Stuart | Evergreen's Log

January 13th- St Lucie River/ Stuart FL

Every once in a while I grab a scrub brush, hop in the dinghy, and attempt to clean off some of the green goo growing on Evergreen’s waterline. I fear if I don’t keep up with this it will spread and Evergreen will turn green. The waters of the St Lucie are opaque, so I have no idea how bad things look below the waterline. It concerns me. Another hobby of mine is adjusting the anchor chain. We are anchored in around 6′ of water and normally I’d have around 30′ to 40′ of chain in the water. This is attached to a 45lb anchor. One of our anchorage neighbors (he lives here) has 130′ of gear out. He has a pair of big motor vessels and they swing all over the anchorage on a long rope rode. For the most part, our vessels are far apart but every once in a while…. I then let out more chain. I think I’m up to 75′. We have a few 100′ in reserve but I resist using it.

There is a woman who feeds the two cats that live in Pendarvis Park. There is also a man that feeds the big turtles that live there. The turtles will actually follow you if one is presented with a piece of fruit. Oliver is very suspicious of the turtles.

Today we have some rain moving through the area but the weather has been consistently warm and sunny. We often head across the river to downtown Stuart and see the sights. We’ve had lunch at the Osceola Street Cafe several times. The soup of the day has been good regardless of type (black eyed pea being my current favorite). We enjoy walks on the river front boardwalk and through the town. The Admiral found a nice dress in a local shop. Life has been good.

I’m noticing that Ollie seems to work his way into every picture.

Downtown.

There is a great farmer’s market on Sundays. It was cancelled for a few weeks due to the holidays but has resumed again. We stocked up on fresh produce, bread, quiche, dog treats, a good steak, and another dress. The quiche was the best we’ve had in a while. We’re looking forward to next Sunday.

Lynne finding edible treasures.

It hasn’t been all fun and games. We’ve also been doing some work and preparing Evergreen (and ourselves) for another trip. The Bahamas. This process started before we left Dartmouth with procuring passports and getting the proper flags.

Yellow quarantine flag for before check in and Bahamian courtesy flag.

We have charts for the northern Bahamas and various guide books. I’ve studied the navigation and believe it to be an easy trip with the right weather. The difficulty has been the paperwork. Importing Oliver, veterinary certificate, customs declarations, cruising permit, US customs, the list goes on. It’s all new to us so there is a learning curve. We have purchased a Garmin inreach satellite communication device since cellphone coverage is spotty. It has a SOS button that I hope to never use. This week we have a rental car and have been stocking up on supplies.

The plan is to head out of West Palm Beach FL and check in at West End on Grand Bahama. We’ll then make our way over to the Abaco Islands and spend some time there. We’ll probably do this in February with the right weather window. We enjoy being in Florida but it is very busy around here. There is always the sound of planes, trains, automobiles, and boats. We’re looking forward to being in a more rural setting. Last but not least, we want to swim in the amazingly clear waters of the Bahama Bank. Another adventure!

Some scenes from Stuart.

The Frazier Creek dinghy dock.