The Treasure Coast - Hutchinson Island, FL.

As our previous post explained, we were in Stuart Florida attending Trawler Fest, We stayed in the area for four days after the Fest in order to spec out different marinas in the area.
We had rented a condo for our week stay from a listing I found on Craig's List.
It was a beautiful place, located at the Island Beach Resort, in Jensen Beach on Hutchinson Island. It was oceanfront, had a pool and a laundry area, next door was a place called the High Tide Restaurant and Tiki Bar. It was just fantastic.

Should you ever want to go to the Treasure Coast area of Florida, we highly recommend this person's condo.



You can find it at: http://www.priceisrightatthebeach.com/
We lucked out, and were able to strike a deal with him and it saved us about 50% of his normal rates. We did this by booking it only 3 days in advance. Check his website for more info.

As I said, we were there to check out marinas....and we did find quite a few, like over 50 of them.
We narrowed it down to The Harborage Yacht Club & Marina in Stuart, The Fort Pierce City Marina and The Fisherman's Wharf Marina in Ft. Pierce, The Saint Lucie Marina in St. Lucie and Pirate's Cove Marina in Port Salerno, Florida.
All were quite beautiful.
We made a decision, that IF we were to move the boat south, we would stay at The Harborage Yacht Club & Marina in Stuart. It is a brand new marina will all the amenities we would want.
You can see it here: http://www.harborageyachtclub.com/harborage.html

Trawler Fest - Stuart, Florida

We arrived here on January 21st, leaving the -4 degree temps of upstate NY only to find it 39 degrees in southern Florida. Brrrrrrrrrr.

View from our condo....Sunrise on Jensen Beach

On the 22nd, opening day of Trawler Fest, temps got into the high 60's, but that was better than -4. By the next day, temps leveled out into the mid 70's for the remainder of the Fest. We stayed in the area for 4 extra days after the Trawler Fest, and everyday was sunny, and each day the temp rose a few degrees. By the 28th, the day we headed back to NY, the temp was 82 by 10 AM.

This was our first Trawler Fest, and all I can say is WOW. It was great.

We met so many wonderful people, both novices and experienced cruisers alike.

We also learned quite a bit. They had some seminars that both Dottie and I attended. I went to seminars regarding electrical and charging systems, diesel fuel and fuel polishing, and a diesel engine question & answer forum. Dottie went to seminars regarding medical emergencies aboard while cruising, and we both attened seminars on cruising the Down East Circle route and cruising the Florida Keys. All of the seminars were very well put together, and gave everyone a chance to ask whatever questions they chose.


The venue for the Fest was the Marriott Hutchinson Island resort, and it was a great place. In today's world, you kinda forget what service is until you arrive at a place like this resort. It was excellent.
The "in-the-water" boat show was terrific. They had about 50 boats on display which you could go aboard and snoop around all you wanted without the pressure of sales people on your back.

There were trawlers that ranged in size from 25' to 65' and in price from under $100K to well over $2.5 million.
We both wished we had a spare million or two to spend....LOL.

Their second largest boat, a 63' Ocean Reef Trawler did sell at the show....for $1.9 million, and the kicker was that the couple who bought that boat had never owned a boat before. What a way to start boating!! At the closing dinner reception, they introduced that couple, and some of the marine gear distributors gave them beautiful gifts to welcome them into the family of boating.

It was a great three days, and we would recommend to anyone that is interested in trawlers to attend one of their Trawler Fests.

Winter Blues

Not much to report this time of the year.

Our weather here has been cold...in fact, we are approaching about a 10 day run of lows into the single digits. It has snowed just about everyday since Christmas, not much.....

The marina is a "sea of blue".....shrinkwrap, that is!

but enough to breakout the shovel or snow-blower each morning. By mid-day the sun is out, and the sky is blue, at least for a few hours.

As they say, there is "hope on the horizon".

Sodus Bay is solid ice now, and you can see a few ice fishermen out there. Not my cup of tea for sure. I always marvel how they drive their pick-up trucks out onto the ice.

Something about driving 3 tons of metal over 30 feet of water, and only 12 inches of ice that make me wonder.

Ice fishermen out on Sodus Bay

We are looking forward to heading down to Hutchinson Island, outside of Stuart Florida in a few days. We will be attending Passage Maker Magazine's "Trawler Fest". After Trawler Fest, we will probably head on down to the Keys for a little much deserved R & R.
I have been watching the temps in Florida the past few days, and they are experiencing a bit of a cold snap also, with lows in the mid 50's and highs in the mid 70's.....but that sure beats 2 degrees....which it is right now as I write this.

Keep Warm.....and dream of summer....it will be here shortly.