Day 5 Stuart to Vero Beach, FL

After an overnight thunderstorm, the crew of Island Hopper awakened to a beautiful morning.  After waiting for a passing train before we could pass a nearby bridge, we departed at 830 am.  We headed down the St Lucie River to the ICW, about 8 miles. We turned north after passing Hell Gate on the chart, very comforting.

We arrived at Vero Beach Marina at 2:00 pm.  Simple marina with friendly folks.  Total miles 44.


We bicycled to the ocean to check out the beach.  Winds were piping so the life guards were postings warnings.

After checking out the restaurants on the beach we decided to eat at the Vero Beach YC, next door.  Very good and very friendly people.   I love it when they ask our final destination and I tell them Montreal, they can't believe it, nor can I.

Our vessel's name is Island Hopper, so I was intrigued by this sign.

Day 4 Clewiston to Stuart, FL

 The crew was up early today for a 7 am departure.  Due to the continuing drought in FL the locks around Lake Okeechobee are operating on a 2 hour schedule.  Soon the lock schedule will change to only three lockages per day.  We needed to make the St Lucie Lock by 1 PM so we left the marina and headed 30 miles across the lake, early in the morning the winds were calm.

 We entered Port Myaaka lock at 9 am. We had to be careful of 2 Manatees in the lock. Below the lock we entered the St Lucie  Canal which at times is a ditch before it joins the St Lucie  River.  Typical section in picture on right.

Looks like this sailboat could use a little TLC.  

 Lots of farm land adjacent to the canal. Horses and cattle were seen enjoying the water. Nice having Island Hopper in fresh water for a few days.  Engines flushed themselves of salt!

We had to crawl to arrive at the St Lucie Lock by 1 pm.  We could not make it by 11 am so we slowed to 6 mph to time our arrival for 1245 pm.   We are leaving the lock in the picture on the right.  The lock lowered us 8 feet,  Much less than the 35 feet we are used to on the Ohio River.

We arrived at Stuart, FL Sunset Harbor Marina at 230 pm. We took on fuel and moved to our assigned slip for the evening. First class marina.  We stayed here before when we were returning to FL from the Chesapeake Bay in 2009.

Miles today 57, total to date 226.

Day 3 Ft Myers to Clewiston, FL

 We departed Ft Myers at 7 AM to make a 9AM lockage on the Caloosahatchee River as we headed east across Florida.  Our journey takes us through Lake Okachobee, the St Lucie River to Stuart FL on the East Coast of FL.  Total miles today 70 in 9 hours and 3 locks to traverse.  


We passed this beautiful home along the river.

 Our first lock this morning.  Crew Eddie was ready to take the lines from the lockmaster.  We dodged thunderstorms most of the afternoon, though one glanced us.  The new enclosure was water tight.


We passed a boat on the canal that had the Port of CINCINNATI on its transom.  The Captain saw my CINCINNATI hailing port and called me on the radio.  It turns out his father is a client of mine and he was on board the boat! They were heading back from the Bahamas to the west coast of FL. It is a small world.

We pulled in to the marina for the evening, Roland Martins in Clewiston.  When we docked I see a boat next to us from our yacht club.  They are heading back to St Pete after a FL east coast cruise.

Day Two Fort Myers, FL

 We had an easy day today of 30 miles in 3 hours traveling from Captiva Island to Fort Myers up the Caloosehatchee River.  Total miles traveled is 95. We stayed at the Royal Palm Yacht Club near downtown.  Great venue.  Unfortunately it was closed on Monday so we ventured in to the new downtown for dinner.

 Adjacent to the Yacht club is the Thomas Edison Winter Home.  We enjoyed a tour of the home and grounds of not only the Thomas Edison Home but also the adjacent Henry Ford winter home.

A view from our boat of the Royal Palm Yacht Club.  A great benefit of being a member of a FL yacht club is that you are offered reciprocity for dockage at little cost at many clubs throughout FL.

Day One Leaving Longboat Key

We enjoyed our first day on the vessel as we departed Longboat Key Marina after  2 1/2 years.  Crew is Kevin Hopper and Ed Daniel.  Ed is a college buddy and experienced boater.  Wife, Debbie is bonding with our grandchild Ella.  She will join us in Charleston, SC in a few weeks with Ed's wife Barb.

Today we traveled 65 miles to Tween Waters Resort on Captiva Island Fl.  Great weather, 80 degrees and calm winds. We chose to travel in the Gulf rather than the protected and slow Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW)  We enjoyed a swim at the pool complete with steel drum band and later a beautiful sunset.  Bar B Q night at the restaurant was very good. hope we have this kind of a day as we travel to Canada.

