Returning To The Sailor's Return - What A Difference Three Months Make

My sister Susan and I stopped by the Sailor's Return's outdoor patio this past Tuesday for happy hour, and what a difference it was from the last time we were here.  The Sailor's Return, seen on the right in the photograph on the left, is located in the Sunset Bay Marina along the St. Lucie River in Stuart, Florida, and is a really nice place to sit and have a drink. During "The Season," it is virtually impossible to find a parking space, and if you do, when you leave, you will find a line of cars parked right behind yours, requiring the valet move the one blocking your car. And finding a table to sit at on the patio is a real challenge, too. 

But happily, on a Tuesday night in August, there was no such problem. As you can see from the photograph on the right, there was plenty of room for all. The place did fill up a bit as we were leaving, but there were still plenty of tables available with a view of the boats (mostly yachts) in the marina. And thanks to the awnings and a breeze off the river, it was perfectly comfortable despite the high temps and humidity. This is the Florida I got to know when visiting my parents Nelson and Mary after they moved down to Stuart back in 1976. Working as the Finance Manager of the University of Denver Bookstore, the best time to go on vacation was in August, when the students were on summer break. And so, I was used to uncrowded restaurants, very little traffic, and a very relaxed small-town feel. After my father passed away, I began to make more frequent trips down to Stuart to visit my mother, but never during the January through March period that draws the big crowds. After taking our condo back from our renters two years ago, and spending more time down here, I finally began to understand why the locals have such a love - hate relationship with the "snowbirds." They need their business but are definitely happy to see them head back north. At last, they can get a damn table at a waterfront restaurant. A miracle!

The Marina Next Door

I always find it fascinating to be living part of the year here in Stuart, Florida and so close to the water and the boats that are docked along the shoreline. The complex where the condo my sister Susan and I inherited from our parents, Nelson and Mary, is located is referred to as a "yacht and country club," but although it does have a nine-hole golf course on one side of the street and a yacht club along the St. Lucie River on the other side, which is where our condo is located, you will find no boats there, since the condo association was never allowed to dredge. However, the condo complex next door to our building has canals that connect with the river and allow every owner to have a space for their boat in front of their unit. And on the other side of our building is a boat dealership which has a marina connected to it, which is near where I took the photograph on the left. You used to be able to go out on the pier at that marina and look at the boats docked there, but now there is a fence guarding the place and a gate that requires a key code to get in. Now that seems damned unfriendly.

Years ago, our parents knew people who lived at the condo complex next door, and we felt free to wander around and look at the boats whenever we wanted. If someone questioned us, we would just say we were friends of Evelyn or Imelda, and that would be that, although in point of fact, nobody ever questioned us. I took the photograph on the right of my father at that complex back in the late 1970s or early 1980s. All those people are gone now, and these are different times. If Susan and I decided to walk around there today, I suspect we would be chased off the property immediately, or this being Florida, perhaps shot. I should definitely read up on the state's "Make my Day" law before we try that. Is it just me, or are people a lot less friendly and trusting these days? Nah - probably just my imagination.

A Baseball Update: Sox Win! Sox Win! Sox Win!

I watched my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 last night at on MLB.com, thanks to a 7 inning, one hit, no run pitching performance by veteran pitcher Luis Castillo, who was making his debut at Rate Field in Chicago. Castillo, a three-time All-Star, was traded by the Seattle Mariners to the White Sox back on August 1st. The Sox are in first place in the American League Central, three and a half games in front of the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers, and traded for Castillo to strengthen their starting rotation in hopes of making the playoffs. The Sox have put together a really good team this year, after finishing with a 60-102 record last season and finishing the 2024 season 41-121, the worst record in MLB history. Of course, it must be noted that Pope Leo, who was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and is a White Sox fan, became pope on May 8th, 2025, and the Sox started their winning ways not too long after that. And this year they are in first place. A coincidence, you say? I think not. In fact, just this past Tuesday was Pope Night at Rate Field, and the Sox gave out more than 40,000 pope hats to the fans. Good times have finally returned to the South Side. As for their North Side rivals, the Chicago Cubs, they are currently 21 games over .500 and seem to be a cinch for the playoffs. My hopes for a cross-town World Series remain alive! As for my adopted hometown team, the Colorado Rockies, they are currently the third worst team in baseball but far better than last year, when they lost 119 games, 3 short of overtaking the White Sox for that worst team record. The Rockies are indeed making progress, but are at least several years away from actually competing for a playoff spot. Nothing surprising there, of course, but at least there is now hope for the future. Something that wasn't there last year.

