As fate would have it, we are settled into the ‘Captain’s Quarters’ (aka living room/lounge) at our marina here in Stuart and I am tucking into my first 1000 piece puzzle after a two week drought. (Nerd alert- I get it, but I do long for a boat large enough to have a puzzle going to continue my ‘off-season’ hobby!) We spent the day at the pool here, and we went home for dinner only to return for the amenities. Violet is helping me with the puzzle and Lily is knitting while Andy watches a game on the TV in here.. my kind of Sunday.
We left Indiantown on Friday and had a successful Day One on the Okeechobee Waterway, followed by a night at the St. Lucie Lock Campground, just west of the lock itself. They have six slips there alongside the campground, and a boat ramp as well, so Saturday morning proved to be most entertaining and eardrum shattering as the cigarette boats launched one at a time over the course of an hour. At one point the waterway was roiling with little boats, large outboards and noise noise NOISE. I got a hint of the Grinch’s plight, though I didn’t dare steal any of their stuff to show my true feelings. Instead we just watched from the cockpit, dumbfounded as they roared away down the waterway toward Lake Okeechobee, likely scaring any fish and alligators out of their shorts on their way.
We made our way (quietly!) through the Lock and into Stuart, where our favored spot was packed and offered no mooring for us. We moved on to a nearby marina, and the heated pool and now its ‘Captain’s Lounge’ have proven pretty invaluable for a good weekend’s play while we wait for this front to pass.
Lily and I went for a great walk today after having what I would consider the perfect Sunday morning- waking early to rain pounding the boat, only to fall back asleep as cozy as can be, only to wake again 30 minutes later and repeat the cycle. I’ve always said that I was a cat in my former life due in part to my inclination to small cozy spots, but I was clearly a cat who really liked hearing the rainfall as I slept. Plus, free wash down! (Minus: deck fittings that leak in the galley!)
After our exploration of downtown Stuart and the Sunday Green Market, we came back to the boat for round two of pruning the kids in the pool. They swam for almost 5 hours, which seems insane, especially factoring in that they’re still awake after all of that.
Back to the puzzle! It might be a long night.