North Palm Beach – Sunday, February 6, 2011

We arrived in North Palm Beach on Sunday afternoon, after an exciting trip on the ICW.  First of all, it was Sunday, so quite a lot of folks were out and about on the water.  Add to that the fact that we had to cross about 7 bridges, 5 of which had to open for us, and it was Superbowl Sunday and you have a recipe for a very lively crossing! 

There were boats everywhere, and most were out for a nice cruise before settling in to watch the game.  The weather was glorious, so who can blame them!??!!

On Monday, we went ashore to check out the area shops and restaurants.  By the time we got back to the boat in the early afternoon, the wind started to kick up, and we saw 30 knots on the windmeter!  Our anchor was well set, so we had no problems, but many of the sailboats around us were swinging around like mad on their small anchors and even skinnier lines.  We decided against going ashore for dinner, for two reasons, first, we would have a messy and wet ride in the dinghy, and second, we preferred to stay with the boat throughout the bad weather in case any of the sailboats around us let loose!!

On Tuesday, we met up again with Kevin and Frances, who took us to a most exquisite art and antique show.  We not only saw many beautiful paintings, carpets, antiques and jewelry, but we also got a chance to people watch the crème de la crème of Palm Beach society…!!  What a great outing!

Earlier in the day, we met a couple who had spent 30 years building their steel boat in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  It is a beautiful 3 –masted, junk-rigged boat, and has fabulous colorful sails.  The name of their boat is Melodeon, and you can google it and have a look at the picture with all the sails fully open.  It is quite a sight!!  They invited us for a drink on their boat in the evening.  When we got back from the antique show to get our dinghy, we found that low tide and left us high and dry!!  Bummer!  Our dinghy weighs about 400 lbs, so we thought we were going to have to camp out for the evening until the tide came back in!  However, we were able to push and pull until we got it floating again, thanks to my own personal British Sailor, Chris.  As our friend Katie said, whom we met in St. Augustine, “never go to sea without a British Sailor”!!!!

Today, Wednesday, is catch up day, and we are planning to go on the outside to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow.  We plan to anchor in Lake Sylvia for a few days, and maybe catch up with Jamie during her weekend mini-vacation to Ft. Lauderdale.  Jamie worked for me at EMC, and it will be great fun to have her visit us on the boat.

Weather is fine now, the wind has dropped, and we expect good weather for the next few days.