Living In A Parallel Universe

The Florida primary is less than a week away, and all the local channels are filled with political ads. And watching these ads, I am struck by how different the messages are from what I perceive as reality. The war in Iran is driving up costs and looking like a never-ending quagmire. Affordability is the main concern for a majority of Americans. Health professionals are worried about false claims undermining faith in vaccines. And I have read countless articles about how Republicans are very worried about the party's prospects in the midterms. And yet in their television ads to win the Republican primary for Florida's 22nd Congressional District, they address none of these concerns. Virtually all the candidates stress how they have a business background, like Trump, are an outsider, like Trump, if elected will help Trump "drain the swamp" and work to deport all the criminal illegal immigrants. It is like the past 18 months never happened. Is this really what Florida voters want to hear from someone running for Congress? Are these still the major concerns of Florida Republicans? It is indeed like living in parallel universes. Of course, I will never try to discuss any of these issues with anyone down here. As far as I can tell, everyone, even little old ladies - two of whom I overheard last summer at Stuart Beach discussing the handguns they had in their purses - are armed. It is Florida, after all. Just try Googling "Florida Man" and you'll see what I mean. Fox 35 television in Orlando even has a separate webpage devoted to Florida Man. Check it out at https://www.fox35orlando.com/tag/florida-man.

Turtle Nesting Season Is Here!

I visited Stuart Beach the other day, and as soon as I stepped off the boardwalk into the sand, I saw the triangular barriers seen in the photograph on the left, reminding me it is still turtle nesting season here in Florida (it runs from March 1st through October 31st). Protecting these nests is a big deal around here. The Florida Oceanographic Society, located across the street from Stuart Beach, offers nighttime sea turtle walks, which begin at 9:00 P.M. and last until midnight or later for people who would like to watch a nesting sea turtle in person. The cost for the evening is $35. I have been tempted to take one of these excursions, but there is no guarantee you will actually witness one of those gigantic loggerheads nesting. Beach scouts are sent out to look for nesting turtles, but if none are located by 11:30, everyone goes home and you are out your $35. Plus, the website says to be prepared for rain, humidity, bugs, and soft sand. Fun!

It is much easier simply watching the sea turtle hatchlings head toward the ocean. Back in July of 1984 my then-wife Lisa, sister Susan, mother Mary and I visited Stuart Beach and just by chance witnessed hatchlings making their way to the sea, as seen in the photograph on the right. At that time sea turtles were being rehabilitated in the basement of the nearby House of Refuge Museum and this event might have been sponsored by them. Eventually, a separate rehabilitation and research facility, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, was built in Juno Beach, Florida and allows visitors to see giant loggerhead turtles, some weighing up to 400 pounds, swimming around in their tanks during recovery. And when fully recovered, they offer visitors the chance to see these giant turtles return to the sea. They also host evenings for guests to watch hatchlings be released to the sea that hatched and then were excavated by the organization's research staff that day. These events take place in the month of August and cost $40. Five dollars more than the turtle nesting event, but at least you are guaranteed to see something. Which is a big plus.

The Very Rich Are Different Than You And Me - They Can't Take The Heat

I drove down to Palm Beach, Florida from Stuart yesterday afternoon. As expected, that bastion of wealth was pretty quiet on a hot summer Sunday afternoon. Unlike during the season, there were open parking spaces at both the beach and on Worth Avenue. And not surprisingly, there were few if any Bentley convertible sports cars, Aston Martins, Rolls-Royces or Ferraris parked on that glitzy street. The very rich are no doubt staying at one of their other mansions up north or in Europe until "The Season," when the temperatures are much more moderate, no doubt a precaution to make sure they don't melt. Many of their superyachts are gone from their berths on Lake Worth, and the ones that remain, such as the one in the photograph on the left, are sitting empty. And I couldn't help but notice that back in Stuart, I have neither seen nor heard a single private jet land or take off from Witham Field since I arrived here. During the winter and early spring, one of those jets would be landing every 5 minutes on Friday afternoons and leaving like clockwork on Sunday afternoons or Monday mornings.

