North Palm Beach

I thought I would share a few photos of our off-shore leg.  Now this is what we tend to do when we are NOT at the helm:

and this is what we are looking at - the reason we sleep in the cockpit:

We decided to head on down the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW) yesterday.  We tried to leave the anchorage at about 8am.  As mentioned on our Christmas post, we pulled off the ICW at a designated anchorage completely neglecting that the tide around here is + or - 4 feet.  So when we had anchored, the depthsounder had +3.5ft below us.  When we turned on the instruments and pulled up the anchor, Renne' tried to move the boat and we weren't going anywhere.  I asked Renne' what the depth was, and she responded the depthsounder reads 3.5ft.  What we discovered, is when the boat is actually sitting on the ground, it doesn't read 0, it reads the last depth it read before shutting it down.  There is a statement on the screen that says LAST.  Now we understand!  Hmmmm, I thought I understood everything this boat does.  NOT!!!   We were very confident when we anchored Christmas day, but discovered we ALWAYS will be learning new things!!  For me, that can be so-o-o-o-o frustrating!

So we finally worked our way off that particular ledge, with the assistance of a few power boats going by creating a wake - have I said I would like to retire on a trawler that doesn't draw 6' of keel - and full sails out.

We had checked the weather off shore, and decided that 5-9 foot waves was not what we want to sail in if we can avoid it, we departed down the ICW again headed for Lake Worth or North Palm Beach.

Now, I don't understand something.  Surely all of those movies coming from Hollywood have to portray real life - Right??  I know that for sure!  Now, here is the scenario:  The movie camera zooms in on an incredibly gorgeous mansion.  The back yard is immaculately sculpted, the pool area is decorated by 20 or 30 somethings sunning in the tiniest bikinis consuming lavish boat drinks and normally a police officer or two speaking with the owner of the mansion.  Now we cruised by, perhaps, hundreds of these types of homes in Jupiter, Fl and North Palm Beach.  This is where Burt Reynolds, Jack Nicholas, and Loni Anderson live and play.  In fact, as it turns out, we motored right past Burt and Loni's house on Hobe Sound yesterday and we are anchored a hundred yards from Jack's house - notice that proximity permits me now to use just their first names!

So where are the BABE'S????  Not only were there NO BABE'S, there was NOBODY!  From the time we passed Hobe Sound until we anchored in North Lake Worth, we hardly saw a soul!  No, we didn't see a soul.  I was watching these houses go by, and even with binoculars - of course the women reading this would think I didn't need binoculars, but even with them, I saw maybe 4 families and one older couple (older than us).  I have been snookered!!  I have been falsely informed.  I was looking for BABES.  I am feeling so low!!

We did get a view of an eagle's nest in the trees - It was certainly special. 

We were having a great time, but leisure always gets interupted as we started finding all of these bridges that were NOT 65 feet high, so we would call and request an opening, only to be told to wait 15-20 minutes for the next scheduled opening.  So even in neutral, with the current moving us at a rate of 1.5-2.0 knots, it could be a challenge avoiding all of the boat traffic coming and going that could navigate under a 25 foot high bridge.  So it took us an hour longer than anticipated to get into the anchorage, but we are joined here by 30 other boats, and we have a very lovely view.  Of interesting note, this portion of Lake Worth is divided in half lengthwise.  Those on the west side of the dividing line are actually in the city of North Palm Beach, and in 1998, the city passed an ordinance to charge a fee of $20.  The east side of the dividing line has no fee.  So guess where everyone is.  Yup, on the east side.  I guess they achieved their goal, we are on Jack's side of the lake!

Last night, we dinghied ashore to meet our friends Linda (formerly Koepsel) Schoene (our next door neighbor when we lived in the Town House at Seagate in Seabrook, Tx) and Carol Stauter.  Renne' and I had inquired about a place to securely leave our dinghy, and we were directed to a very small sandy beach near the junction of Rt 1 and A1A.  We went out to dinner at a place called The Dive Bar in Jupiter and met some very enjoyable folks while we sat at the bar and ate sushi and clams and chowder.  Now there is something about being at a bar with 3 lovely ladies!  Men come out of the woodwork to talk with them!

Actually this pic was taken at our next stop, The Square Grouper.  Now the term square grouper comes from Key West, and it wouldn't surprise me if this bar is in the same corporation as the one down there.  But it refers to the square bales of marajuana that were fished out of the water during the heyday of the drug trafficking there during the 60's-70's before the feds came in to break up the corruption.

So Renne' and I were dropped back at the tiny beach to head back to the boat, and what was beached on a sandy beach when we left was in waist high water when we got back last night.  So I got wet walking out to retrieve the dinghy.  Now today, I have to clean the lock so it doesn't seize up on us.

We are staying put today in North Lake Worth.  It looks as though Thursday is our departure day for Key West.  The winds aren't bad, but waves are still pretty miserable.  We will head south on the ICW tomorrow and do some grocery shopping today.

So call us to meet us for Sundowners, we really enjoy seeing our friends while we are out here.  For now,