Finally! We're on our way!

Heading North to Fort Pierce, FL - June 27, 2016

Miles today: 23 NM
Total miles: 23 NM

We spent the early morning taking the car to the storage facility we found 4 weeks ago when we stored our travel trailer.  Jim disconnected the battery and secured the car cover with ropes for protection against the harsh Florida sun and windy, heavy rain storms.  A ride from a friendly Uber driver had us back on the boat by 8:30am.

Our car and travel trailer all tucked in at
a storage facility for the next several months.

The sun was shining, the wind was light and our nerves were a bit tight as Bazinga pulled away from the dock at Mariner Cay.  We slowly motored up Manatee Pocket, turned to starboard (right) and headed to flashing red marker 240.  At that marker, we turned to port (left) and entered the Intracoastal Waterway (the Indian River).  This was it - the first day of a new and exciting adventure!

Keeping the red markers on our port and the green markers on our starboard, we glided along at about 7 knots (roughly 8 mph).  Yup, this will be our blazing average speed for the entire trip!  We can actually go as fast as 12 knots (13.8 mph) if needed (hold onto your hats, people), but at that 'fast' speed we'd be guzzling fuel.  Between 6-8 kts we'll average about 2 miles per gallon of diesel.

On the ICW, the amount of water below your boat is always the issue - as in, 'is there enough?'  On this day, we experienced depths below the boat of 7-12 feet all along the route to Fort Pierce.

Amazingly, once we turned north on the ICW, there were very few boats sharing the waterway.  It was kind of a kick to cruise along following the shore road we drove to Fort Pierce, only a few days before to purchase the helm chair.   Though the temperature was in the high 90's, the breeze on the flybridge helped.  Along this part of the ICW, there are houses on both sides - the land side on our port (left) and on the peninsulas, islands or spits of land on our starboard (right) side that separates us from the Atlantic Ocean.

The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway runs from Norfolk, VA to the Florida Keys.  It is made up of a network of salt water rivers, natural inlets, bays and man-made canals.  What our family most appreciates is that we will rarely have to traverse the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean!

It was a beautiful ride.  We probably saw a handful of 'go fast' boats either passing us or heading south.  We overtook a funny looking boat that was part paddle wheeler, part trawler, part tug boat. Friendly guy - gave us a hearty wave as we slowly passed so we wouldn't jostle him with our wake.

A bit of an unusual vessel puttering along the ICW

There was a good amount of shoaling as we approached Fort Pierce.  The rule is ALWAYS follow the markers you see, rather than your chart plotter.  The charts on your plotter are usually a year or more old and cannot always represent the changing conditions of the waterways.   As we approached the Fort Pierce Bridge, where we would turn to starboard (right) to enter the channel to get to our marina, there were temporary markers (red floating buoys) that indicated we had to head hard to port to avoid shallow water.  The chartplotter on the other hand would have had us going straight over very shallow water.

We soon made our starboard turn and followed the narrow marked channel to Harbour Isle Marina, Hutchinson Island, Fort Pierce, recommended by Capt Chris for it's large fairways (the waterway between the docks - the larger the better for maneuvering).  We radioed ahead that we were making the approach and dock master, Malcolm Rowand, caught our lines for an easy docking.

The Waterway Guides is one of the reference books we use to get information on navigation, marina facilities, on-land sightseeing, etc.   The online version of Waterway Guides offers the ability to click on a marina icon and get a lot of info on that marina, including how to approach and it's facilities. Here's a sample for the Harbour Isle Marina.

Harbour Island Marina, Hutchinson Island, Fort Pierce, FL
(From Waterway Guide, Southern Edition)

Approach and Docking

Call first to confirm a reserved slip. Marina is ~2.5 miles from Fort Pierce Inlet. South of the Fort Pierce 65' Fixed South Bridge. Off the ICW(RED #188)heading East in channel(RED #2, GREEN #3)to ~(GREEN #11) entrance to the marina(you can't see the marina until the port turn into the marina seawall/jetty entrance, as condos surround the marina)Slip #'s up on white piling caps.

Dock Type:	Floating
Approach / Dockside Depth:	9.0 / 9.0 ft.
Largest Vessel:	120 ft.
Total Slips:	63
Transient Slips:	10
Moorings Offered:	No

Our approach and the temporary slip we were assigned.  See how
much open water surrounds the docks - that will make it a great place
to practice stern-in docking with Capt Chris tomorrow!