Friday, December 1, 2017

To The End of the Okeechobee Waterway

We docked about 100 yards from the St. Lucie Lock & Dam last night at the St. Lucie Campground and Marina.  This is a super clean campground and slip fees are only $30/night.  If we had our senior card it would only be $15/night.  We slept late this morning, took a walk around the campground, chatted with the senior citizen volunteer in the guard shack where we paid for our stay.  Back at Viridian, we made calls to Garmin concerning chart registration and did some cleaning inside the cabin.  Checkout time was at 11 AM so we made a quick radio call the lockmaster and he had the doors open for us as soon as we backed out of our slip.  The Lockmaster came out and chatted with us the whole time we were being lowered the 13 feet to enter the St. Lucie River.  After clearing the lock, we began our last leg on the Okeechobee Waterway.  Our route today took us past Palm City, up and around Stuart, down the west coast of Jupiter Island to our anchorage in Peck Lake just off the Atlantic ICW. The channel buoys changed over to red-right-returning upon leaving the Okeechobee and entering the Atlantic ICW.  The further we go, the bigger the houses and boats seem to be getting.

 After cruising for about 20 miles, we wound up at the same latitude we started from this morning.   Lake Peck is just a wide spot on the AICW but has a deep enough hole that several boats can anchor next to a thin section of the southern tip of Jupiter Island.  Once the anchor bit in we got on our bathing suits, lowered Jazzy, and rowed about 100 yds. to the shore.  Jazzy was tied to a leaning palm tree on the beach, and we hiked through a green tunnel path cut through the brush and onto a deserted beach on the Atlantic.  Lands end!  A long walk north on the beach picking up shells and a rest on our chairs as the sun set made for another great day on America's Great Loop.  Here are some views from today's passage.

That's the news and here's the views:

We are here

Today's Passage

 Bird's Eye

Houses along the waterway looking east


 Jazzy gets tied

 
 Let's go to the Beach!

 Hiking through a path from Peck Lake to the Atlantic Coast on Jupiter Island, FL

 Atlantic coastline on Jupiter Island


Beach Time

 Time to head back

Viridian at anchor in Peck Lake, FL

 The moon is almost full tonight

Another day comes to a close

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