Sunday 1/1/12 Happy New Year!!!
Checking the weather for the next few days we found there is a another cold front moving in with wind gust to 30 mph Monday and Tuesday.. We decided to get an early start today and try to make Stuart, FL. This would be a 60 mile leg; the longest one yet. We were under way by 7:15A. The morning was dead calm and cruising down Indian River was perfect.
At Sebastian we saw this high flyer. He was enjoying the CAVU morning. (That’s pilot talk for Clear And Visibility Unlimited) We watched him travel about five miles down the river then turned back up. There were two more way off in the distance.
The spoil islands had campers at many places. This is a great get away on a budget!
As we continued south the river was divided into strips of mangrove islands. Here we found a flock, gaggle, or whatever you would call it, of white pelicans. They hadn’t had their morning coffee yet and slept right through our passing.
We saw manatees!!! Well at least I did. There were about six of them in the Vero Beach area. Every time I would point one out to Linda they were back underwater. You don’t really see much except for this wide back (looks like a tractor tire inter tube) then the slow raise of the tail as they go back down. We saw dozens of dolphins and one surfaced about 50 feet in front of the boat, held its head up and shook it at us then dove to the bottom. I never saw one do that before…Show Off!
There are numerous power plants along the Indian River. You probably wonder why the fascination with power plants. Maybe it goes back to my childhood when my father built smokestacks at power plants all over the country. Today’s plants are smaller, cleaner and much more efficient like the one at Hutchinson Island. Then there was the huge St Lucy nuclear plant outside of Jensen Beach. 
Florida has gone the second mile in building aesthetically pleasing bridges. Many of them have sculptured pillars and adornments. They are as beautiful underneath as they are on the sides or top.
We arrived at Stuart around 3:00P. This place was a zoo. There were boats of every shape and size coming and going in every direction. Big boats would pass by, wide open, at less than 20 feet away putting out four foot wakes. I couldn’t turn into the wake to lessen the impact because the next boat was so close I would have hit it.
One time I looked back and saw Linda with one hand braced against the refrigerator and the other against the wall of the head. She looked like she was trying to keep the walls from caving in.
One boat even passed between our boat and a bridge fender that was only about 20 feet from my starboard side. He was going full out until he got right beside me then nearly stopped dead throwing a huge wake. I’m not sure what kept us from coming together but he was passed me and I guess this made him happy. All of this in a “No Wake Zone”??
By 4:00P we were tucked into our slip at Sunset Beach Marina where we will enjoy some semblance of peace for the next few days.
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