11/23-12/2
We stayed on a mooring in Vero Beach for one night before moving to Stuart. Just had time for a short visit with Carl's cousin Brenda this time.
We spent a week in Stuart, Florida waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. This gave us a chance to do our final provisioning and gave Judy some time with her Mom, Sue. Sue had us all for dinner and to play Mexican train dominoes. She gave us a ride to provision and we had dinner out another night. And of course, we managed to work in a girls day out with lunch and thrift store shopping. While here, Carl found a leak in the water heater. Don helped him install a new one.
We left on Saturday 12/1, to move our boats to Lake Worth to stage for a crossing. There are seven bridges in the thirty miles between Stuart and Palm Beach. It was a long, trying and sometimes frustrating day, timing bridges and talking with bridge tenders. We were all tired when we anchored in Lake Worth. We are anchored near Mar-a-Lago and we can see the golf course. We passed S/V Monarch anchored here at Peanut Island. I heard from Diane before we left Stuart. They just came in at 5:30 a.m. this morning from an offshore passage from Amelia Island. Sunday, we had planned to take a dinghy trip to Peanut Island, but the wind was kicking up. it rained on and off all day. Just when I was enjoying the breeze coming through the hatches, I'd have to close them up every time it started to rain. We prepped for offshore. The skies cleared and there was a rainbow and then a beautiful sunset. I hope this is a good sign. We leave to cross to the Bahamas at 5 a.m. In the morning.