Banana River Anchorage

Day:  164                      Hours today: 7.1

Miles today:    55              Total miles:  3,020

Locks:   0                      Total: 39

There were plenty of activities in Fort Pierce over Easter weekend. Taking advantage of several local events, the Treasure Coast Cruisers chapter of MTOA held a pre-rendezvous in advance of the bigger Southern Rendezvous to be held April 14-16 in Daytona Beach.  On Saturday we perused the Farmer’s Market near the marina. It is very highly rated, supposedly Florida’s best. I may be biased, but I think Des Moines’ market is much better! Shorter season, but many more vendors and variety. It's hard to beat the breakfast burritos in Des Moines' market! We also went to the local Oyster Festival. The oysters were wonderful! The horseradish, on the other hand, nearly did me in. I applied it a bit too liberally to my raw oysters! Whoa! Tears streamed down my cheeks.

Later Saturday Simply Grand hosted dock tails for MTOA  (Marine Trawlers Owners Association) members. There were probably 50 of us on this spacious 49’ Grand Banks- a beautiful boat!  Everyone brought an appetizer and their own beverage. Meeting a different group of people- not Loopers -  was interesting.

Sunday we attended the sunrise service in Marina Square, and then watched our home church service via the Internet. How cool to watch the sun rise behind the palms! Local friends Tom and Melanie picked us up and gave us a tour of the area and took us to lunch and Walmart- a much appreciated afternoon. Even so, we were both a bit homesick, missing our kids and grandkids.

Yesterday was boat cleaning day. We cleaned everything from the strainers (full of salad after the Okeechobee) to the dinghy (gave it its first ever scrubbing. Who knew it was white?!) to the decks to the inside. Also did the laundry and filled the water tanks in preparation for our departure.

One way to clean the bottom of the boat.

This "salad" was in our engine strainers.

Mark is rocking' his color-coordinated knee pads.

We left Fort Pierce at 0800 today along with Charis, after taking on fuel and getting pumped out. We thought the Fort Pierce municipal marina was great, after its $30 million dollar expansion/renovation. We were on brand new floating docks- easy on and off the boat. A huge new section of floating docks is scheduled to open later this month, with plenty of room for many super large boats. The city itself did not excite us.

Sailboat that ran aground outside the channel. Notice the people walking to the right of the boat.

Charis left us at Melbourne as they turned into the marina there. We chose go a few miles farther to anchor out in the Banana River. This anchorage is just beyond the Mathers Bridge, (great name) which had to swing open to let us through. Of course Mark mentioned our name to the bridge tender, who then told us about a terrific restaurant nearby. We had already planned to grill tonight, so maybe next time. 

Mathers Bridge as it swings open.

After setting the anchor we went for a dinghy ride in our bright and shiny white dinghy. We don’t often anchor and use the dinghy, but with more practice, it will become easier and more fun. We are still nervous about swinging to and fro on the hook. I have now learned to use the range finder, the chart plotter, and the anchor alarm to ensure that we are not dragging! Even so, it is always a concern to me.

This river is bordered by gorgeous multi-million dollar homes and there are several canals to explore. We watched many scullers/rowers/whatever they are called row up and down the river in single and multi-person boats with coaches barking out encouragement (?) from power boats. The rowers make it look so easy, but I know it is much more strenuous than it appears.

Lots of guys in this boat

Serious paddlers

After a relaxing dinner, we are ready to call it a day.