with the marina facilities.  We had a mooring reservation and they wanted to raft us up with two sailboats - definitely not what we had in mind.  So we found our own mooring and decided to stay for just one night.  Fortunately, there was a great sports bar that was a 1-minute dinghy ride away with great food - so we enjoyed dinner and a few beers while we watched the Patriots solidly defeat the Eagles - YAY!

Originally our reservation at Sunset Bay started on December 1st, but luckily, it was ready - so we called Sunday afternoon and got the green light to arrive on Monday.  We only had 40 miles to go and on Monday morning, we got up early and off we went!  The weather was a little iffy - passing showers, etc., but we both remembered how beautifully blue the water gets as you get closer to Stuart.  Even with clouds, it was still pretty awesome! 

To get to Stuart, you leave the ICW and head 8 miles up the St. Lucie River - which is also the start of the Ogeechobee Waterway - which cuts across Florida.  This part of the trip is really beautiful - lots of gorgeous homes along the water and very scenic.  As we headed up the River, we passed a HUGE Yacht - Compass Rose - 161 feet long, 39 feet wide - pictured below.

We passed Compass Rose on the St. Lucie River about 1-2 miles from Sunset Bay - you can see the weather was a little iffy with the line of clouds against the blue sky.  Fortunately, by the time we arrived to the marina, the sun was out again!

So we arrived at noon-time, gave our boat a pump out, then Paul expertly docked the boat at our new slip for this year - C40.  We love it and it's great to be back.

Over the weekend, our friend Melissa sent us a few pictures of Master Plan in action - which is so great since it's impossible for me to do this while ON the boat!  John and Melissa are the friends we spent last Monday night with at Jekyll Island - so when we passed them - we took photos of them and they took photos of us!  

Jen on the bow with her camera in hand (what a surprise) and the Captain making a quick appearance for the photo op!



Another shot - doesn't this remind you of the "King of theWorld" moment in the Titanic movie?  I guess there are some subtle differences - Master Plan is slightly smaller and (hopefully) will never sink and Kate Winslet has nothing on me!  However, my outfit is slightly more casual than hers . . .

So - life is good and we are enjoying the Florida sunshine and getting back into our routine here.  We are here more than 3 weeks earlier than last year, which is awfully nice.  Hard to believe December starts tomorrow!

Wishing everyone a great week and lots of happy days - we send our love, Jen & Paul

Today's Quote:
But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine. - Thomas Jefferson