We were travelling down the ICW through Florida, where the bridges become more numerous and also lower. Often we saw boards showing bridge heights of 62’. With our air draft of 61’ we can clear those no problem, but as we went along more and more of the bridges were opening swing or bascule bridges, which open at half hour intervals or on request. It becomes tiring to travel long distances in a day, especially if you usually travel at 5kts under motor. With our trusty old Volvo Penta it was hard to push the engine to higher speeds to make bridge openings, which added some stress. So when we got to West Palm Beach, we decided to heed our friends Chris and Allison’s (from SV Purrfect) advice to make this our jump off point to The Bahamas. Little did we know we would be pinned down here for 3 weeks waiting for a favourable weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. But ‘…just look at the bright side of life!…” – we were able to meet up with so many of our new cruising friends that we still had loads of fun and a great Christmas together.
It wasn’t a long day from our last anchorage at Hobe Sound to get into Lake Worth in West Palm Beach. It took us only 6h even with having to time 5 bridge openings. We lucked out that we were just ahead of a bunch of faster travelling sailboats which passed us one by one. So we ended up at the end of the queue of boats but that kept the bridges open longer and we could just squeak through – we had very friendly bridge tenders who kept the bridge open!
Here are some of the luxury homes/cottages along the Jupiter Beach area just north of West Palm Beach. (It’s amazing to see how much money so low on the water – global warming? Rising sea levels?…)
Once we got into West Palm with all the crazy busy pleasure boat traffic – huge Luxury Yachts and centre console run abouts screaming by us, we were just as exhausted as our Iron Jenny! Shane and Lori from Foggy had come into West Palm just a couple of days before us and we gladly followed their example and grabbed a mooring ball. The Palm Beach Sailing Club on the west shore offered a dinghy dock, showers, water and amazon drop for $30 a day, while the mooring was $25 a day for our size of boat or $150 per week. We had arrived during the perfect weather window to cross, but we had not provisioned yet and still had to get our boat cat Momo to a vet for the final vet check before crossing into The Bahamas. (Thank you Mike and Victoria for sending us the link for the cat permit needed to enter into The Bahamas – Wellington is the contact and for a small fee he takes care of all the leg work right there in The Bahamas before you even get there: https://www.bahamaspetpermit.com/order/). All we had to do, is get Momo into the dinghy and to a vet in Florida, once we knew we were ready to cross. Momo had never been in a dinghy before, in fact, he hadn’t left the sailboat since we departed Gananoque back on June 8! Well, he was a trouper about it. We stuck him into his travel bag and he could poke his head out while we motored to the dinghy dock. He didn’t even complain! He’s become such a cool, chill cat! BTW, we were needlessly worried about the stipulation that the vet check has to be within 48h of entering The Bahamas. We had ours done on Dec. 7th and didn’t get over to West End, Bahamas until Dec. 27th – they didn’t even look at the cat permit – but at least we knew we had done everything required as best as we could.
With our friends Shane and Lori we were able to share a car rental and they let us tag along to Costco and get some beer, wine, meat (even canned chicken) to stuff the boat full as it’s not always easy to find grocery stores on the smaller islands in The Bahamas. We were planning to stay for 3 months, and I kept buying more and more toilet paper to stock up – some things a girl just can’t do without. Funny enough, we found we had already stuffed toilet paper in some of the storage spots back at home, which I had totally forgotten. Ah well, at least we won’t run out of that! We also had multiple trips to a big West Marine Store, but later found that the Boat Owners Warehouse had much better selection in plumbing parts, pumps and other marine supplies. There were numerous Publix Grocery stores to choose from – even big pharmacies where we all got our Covid boosters.
