Thursday, March 7, 2013 – Ft. Pierce (Mile 966) to Vero Beach (Mile 952):

            The furry alarm clock with the gently stroking paws woke us up to a chilly, but beautiful day - bright blue sky, just a light breeze, not a hint of bad weather in sight, and after breakfast we were headed off at 9:30 a.m. to Vero Beach. 

            We had to request the Fort Pierce North Bridge to open for us as the clearance under the bridge was only 23 feet as indicated on the chart on the side of the bridge, and the bridge tender had no intention of informing us any different.  But he opened for us right away, and we, and a sailboat behind us, went right through.  As we need the height going under the bridge to be at least 23’ I didn’t think I could squeeze my eyes shut tight enough to attempt to go under with the bridge closed, so I think we made the right decision to request an opening.  I thanked the bridge tender, and we continued on up the Indian River.

            Every so often you are required to slow down to almost idle speed because you are in a manatee zone, and now we are much more aware of these curious creatures, but I have yet to see one out in the channel.  I am thankful I got to see them in Fort Pierce, and we saw lots of them!

            Going backwards (north) you certainly do see the landscape differently than going south.  The deep water (which is still only about 14’) is a narrow channel surrounded on both sides by a larger body of water, which is dotted on both sides by small, tree-filled islands ringed by white beaches.  These islands are all connected by sandbars – some clearly visible with birds resting on them, and some lying just beneath the surface of the water, and distinguishable only by a brownish shadow. Many times birds are wading along in here also.  The trees on these islands are filled often with white birds resting in the branches which I assume are egrets.  I think this is Mother Nature’s way of decorating the trees!  The red and green channel markers guide you through here, and, of course, don’t stray out!

            After awhile we came upon a tug pushing a barge, and since we didn’t have too far to go, decided to just follow him instead of trying to pass him in the narrow channel.  While we were meandering after the barge, another Grand Banks came up on us, and surprisingly we knew the boat as the owners were members of the Grand Banks Association we belong to in the Chesapeake Bay.  They called us on the radio, and we had a nice little chat, and then wished each other safe travels.  They had a long way to go, so they radioed the barge and got permission to pass, and they charged ahead.  I sort of held my breath for them as the shallow water seemed to be awfully close to where they were passing, but they got around the barge without any trouble.

            As the barge progressed through the channel, it stirred up an awful lot of flotsam and jetsom on the bottom, which annoyed our depth sounder immensely.  We knew we were in about 14’ of water, but every now and then, we would see 4’ and the alarm would go off.  Rather disconcerting – but we knew we were ok, and not long after that we turned off behind the island that takes you to the Vero Beach City Marina.

            We called the marina and asked if we could stop at the fuel dock for a “pump-out” before we finally headed into our slip assignment, and once we turned off the engines at the fuel dock, Kitty Cat bounded out from under the covers sure of the fact that we were “home” for the night, and she was eager to look around.  I tried to tell her that we weren’t quite ready to settle in yet, and that we would be turning the engines back on, but she didn’t want to listen to me.  I was going to catch her and stuff her back under the covers, but she would have no part of that, convinced that we were “here.”  But then the dreaded monster buzzers came back on, and I got the “Oh my gosh – I wasn’t expecting that” look as her eyeballs practically popped out of their sockets, and she made a mad, scrambling dash for the bed again.  I went down to console her, and explain that I tried to tell her that we weren’t quite ready for her to come out and take in the view, and fortunately, she calmed down right away, and fifteen minutes later when we were tied up in the slip, I went down and pulled her out from under the covers and brought her up into the main cabin so she would really know we were really “home” for the next couple of days!  She settled right in, and all was well in “kittyland” again.

            We had our mail delivered here, and we spent the afternoon going through all the envelopes, and taking care of bills, etc.  After that, I made spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight, and anticipate a very quiet rest of the evening. 

            Tomorrow – who knows…

The barge we followed