Hutchinson Island

• Our first greeting after entering the St. Lucie River was a parade of dolphins. They loved our wake. They leaped and danced for us; made us squeal with delight.
• Just one mile from the St. Lucie Inlet, we docked at the Hutchinson Island Marriott Beach Resort. Coffee and paper in the morning, beautiful pool and laundry was free. In the Bahamas I paid $6.00 every time I did a load of wash.
• The fist night at the marina they had an end of winter party. We had hamburgers, hot dogs and all the trimmings. As Mike always said, the best beer is a cold free one and there was plenty of everything.
• We gave Pete and Peg G. a call with the hope we could get together. Early the next morning they were there. They were very gracious in offering us their car to use. Instead we sat back and let them drive us around. First stop was to check in with customs. You have a 24-hour number to call as soon as you arrive back in the states. The officer then gives you an arrival number and you are instructed to present yourself and your crew for a face to face inspection. We had to go to Fort Pierce Airport, Pete drove us and on the way gave us a tour of Jensen Beach and Hutchinson Island. We expected a big hassle with customs, we were in and out in 10 minutes.
• We headed to a restaurant for lunch, (favorite pastime) at this point we called Marianne and Joe G. to meet us. We sat at the bar, waiting for Marianne and Joe, it was hot so the drinks went down easy. I impressed Peg, I kept up with everyone. We had a nice lunch and went back to Joe and Marianne's condo. What a beautiful home they have, the location is ideal.
• Time to leave and we went to Pete and Peg's. I could not get over the front doors to their condo, they are massive. I love the open and airy Florida living. I could not stop looking out from their balcony, the ocean is just never ending. No wonder Peg loves it so much.
• We went to the public grocery store and had a ball getting all the stuff we could not get in the Bahamas. Important stuff, like large stuffed garlic olives and mallomars.