A First for the Last

During this last week of the year, we had the ideal conditions to walk south from Bathtub Reef Beach down to the north end jetties of the St. Lucie Inlet. This was a first for us, since we weren't sure this was even doable. Right after the public beach parking lot, the road turns into a private gated community, and we thought perhaps the beach was private too. Luckily that wasn't the case, and with the tide low (which is a must now with so little beach left after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole), we walked the 1.12 miles each way, down to the end. The soft sand was challenging, but our feet sinking down made for a great workout. We made it though, and there was much more sand at that end and on the inlet side too.

Now we can add another new experience to our growing list of things to do and places to see. At least the weather was a bit warmer that day after some very chilly Christmastime temperatures. Now we are almost hotter than usual with close to mid-80s for this, the last day of 2022. We'll take it! We'll see you in 2023 and hope you have a good one!

Mainstream

We have been too normal lately and there isn't much new to post. We are so mainstream that Dave is the vice president of our HOA and I am the membership chair. That is keeping us busy with our annual meeting approaching, plus we run both the residents' cornhole tournaments and cocktail hour shuffleboard games. It is nice to be settled in and assimilating into our community. We have done some more kayaking, but it was all to places we have been before. Dave is doing extremely well with his RC sailboat racing and even comes in first place quite often! We hope you are enjoying this festive holiday season and I will be back when new adventures or exciting events happen.

Holiday Spirit

Last night was our community's annual Christmas golf cart parade and luminary display. I didn't get any photos of the golf carts since it was dark when they went by our house, but the luminaries were gorgeous throughout our whole park. We took a walk and were impressed with how most all of the residents partook in this tradition. Luckily it didn't rain like it did last year, so it really looked amazing. The photo below of the park's entranceway was taken by a neighbor (I 'borrowed' it from our community's Facebook page).

Our home looked the same as last year, except this year Mustang Sally is in the driveway.

Here a few other decorated houses in our neighborhood...

The house in the background has a blow-up Grinch pulling down the lights lining the roof.

Next door to us, they went all out with the decorations and it is quite bright, even through our blinds. We don't mind (too much 😉). 

Last year's winner of the house decorations contest and we hope they win again. 

Although this photo doesn't show it, the lights are actually red and white, making it look like the Hope Town red and white striped lighthouse.

On our nightly walks we have noticed more decorations than ever, so the holiday cheer is in full force. We hope you are enjoying this festive season!

🎄🎅

Surrounded By Dolphins

What a fantastic dolphin encounter we had on the "Sea of Stuart", which is what we call the section of the Indian River that is south of the Stuart Causeway. We launched the kayaks at the Chastain Beach river access in what was supposed to be a light northeast breeze. However, the wind ended up being about 10 mph from the Northwest which put our destination of Boy Scout Island right on the nose with quite a heavy chop. The water was not clear at all, despite an incoming tide, so we were a little depressed starting out. We persevered though and made it to both that island and the island south of it, that we have named Girl Scout Island. As we approached the southerly island, we spotted a whole bunch of turmoil in the water, which ended up being about a dozen dolphins of all sizes looking for fish in the shallows. As we approached, they didn't seem to mind, and instead kept up their search for their next meal. At times they were so close, they went under our kayaks and we could smell their fish breath when they exhaled. We all continued on our intended routes and as we were paddling back to the Hutchinson Island shore (yay, the wind completely died!), we again came across the same pod of dolphins (I even recognized some of the dorsal fins). They were a bit more inquisitive and stayed closer to us, almost like we were a part of their pod as we all were going in the same direction. 

Dave also scared a sleeping 5 foot shark in the shallows, which then scared him when it made a huge swoosh trying to get out of his way. We saw lots of herons, egrets, ospreys, a kingfisher, turtles, and a ray, which was pretty amazing considering the turbid water. To top it off, we witnessed a brown pelican land on the back of one of the dolphins as it surfaced and the pelican stole its fish! We may have had a rough to start to the morning, but it certainly turned out to be an amazing and memorable day!

The Sea 'Gaveth'!

We finally made it to Peck Lake by kayak today. After walking on the path from the Intracoastal Waterway to the ocean, we only encountered one person sunning themselves on the beach. It was a perfect time to go treasure hunting! The sea 'gaveth' quite a few unusual items, none of which were worth anything though...except to us of course. We couldn't wait to see what that boxy looking thing was in the distance and were sure we had finally come across a bale of marijuana or a treasure chest.

It looked more like a 'square grouper' (bale of pot) when we got closer...

Unfortunately, our imaginations had run wild, and it was just a piece of timber that had washed ashore. We did however find a few nice shells. 

Strangely, we also found fruit and vegetables including an apple (no photo), a watermelon and a whole white onion, mixed in with the seaweed. We could have made a salad! 😉

Watch out for the crab! 

Or at least what was left of the poor crab (I think the birds had gotten the rest of it) ...

Our best find was a 40 ft. long dock line from a yacht. When I first saw it, I thought it was a line from a crab trap, then I realized it was much nicer than that. We stretched it out and couldn't believe how long it was. Even though it had frayed and split on one end, the other end had a loop, and it hadn't been rolling around in the surf very long, so it is perfectly fine. Not surprisingly, Dave already has an idea where he can use it.

