Cruising The St. Lucie And Indian Rivers - Not As Easy As You Would Think

My sister Susan has for some time wanted to cruise the St. Lucie and Indian Rivers, which surround Stuart, Florida and the surrounding areas, but it is not as easy as you would think. The only boat I know which you can currently take a day cruise on, if you can call it that, is the Tiki Taxi, seen in the photograph on the left, docked at a pier in downtown Stuart and about to head out onto the St. Lucie. As the name implies, it is a party boat which charges $10 to board, and features a bar with "beer, wine, cocktails, and great music." And no, unfortunately, it is NOT an open bar. It leaves downtown Stuart on the hour and from the TideHouse Waterfront Restaurant, directly across the river, every hour on the half hour, and so I am not sure you will be able to do much sightseeing with only a half hour between each stop, but perhaps after a few beers it won't matter. Any port in a storm, right? The company which operates this boat also runs them in nearby Fort Pierce, Jupiter, and Boynton Beach. The website does not list the price of drinks, but I am sure that if it is too much, and you don't order one, they won't throw you overboard. But I will not put that in writing.

The go-to boat for a traditional day cruise around Stuart has always been the Island Princess, which I am pretty sure I cruised on with my mother Mary years ago when it docked at the Marriott Hutchinson Island. After that, it docked at the marina at Pirate's Cove in Port Salerno, and currently it is docked at the Four Fish Marina in Jensen Beach, where I snapped the photograph on the right just yesterday. I have been checking their website since last summer and it has always had the same message: "We are now under new ownership and renovating the ship! We will be updating all of the cruising packages soon!" However, I checked the site yesterday and it now says "Site Not Found," which doesn't seem very positive. They used to offer a brunch cruise, Jupiter Island cruise, sunset dinner cruise, and Indian River and St. Lucie River cruise, but as of now, I would not hold your breath about booking one soon. I did see someone up on the top deck doing something or other, but perhaps he was just picking up some personal effects before heading out of town.

I did notice a sign advertising "Treasure Coast Sailing Adventures," which start at $50 and promise that you will "Experience the Treasure Coast Waterways and wildlife with no engine disruption," but Susan, who uses a walker these days, feels this might not be the best type of adventure for an octogenarian. Plus, the price is a little steep. And I'm not so sure about being on a sailboat in these waters anyway, which have a lot of sandbars. When I first visited Stuart with my mother Mary and father Nelson, my Uncle Bill (my mother's brother) and Aunt Elsie, who had recently moved to Stuart, took us on a boat cruise, and just as Captain Bob or whatever his name was told us how tricky the waterways were around here, he landed the boat on a sandbar, and we had to wait hours until the company's other boat came back, dropped off its passengers, and then came back for us. They had a piano player, and dropped the price of beer to 5 cents, but after the sun set and the April winds coming across the water picked up, the adventure began to get kind of old. But I'm sure these sailboat guys know what they are doing, right? Right?