Last Lock \ Stuart \ Vero Beach \ Melbourne Beach

It’s been 6 days since our last blog post and those days have been ‘crazy busy fun’. Lots of photos to share (too many actually). For every pic below there are 3-5 more that didn’t make the cut. We’ll try to do better as we advance our blogging skills. The past 6 days journal would read… left St Lucie Lock on Feb. 21st en-route to Stuart FL where we stayed at the Harborage Marina (a very nice resort marina). The winds picked up (40 mph gusts) so the crew took a few days off. One of the best adventures in Stuart is the Elliott Museum and the House of Refuge (see several photos below). At the marina we met a very nice couple Tom & Diane Russell who had a Silverton Yacht “Good Time II” in the adjacent slip. Tom is a Yacht broker and they live in Jacksonville FL. The Russell’s had a car with them so we took advantage of their offer to attended church on Saturday night as well as ride to the Farmers Market on Sunday morning before we departed to our next port Vero Beach.

The Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge above was an interesting place. The Federal Government paid people (keepers) to live there and help anyone who was a shipwreck survivor with food and shelter. These houses had only 4 rooms and a basement. The keepers didn’t go searching for ship wreck victims, so you had to not only survive the shipwreck and the swim to shore (avoiding sharks, jellyfish etc.), but you also may have to walk ~10 miles or more to get to one of only nine houses like this built along the Florida coastline. The stories about Pirate Don Pedro Gilbert is interesting (see below) which is how this place was named, and some other things about life in the Houses of Refuge here as well. Read the “House of Shipwrecked Men” article (above)for an account in the early 1900’s of a story on how the house was used from a keepers perspective. the map shows all the shipwrecks of Florida.

Once we arrived at Vero Beach Marina we found excellent local seafood, an awesome beach and free public transportation (including a trip to the library).

Yesterday, Tuesday February 25th, we arrived at Melbourne Municipal Marina which is very nice but also going thru some upgrades. Our slip was just a few yards away from the restaurant and dock masters office (this has happened 3-4 times now, which is awesome). We’ll be here 2 nights before heading to Coco Beach for 3 nights, then Titusville Marina where the boat will stay for the month of March while we travel to Las Vegas for a week, then on a Western Caribbean cruise for a week then Orlando for a week.