It just so happened that we had come into West Palm during a perfect weather window to hop across to The Bahamas but we knew we weren’t ready for it, so as much as it hurt to let it pass – (so glad you can’t see the future – had we known then that we wouldn’t get a window like that for 3 weeks, we might have been even more bummed.) For some of our friends it was even worse. Shane and Lori had been there a bit earlier and were frantically trying to get things ready, but finally pulled the plug that night as it was just too rushed. Our other friends Megan and Andrew, from Keeper, had been here for a little longer, were ready and had just left as we arrived. We were all so thrilled for them and envious. They would get there with a perfect passage! Or so we thought…
Checking our phones in the morning for news from them, we found out that Keeper was back at anchor in West Palm. What had happened? Their exhaust hose in the lazarette had disintegrated that night about 10 miles off shore. The lazarette had filled with exhaust and heat and they had to turn the engine off. There wasn’t enough wind to sail either and they had made the painful but sensible choice to turn around and call for a “tow of shame” as Andrew called it. We felt so bad for them. They had already had at least a week in West Palm and until their mishap happened it was the perfect crossing. Andrew and Megan got right onto replacing the offending hose and cleaning all the soot out of the lazarette, but by then the perfect weather window was closing. Oh, the woes of a sailor.
Not every day was filled with boat work and a couple of days later, Len and Chris, our sailing friends from our buddy boat Breakaway who we had met in Maine, came to visit us for the day. They have a place in Florida, where they stay during the cold winter months, when Breakaway is safely on the hard in Massachusetts. It was so great to see them. They brought fresh homemade bread, dessert, wine and all those Amazon orders we had shipped to their address over the last couple months. Thank you both for putting up with all that – you guys are the best! So for us it was like Santa had just come, bringing new sunglasses, boat parts, clothes etc. We had a great day exploring Peanut Island, situated right inside the West Palm or Lake Worth Inlet. The 80 acre island is a park with a paved trail around it, a small campground, docks and a beach with clear water and a man-made reef. Historically, it owes its existence to the dredging operations around 1918 which also created the inlet from the Ocean. In 1960 a nuclear bunker was built here secretly for the then residing President JF Kennedy (whose family home was in nearby Palm Beach). A small coast guard station served as the decoy for the construction of the Detachment House, as it was called then. The bunker was open to the public but has now been shut down with no recent plans to open it again.
At this point we had already spent a week in West Palm, and it was time to take care of business i.e. go over to Riviera Beach Marina for gas, diesel, water and pump out. Since we got diesel and gas, the pump out was free, and there was no charge for water either. Some other friends’ boats had pulled in as well. There was Brittney and Jeremy on Willow and I-Boat with Andre and Linda (we had met both couples in Belhaven, NC). Since we had already spent a week on a mooring ball, we tried to move our boat right by Peanut Island, but found no good spot without being in too much swell and current from the Atlantic. So we day anchored in the Turning Basin south of Peanut with I-Boat and Foggy and all went to Peanut Island for some beach and snorkel time. It was fabulous to be in warm clear water and watch some smaller reef fish, like Sergeant Majors and Blue Tangs. There were even some small rays floating about. We also walked around the island again and saw tons of Iguanas sunbathing. When we took our dinghy back to Vitae – who was anchored beside us but Jon and Cheri with African Queen IV.
Another weather window was opening and we all got briefly excited that this might be the one, but it turned out to be a very short opportunity and even meterologist and weather guru Chris Parker warned that it would be a rough ride across the Gulf Stream – too much North wind opposing the current. After many deliberations and discussions we all decided to let it pass. We were not into a salty passage as we had never done it before. It was difficult making these decisions without really knowing what to expect, but since our motto from the start of our voyage had been to take our time and be smart and careful about it, caution prevailed. In hind sight, I don’t know why we rushed and were pushing ourselves to be in The Bahamas for Christmas. The winds are much calmer in January or February. And we did have a storm coming our way. That’s what was shortening this last small weather window. So even those who dared to take it would have to find a safe anchorage once across where they could stay for a while.
A large storm front was coming and we moved Vitae further south down Lake Worth, just north of the Flagler bridge where we would have lots of room to swing. Here, we were just with a few boats, like Foggy, Willow and African Queen with lots of scope out. It was a little less convenient to get to the dinghy dock at the Sailing Club and still a ways to the free city docks south of the bridge, but turned out to be the best choice for the Nor’Easter that came through. It raged for 3 days, blowing 30+kts sustained and one night we saw 58kt gusts. We had a group text going and heard boats were dragging everywhere. Summer and Brian on Mojo, another boat in our group was anchored just south of Flagler Bridge. A great spot to be in so close to the public docks and easy access to town. They were somewhat more protected between the bridges but also had way less swing room. The next day we saw Summer’s short video as a sailboat nearly missed them and then got tangled in another boats anchor. Further north of us boats that had no one on them at the time, broke lose or dragged through the tight anchorage. There had been already a few boats on the shore or sunk in the area before the storm but now there were even more. A sweet little ketch was now sitting on the rocks at Peanut island. Many of our friends didn’t sleep that night carefully watching their own and other boats. I must admit that we did go to bed and actually slept, setting our anchor alarm and seeing that none of the boats around us were dragging.
