Leaving Stuart

We had a few days of bad weather, but today was sunny with light winds and we left Stuart in the morning, heading west on the St Lucie River.

An hour later we reached the first lock on the St. Lucie Canal, where Dolfijn was raised 15 feet before we were able to exit on the other side.

After scouting around for a good anchorage with no luck, we went into Indiantown Marina for the night. Gilles immediately spotted this alligator, then jumped in the dinghy to get close enough to get a good photo.

Stuart, FL

Still in Stuart, provisioning and organizing the boat and enjoying the town, its restaurants and coffeeshops. On Sunday, went to Riverwalk Jazz Fest, the band (Tales Untold) was surprisingly good, the singer awesome. Finished reading Just Kids by Patti Smith, the story of her life with Robert Mappelthorpe. Eating oranges. There's a painting in the marina lounge with the words Trust That the Wind Knows Where It's Going. It's been very windy, the boat moving a lot, difficult rowing to shore and back to the boat.

Across Florida, East to West

I left DC on a Tuesday afternoon, streets slushy with dirty snow, taking the metro and bus to BWI to catch a cheap Southwest Airlines flight to West Palm Beach. There were 25 people in wheelchairs waiting to board when I arrived at the gate. After everyone was aboard and the maintenance crew fixed something in the cockpit (we were never told what it was that needed to be fixed, just that it would be a good idea to fix it before we left), the plane left an hour late. C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce came to mind, except I was on a plane (he was on a bus) going from hell to heaven.

Two and a half hours later I was in West Palm Beach. I picked up my rental car and headed north on 95 to Stuart. Gilles was waiting at Sunset Bay Marina where the boat was in the mooring field.