Cruising Again

We pulled out of Fort Pierce yesterday morning after a pleasant 3-week stay. We enjoyed our time here with numerous friends and activities, but we are excited to be cruising again. We are headed north with good friends Pam and John on Short Vacation. Today's trip was lovely, perfect weather for our 55-mile run to one of our favorite anchorages on the Banana River. By the way, we've added a link to our web page which you can use to see our exact location on a map- the link is near the top left corner of this page.

Much of our route today followed the Indian River section of the Intracoastal Waterway. The tide line- where the Indian River and the Fort Pierce Inlet waters meet- is clearly visible. The river water is much browner than the Atlantic.

Not sure what there folks in their rubber overalls are doing.

This plane is spraying for mosquitoes- hoping to keep the Zika virus away??

I enjoy watching the pelicans scout the water and then dive headfirst to grab (or miss) a fish.

Searching....

Searching...

Diving..

Splash!

This is our third overnight stay in this anchorage, and there are several reasons why we like it so well: first, we pass through a swing bridge named Mathers Bridge just south of us. Second, its a protected, quiet spot. Wind doesn't bother us in here. Third, free entertainment. This area is heavily used by rowers in every size boat from single person to 20 rowers and a coxswain. Schools here have crew teams, and rowing clubs are abundant. We love to watch the rowers, who range in age from children to people our age.

And then there are the beautiful sunrises, like this morning's.

We love being surrounded by nature's beauty!

Banana River to Vero Beach

We had hoped to make Fort Pierce today but that didn't happen. We were delayed 3 hours by dense fog at our anchorage. We used the extra time to do a few boat chores, yoga, read and relax. We were entertained by numerous rowers on the river. We saw boats of various sizes, with crews of 1, 2, 4, or 8 rowers. Some crews looked more hard core than others.

This looks like a job Mark would enjoy!

 These rowers even called to us, "Good morning, BIG boat!" This boat is a sweep boat or shell, since each rower has one oar. In the smaller boats, each rower has 2 oars. This sport seems to be extremely popular here. I would be prefer to be the coxswain!

The sun finally popped out, making this the warmest day of the week. We covered 40 miles in just in under 5 hours, docking in beautiful Vero Beach.

Vero Beach

We saw this unusual tree on our walk.