Day 189, Stuart, FL

Typical home along the Florida ICW








Another home along the Florida ICW











65' cleaarance ICW fixed bridge











Typical ICW bascule bridge with 25' clearance










Homes along the ICW









St Lucie lighthouse on the ICW










64' Ocean Alexander exterior








Brokered 64' OA interior








Brokered 64' OA interior








Tom at Stuart Fl veterans memorial









Stuart Historic District











Diann at Stuart Historic District











Shot of a beautiful, typical sportfisherman located a Sunset Bay Marina









Looking off aft deck of "Noah Genda" at Sunset Bay Marina, in our assigned slip









We experienced a very nice cruise up the ICW from Riviera Beach to Stuart. We are just amazed at the number of high end homes, beautiful yachts and the gorgeous scenery of the Eastern Florida ICW. Granted the ICW is mostly a minimum wake zone(15” max wake, whatever that means) , however that gives you ample time to take in all of the beautiful sites. We passed the St Lucie light house, and ventured seven miles up the St Lucie River to a brand new marina named Sunset Bay Marina located adjacent to the Stuart Riverwalk area. It is so new that is not illustrated on Google Earth. So if you see our vessel sitting out in the open water, we are actually, in fact, tied up to new floating docks. This facility is quite impressive. The City of Stuart is the first Floridian city we have enjoyed the feel of a small town environment. There are a number of beautiful City Parks, Riverwalk, bicycle paths, Historic District with many shops, restaurants, and of course several ice cream stores. There are so many inviting restauransts that it is difficult to make a final choice. We had lunch at a sidewalk Cafécalled Maria's. We strolled over to Hoffman's Ice Cream store and sampled a dip of Kosher Ice Cream. Hoffman's rates high on our scale.

After lunch we road our bicycles to a City Park that is hosting a Music fest week-end. There are just tons of things to do here, and it has been easy to strike up conversation with residents of Stuart. This harbor is no exception to several of the harbors along the way; many Americans have sold their homes, and become full time live aboards traveling the east coast, Bahamas and the Keys of Florida.

There is an Ocean Alexander dealer here at Sunset Bay marina. They have a new 60’ and a brokered 64’ on display. We couldn’t resist the temptation to go aboard and take a look. It is so pleasant to admire the craftsmanship of these impeccable vessels, even though we know it is not even close to a possibility. I guess I look at this way. Someday that will be a used boat, ours was.

Tomorrow is a short hop back down the river and up the ICW to Ft Pierce. There is a week-end Jazz, Blues fest at the Ft Pierce City Marina. I think that sounds like a plan.