And, of course, Mar-a Lago, Donald Trump's private club, was also completely deserted, except for the police cruisers surrounding it. As everyone knows, Donald Trump definitely can't stand the heat, which is why he lashes out at anyone who says or writes something he doesn't like. But he also does not seem to like the hot weather in Florida, either. His club closes down after Mother's Day in May, and does not reopen until Halloween, when one of the many parties held at that club takes place. What did surprise me was that the road that goes past Mar-a-Lago has reopened to traffic, which is how I obtained the photograph on the right. Usually, this road would close when Trump was in town, and reopen after he returned to Washington, but after the Iran War started, it was closed "until further notice" due to "enhanced security measures," to the delight of everyone who had to take a long detour if they needed to drive south on Ocean Boulevard. The road finally reopened to traffic on May 4th, no doubt when town officials finally realized that damn war was probably never going to end.

Back To Florida To Avoid The Heat!

It is once again time to leave Denver and its 100-degree plus temperatures for Stuart, Florida. Granted, it can be a tad humid in Stuart these days, and there are those afternoon showers (i.e. tropical downpours) that occur during the summer, but those cool breezes off the ocean make up for all that, and the crowds of people that are there during "the season" are long gone. We started the day out with the Uber being 15 minutes late, and then when it did arrive, it was nowhere to be seen. The driver called and told me he didn't see anyone out front and drove to the back door, and so I told him my sister Susan and I would meet him there.  And when we got there, the car wasn't there either. He had returned to the front. Where we went next. There was not room enough in the trunk for our two suitcases, two carry-on bags, and Susan's walker, and the driver informed me I should have ordered an SUV. There was construction going on around the intersection by the freeway entrance, which delayed us a bit more, and the driver told me I should have ordered an earlier car, even though the Uber app told me 8:30 A.M. was the recommended time. After that, we made good progress but had to wait in line to check the bags and wait for a wheelchair to arrive. We made it to the gate just as the plane was beginning to board. After arriving in Baltimore to catch our connecting flight, we saw that the plane's departure would be delayed from 6:30pm until 7:30pm. Then 8:30. And then 9:30. And finally, evidently 10:30pm became the magic time, and we arrived at President Donald J. Trump International Airport (don't you just love that? Unbelievable) in West Palm Beach at 1:03 A.M. And the name of this airline that gave no explanation for this 4-hour delay will remain anonymous. Please don't look at the photograph on the left or I could be sued.

Jan, a neighbor at our condo complex, who was originally going to pick us up at 8:50pm., said she would still meet us at 1:00am, bless her heart, and dropped us off at our condo around 2:00. Jan evidently had never been out that late in Stuart before and was amazed at how deserted the town was at that hour. When Susan and I would visit our mother Mary in Stuart, we never once ventured outside the condo after sunset. I just assumed the place must have been plagued by vampires. In any case, the next day, after sleeping a bit longer than usual, we headed around town to see what was happening around the city. Downtown seemed to be hopping, all the restaurants doing a good business, but the rest of the area seemed pretty low key. I drove to Stuart Beach, where there were a few people, but not that many (it was a weekday afternoon after all), and then drove to the House of Refuge, the oldest building in Martin County, now a museum, and seen in the photograph on the right. It was built in 1876, one of 10 havens for shipwrecked sailors along the Atlantic coast of Florida. It has been undergoing a renovation for quite a while and recently reopened. During the renovation, the entire parking lot was closed off, making it impossible to visit without a long hike down the beach. Happily, it is finally back to normal and looking good. And no snowbirds in sight. Perfect!