On Our Way in Sunny Florida

Sunday, January 04: Lake Worth, FL

Florida's ICW in a Sunday afternoon: boats everywhere.

It did not feel at all strange to be home in December. We immediately plunged into Christmas preparations and socializing. It was a bit whirlwind but we had a very good time visiting with Krista, Sean and Michelle and our friends. The cold and snow seemed perfectly fine – it was Christmas after all and except for a few forays into the city, a day in Trenton with my cousins, and an evening in Oakville with good old friends we stayed put in Markham and watched the snow fall.

It was coming back to Florida that seemed surreal – getting off the plane and breathing in the warm moist air that has its own Florida scent and realizing that our boat was sitting here in this warm palm-treed place.

Back at Fort Pierce several new boat items were waiting for us: a spare prop for the dinghy motor, just in case (the current prop is already a bit chewed up from hidden rocks), a replacement water filter, a signal booster and antenna for Internet access, and a Bahamas SIM card for our cell phone. The diver had already checked out our zinc anodes, replaced one, cleaned the slime off the hull, untangled something from the knot meter wheel that was interfering with readings, and cleaned up the propeller (Bob says that now the boat runs at higher revolutions with less vibration).

While we still had our rental car, we bought provisions for the Bahamas. I had a knot in my stomach while filling 2 carts with groceries. What to buy? How many extra? Once back at the boat the many bags of groceries made my head ache – where would I put it all?

This morning while under way, I dispersed all the provisions. Some, I added to already packed lockers. The overflow is sitting on the stern berth in those handy cloth grocery bags. In my “inventory” notebook, I listed contents of each bag: Loblaws bag: coffee and filters, Longos “Spash” bag: baked beans, vinegar, oil. There are items I missed – I’ll buy them at our next stop - and there are items that we have way too much of. One thing is for sure: if weather keeps us stuck somewhere, we’ll have enough baked beans, dry cereal and onions to last for weeks.

Back on the dock of Harbourtown Marina in Fort Pierce, we were restless. Our dock was full of friendly, party loving boaters who gathered in a knot near our boat and enjoyed the wonderful sound systems on their boats, some tuned to the same station for a stereo effect. All was quiet by 10 pm but we missed the quiet at anchor – and the views. The staff, facilities, and location at Harbourtown are good – but pretty, it’s not. We could hardly wait to get going.

Timing it right: getting through just as the bridge opens.

It was wonderful to be on the water again – especially now that we are basking in a warm sun. We’re in la la land for sure – unbelievable and awesome homes built almost to the water`s edge, Sea-Doos and boats of all sizes with tanned bare chested men and beautiful women in skinny bathing suits.

This is the "many bridges" stretch of the ICW. Before anchoring at Lake Worth, we requested an opening from 8 bridges. Milling around before bridges open slows our travels. Luckily, days are longer and at 5 pm we arrived at the anchorage with daylight to spare.

Tomorrow, there will be 18 more bridges to get through. Some open on request. Some open on the hour and half hour: some, at quarter after and quarter to. We'll set GPS locations for each bridge and then try to travel at the speed required for the next bridge opening. We are headed to Fort Lauderdale to meet up with the Mursells and where we'll be seeing friends who are driving over from the Gulf side to lunch with us. We haven’t seen Dennis and Marilyn since they moved to Vancouver Island three years ago.

The Woolseys will soon be on their way from Fort Pierce and will meet us at Fort Lauderdale. Tonight and the last two nights have been perfect for crossing to the Bahamas but that’s no help to us – we’re not quite ready. Hopefully once all 3 boats are together, another weather window will appear.