Merry Christmas from South Florida
When we last reported in we were in Cocoa Village, near Cape
Canaveral and the weather was cool and windy, and I commented on how variable
it was. Well, it has continued to be
variable, with a bias to poor, with a lot of wind. Note the wind in the palms in the adjacent pic.
We departed Cocoa under lighter winds, but continuing out of
the north for a 50 mile run down to Vero Beach.
We hung out on a mooring buoy in the Municipal marina for the night,
under a surprisingly pleasant evening.
Enhanced by the local Power Squadron having a Xmas party very close by,
with a band playing great music, that we were able to dance to on our upper
deck. Unfortunately, the location was
also no-see-um (Ceratopogonidae) central, which left Judy with about 75 bites.
Given the progress we had made over the last week, we could
slow our travels to arrive in South Florida for Xmas, and the forecast for the
next few days was good to stop and enjoy the weather, so we backtracked a bit
to a wonderful protected marina not far from Vero. Enjoyed the pool under mid 20's temps, and
rode the loaner bikes. Would definitely
stop there again!
We continue to have numerous and long lasting engagements from dolphins. At one point, we had seven dolphins surfing in our side wake. I did post a link to Facebook if you want to see it.
Left Vero Beach Monday am under pleasant temps with forecast
of hot the next few days. Next stop was
Stuart area in the St. Lucie river area.
I had an appointment with a mechanic to correct a service issue from
some engine work done in Norfolk some months earlier, and we had a day to
kill. There also happens to be a Club Med in the
area, so being the big Club Med fans, we took advantage of the day pass plans
and enjoyed a great day of sailing, lunch, dinner, evening show and of course,
dancing.
The weather turned overnight to stronger north winds, but
being a following wind, we departed next day about noon after the engine
service was done for the 50 mile run down to North Palm Beach area. Docked at a marina that looked good on paper,
but the transient slips are in a very tight channel with about 70 feet to do a
90 degree turn in. Fortunately we were
somewhat sheltered from the strong wind blowing.
Next day we departed late morning, after the rain stopped,
for the relatively short 20 mile run to Boynton Beach, thru Lake Worth in the
Palm Beaches area. With the north wind
now at 20 to 25 knots, the fetch on the Lake had generated fairly sizable wave
action for the ICW. This area of the ICW
also gets into the land of the intensive bridges and we had 8 bridges to pass
which required opening. This dictates a
very measured pace to time bridge arrivals for scheduled openings, so you don't
make great time thru this stretch. We
spent the night being bumped against the dock as the wind didn't really
ease. Tristan arrived this evening, on a
late flight and overnight-ed with us.
Friday was another day of high winds and some rain as we
headed south for our last stop before Xmas, in Lighthouse Point, just north of Fort Lauderdale. By now the winds had built to full gale
warning, but it was a short run and in a much more protected section of the ICW
so the 20 mile trip was relatively easy, except for another 7 bridges to
navigate. Docking was interesting as the
winds were now out of the east at 25 to 30 knots, and we had to back into a
south facing dock. On the first pass the boat
went well by the slip before getting the turn executed. Second pass required a well timed "drift
turn" to line the boat up with the slip as we were being pushed by the
wind. Good thing for the substantial rub
rails on this boat to be able to lay the boat up against pilings on the way
into the slip. With a good dockhand though the boat was
secured with no drama.
The wind continued to blow for the next 3 days, variably
form the N to E and rain came periodically.
The worst was Sunday night when we had close to 6" (in Canadian
terms that is over 6 feet of snow).
Fortunately there is an improvement in weather forecast for the rest of
Xmas week.
A couple of days before Xmas, we took advantage of a lull in the wind and got the boat away from the dock for a fueling trip,
which it badly needed as we last took on fuel in Myrtle Beach, over 500 miles
distant.
Christmas Eve we were invited to Tristan's girlfriends' family place in Palm Beach for dinner. Beautiful dinner of seafood pasta, king crab legs, and fish. After which we participated in their extended family Santa scramble gift exchange.
As of today, boxing day, the weather has turned warmer and drier, but still windy. We have an afternoon planned with Tristan's girlfriend, Dom and her family on the boat for a short cruise.
Hope you all had a good Christmas and will have a great 2020.
Next stop, Key West
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