The Port Of Fort Pierce Is Going Upscale

Ports are never very pretty. In addition to their main function of facilitating waterborne commerce (in Fort Pierce, exports of citrus, imports of cement and aragonite), they are also places where boats are serviced and repaired, and like warehouse districts, they are not especially concerned with aesthetics. This was confirmed for me when I got a glimpse of both the Ports of Palm Beach and Fort Pierce last year. In fact, I took the photograph on the left at the Port of Fort Pierce last summer, showing a not very pretty tugboat in for repairs.

However, I just read in the Stuart News that St. Lucie County awarded a 30-year, $37 million contract to Derecktor Shipyards a few years ago to operate a megayacht repair center at the Port of Fort Pierce. This facility has been designed for megayachts longer than 200 feet and heavier than 900 tons. The centerpiece of the operation is a $6.5 million, 85-foot-tall mobile boat hoist, which very few shipyards have and the reason why yachts from all over the world are now coming here. Derecktor Shipyards will soon be able to accommodate a dozen of these boats in their yard and four in the water, such as the one in the photograph on the right. I only started to notice these huge yachts at the Port of Fort Pierce a few weeks ago. And why was this? Because that was when the Palm Beach Boat Show took place, which featured a number of these monsters, many of which stopped at Derecktor Shipyards after the boat show for servicing on their way to the Mediterranean or other exotic locales. Seeing just one is not all that remarkable, but seeing a number of them at the same time definitely is. And yes, I do plan to stop there once I purchase my superyacht and need an oil change.

More On Conkey Joe's And The Ayers Restaurant Group

Last month I did a blog post about my sister Susan and I getting together with our cousins and their husbands at Conkey Joe's Seafood Restaurant and Bar in Jensen Beach, Florida. We all had a nice time, and the food was pretty good, too. I was at Conkey Joe's only once before, for lunch with my mother Mary, maybe 15 or 20 years ago, where someone took the photograph on the left of us. It was a much smaller operation back then. Recently, they added a 5,000-square-foot waterfront tiki bar and restaurant. The owner of Conkey Joe's, Fritz Ayers, now owns a number of other restaurants in the area, including the Dolphin Bar and Shrimp House, located on the Indian River and the former home of actress and singer Frances Langford's Outrigger Resort and Polynesian Restaurant , as well as The Catch in Sewall's Point, which used to be The Prawnbroker Grill, another one of our favorite restaurants back in the day.

A few years ago, Ayers purchased the building that used to house The Admiral's Table, still another one of our favorites before it was destroyed by a hurricane back in 2004. It has been boarded up ever since. I read in the Stuart News that he planned to restore the building and open Conkey's on the Bayou: Brewery and Kitchen, a microbrewery featuring Southern food. I kept waiting for the place to open, but every time I passed by it, it was still boarded up. The recent article in the Stuart News about Conkey Joe's expansion also mentioned that Ayers has decided against going forward with the Conkey's on the Bayou plan. Bummer. The photograph on the right is of my sister Susan posing at the bar back in August of 1995. What will become of that location is anybody's guess, but don't plan on stopping there for an IPA anytime soon.

Rough Seas Continue...

The ocean has been pretty rough this past week here on Florida's Treasure Coast. The TV weather people have been out on the beach doing their forecasts each day, warning beachgoers to stay out of the water. Most people have heeded that warning, although a few have been daring the waves, especially the surfers. Just for fun, I decided to head out around sunset yesterday to the House of Refuge Museum on Hutchinson Island to see if I could capture a photograph of the waves crashing onto the rocks there. Which I did, although I was not alone. There were all kinds of photographers there. One was taking what looked like a couple's engagement photos, another was taking photographs of a high school graduate, three teenage girls were taking turns posing for photos on top of the rocks, and one guy was just taking photographs of the waves, like me. Years ago, I remember coming here at sunset and being the only one around. Not anymore. It is still a beautiful spot, but no longer undiscovered. Which is sad, but understandable. With so many people now living here in Stuart, it had to happen. I think they call that progress.

