Vero Beach to North Palm Beach

Hobe Sound Wildlife Refuge At Peck Lake

One of the many fishing boats on the ICW. Note the Pelican sitting on the right outboard; it's real as it soon flew off, just taking a break we guess.

One of the smaller of the homes along this section, we were able to get it all in one frame!


We finally left Vero Beach on the 8th and headed South again. The winds had calmed down to about 15-20 so we thought we would continue. The waterway is fairly protected with it seldom being over a mile wide with lots of places being a quarter mile or less. Crossing a lake or when the Indian River widens out provides more wind but there are no big waves because the water is so shallow. We anchored in Peck Lake for the night and in the morning went ashore and hiked the hundred yards across the barrier island to the ocean beach. this is the Hobe Sound Preserve and it is a wildlife sanctuary with day use allowed on the beach but not in the dunes where seabirds nest.

Yesterday we came the remaining 22 miles to North Palm Beach. This is where the bridges really begin with some opening on demand some on the hour and half hour and some at 15 and 45 minutes past. This is also the area with many very large homes, some you would think must be luxury hotels or resorts but then you notice no one is there and there are only four chairs at the tiki bar by the dock!

Last evening we went for a walk along the winding paved sidewalks that go along PGA boulevard.  We found a Vietnamese restaurant/jazz piano bar where we decided to have dinner.  The chef was incredibly helpful as he circulated among the tables to help us order and understand the menu. We were not disappointed as we cleaned our plates while listening to a piano/vocalist duo playing and singing many of the old standards.

Since we stayed a couple of extra days here, we got the bikes out to explore a wider range.  We visited the John MacArthur state park  where we could hike to the beach (just in time for an ominous looking rain storm).

We were able to take refuge under a lean to til the worst of it passed and then we moved on   to the amphitheater where there was a bluegrass group was playing the tunes of the Grateful Dead, Townes Van Zandt, and other great artists.