It’s the end of December and we’re back in Palm Beach – enjoying the 80F weather and gradually getting ourselves and the boat ready for spending a couple of months in the Bahamas. We’ve been down to Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Key Biscayne (the last two by car) and are planning to cross to West End from here, perhaps within the next week or two. We’re in no rush – and finally feel that we can relax and enjoy where we are instead of always heading to the next destination. We know that eventually we’ll cross over to the Bahamas and we’ve talked to several folks who have done this trip and have gathered lots of information about crossing the Gulf Stream, route options and places to go once in the Bahamas. But in the meantime we’re enjoying exploring Florida and continue to discover wonderful places along the way to spend a night or two (or five). We’re getting quite used to summery weather in December (it might finally be safe for us to pack away our wintery clothes – yes!!)
Florida offers some unique aspects to this journey. The ICW channel is typically deep and straightforward, but often a 2-3 foot shoal is just a few feet on either side of the channel. A day’s trip is minimally affected by tidal swings, but can be immensely slowed down by the various schedules of a multitude of bridges (eg 23 in the 50 mile stretch between Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale!). There are very few crab pots and not as many dolphins in the waterways, but lots of floating coconuts and apparently manatees are everywhere (although we’ve only caught sight of a couple of them).
There is a startling difference in the shoreline from our earlier travels with affluence now showing in some of the spectacular new estates mixed in with the original styled homes from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Designer lawn furniture, outdoor kitchens, and toys are strewn about the perfectly landscaped and often screened in properties. Many of the private docks lining the ICW have lifts to raise multiple boats out of the water and the waterway is full of power and fishing boats of every size, style and budget.
We’ve had a few pretty strange and/or humorous coincidences on this leg of our journey. The first was a few weeks ago when we spent a chilly but pleasant evening at Palm Coast Marina gathered with a group of cruisers around a table with a gas fueled fire in the centre (great invention!). A wonderful camaraderie developed through the sharing of stories, jokes and travel tips. Several of the others had travelled this path many times and we picked up lots of information about traveling to the Bahamas. One of the fellows, who had traveled all over the world in different boats, left shortly after us the next morning in his current boat Stern Mistress. He ended up following closely behind us for the entire day as we transited several bridges. More than one comment was elicited from the bridge tenders as we would call to request a bridge opening for Mistress followed a few moments later by one for Stern Mistress. Too bad the boat that was tied up near us in St Augustine hadn’t been travelling with us that day as well. We could have then requested openings for Sea Mistress, then Mistress followed by Stern Mistress...
A few days later we met up in Titusville with Scott from Airagon Stryder. He was heading out early the next morning to fly home to Vermont for a couple of months and we helped him to celebrate his last day on the boat with a farewell dinner on Mistress. In the morning, long after Scott had left for the airport, we stepped out of our boat to head down the dock for showers, and found it so bizarre that the first boat we saw across the dock was called ‘Scott Free IV’! How strange, but apropos.
We had another strange coincidence in Vero Beach. Just before we arrived, Brad sent an e-mail to Jim, the boater from Hamilton who loaned us the charts we’ve been using for this trip, to let him know we were in Florida. We knew that he has a winter place somewhere in Florida, but didn’t realize it was just around the corner from where we were heading. Shortly after we tied up, we were so surprised to have Jim come by in his 27 ft. ‘winter’ sailboat to say hello.
The next day we thoroughly enjoyed lunch with Jim and his wife Barb on a restaurant patio at Waldo’s on the Beach overlooking the ocean. Not only are they very friendly folks, but they have done the trip to Bahamas a dozen times or so and had lots of info and practical advice to share. It was reassuring to have them confirm what we had been thinking lately ...there’s no need for us to keep rushing to the next destination on this trip. They reminded us that we need to take the time to enjoy where we are and wherever we end up going is where we should be. Vero Beach and any of the next stops now are beautiful destinations and getting to this point has been a wonderful accomplishment and an amazing trip. Their advice, especially as we sat on a beautiful summery day in December looking out over the ocean and beach, really made sense to us.
