Day 5 - New Cruising Grounds

Today we cruised from Fort Pierce to North Palm Beach. We enjoyed the overnight in the marina and had a pretty easy departure around 8:30am. There were few boats on the water, and most of the cruising traffic were heading north. They refer to this part of Florida as the Treasure Coast, and once we passed the St. Lucie Inlet, everything was new to us. Lots of beautiful homes all along the waterway. It was mostly a slow cruise as there were many no wake areas that included manatee zones, bridges and dock areas. A few places required our undivided  attention. One sailboat was sitting perpendicular in the narrow channel and not moving. We couldn't figure out what he was up to and he didn't seem to care. We didn't have much room to get around him, but we did get through. We encountered a dredge in Jupiter, also in the middle of the channel. After contacting him on the radio we found out how to get around him. Soon after, we had to negotiate the Jupiter Inlet. We followed the markers and the suggestions by other cruisers, and got through fine. The water in Jupiter is very pretty.

Unfortunately, we still came across sunken boats.

As we approached the Palm Beach area and our marina home for the next two nights, we passed many luxurious homes and yachts. It is a very nice area and I can see why so many choose to have homes here. Old Port Cove Marina in North Palm Beach is home to many beautiful yachts and is one of the finest marinas that we have stayed at. The floating docks are great and the staff is very accommodating. The complimentary bottle of wine was a nice touch as well. Martha continues to check out the landscaping at all of our stops.