Sunday, March 3, 2013 – Whiticar Boat Yard – Stuart:

            Woke up to a perfect “fall” day – crystal clear blue skies and chilly!  We put on long pants, socks, turtleneck shirt, sweatshirt, and a jacket.  And this is March – in Florida??  I thought it should be hot!  Oh well.

            It seems like I have a lot of cat stories lately, and another one presented itself this morning.  Lucy was eager as could be to go outside after her breakfast this morning.  I guess it had to do with her wanting to watch all the little birds that were flying around after all these little bugs that seemed to be all over the place.  I suppose the bugs were the birds breakfast.  After her interminable meowing, I finally let her outside even though I had some misgivings about her eagerness about the birds.  Lucy has never been an outdoor cat – she has never had a flea or a tick, and I suppose that’s because she has never been allowed to hobnob with the outdoor critters.  That also means she has never been allowed to chase after birds which I would rather have stay alive rather than be a kitty snack.  Well, Lucy headed for the back of the boat and her ears were all perked up, and she had this intense look about her, which said if she could catch one of those birds she would be a deliriously happy cat.   So I watched her for a few minutes, and sure enough one of the birds flew within jumping distance, and she almost went for it, but that would have meant after catching the bird, falling into the water.  So I said enough of that, and called her back inside.  She wasn’t too happy, but she came back in and sulked until we started the engines.  I think that made her forget about the birds!

            We had decided to leave early and get to Whiticar as soon as possible before the weather deteriorated.  So we left about 8:15 a.m., and the first obstacle was the St. Lucie Lock.  We got into the lock right away, but it was a fifteen foot drop in the water level, and we froze while waiting for the water level to go down.   I had on gloves, but my hands still froze while holding onto a wet line.  I am glad to be done with locks for awhile!

            We had several bridges to go through after that, but they were no problem, including the Indian Street Bridge, which was the one under construction that previously caused the closure of that part of the canal between St. Lucie Lock and the bridge.  Once we got through the last of the bridges, the weather was getting worse, and there were white caps on the water.  I was glad we were almost to our destination for the day.

            We got to Whiticar around 11:00 a.m. and the boater next to us helped us tie up in the slip.  The rest of the day is now ours.  After lunch we decided to go for a walk, and saw some spectacular homes on the water.  Once we returned to the boat, our “neighbor” invited us over to take a look at his boat – a 55’ Fleming.  It was pretty nice.  He is going to be selling it, and Bob better not get any ideas!

            More later…