Trawler Punches on the IntraCoastal Waterway

Trip Statistics!!

A little chilly and windy in south Florida the last few days but we will warm back into the low 80’s starting Monday.

Statistics for our trip from Virginia to Florida:

Days Elapsed – 24
Days Underway – 21
Total miles traveled – 1146
Hours underway – 137
Average speed – 8.36 mph ( 7.27 knots )
Fuel purchased – 383  gallons of diesel

Arrived Stuart Today!!

Another fine south Florida day.  The morning started with more dolphins than we could count running with the boat.  A couple
jumped all the way out of the water just like you see at a marine park.  I took some video and posted it below.  We had many very fast fishing boats pass us today.
When we stopped for fuel in Ft Peirce they told us it was the Southern Kingfish Association having a tournament. The boats all have three large outboards and look like
they are going 30-40 mph.  Just as we turned toward Stuart we saw a large rain storm and as we pulled in the sky let loose.  It rained like crazy
as we docked and for the next 40 minutes.  We have not had any rain on the trip so welcome home to Florida!!!  I’ll try to post
some overall trip statistics in the next day or so.

Dolphins near Vero Beach, FL:

Today’s Stats:  Location – Circle Bay Yacht Club Condos, Stuart , FL  ICW MM 988+St Lucie River 8 miles, distance traveled 52.31 miles
                                       average speed 7.69 mph (6.69 knots) 

Slogging down the Indian River

Today started warm ( low 70’s), humid and calm when we left the NASA Space center area.  For 3 hours we cruised down the Indian River in flat conditions.
Then without warning a 15 knot east wind come up and with it a good chop.  We had the wind and chop for the rest of the trip to just north of Vero Beach.
Today again had very light ICW traffic.  We had a small rain shower, the first time it has rained while we are underway on the whole trip.  NE Florida is very dry-
they had zero rain in October!! We are anchored for our last night of the trip behind a small island in a very upscale neighborhood.

Typical Indian River View going south
:

Today’s Stats:  Location- Pine Island, Wabasso Beach, FL,  ICW MM 946, distance traveled 62.65 miles, average speed 8.79 mph, 7.64 knots

On the Indian River

Another near perfect day – sounds like a broken record!! Warm, calm, no rain.  We left Dayton beach and headed south thru New Smyrna Beach then on to
Mosquito Lagoon, past Cape Kennedy and into the Indian River.  We will be on the Indian River for the next two days until we make the turn towards Stuart, FL.
The  Indian River estuary is the most diverse in the US and extends for 156 miles with more than 2000 species of plans and more than 2000 species of animals.

Traffic was very light today on the ICW, we passed 2 sailboats and two faster powerboats passed us.  We had to push the boat a little to make a restricted bridge
near Titusville, FL where they are building a new high rise bridge.  It helped me to exercise the engine and instead of my normal 2.6 gph fuel burn I was burning 8 gph
for about 20 minutes. Wildlife was everywhere in the water.  Too many dolphins to count and two manatees in the channel south of New Smyrna.
We are anchored tonight near the NASA Causeway in sight of the  pad for the shuttle launch in a couple of days.  I am sure it will be packed here by them.

Today’s Stats: Location-NASA Causeway, FL  ICW MM 885, distance traveled 56.65 miles, average speed 8.58 mph ( 7.46 knots )