February 19- Stuart/ St Lucie River to Hobe Sound FL

Our original departure was planned for Saturday but a heavy north wind kept us at anchor for another day. After wrestling with the anchor, we departed Pendarvis Cove, only to be delayed by the railroad bridge for about an hour. The bridge is old and used heavily. It is being repaired or replaced.

We try not to be in transit on the weekends in Florida but it wasn’t to be avoided. There is a busy cross roads where the St Lucie River bisects the ICW. It was packed with water craft going every which way today. In general this whole portion of the ICW is very busy. We motored along until just after midday and anchored in Hobe Sound. I jumped in the dinghy for an Oliver beach commando raid and took a look at the bottom of the boat. The antifouling paint is working well but there were many barnacles on the propeller which was slowing Evergreen down. Lynne donned snorkeling gear, grabbed the scraper, and went to work on the problem. Eventually I joined her and noticed the sacrificial zinc was gone from the propeller shaft. This is a very important hunk of metal that protects the prop and shaft from corrosion. We have an aditional zinc on the bottom but this one needed replacement. We’ve hired a diver to do this in the past but today I managed to get the thing on without donating the zinc or any tools to Neptune. The whole job lasted an hour and we lounged around for the rest of the day.

Despite a few hurdles we felt good to be on the move again.

Back on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Evergreen anchored in Hobe Sound.