Made it to Port St. Lucie/Stuart

Even though I knew the alarm was set for 6:00, I did not get to bed until midnight, which would have been OK if I had not gotten up to "freshen up" at 3:00 and could not get back to sleep. I might have dozed a bit those next three hours but not much, so my day began with about four hours of sleep. When I whine about not getting enough sleep, David always says, "Welcome to MY world!"

The TnT (Tom & Trish's boat) and Claim 2 Fame (our boat) fueled up and were under way at 7:55, five minutes earlier than the planned departure. Along the way, we encounter some interesting bridges.


Were able to cruise at top speed across Lake Okeechobee and made it to the other side and the next lock in about an hour. Lucky for us, the lock was open and we cruised right in without having to wait. The water level difference at the last lock and this one was minimal so did not take long to close the back door and open the front. On to the 1:00 lock.

Made really great time making for an early arrival, around 11:30, at the St. Lucie lock. Anchored and had lunch. David took a nap and I researched our next nights port. Tonight (Friday, 4/15) we will stay at the dock of our niece's husband's aunt, who has a house on the St. Lucie river but that's as far as our plans got. After some fast, serious surfing, I determine that West Palm Beach is the next place to dock. Lots of reviews raving about Peanut Island so I call a nearby marina and make a reservation as there is no place to dock on the island.

Finally, it's 1:00 and our group of anxiously awaiting boats pull up anchor and start engines, only to hear that the west bound traffic will be handled first. The other locks took about 20 minutes but this one took 45 before the gates opened and released the west bound boats. As we all file in, we hear that the water level will drop eleven feet. At this lock it must take less time to drop the level that to raise it because we were done in 20 minutes. Almost there.

About an hour later we call my niece, Heather. She and her husband, Shad, are heading toward the dock to meet us. What a gorgeous location!


After helping us tie up and get settled, we all head to Heather & Shad's to see their place. Heather makes me a fabulous Key Lime Martini then we go out for dinner.

We make plans to do breakfast in the morning and after a lovely evening and long day, we head back to the boat to crash.