Lunch in the shade overlooking the anchored boats in Peck Lake rounded out the morning.

The dunes were flowering despite the recent hurricane...

As we paddled back to the Jimmy Graham boat launch ramp in Hobe Sound, we took a side trip up into one of the bays to check out this floating fish camp someone had made. It was nicely anchored, complete with mooring whips so the owner's boat doesn't bang against the barge when there are wakes. 

To top off our excellent adventure, not only did we see lots of herons, ibis, egrets, ospreys, and even a downy woodpecker, we also were lucky enough to see several dolphins herding fish into the bay. On a scale of 1 to 10, this was a 12 day!

"The Sea Giveth & The Sea Taketh Away"

One of my last posts was about kayaking to the St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park and how the beach looked so much wider. Today we saw where a lot of that sand must have come from, when we took a motorcycle ride down to Hutchinson Island and Chastain Beach. This beach is the next one to the north of Bathtub Reef Beach, which is closed while they rebuild the beach and dunes with more sand. We thought we could walk from Chastain down to Bathtub but that was not meant to be, as the tide was high and we could really see the erosion. Bathtub Beach is just around the corner of this house which is now really in the water at this stage of the tide.

Here are some other houses that look to be getting close to being in danger of washing away during one of these more frequent storms we seem to be having.

Last year when we were at this beach, the sand covered quite a bit of these rocks. It was fun watching the surf break and send up spumes of water (and even some seaweed) from blowholes in the rocks. It must be wild on a windy day.

As a plus, we found some pretty nice shells, so the sea did giveth and taketh away with Hurricanes Ian & Nicole. Next time we decide to take a beach walk, we will make sure to check the tide tables. 

Back To Peanut Island

Yesterday was probably our last hot day of the fall, so it was a perfect time to bring the kayaks down to Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach and paddle over to see what was new at Peanut Island and the Port of Palm Beach. We certainly weren't disappointed, especially since there were still signs of the aftermath of Hurricane Nicole. The island itself is in good shape, but there were quite a few sunken boats surrounding it that did not survive the storm.

This is what is left of a houseboat. That white thing in the water is the toilet!

Several of these boats had junk filled barges next to them, which they must have used as their 'garages'.

Then there were these boats that must have broken loose and ended up on the north side of the island. We were just in time to watch them try and lift the houseboat up and get it off the beach. 

It took a while, but it did end up back in the water next to these other boats that were barely floating at high tide.

The port didn't have quite as many commercial ships and freighters in it, but there were still quite a few mega yachts, and we got to see some of them go out the inlet. The cruise ship had Margaritaville written on it, along with other Jimmy Buffett themed sayings.

While waiting for the tide to be high, we took a walk around the island and saw lots of iguanas of all sizes, foraging in the grass and basking in the sun.

We also watched the Palm Beach County Fire & Rescue practicing their water rescues with personal watercraft and equipment.

Unfortunately, even though there was an incoming tide, the water was not as clear as other times we have been there. This was most likely still due to the hurricane stirring up the water, and the Gulf Stream being over 20 miles offshore. Dave said he couldn't see much while snorkeling, but the water was so warm (air and water about 85 degrees) that he had a hard time getting out. I started getting overheated too as we circumnavigated the island in the kayaks. I suddenly decided I had to jump in the water, so I beached my kayak and floated around, knowing that the temps would not be like this for very much longer. The water may not have been clear, but it was still great to back!

Treasure Hunting

This weekend we launched the kayaks at the end of Cove Road and kayaked over to the St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park to see if there were any treasures washed up on the beach after the hurricane. We were ready for crowds, since it was the weekend, but what a surprise we had!

People? What people? Treasures? What treasures? 

There was not a soul in sight in either direction, and the beach was wiped clean of everything but some broken shells. In fact the beach looked bigger than last year, and I asked Ranger Ted if all the sand that eroded elsewhere ended up there. He said that this summer they renourished the beach with more sand and planted sea oats to help with erosion. Some of the sand had started to erode, but then with Nicole, it ended up being deposited back. Except for the fact we found no treasures, it was spectacular! We walked all the way up to the inlet to see if any of the improvements that were proposed last year had been done, but everything remained the same. The water is still quite brown and stirred up from the storm, plus the Gulf Stream is over 20 miles offshore at the moment, so the water isn't as clear as normal on an incoming tide.

This reddish egret was hanging out on the jetty rocks, along with several pelicans, and I caught him mid-flight taking off. Its pink and black beak really stood out.

We normally enjoy the 3/4 mile hike (each way) to the beach on the boardwalk, but we knew we would be wiped out with the sun and walking in soft sand on the beach, so we accepted a ride from Ranger Ted in his extended golf cart tram that runs on weekends. Thankfully, he just happened to be waiting at the beach on our way back too. Our water and lunch were in the kayaks, and we were ready for them when we got back. We sure are glad we didn't let the threat of crowds keep us away.