Manatee Pocket and on to Lake Worth

Manatee sculpture - Manatee Grill

Beautiful sky at our anchorage

Jerry and Jenny of "SweetGrass"

The gang back together!

SweetGrass leaving our anchorage and heading north

Ferry boat taking passengers to Peanut Island

Welcome to Peanut Island

Beach along the Island - what a view!

Another view from Peanut Island

View of the Inlet from Peanut Island



The Lagoon on the Island
Museum in the background

Always a smile on the Captain's face when
we're riding in the Whaler

A whole new meaning to the term
"House boat"

The "Bahama Celebration" heading out from port
What a sight!

SweetGrass and NautiNell
on anchor

We spent four nights on the hook in the Manatee Pocket near Stuart.  It was a great anchorage – both holding and location.  It did take us a while to find the best spot though – there are two anchorage basins #1 and #2.  First we planned to stop at #1 but wanted to check out #2 first because it was closer to the town.  Boated over to #2 only to decide it was too crowded and a little short on water.  Back to #1 – and then back to #2 only to end up at #1.  Finally!  Glad we got that straight!  HA!  Glad the spots were only about one-half mile from each other!

Like I said it turned out to be a good anchorage.  We unloaded the dinghy and did some exploring.  We managed to stop at Shrimpers for Happy Hour.  Big surprise!  Great place – we made plans to definitely get back there for dinner before we left. 

The next morning Mike took a boat ride (fishing) but first he fixed the float switch on the bilge pump again.  Darn thing!  At least it pumps!! 

The “Chapman School of Seamanship” is located here.  They must have been having “hands on” classes today in towing.  It must be kind of like our Franklin Tech – wow – getting school credit in boating! Anyway there were several boats out here in the basin towing other boats and vice versa.  All the crew had on their orange “mae wests”.  It was fun watching them.  I kept trying to get Capt. Chappy to tell them “he wrote the book” but we wouldn’t do it.  We checked out Manatee Island Grill for Happy Hour this afternoon.  Met some nice locals – all watching the baseball games. -  Rooting for Giants – sorry, but I’m true to the Cards.  Most seem to be Yankee fans anyway. 

SweetGrass (Jerry and Jenny) made it here late afternoon on Thursday.  It was really good to see them.  We met along the Loop.  We really got to know them when we were in Delaware City.   They are heading north back home to Charleston where they will cross their wake.   We literally were two ships passing in the ICW!  We had a few drinks on our boat and spent the evening catching up on each other’s new adventures and reminiscing about the old ones.

Friday morning we all dinghy-ed over to town and checked out the Fishhouse Art Center.  It would have been really nice but not all the stores were open yet.  Guess it’s a little early here yet – according to one of the artists everything will be open in a couple of weeks.  Snowbirds haven’t all returned yet….

Anyway, it still was nice – we also found a nautical consignment store.  The guys went crazy in there.   Jenny and I ventured on – but didn’t find any real bargains.

Jeff and Linda (Jeremiah) made it here around 5:00.  Mike picked them up in the dinghy.  We all had drinks on the boat and visited until dark.  All six of us then went over to Shrimpers for dinner - (told you we’d make it back there for dinner.) We had a wonderful dinner.  It was just like old times – all Loopers having a great time over a great meal.  I laughed until my side hurt!  Finally Jeff and Linda headed on to Vera Beach to see their grandbaby.  Both SweetGrass and NautiNell planned to leave in the morning. 

Saturday morning about 8:30 or so – SweetGrass headed on up North.  It was great to see them.  We really hope to see them again.  We should go through Charleston this Spring on our way up to Norfolk.  Hopefully we will get to spend some time with them. 

We headed out (south) about 9:00.  It was so windy!  We thought about staying one more day but the weather forecast included winds for the next few days.  It wouldn’t be bad on the ICW and the winds were coming from the NNE so they would be behind us most of the way.  It wasn’t really pleasant but it wasn’t bad. Everything was fine until we finally got to Lake Worth.  We had planned to anchor somewhere close to Peanut Island.  The wind was so strong – we couldn’t find a good place to anchor.  Either it was too crowded or we just didn’t think we would hold.  SO we decided at the last minute to try Riviera Beach Marina.  We had quite a time getting the boat in to the slip.  The wind was really blowing and we decided that morning to tow the dinghy rather than put it on top.  NOT AGAIN!  It was not a bother to tow and we thought we were anchoring.  We figured we would just have to unload it again when we got to anchor at Lake Worth.  What we didn’t figure was that the wind would be so bad that we would go into a marina and try to get in to the slip with the dinghy getting in the way.  It tried to pull it up close to the boat but I just couldn’t get it close enough.  No damage though – just frayed nerves and maybe some “yelling”.  Just a little – but some.  J  Cory, the kid at the dock did a lot to help. We got in safe and sound.  The wind continued to blow the entire night.  We sat out on the boat and listened to the music coming from the Tiki Bar at the marina.  Happy to be in the marina.

Sunday morning the wind was still at it so we decided to stay another day.  We rode our bikes up to the local Walgreens – Yea! They have a liquor department!  We were able to stock up on a few things.  We had lunch at the Tiki Bar – music all day.  Neat little place.  We watched the live stunt on TV by the guy – Felix Baumgartner – parachuting from outer space!  A little crazy don’t you think?  Why would someone want to do this? Highest manned  balloon flight and then he jumps out of it!  Oh well – it was cool though seeing him land on his feet after falling over 23 miles from space sometimes at over 700 mph!

After that we went by dinghy over to Peanut Island.  It's just across from the marina.  Peanut Island is really a very nice area.  The facilities there are very well maintained – there is a maritime museum there that includes the JFK Bunker used during the Cold War.  We walked all around the Island – I really enjoyed it.  We would have stayed longer but it was starting to look like rain. 

We relaxed on the boat and made our plans to leave in the morning.  We are planning to anchor out in Lake Boca Raton.  Hopefully the winds have died down!  AND we will be putting the dinghy up on the roof before we leave!

Till next time!

Admiral “C”