Vero Beach to West Palm Beach

—Blogpost written by Bob

Vero Beach to Jensen Beach

We waited for our lightbulbs (for our running lights) to arrive by FedEx.  We stopped at the fuel dock shortly before noon to fill our water tanks and (hopefully) pick up our package.


We departed from the fuel dock at noon on Monday, December 30.  We were finally able to resist the invisible attachment to Velcro Beach--we were in Vero Beach for 18 days!  All of our batteries were fully charged, including those virtual ones inside us. We were completely psyched for this season in the Bahamas and very anxious to get moving again.

Here we were motoring down the Indian River
south of Fort Pierce.  The rain clouds
eventually dumped their load
of water on us.

We anchored near Jensen Beach at 4:30 PM just south of the Jensen Beach Bridge.  We anchored in this exact same spot two times previously.

During the day, we noticed that our cruising speed was about 0.5 knots slower than normal. At first we though it was due to tidal current but as the tidal current changed our boat speed was relatively unchanged.  Later in the day it improved--so, I think it was marine growth from sitting still for 18 days and it finally wore off.

We traveled a total distance of 29 statute miles today in 4-1/2 hours for an average speed of 6.44 statute miles per hour (or 7.42 miles per hour).  We had to wait for one opening bridge to open for us, the North Fort Pierce Bascule Bridge.

Jensen Beach to Lake Worth

It was cool last night—66 degrees F but great sleeping. We haven’t rid ourselves of the “no-see-ums” yet. We both got some “new” bites last night. We kept spraying the boat’s interior on regular intervals and kept popping Benadryl tablets to reduce the itching. (The “new” bites I got last night were on my hands and my butt.)

The Jensen Beach Bridge in the morning
before leaving our anchorage.

Before leaving our night’s anchorage, I checked our upcoming weather window for our Gulf Stream crossing and it seems to be improving (even less predicted wind and ocean swells) for a motor trip. (The only acceptable crossing under sail would be with southwest-to-west winds, in my opinion.)

This morning's image from my WINDY
app for West Palm Beach.

We weighed anchor at 7:45 AM with an overcast sky. By 9 AM we were past Stuart FL and the sun was shining brightly. We had most of our cockpit enclosure still buttoned up because of the cool northerly breeze.

Residential homes along a canal
that meets the ICW.

Before long we came into the very congested Jupiter Inlet area—a complete mess! There are too many inconsiderate boaters in this area. I’m just glad that we don’t come through this area in the Spring—we bypass it by returning via the Fort Pierce inlet.

We approached and came almost all the way around Peanut Island near Lake Worth Inlet. We motored out the inlet and turned around and came into our intended anchorage area. (This left a track for us to follow on the way out when it’s dark, in addition to our waypoints.) We anchored near the inlet at 2:45 PM.

We cross the Gulf Stream early tomorrow morning...stay tuned!



Thanks for following our blog!