Tortuga Tour Day 9: St. Lucie River

Destination today is the St. Lucie Canal Lock, the first lock coming from the East on the St. Lucie Canal.  We are starting the journey from the East coast to the West Coast across the heart of Florida.

We didn’t have as far to go today so we slept in and started the trip later, and the morning was again beautiful. The Indian River continued to be wide as we traveled further South and development still more spread out.  We encountered fewer boats heading North than yesterday, but the parade continued. 

The other thing I noticed more today was the changing color of the water – more tropical looking, and the color more aqua.  The other thing I saw more of was sand bars.  You look at the wide expanse of water and see where you want to be, but beware!  Markers on the ICW are there to keep you in the channel and boats such as ours require more depth than the smaller, faster boats.  If you try to short cut, you are likely to run aground.

At 12:28pm we turned into the St. Lucie River.  That’s when the trip for me pushed my stress level up several notches.  Suddenly there was a slew of fast boats coming and the river does more zigging and zagging.  The wind had also been picking up.  The river is narrower than the Indian River and there was more development.  At one point the river forks.  Just before that point we had to go under one tall bridge, pass through an open railroad bridge (only closes when a train comes) and finally a draw bridge with only an 8-foot vertical clearance so it must open for us.  The three bridges were within a very short distance of each other. The draw bridge only opens on the half hour, so we had to wait about 15 minutes.  The problem was the wind and small boat traffic.  I so wanted to take pictures, but Fred needed me to watch.  We managed to make it through but right away we were in shallow water and no way around.  There was a dredging crew right in the channel doing their thing, but it forced us out of the channel.  We are very grateful for dredging crews, but my nerves were on overtime.  The dredging continued right up to the lock.  Dredging is a fascinating work of engineering which only the Captain can explain [Captain: and maybe the people doing the work…].

The South Fork had some very peaceful green space in between developments, and they were more modest than what we had been seeing.  My nerves were able to calm down and enjoy the scenery.  After one stop for fuel, we finally got to the St. Lucie Lock.  We had to put on life jackets (a first), hang balls to protect the side of the boat, get on our rope gloves and wait for the gates to open.  Once inside the lock, the lock master throws lines down to you and you HOLD ON while the water rises.  Fred was up on the fly bridge and I was in the stern – sorry no pictures inside the lock.  I was too busy holding on.  We were successful, and now we could stop for the night.

We tied up at a national park with slips right past the lock.  It is quiet even though there are a few other boats and campers on shore.  Maybe the Captain will explain what we had to do to tie up on some very short docks.  We discovered we can be quite creative.  I will take pictures before we leave in the morning.

Captain’s Comments:

The St. Lucie River/Stuart area is a hotbed of boating businesses—repair yards, dealers, builders—hence the extra traffic on this portion of the trip.  Some very large marine commercial activities are tucked-in up apparently tiny, winding, hidden backwaters.  We stopped at American Custom Yachts (one of the last businesses before the first lock) to buy fuel.  This was only the second time we’ve added fuel to Betty Lou (June 2020 was the first) and the first time we’ve completely filled her tanks.  It took about two hours; another boat was in front of us.  Happily, she took a little less than I had anticipated, and the price was $.50 / gal cheaper than advertised anywhere else on the whole trip.  With over two tons of fuel, Betty Lou sat noticeably lower in the water!

The fuel dock attendant was from Haiti, and had been working at the yard for 16 years.  He liked his job, but was worried because the business had been sold, and he didn’t know what to expect when the new owners take over next week.  He was also carefully tracking the news from Haiti, still worried about family and friends.

Florida has an amazing mix of cultures.  A coast guard officer making announcements on the VHF emergency/hailing channel 16 about vessels in distress and a person lost overboard spoke with what sounded to me like a Puerto Rican accent.  Sadly, several people violated the law by then using channel 16 to ridicule his accent.  Also sadly, it seems like the further south we go, the busier the coast guard is, trying to rescue people on disabled vessels, trying to locate missing boaters, responding to medical emergencies at sea, and even, in one case, responding to a vessel reporting a dehydrated crew.  I’m proud, as an American, to support an organization with such dedication and professionalism.  And the coast guard officer on the radio never broke his stride.

The park we’re tied up at tonight is great, and our National Parks Sr. Pass gives us half off.  We took one of the first come, first served docks.  But you can only register online. And there’s no wifi.

Betty Lou may have been a little longer than the docks were intended for, but ingenuity prevailed. I put out the step-stool for the Admiral to get aboard.

Peace  fks