Here Comes the Sun!!!

After a couple glorious days on the water, we arrived in Stuart, FL yesterday - we plan on camping out here for at least several days. September Song is here for about a month and a half until the DeFever rendezvous in mid-January. Have I mentioned yet that the sun has finally come out and warmed up the world (or at least our little slice of it!!) It finally feels like we have crossed the border into Florida - yesterday it reached about 78 and we took full advantage of it steaming from the flybridge and then sitting topsides for our apres docking coldie (or two or three)!!!

The prior several nights we've anchored right off the ICW since the weather and winds were calm - first in Fairyland where we enjoyed a few adult libations from the flybridge while watching an enchanting sunset (appropriate for Fairyland - being as how I am so politically correct, I won't even touch that one, but I do think it's kind of rude....)
We had the moon rising off our port beam and dolphins dancing, jumping and feeding all around us as the sun sunk below the horizon on our starboard beam throwing off glorious shades of orange, yellow and red - nature sure does put on a great show!! The next morning we set off in just two layers (it's been so cold most mornings we had on at least four layers since we had to be outside to lift the anchor from the flybridge) - wahoo!! By about 9:00 am the sun was beaming and life was warming up - we had a great steam with flat waters, good current behind us, calm winds - all in all the day ranked a big 10!!! We passed colonies of white pelicans hanging out on the little strips of sand that dotted the narrow channel,
a fat pelican hanging out on the channel marker (now how he stays up there is a mystery)
and even a guy paddle surfing (even I didn't think it was warm enough for that, but.....who am I to be the judge!!)
The only clouds in the sky seemed to form a face smiling down on us!
We are also now getting down in the areas of outrageous homes lining the shores of the ICW - most with intricately designed gardens surrounding lavish pools with fountains, sculptures and bush/tree art!! However, not everyone can live that way - we also saw a few camps set up among the uninhabited tiny islands that form part of the scenery down here!!

Once again we pulled off the ICW just below Fort Pierce for another quiet evening of beautiful sunsets, adult libations and great company!! The boat kitties love quiet evenings when we all get to cuddle!!
Someone once said to me that they didn't understand the big deal about sunsets since they happened every day - I remember feeling so sad for that person even then that they could not enjoy the simple beauty of nature. Especially being on the water we wonder at the marvel that is a sunset - each day it is different - some days spectacularly fiery and bold, other days the sun slips quietly behind the cloudy horizon, but each day for us it is an eagerly awaited event - Mother Nature truly at her finest (plus, it also officially kicks off happy hour!!!)

The next morning after weighing anchor we were greeted by some very frisky dolphins who were in the mood to play - a couple in particular were doing back flips along our starboard beam. I love these animals - I just never get tired of watching their antics and they always seem to be laughing and having too much fun!!! Luckily Doug was downstairs so I could get some great shots of them - for some reason they seem to be shy around Doug and just as he gets his camera ready, they leave the boat - I think he's starting to get a complex.


Just as the dolphins left us, Bob on September Song took up the slack to entertain us. From his flybridge we were treated to quite the show - as he stripped (get your mind out of that gutter....just into his shorts and tee shirt!!!)

Bob Strips Down to Shorts and Tee Shirt

It was finally warm enough to run from the flybridge without long pants and sweatshirts (at least on September Song which has an enclosed flybridge) - on Gypsies it was several more hours before the sun had warmed things up enough for us to strip! Shorts and tee shirts again - yippeeeeee!!!!

The short run to Stuart yesterday was full of osprey watching us proceed down the narrow channel of the Indian River through the Crossroads (passing into a very shallow little channel) and then on up the St. Lucie River, which is lined with beautiful homes.
We sat up on the flybridge for several hours yesterday afternoon finally enjoying the warmth of the Florida sun offset by the cool of several frosty malt beverages - it felt so great to feel the sun again!!!! Around 3:00 (the start of happy hour - coincidence, I think not!!!!) we joined up with Stephanie and Bob to go explore what our marina has to offer (especially happy hour at Wahoo's, one of the several cool looking bars on premises!!) A beautiful egret and a bird I should know the name of but don't (stark white with yellow feet!!!) were stalking the shoreline and seemed to welcome us to the bar - we love this place!!

Wahoo's has 2-for-1 drink specials from 3-6 each day (that could be dangerous)!!

Wahoo's Outside Bar

Drinks at the Bar in Wahoo's

Finally in search of food, we pried ourselves form our bar stools and set out across the street to several other bars we had heard of - easier said than done actually for we had to cross a hedge, a fence and some railroad tracks. Walking a mile out of the way we finally found a break in the hedge, climbed the fence and braved the tracks for we saw a "Bar" sign tempting us across the street - foiled - it was closed. But not to be deterred we doubled back to where we had seen some red neon in some shopping plaza indicating a bar and grill - cool! Turns out it was way cooler than we would have thought by looking at the outside - we pulled up some barstools at a little side bar and proceeded to enjoy unbelievable baby back ribs for $9.99 for a full rack, complete with fries, beans and cornbread! and did I mention the beers were a $1!!!!!

Ribs Anyone?

Guess where we are eating again tonight??? The only decision is whether to try the huge pulled pork sandwich for $3.99 and take some ribs to go or stick with the ribs (so to speak) - ah, decisions, decisions, decisions.....

After such a disgusting yet wonderful pig out (again so to speak - sometimes I just kill me) the night before, we hit the marina's fitness club this morning - not too many of the marinas we've been in have a health club so this was a cool bonus (I think!) Actually it felt pretty good to work out - they had all these great machines which showed you in real time how many calories you were burning - to keep us going Doug, Bob and I kept track of how many beers (or Captains in Bob's case) we were working off - so today is going to be a guilt free day (as if all the others aren't??) We plan on walking across the bridge later today to see the sights of downtown Stuart which is a really cute little town that we have spent some time in before. It's a long walk across the bridge but I'm sure we'll find some cool joint to quench our thirst - especially since we have all those free calories now!!! It would just be wrong to let them go to waste!!!

Click here to see our anchorage in Fairyland.
Click here to see our anchorage in Ft. Pierce.
Click here to see our location at Harborage Yacht Club in Stuart.