The sun sets behind the power plant in Lake Worth Inlet.

Well, well, almost a month since the blog was updated. Sorry about that! It's rainy and overcast today, so it's a good day to sit on the computer and write an update.

When we arrived, there were speed restrictions in the entire Lake Worth area to help protect the manatees from getting hit by boats. We saw the propeller scars on several manatees at Peanut Island, doesn't look pretty. Of course, it meant that each dinghy ride was a good bit longer and wetter than we would have liked. I suppose by April 1 most of the manatees have moved on to warmer water or better feeding grounds, because the speed restrictions are lifted. This means that we can get the dinghy "on plane", where it skims over the top of the water, instead of plowing through it, and we're going 15 MPH instead of 5. This allows most of the spray to be blown behind us instead of all over us, too.

Unfortunately, this means that everyone else gets to go as fast as they would like, too. Even if they have a forty foot powerboat that won't plane, but plows through the water throwing off a huge wake, that doesn't stop them from putting the throttle down. For some reason, people don't seem to stick to the channels as much as they did before, either. This means they zoom through the anchorage, and as a result we get a bit more rolling on the boat than we would like, even though the weather is better. Oh well, take the bad with the good.

Linda has been writing an update on the local area, so we've been exploring in the guise of research. We took the opportunity to head several miles south to the recently renovated West Palm Beach docks. We had the dock to ourselves on a beautiful spring Monday, so we tied up and walked to CityPlace, an outdoor mall a few blocks from the water. We saw "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D IMAX, had a few craft beers at Brewzzi, ate an early dinner, and then headed back to the boat. Check out these pictures from our day at CityPlace...

We took Troubadour to the marina fuel dock for more diesel, and refilled our water tanks at the same time. We had considered heading out this month, but decided to stay put as Linda will be flying back to Wis. for her parents 50th wedding anniversary, and plane tickets from the Bahamas are prohibitively expensive. I am going to stay here and look after the boat.

Speaking of looking after the boat, maintenance has been light over the last month. Both the main engine and generator got new belts, I repaired a slight exhaust leak on the main engine and a small fuel leak on the generator. Well, I didn't really fix the fuel leak. On our main engine, there is a fuel return line that takes any fuel the pump supplies to the engine that isn't injected into the cylinders and pipes it back to the fuel tank. On our generator, one of the models that Perkins made didn't need a fuel return, the fuel rail piping just ended. Evidently, that's not the model we have! I added some tubing to the end of this piping and ran it to the same bottle the crankcase breather runs to, and after a few hours of running I could see a bit of fuel in the bottle, and the area around the injector where I thought I had a leak was dry, so all the fuel was coming out of the end of the rail. I don't think there's enough fuel leak off to make it worthwhile trying to run it back to the fuel tank, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Warmer temperatures and clear water makes for good swimming, but I can't swim in good conscience when the boat bottom looks bad. So, while Linda did some snorkeling, I spent a few hours snorkeling with a scrub brush scrubbing the growth off the waterline, and then used our long scuba hose to get underneath and do the rest of the bottom. If I could figure out how to raise all the little shrimp larvae hanging on, I could open a Red Lobster! The little fish hanging out got a feast, and hopefully I didn't scrub off too much paint. It's definitely a fine line between trying to clean off the growth and have a smooth bottom, and watching the blue bloom of $200/gallon bottom paint drift off in the current. I changed the zinc on the propeller as well. Anyone who's seen Cuba Gooding Jr in Men of Honor has an idea of what I went through trying to screw in each of the 3 screws without dropping the zinc, the screwdriver or the other screws, all while wearing gloves. I don't think I'd make it as a commercial diver!

Of course, all that activity is interspersed with sunset cocktails, guitar practicing, reading, backgammon, dinghy trips to the grocery store, and listening to Radio Margaritaville or The Coffeehouse. This will continue until Linda comes back from Wis. and then we'll start looking for a weather window to the Bahamas (again!). We've met several more cruisers who have been there, so we've got some more "can't miss" spots on the list. Our friends Michel and Thanda from Daytona have purchased a boat in Tortola and will be sailing it back to Ponce Inlet in June, so we plan to cross paths with them enroute.

Linda uploaded new pictures to the Photo Gallery.