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Fort Pierce to Stuart |  3.9 Hours  |  25 Miles 

We were anchor up and underway a little after 7:00, headed to the fuel dock at Harbortown marina. We bid a brief farewell to My Cat as they turned south and made their way unescorted to Stuart to see a watermaker technician. Crossroads turned north for a short distance and soon was tied up to the fuel dock. It took a while to pump 505 gallons of diesel then 4 gallons of gasoline. There were plenty of pelicans, herons, and even two manatees to keep me occupied while watching the gallons and dollars click by. The marina let us stay an extra hour in order to take a 10 minute walk over to Publix. It seemed to be a much longer walk back, as Barry toted two bags totaling 23 pounds and I had the 32-pound backpack. I stashed away the $200 (ugghh) worth of meat, fruits and veggies as Barry went to the office and retrieved our long-expected package. One thing that's for sure, today's walk to Publix was much shorter than the walk to the Winn-Dixie in Key Biscayne. It was well-worth the extra effort.      

The trip to Stuart was short with few notable sights. When we passed a strange mass of high-density housing jutting into the Indian River, I took the opportunity to research the history of Nettles Island. According to Google, there are over 1,500 lots on this 100-acre island. Norfolk Dredging pumped close to 2 million cubic yards of sandy fill from the bottom of the Indian River to form the island in 1969. Supposedly, it is the last man-made island made in the United States.

As we neared Stuart, a group of windsurfters entertained us. Large estates and elaborate boat lifts lined the shore of the St. Lucie River. We anchored in Hooker Cover for the night, not far from the spot we occupied in July aboard Paradigm Shift. We got to work installing the new stern light then worked on our Bahamas paperwork before relaxing for the remainder of the afternoon. Tomorrow morning, My Cat will once again fall in behind us as we move to Lake Worth.