Lake O to Peck Lake

     Crossing Lake O with its shallow waters was stressful, but not as stressful as our escapade in the last lock we had to traverse to enter the Lucie Canal.  Sanctuary entered first and deftly tied to the starboard side....no problem.  Doc's Holiday gently eased in behind them and just as Beth was tying to the cleat the wind came up and began to push the stern of the boat away from the wall and toward the other wall. Thankfully there were no other boats in the lock at the time.  No matter how I tried I could not get the stern to pull in....the wind had me.   With the line attached to the bow instead of the mid cleat (at the insistance of the lock master!) there was no way I could walk the boat side ways...finally a short tempered Lock Master ordered us to the downwind side of the lock.....YIPES! All the bumpers were quickly transferred to the port side of the boat and we gently drifted on to the cement wall.  To make things worse there was a Manatee caught in the lock with us!  Fortunately, the boat, the crew and the manatee survived without a scratch!.........Except Beth's Sunglasses!

                              Minus my lost "PRESCRIPTION Sunglasses in the lock.    

     The rest of the trip was uneventful but stressful, with continuous depth readings in the 3 to 4 foot range do to the choppy water and the low tide.  We stayed right behind Sanctuary who kindly lead us into Peck Lake near the Lucie inlet on the Atlantic side, and showed us exactly where to anchor.  It took 3 tries at setting the anchor but we set firmly and remained that way for two days. 
     This anchorage is one of the most popular for boats trekking north for the summer.  The barrier island is a turtle sanctuary, so no pets allowed on the Atlantic side of the island but a sandy beach with an easy place to land the dingy was available on the ICW side of the island.

                                                               Sunset Pecks Lake                         

                                                               Sunrise Pecks Lake
        
      Mike and Valli picked us up in their dingy for a brisk walk along the Atlantic beach the next morning.  Flat calm water, 80 degree temperature, numerous shells in soft sand and half buried Man o Wars jelly fish....What's not to like!  Surprisingly we spotted a tall pole topped by a remote tv camera that turned to watch the beach for,I suggested with a laugh turtle egg snatchers, but most likely  illegals trying to make it to the USA. It also turned to watch the anchorage.  Sure glad we spotted that before we tried skinny dipping!  After a brisk walk we returned to the boat to watch the afternoon adventures in the lagoon.

                                                          Man O War Jelly Fish                       

     It made me feel somewhat better to watch others ground out and get stuck in the shallow water. Not that I wished ill on anybody.  I was just relieved to know that not only can it happen to non professional cruisers...it can happen to experienced tug boat captains.  We watched as a tug boat came in to remove a barge next to a dredge. (They are dredging the St. Lucie inlet.)  The tug boat bottomed out and and was firmly stuck in the mud, eventually freeing  himself from the sandbar the captain hooked on to the barge and got the tug and the barge stuck in the exact same spot!  Hours later with the help of a second tug boat they all got out.
 

    

Finally Released

Grounded again!

Help arrives.

     Tomorrow we begin our trek north.  Bad weather is predicted for the weekend so we will plan on staying at a marina in Vero Beach.  Sadly we said good-bye to Sanctuary, wished them well and truly hope we meet up with them in the future.