Banyan Trees - Very Interesting, But Also Kind Of Spooky

I am not much of an expert when it comes to nature. I have seen trees like the ones in the photograph on the left all over the place here in Florida, but did not know their name. I wound up researching them on the internet and finally discovered that they were banyan trees. This photograph was taken on Southeast St. Lucie Boulevard here in Stuart. If I had paid more attention, I might have noticed that one of the cross streets going through there is called Bent Banyan, and a subdivision nearby is called Banyan Tree Estates. Plus, if I had just looked at a map on Google, I would have found Bayan Tree Tunnel clearly marked on it. I assume I must be slowly losing it. If I ever had it to begin with. And by the way, my sister Susan calls this block Halloween Street and feels it would make a great site for a Halloween block party.

There is another block of banyan trees in Hobe Sound, which you pass through right before you reach Jupiter Island, home of the ultra-rich and evidently ultra shy, judging by the very high hedges and very long and curving driveways that hide their multi-million-dollar oceanfront mansions. In any case, this past October there were a series of tornados than spun off from the remnants of Hurricane Milton that hit the east coast of Florida, including one that went right down this very street, seen in the photograph on the right. Many of these trees were uprooted, and there was concern they would be lost forever. Crews were immediately sent out to try and save them. They replanted those banyans, propped them up, and were able to restore the street to the way it was. An environmental victory in a very environmentally threatened state.

Catching A Jupiter Hammerheads Game - Not As Fun As I Had Hoped

My sister Susan and I attended the first home game of the season for the Jupiter Hammerheads at Roger Dean Stadium this past Tuesday evening, and I have to say, I was pretty underwhelmed by the whole thing. One problem was that two teams play there - the Hammerheads and the Palm Beach Cardinals, but there is only one official home opener, and that was the previous Friday when the Cardinals played the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. And so, no festivities Tuesday night. My mistake. However, on the bright side, the stadium is in the Abacoa neighborhood of Jupiter, Florida, and across the street is the downtown area, with restaurants and shops and a village square, which makes for a very nice evening indeed.

We had dinner at DAS Beer Garden, a very lively neighborhood hangout. We sat outside, despite the cool temperatures (75 degrees and cloudy - it is a Florida mindset, after all). You order food at the bar at this place, and when I went in, I noticed that it was packed, mostly with a younger crowd. Outside, it was us older types, where I took the photograph of Susan on the right. The food was good, we each had a Jai Alai IPA, and then headed across the street into the stadium.  I had bought seats online, and printed them out to present at the gate, but when we got to the area our seats were in, I noticed the section was not listed. Which was no problem, since there were only 327 people at the game, and so we just sat in the first row of a vacant section, right behind home plate.

I was regretting not attending the actual home opener the previous Friday, which featured fireworks and a Friday night crowd, but when I looked it up later, the "crowd" was listed at 591, so how much livelier could it have been? In any case, the Hammerheads were awful. In 4 1/2 innings, which took over 2 hours, the Dunedin Blue Jays batted around in 3 of them. I started keeping score, but since so many players were batting twice an inning, it was difficult to do so. The Hammerhead pitchers were walking everyone, at least when they were not hitting the batter. Five pitchers in 4 innings could not throw a strike, and when we left, the score was 18-2. I checked the box scores later, and the final score was 19-5, with the Hammerheads allowing 22 walks, 3 batters hit by pitch, and 9 hits. And the game took almost 4 hours to complete. I think the manager needs to have a long talk with the pitching coach, if he ever shows up at the park again. Last summer when we attended a Palm Beach Cardinals - Jupiter Hammerheads game, there was a much bigger crowd and both teams actually played well. These guys are almost all just out of high school or college, and so perhaps you need to give these rookies a few months to adjust to professional baseball. Hopefully the next time I go to the park they can keep the walks under 20. One can always dream.

The April Mutt Of The Month

I took the photograph above of the April Mutt of the Month at Jetty Park in Fort Pierce, Florida the other day. Jetty Park is located on Hutchinson Island, starting along the ocean, and extends down the Fort Pierce Inlet, which connects the Atlantic to the Indian River. The inlet has a sandy beach running its entire length, and a lot of people seem to hang out there instead of along the ocean, including the owner of that dog. It is indeed a good place to watch the yachts go by and seems to be a nice place for a swim, too. Plus, right next door is the Square Grouper, voted the best Tiki Bar on the Treasure Coast, which is where I am sure that dog is wishing they will go next. Nothing like a nice bowl of beer on a hot sunny afternoon, right? 

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?