We had finally met up again with Lequesteau in Vero Beach and were rafted up to their boat for a few days. What a great place – mooring balls for $15 with use of the club facilities and a free shuttle bus into town and/or the beach. We enjoyed spending several days with Greig and Caroline and sharing stories over a few sundowners and dinners. They were busy with final provisioning for the Bahamas as they were going to grab the upcoming weather window of mild south winds to cross from Lake Worth on the weekend. We wanted to see further down the Florida coast before crossing so said farewell to them as we left to head to Fort Lauderdale. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future!
The stretch south of Palm Beach is notorious for the plethora of bridges...some that open on the hour and half hour, then 2 miles along one that only opens on the :15 and :45. Not to mention the ones that are under construction and now only open once each hour, but not during certain hours...it gets confusing!!. It is impossible to get to each bridge in time for its scheduled opening and frequently we were held up waiting our turn in a line of circling boats. We finally decided that we might as well relax, enjoy floating around and watching the other boats, houses, look for manatees while waiting. We also learned to plan for much closer anchorages at the end of each day.
We spent several nights in Fort Lauderdale – five tied up along a wall in New River right in the heart of the downtown area and then four anchored in Middle River surrounded by multi-million dollar estates. In New River we were within walking distance to just about everything through the riverfront pathway as soon as we stepped off the boat. It was also like Grand Central Station on the water with a continual line of sunset cruise boats, huge yachts with Christmas decorations, free water trolleys and water taxis going by the boat. A couple of days, between the traffic, current and the wind picking up – our boat was really rocking! Thankfully, everything calmed down at night...this was quite a unique setting for us.
We had another strange coincidence shortly after we moved to anchor in Middle River. We would take our dinghy into the town dock at a nearby park and then a short walk to the Starbucks, grocery store or the Fort Lauderdale buses. One day as we were leaving the dock another couple came by slowly in their dinghy and asked us if we were from Mistress. They were from the boat Wind O the Wisp and we had followed and chatted on the radio with them a couple of months ago. They have a much shallower draft than us and were so helpful guiding us along a very shallow stretch of water in South Carolina. It was great to finally meet them and hear about some of their journeys through the 12 years that they’ve been traveling on their boat.
Miami is only about 30 miles from Fort Lauderdale, and we decided to rent a car and take a leisurely drive down the coast to see it, South Beach and Key Biscayne on Christmas Day. Frequently through the day we were driving parallel to the ICW or across some of the bridges that we would have gone under – and found it interesting to recognize the ICW buoys, anchorages and marinas along this route. South Beach is a trendy area with miles of beaches, unique architecture and great restaurants, bars and cafes lining the coastal highway. Key Biscayne, a much more natural setting, is accessed through a state park that feels miles away from the hustle and bustle of Miami. We stopped for lunch overlooking a small lake (that is also one of the ICW anchorages), had a few calls and video chats with family back home and thoroughly enjoyed the day. We’ve been enjoying traveling on the boat, but it was nice to have this change in our journey.
When we headed to Fort Lauderdale, we weren’t sure if we were going to cross to the Bahamas from there or return to Palm Beach. But it didn’t seem that a good weather window for crossing was going to be open for a while, so once we felt we’d seen enough of that area, we decided to return to Palm Beach and cross at some point from here. We’ve been tracking the weather patterns and when we do cross it will be with a better understanding of the cycles. We’ve crossed off most of the items on our lists for provisioning food and boat parts. There are more grocery stores in the islands these days and you won’t starve if you don’t bring it with you - but you might go bankrupt eating and drinking as some things (eg beef, paper products, water, beer) are quite expensive there. It has been interesting trying to figure out how much of everything we typically use in a week (and then multiply X 8).
We’ve been anchored in Lake Worth for a few days and have discovered the Palm Beach Sailing Club which reminds us of LSYC. We dinghy over each day to use the showers, clubhouse and WIFI and even joined them for their Friday night dinner (much smaller turnout than LSYC!). We are becoming experts (usually) on figuring out the public transit system and have found our way to the Saturday Farmer’s Market, the Boat Owner’s Warehouse, a 30 ft sand castle Christmas tree and even a TD bank. We won’t be crossing for at least a week given the recent weather forecasts, but that’s ok with us. We know that what we are seeing and experiencing now will be a stark contrast to the next couple of months. So we’re just enjoying our time here with no time table, agenda or pressure to go anywhere or do anything - just spending time in the moment is wonderful!