Voyaging America's Great Loop Aboard Still Waters II
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Stuart Shore Excursion
With all the work in preparing for life aboard the boat wrapping up, it was time for a real shore excursion and some sight seeing. Most locals all suggested the House of Refuge as the must see spot in Stuart, so our adventurers set out on bike to see what the fuss was all about.
The first stop was about a mile down the road to take in the Atlantic Ocean. The water was clear and the sand was brown.
This area is called the Treasure Coast due to the number of shipwrecks back in the sailing ship days
After a short break and a little shelling, they left the beach and headed down to the House of Refuge.The couple was greeted by a little ole man who took the time to give a verbal history of the House of Refuge. He said the House was built back in 1876 as one of ten such houses to help ship wrecked sailors. According to him, there were only 200 people registered to Florida in the 1870 census. So when a ship wreck happened there was little assistance for any survivors.
The concept was to build the houses about ten miles apart, have someone live in the house, and walk the beach 5 miles up and down the beach looking for sailors.
The Gilbert Bar House of Refuge is the only house left.
The man also mentioned that they closed at 1600, so he cautioned not to linger to long in the porch rocking chairs. Seems some stay there all day. Hmmmmmmmm
Inside the house revealed a small space, with even smaller rooms.
Check out their website, if you would like to learn more about the House of Refuge. Or check out the web cam of the Atlantic from the House.
No excursion would be complete without a little geocaching, and there just so happens to be a cache only 300 ft from the House. This was an easy grab.
Time to head back and stop to provision the boat. As with most things with the boat, no task is as easy as it looks. A stop at Publix’s to get enough food for the next several days seems easy enough. However, when they went to leave the store, the wind was blowing about 25 mph and a sprinkle had started.
They made a decision to sit out the storm under the pavilion. Thirty minutes latter the storm subsided so they started the last half mile back to the boat. Check the radar just to be sure, all looks clear, and then when barely out of the parking lot, the storm lets loose round two. Our bicyclists make a detour to shelter at a gas station and wait another 20 minutes for the weather to clear.
Finally, the weather really clears and they safely return to the boat.
On a better note, the AC is fixed, so on Thursday, July 9th the last day of on board training will take place as the boat heads to Vero Beach for anchoring and mooring training for the crew.
4 Comments on “Stuart Shore Excursion”
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Voyaging America's Great Loop Aboard Still Waters II 
Yes, Dad left me the gift of bringing rain in any drought. Got back from Atlanta, all lakes in north Texas are full, many are over flowing. Moved to Granbury lake fills up from 12 ft low. I have a gift.
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Sounds to me like your rain excursions don’t just follow you around a camp site! Sounds to me like Mr. Nix is up in Heaven having a little fun with Fuller and rain!
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Thanks Al for introducing us to the idea of doing the Loop!
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A little rain can’t stop you now! Have a great trip.
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