Day Four - Canal Point to Stuart, FL, Ready to Start the AICW!

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's) 

cruising adventureson the Great Loop!

DAY 4 – April 4, 2017

A short post today but a big milestone! We are off the Okeechobee Waterway now and headed north on the Atlantic ICW tomorrow! We traveled about 42 miles today.

Baxter and Pat in Sea Eagle Kayak

We woke up a bit late off Canal Point on Lake Okeechobee and had our usual toast and coffee. Baxter needed to got to shore but it was evident we needed to fully inflate the Sea Eagle kayak first so we pulled it up into the cockpit and got out the electric pump. Wow! At the recommended 3 psi, it is the kayak we remembered from Squalicum Harbor! I was able to get into it standing up over the gunwale! Baxter is the “Dinghy Dog,” and he he loves the Sea Eagle kayak just as much as the Alaska Series dinghy!

We fiddled around with this and that, and it was nearly 11:00 a.m. before the kayak was on the roof and we were headed for the Mayaca Lock about 6 miles north of Canal Point. We got a "free pass" at the Mayaca Lock - both sets of doors were open and we simply cruised on through!

Upon exiting the Mayaca Lock, we were in the St. Lucie Canal. This is a very pleasant canal, wide and deep, with no shoaling like we experienced on the other side of Lake Okeechobee. We were unsure we would make it to the St. Lucie Lock in time to transit it, but we did, despite a short wait at the Indiantown Swing Bridge.

We were quite disappointed as we entered the Palm City / Stuart area. We passed quite a few nice places where we could have anchored but there was virtually no shore access in any of them. I Googled “waterfront parks in Stuart,” and found there was allegedly a Flagler Recreational Boat Ramp under the north end of the new Roosevelt Bridge, but we searched in vain to find it! We are anchored off a boat ramp more or less where  the Flagler boat ramp is supposed to be, but the building on shore says it is Palm City Marine, Inc.! Our anchorage is well protected by the point, and was a very short kayak row to shore for Baxter, so we think it is all good!

We studied Skipper Bob's Anchorages Along the Intracoastal Waterway, but it is next to useless, since it is organized from New York to Florida rather than from Florida to New York. To make any sense out of it you would have to read it from back to front, and not only that, you would have to read each paragraph from the last sentence to the first. I am not up for such mental gymnastics. Not recommended for Loopers! We will probably rely on Active Captain!