Summer 2012 Plans

Summer 2012

 The crew of Island Hopper has been busy the last few months readying IH for her summer journeys.  New enclosure and bimini, new bottom paint, complete wax job, 5 new batteries, 3 of those starting batteries for the diesels and the generator and two  six volt golf cart batteries which were added to the existing 4 batteries for the house batteries.  Now she has 700 amp-hours of capacity for powering lights, microwave, water pumps, etc without the need for running the generator.  The diesel mechanic did his annual job of adjusting valves, replacing impellers, and tuning up the engines for I hope will be  trouble free operation.  We now have over 1400 hours on the engines but only 270 hours on the generator.  

The plan is to leave Longboat Key Marina in early May and travel to Montreal, Quebec by early August,  then return to winter base of Brewerton, NY (near Syracuse) by late August via Ottawa, Ontaria and the Rideau Canal to Kingston,  across Lake Ontario to Oswego, NY and then down a canal to Brewerton.  It will be heated inside storage so no winterizing the boat or snow to worry about.

In 2008/09 IH made the journey to the Chesapeake and returned to Longboat Key.  This time we will revisit our favorite ports en route and then keep heading north via NYC Harbor, the Hudson River, Erie Canal, Oswego Canal, Lake Ontario, St Lawrence River/Seaway, Ottawa River and Rideau Canal.

Check back to our blog often for our adventures underway,.

Navigational Items of Interest

Now that we have returned to home port the Captain has had time to review the ship's log for information worth publishing.  The trip was a total of 1398 miles, from Longboat Key near Sarasota to Marsh Harbour, Abaco and return with island hopping in between. Normally the shortest route to the east coast of FL is to cross Lake Okeechobee.  This route shortens the trip by several hundred miles.  East Coast port of entry is Stuart or Palm Beach.  Since this wasn't possible due to low water in the lake because  of  the continuing drought in FL the route took Island Hopper from Sarasota to Fort Lauderdale via Captiva Island, Naples, Marathon, Key Biscayne and then to Fort Lauderdale where the crew waited for a weather window to cross the infamous gulf stream to West End, Grand Bahama about 85 miles.

Due to the gulfstream moving north at about 3 knots (like a river about 35 miles wide) any wind against this current blows up steep seas with waves that are very close together.  Having done this once before in a sailboat many years ago I knew it can be very unpleasant.  We waited only one extra day for  tame sea conditions and it was worth the wait.  The gulfstream was like a mill pond.  After all it is called "pleasure boating" !

From Sarasota to the port of entry in the Bahamas, West End it was 465 miles.  Total engine hours 32.6 for an average of 14.3 MPH.  This leg the crew guests were Ian and Joan from Scotland.  With them Island Hopper toured another 182 miles in the Abacos in 17.2 engine hours or an avg of 10.6 MPH.  Once in the Bahamas the daily runs are short so the cruising speed was about 10 MPH. 

Joan and Ian departed from Marsh Harbour to return via Miami to the UK.  We will be their guests in Sept on their vessel on the French Canals in the Burgundy region. 

The next crew from Cincinnati, Ed and Barb, reported several days later in Marsh Harbour. You will see on the blog the islands visited.  Total miles 87 in 10.9 engine hours for an avg speed of 8 MPH.  Laid back cruising and anchoring.

Again after a few days for maintenance, Aynsley's family arrived, Husband Tom and Granddaughter ELLA who was 27 months old.  Island Hopper stayed in several marinas more than one night so they could scuba dive, swim and tour landside.  Total Miles 57 in 6.7 engine hours for an avg. speed of 8.5 MPH.

They departed Island Hopper from Marsh Harbour for their flight to West Palm Beach after which the crew fueled Island Hopper with only  enough fuel to reach the US at $6.15 per gallon for diesel, ouch, and headed towards West End.

The return trip stops were the same though we elected to stay an additional day at Key Biscayne to enjoy the beach and the parks and also two nights at Naples to visit relatives.  In boating one must enjoy the journey as well as the destination!

Total miles from Marsh Harbour, Abaco to Longboat Key 607 miles.  Total miles 1398. the amazing thing is that we never experienced one mechanical problem or grounding.  Everything worked which is rare for a vessel that is 5 years old with 1400 hours on her engines.  I dreaded the thought of locating a mechanic or other service person in the Bahamas. All of the preparation work paid off with some good luck thrown in.

This trip was a dream of many years, it lived up to its billing.  The company of good friends and relatives made this trip very special with memories for a life time.