South Fork Adventure

A few days ago we missed a turn onto Cove Rd. from Kanner Rd and had to do U-turn, and fate took over. As we passed over the narrow part of the south fork of the St. Lucie River, I happened to notice a sign for a park and an inviting launch ramp. We couldn't check it out that day, but today we went back to explore with the kayaks. 

What a gem of a kayak trail! We could either go left to the nature part of the river, or right to the more habited part. With the 10-15 knot north wind and incoming tide we opted to go right, into the wind and current (which actually wasn't much). That way it would be easier when we headed back. It may have been habited, but we love paddling through people's backyards, and seeing boats too of course. 

The water must be pretty deep because the boats kept getting larger and larger, including sailboats. 

Some looked like they had been sitting for quite some time...

As we got closer to the Okeechobee Waterway, we came across the Grand Banks Yacht Basin at Stuart Yacht Harbor. The quality and quantity of the boats here are amazing (not to mention cost too).

What a great place to keep the dinghy...

Close by was this boat on a lift with quad 400s...

That's a lot of propellers, although in this water they need that many with all the floating junk. If one prop gets fouled, they have plenty more to keep going. 😉

The types of house along the meandering river were diverse with new ones...

And some that had been around for a long time...

And just because we were paddling though communities doesn't mean that we didn't see our share of nature (now we know where robins migrate to during the winter, since we heard many of them). Waterbirds frequent the area including this lone immature ibis on a boat lift.

There were plenty of overhanging trees with Spanish moss lining the river banks .

Since it was a chilly morning we saw several turtles hanging out in the sun...

Last, but certainly not least, we were thrilled to see this alligator trying to get out into the sun right behind the turtles! 

He slithered into the water as we passed by, but we followed his bubbles as he descended into the depths of the murky water. Now we can't wait to go back to Hosford Park and follow the river the other way.