Maybe Today?

Day 10:  April 4, 2014

I am typing this on day 11.  We are still in Palm Beach.  I need to explain.

We started our day studying the wind forecast charts and it appears that we may be able to sneak in our jump across to the Bahamas starting tonight.  My thought is to travel out of the Lake Worth Inlet, which is the outlet from the Intracoastal Water Way (ICW) to the ocean, starting around 6:00pm.  The tide will be low and the amount of current should be nil.  We would then travel all night and plan to be arriving in West End of Grand Bahamas Island during daylight hours.  It would probably be a 12 to 15 hour trip

After breakfast and some boat arranging, we headed south to do some more calibration stunts on the tiller pilot.  We were amazed that the wind was really blowing quite hard.  We did our circles and headed on south. The wind continued to build and, at one time, we saw 19 knots on our wind indicator.  In the protected waters of the ICW, the chop was moderate but still obvious.  We had decided get a supply of ice and to top off our water at a marina about 8 miles south of our anchorage.  As we got to the place where the marina was reported in our cruising guide to be, it wasn’t! 

Heading South through the Southern Blvd Bridge

So we turned around and now with a following wind, we unfurled the jib and shut down the motor for a long pleasant sail back to our anchorage.  We also unfurled our genniker sail, which is a triangular sail that is attached to a portable bow sprit.  It is a free flying sail that is designed to be used to enhance light air sailing.  I flew fairly well, however, the wind was not in the most appropriate quadrant for optimal flying of the genniker so I rolled it back up and we continued to enjoy a peaceful fun sail on just the jib.

Flying the jib (left) and Genniker (rt)

We decided to go into the swanky Palm Harbor Marina for our ice and water.  Their fuel dock is right out on the ICW and really ideal for landing in windy high current conditions.  Our landing was easy and without injury.  I walked the hundred yard trek to the plush office, bought my ice and was given a ride back to Second Wind by a young man and his fancy golf cart.  I asked about water and he said that his boss would not allow amenities for transients and even though it was just water, he could only aid the rich and famous of the marina.  He continued, “Do you have your own hose?” I replied that I did.  He said, “I’m going back to the office and I told you that we cannot provide you with water, but the faucet is at the base of that pedestal right next to your boat!” I agreed that I had been told that he could not supply me with water.  I must admit that I am now a water burglar.

Beauutiful Old Stately Biltmore Hotel,  Palm Beach

It was by then middle afternoon and we decided to head to an anchorage area near the Lake Worth Inlet from which we could launch our crossing.  As we approached the mouth of the inlet, we heard a call over the radio from a container ship that was coming through the Inlet.  There were a number of pleasure boats in his path and he called out to one guy something like “You need to get out of the way, Mister!”  We were in a wide open area that is used for turning ships around so we hurried to the side and watched this big monster pass.

Container ship coming in Lake Worth Inlet

We furled the jib, fired up the motor and headed out through the Inlet to check out the condition of the ocean.  Again today, the ocean was really rough causing the boat to pound so we turned around and decided that we would pull into an anchorage behind a neat little island known as Peanut Island and spend another night. 

On our way in, we saw several areas where boats were moored but others that were obviously lacking in boats.  We started across one such area and realized too late that it was extremely shallow.  When the depth got down to 1.5

Promanade on Peanut Island

feet, we drug to a halt.  I ran forward, raised the centerboard and we moved on forward.  The water got shallower and finally the rudder drug us to a halt.  Our rudder can be raised as well and so I raised it up a notch and we held our breath as we finally moved into deeper waters.  If we had grounded soundly, we still would have been alright in time because we were entering the area at low tide and the tide here is more than three feet so in a couple of hours, we would have floated free.

We dropped anchor amongst a number boats, some of which were party rafts.  There were a number of people swimming in the shallow waters.  The place where we anchored was probably 100 yards from shore but only 4 feet deep. 

After our final brat and fettuccini Alfredo dinner, we got in Damn Dink and motored over to Peanut Island.  It is an amazingly beautiful developed and maintained city park.  Near where we landed was a tent camping area with wide smooth concrete sidewalks that meander though the coconut grove sites.  There are life guard protected swimming areas, shower houses, and rinse off stations all around the island.  The main promenade is a 10 foot wide paver walk way that

On alert Great Egrit

travels the entire perimeter of the island.  We estimated that the walk was at least a mile long.  The walk winds in and out of the nicely planted flora that the planners have strived to maintain in a native state. 

As we were completing our walk, we rounded the last corner and there, quietly drifting out to sea, was that DAMN DINGHY, Damn Dink!  I quickly handed Janine the camera and my phone, and ran into the water after the crazy guy who was now 50 yards off shore.  At first the water was quite shallow but it got

Naughty Recaptured Damn Dink

progressively deeper and when I got to within about 50 feet of him, the water became too deep for me to stand.  And, of course, the Dink kept right on going.  I started swimming and much to my surprise, I was finally able to reach the tip of her motor. Whew! That was a close one.  Had we stopped to take two more pictures of wading birds, she would have been gone and we would have had no idea which way he had escaped.  Do you now have any wonder why he had that derogatory name? It reminded us of Tom Hanks and Wilson, the soccer ball, in “Castaway”.

Back on the boat, we decided that since I have been fully immersed in salt water and it had been several days since we had cleansed our bodies in a fashion other than sponge baths, we would take a Sun Shower shower.  Since we left Stuart, we have been working around a water filled black bag that has a hose and a shower nozzle on it.  We hung it from the mast and after dark proceeded to dump luke warm water on our cool bodies in a 15 mph wind and proceeded to FREEZE!  But, we are now cleaner.

And then to bed!