Lake Worth prep for Holidays
15 December 2016 | Relaxing at anchor
Vero Beach was interesting, meeting people who stay there all winter as well as the usual travelers, "snow birds", moving south who stay a short time or pull in for repairs. We walked to the beach and enjoyed the free shuttle that took us around town. We waited until the 13th for Forest and Susan to come in from Rhode Island. We had a nice reunion and sundowners on Joy. We have missed them the last couple of years so it was really great to catch up. The morning of the 14th, we prepared to leave Vero heading for Palm Beach and Lake Worth. I scheduled a re-commissioning of the watermaker and we started checking on marinas or anchoring over Christmas and New Years. After a quick fuel fill-up we motored the short 12 miles south on the ICW to an anchorage close to the inlet at Ft. Pierce. The perfect anchorage in settled weather, is right next to the inlet just off the ICW. We found one and settled in for a relaxing afternoon ready to go offshore in the morning for the 50 mile sail to Lake Worth. After setting up the hammock in the cockpit, we really did relax with an afternoon nap, and a lovely dinner on board watching the sun set.
Seven AM brought an early wake up, raise the anchor and we were off. It was a cloudy day, but winds in the 6-10 range from the west made a great sail for about half of the trip south. By noon, the wind had shifted north and reduced our speed, but still managed to make it to Lake Worth inlet by 2:30 pm. After 6-10 knt wind speeds offshore, we were surprised at the 20 knt winds inside on the ICW. Its starting to get really crowded, marinas are full and boat traffic is everywhere. We traveled north on the ICW a short three miles to one of our favorite marinas at North Palm Beach where they found a T-head for us... our favorite slip position! Settled in for a few days with plans for provision stops and getting ready for the holidays. On to Lauderdale Yacht Club on the 20th through Christmas, Life is Good !