Dot's Way Cruising Cat: Lantana to Peck Lake, Florida

We got up early and took the dinghy into the Old Key Lime Restaurant and tied up and then went around the corner to Kona Coffee Café. We got there before it opened at 7 am and were seated outside with the best waitress waiting on so many tables as the regulars poured in. We both enjoyed omelets and then walked across the street to check out the rest of the waterfront park. We then took off for the multitude of bridges with the Southern Bridge under construction and on pause when we got there for Trump's motorcade to cross which held us up for 12 minutes after the scheduled bridge opening. Except for the boat wakes reverberating off the concrete canyon seawalls, it was an uneventful trip to Peck Lake. We have always wanted to stop here and they were dredging the last time through. There were power boats pulled up on the beach as it is a short walk to the Atlantic side beach. We walked the beach to the south looking at the high tide line in the seaweed for sea beans and did find a hamburger bean. We found several pieces of sea glass and a few interesting shells. We spotted turtle tracks and there were half a dozen orange taped off turtle nests and plenty of ATV tracks. We headed out in the the dinghy for a cruise with a bottle of wine only having to paddle back as the dinghy engine was acting up.

Crowded anchorage at Lake Worth at West Palm Beach

Busy port at Palm Beach

Jupiter Inlet light house

Atlantic Beach near St. Lucie Inlet

Turtle tracks

Turtle nests roped off

Portuguese Man of War

Osprey with fish

National Wildlife Preserve at Hobe Sound

Glenn worked this morning to get the dinghy engine running again and then we were off to the beach. We landed at another spot and headed north to St. Lucie Inlet. We walked the jetty and then headed up a trail where we saw a bench. We ran into a ranger taking down the green flag and he offered us a ride in his golf cart so we took him up on in. He told us of the tram service and the dock and cove on the other side so we'll be back to explore. We did close to 9 mile hike. The seaweed came in so the ocean was not as inviting as Hobe Sound so we jumped in.

Pelicans wading

Green heron hiking

Finding some shade

Off station sea buoy

St. Lucie Inlet

The jetties

Tent at the jetties

Friendly ranger who gave us a ride

Pelican brigade

We headed out in the dinghy north to the dock at St. Lucie Inlet State Park. They have an extensive dock out into a cove off the intracoastal and a long boardwalk about 3/4 mile that heads out through the mangrove forest to the Atlantic Ocean. We met the ranger driving the tram as we walked out and he gave us a ride. He also invited us to anchor out in the cove. We brought our fishing rod and a picnic lunch and grabbed one of their hand baskets meant for picking up trash as we did our beach walk. We walked out to the St. Lucie inlet and then walked the asphalt sea wall that used to be almost like a pier with the remnants of handrails. We walked as far as we could to the granite monument as the path through the mangroves is now overgrown. It was a beautiful day for a picnic and the ranger caught up with us and gave us a ride back to the dock. The wind had picked up and blowing against the current so it was a rough wet ride back to the boat.