Day 132, December 11th, 2009
Our friend Bev had e-mailed us to say that the mooring field at Stuart was filling up quickly. This was our destination, where we planned on leaving the boat while we go home for Christmas, so we were anxious to get there and grab a spot. We left at 8:00. It looked as if it would be a nice day but soon clouded over and drizzled off and on.
We arrived around 11:00 and were told to pick up mooring #22 - which turned out to be right beside our friends Bev and Dave on Back Roads, a Gemini 105. They had gone to Bev's sister's for the weekend. After a bit of lunch we headed into the office to register. What a difference since 2005! We had heard various reports of the Stuart marina, but were delighted to see for ourselves. There are brand new roomy docks, the old building has had a complete face lift, there's a new restaurant on the front, the facilities are top notch, including some really fun courtesy bikes for boaters use. And all for the same price as it was 4 years ago! They have no problem with you leaving the boat unattended and even check on it daily if they know you are going to be away. Perfect!
We ended up walking into the old town centre where there are some pretty little shops where we did some Christmas shopping. It was fun to be back again, rather like coming home. From there we went to the bar at the restaurant and had a drink to celebrate completing the Great Loop. Having been all the way down the east part of the Great Loop and now completing the west part to this point, we have actually been all the way round. John later got on the computer and reported this to the American Great Loopers' Cruisers' Association as we now qualify for the Gold Flag instead of just the White Flag!!!
Our friend Bev had e-mailed us to say that the mooring field at Stuart was filling up quickly. This was our destination, where we planned on leaving the boat while we go home for Christmas, so we were anxious to get there and grab a spot. We left at 8:00. It looked as if it would be a nice day but soon clouded over and drizzled off and on.
We arrived around 11:00 and were told to pick up mooring #22 - which turned out to be right beside our friends Bev and Dave on Back Roads, a Gemini 105. They had gone to Bev's sister's for the weekend. After a bit of lunch we headed into the office to register. What a difference since 2005! We had heard various reports of the Stuart marina, but were delighted to see for ourselves. There are brand new roomy docks, the old building has had a complete face lift, there's a new restaurant on the front, the facilities are top notch, including some really fun courtesy bikes for boaters use. And all for the same price as it was 4 years ago! They have no problem with you leaving the boat unattended and even check on it daily if they know you are going to be away. Perfect!
We ended up walking into the old town centre where there are some pretty little shops where we did some Christmas shopping. It was fun to be back again, rather like coming home. From there we went to the bar at the restaurant and had a drink to celebrate completing the Great Loop. Having been all the way down the east part of the Great Loop and now completing the west part to this point, we have actually been all the way round. John later got on the computer and reported this to the American Great Loopers' Cruisers' Association as we now qualify for the Gold Flag instead of just the White Flag!!!
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