| South Bound |
| North Bound |
| Chart |
| Contact Us |
| The Book |
| Home |
We arrive! Stuart, Florida
Inport, Stuart, Florida, 2130 hours, Saturday, December 6th, 1997, Onboard
M/V Griffin.
We got underway right at dawn and headed south. As we went through the first bridge we discovered a pleasant surprise. We were still going through Manatee zones, but for some reason the Manatees in Florida south of Titusville are smart enough to stay out of the channel. Except for a few short exceptions, manatee zones from here south excluded the ICW channel. There is a manatee speed limit in the ICW of 30 mph but as we cruise slower than that, it's not a limitation for us. This removed the major irritant for us of having to go slow for miles at a time.
We rolled down the waterway at a steady fast cruise, and decided to pull in for fuel at about 10 am. We had arrived too late to fuel the night before, and left too early. The marina we choose for fuel this morning at Indian Landing was behind Dragon Point and 1/3 of a mile up the Banana River. As we rounded the point, we saw a 60 foot concrete Dragon statue on the point. Wonder who built that.
We were the only customer the marina expected to see all day. The wind was blowing strongly out of the north and kicking up small whitecaps, and the temperature had plunged 20 degrees into the low 40's. Floridians were staying home, and off the water. The previous day, the marina had only seen one boat, and he only took on 10 gallons of gas. We were a bonanza taking on almost 100 gallons of diesel. We refueled and headed back out.
As we passed Vero Beach, the water turned to the bright aqua blue you expect in southern Florida. Russell and I decided to drive the last 25 miles from the Flying Bridge. We put on our jackets and climbed up on top of the boat.
We got going again, and kicked her up to 18 mph. The Maryland flag on
the bow hung limply. We were exactly matching the speed of the wind as
we headed downwind to Stuart, Florida. With no wind on the bridge, and
the sun beating down, Russell and I soon warmed, filled with the inner
glow of knowing we were only 25 miles from our goal.
We rounded the point at Mile 988 of the ICW and turned into the St. Lucie River. We were now running back right into the teeth of the wind. We now had 30+ mph over the deck and quickly came to our senses and moved below to bring it on home the last 8 miles.
The boat is now securely moored at the Northside Marina in Stuart, Florida.
We cleaned her up and I dove in the water to check the props and rudders
from our grounding several days ago. No signs of anything, which we would
have noticed by now anyway. I just wanted to jump in the water because
I could. The water was warmer than the air at 68 degrees.
Here are the statistics for the trip:
Total Distance Covered: 1,167 Miles
Gallons of Diesel Consumed: 1,081 Gallons
Engine Hours: 83.3 Hours
And now the Big question; would I do it again?
Apart from the fact that I have to do it at least once more to get my boat home, I would say the answer is a definite yes. A trip like this is truly an adventure. In addition to all the excitement you read about in the updates, there were literally countless minor experiences that added to the whole. We met great people; saw things that were beautiful, fascinating, or both; and most importantly, went through a shared adversity team building exercise that was the father/son experience of a lifetime.
Thanks to all the people who shared our ICW experience with us. The
updates were a lot of fun for us to write and we hope you enjoyed our
trip as much as we did.
Keep us on your e-mail list when you go on adventures of your own!
Warm regards from the Griffin Crew;
Russell, Jon, Wendy & Andrew