Monday afternoon, April 15, 2013
We enjoyed a nice day Monday at anchor Tom called the diver who scrapes our boat once a month and had him come out to replace the zinc on the propeller shaft. Tom went in to shore to pick him up in the dinghy and once the 'job' was done he took him back
About 1515 we started to hear the rumblings of thunder and the skies were getting darker and darker. (see pictures). About 1600 just as we finished pulling up the dinghy and securing it the skies let loose with torrential rains, lightning bolts all around and winds that clocked to 40 mph! I had closed some of the hatches in anticipation of rain but forgot the forward and aft head hatches (needless to say some things got wet). We had also lowered our side and back canvas which kept the cockpit relatively dry (ha ha). We stayed in the cockpit to ensure that our anchor held (it did) but we kept swinging around and around with the winds. Suddenly a loud crack of lightning was heard. Several minutes later we heard chatter on the VHF radio. The couple we were traveling with to the Bahama's - Jim & Judy on Valiant Lady took a direct lightning hit to the top of their mast. which destroyed all their instruments, auto-pilot, bilge pump, radio, etc. Thank God they were both OK.
They called their insurance company (Boat US) and they advised them not to start the engine. They were going to tow them back to the dock and haul out the boat that evening but decided to do it first thing in the morning. This of course this meant that they would not be making the trip!
Tom and I just sat bewildered that this had happened and contemplated what we were going to do. We both were so looking forward to going and especially with them - an experienced couple who knew their way around the Bahamas and who we knew we would learn so much from. On top of this weather storm we saw the news of the bombings in Boston - what a tragedy! Needless to say we were completely saddened and bummed out about both of these events.
After much thought we decided to abort on our crossing as well! However don't despair we're not heading back to the dock yet!
We decided to head down the intracoastal to Fort Lauderdale.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Jim called us about 0630 this morning and we told him we decided not to go. We again wondered if we made the right decision and then started to talk about all the things we could do right around us and realized we had!
After breakfast we watched as the tow boat latched onto Jim & Judy's boat and towed them away. We enjoyed a leisurely morning reading, etc. and then decided we would dink down to the docks at West Palm for lunch - about a 15 min. ride. As we pulled up to the dock 3 sailboats were tied up to the dock - 2 of which were Catalina 42's - what are the odds! We chatted with both of them for awhile and found out that one of the boats had just been down to Ft. Lauderdale and said it was terrific, some great restaurants and anchorages along the way - sounded good to us!
Went to one of our favorite restaurants - Grease - they serve awesome hamburgers and old fashioned milk shakes - we splurged and had both! Back to the boat around 1630 and enjoyed a beautiful evening on board.

P.S. check out the photo gallery on the right hand side of the narrative for pictures.