Trawler Blogs

Our visit to Vero Beach was very enjoyable. We had the opportunity to socialize with dear old friends, meet new ones, and think about our future land home. And we are glad to be underway again and excited about meeting Kevin and Courtney in Ft. Lauderdale in a few days for the Holidays.
The morning was very foggy, and believe it or not, the fog seemed to thicken as dawn broke, portending a warmer day. Ken (Rusty – Slow Dancin’) towed us in our dinghy to pickup the repaired dinghy engine. Once installed we made our way around the mooring field to say good by to new and old friends: Ken and Joy (Slow Dancin’), Jim and Nancy (Solitaire), Corey and Linda (Live Wire II), and Jim and Beth (Mad Cap). We will all meet again soon in the Bahamas or on our way there.
We prepared Escapade for travel, including putting on 387 gallons of fuel (!), filling up with water and hosing down the cockpit. We then set out for Stuart in the warmth of the sun. What a glorious day! Everyone enjoyed the change–a dolphin cavorting in the bow wake, pelicans splashing in to catch their prey, cormorants flapping their wings for lift off, seagulls swarming schools of fish. The water became that aqua color that speaks of the tropics. Huge cumulous clouds billowed on the horizon but were not threatening.
On the way we passed the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant. This was built in the late 60s-early 70s by Bechtel, one of Ken’s former employees at the same time Ken was working on Turkey Point. The plants are very similar designs, and Ken had a lot of interactions with the folks at St. Lucie.
We turned north into the St. Lucie River and anchored off the channel for the night. We’re in a huge panorama of homes and trees. The anchorage was a little rolly at first, but as soon as passing boats went home for the night, it became very pleasant.
We enjoyed our evening at anchor, and even watched our favorite Friday evening news show – Washington Week.