The journey up the coast was difficult. The weak and sick members of the party were put in the ship's boat with some men to row it, while the rest walked along the shore. Drinking water was in short supply. They passed villages where the shore party would be harassed, but the travelers in the boat refused to land, fearing what treatment they would receive once all were on shore. They wanted to reach the town of Santa Lucea (just across the Old Indian River Inlet located just north of the modern, artificial Fort Pierce Inlet), even though Indians in the villages they passed warned that they would be killed there. As the town had a Spanish name, they hoped to find some sort of Spanish authority there.