For most of those 3 days, dinghy rides were really unpleasant, wet, salty and bumpy rides. Although for Jon’s birthday, we couldn’t pass up a delicious spaghetti dinner put on by Cheri on African Queen. We donned our full foul weather gear, life jackets and headed over in the pouring rain. Getting on and off the boats was the biggest challenge but luckily they were anchored not too far away. African Queen, with its 48’ length, was sitting so much calmer in the water and with the air conditioning on there was no humidity inside the boat. We almost forgot there was a storm howling outside, but at 8pm we had to head back as the wind and rain was supposed to increase again. It was a fun ride, that certainly woke us up with a big salty wave in the face.
We stayed at this anchorage for 12 more days and the weather wasn’t bad everyday. One night we all (Foggy, Keeper, Willow, Mojo, African Queen and Vitae) got together for Happy Hour in town and then a fabulous sushi meal at Kabuki’s. It was so great to get off the boat and have some social time.
When you stay in one place for so long you do get the lay of the land and we had discovered a small beach on the East shore close to where we had anchored. It was just a tiny area of sand that would not flood even at high tide and it was right on the path that runs along the eastern shore here. We could beach our dinghy and tie it to a palm tree for extra safety. Now we could go for runs along the beautiful path! Yeah! We cycled it as well. There was another even nicer Publix grocery store just up the street and beach access across to the Atlantic side, where we took a long walk with Shane and Lori, eventually ending up at a resort hotel. When we asked the life guard sheepishly how we could get back to the road, thinking he would probably just turn us away and send us back on the beach, we were pleasantly surprised. He tried to explain how to get through the resort, but then just said, “I’ll show you” and walked us all the way through. It was a beautiful place and we felt a little strange with our sandy feet and knapsacks.
There was also a fun trip to the Cox Science Centre, which turned out to be a rather long walk, which we augmented with an uber ride.
Then a trip with Jon, again with an uber, to a hardware store for some fancy diesel cans, where we lucked out with a dollar store that sold king sheets, and supplies for our planned Christmas Party.
Now it was almost Christmas and it really didn’t feel like it. Decorated palm trees and no snow and no getting together with family?! So to make up for all that, people decorated their boats, but up little Christmas trees and lights.
Our group had grown even more as Dominique and Yannick on Laloup had pulled into West Palm as well. There was no way we could all get together for Christmas on one boat, restaurants would be too expensive, so we needed a place to have a potluck. What better place to do it than Peanut Island. But you weren’t aloud to drink alcohol on the island and you would have to leave at dusk. Mmmh! However, if you rented a camp site you could stay as late as you liked, you could have a fire/bbq and you could have alcohol. Perfect! And of course, there was lots available for the 25th, because who in their right mind would go camping on Christmas?!
Well, most of us moved our boats closer north toward Peanut again – by now we had to stop at the Riviera Beach Marina again anyways for another pump out and water to be ready for the crossing. It was looking like it might be possible right after Christmas! Then we dinghied over in the early afternoon to Peanut and had the island all to ourselves. It was cool and rainy – and really only Canadians would think to do an outside Party on a day like this. – but even our American friends were troupers. We had a large roofed picnic shelter with lights and charcoal bbqs and tables for our group. Everyone brought delicious food to share, lots of drinks and Jon had the foresight to bring his bluetooth speaker. Some of us even went for a quick cold dip and we had a blast – cruisers style Christmas! And really all we wanted from Santa was warmer weather, blue clear waters and a window to cross into The Bahamas! We were so ready!
| Date | Description | Distance | Travel time |
| Dec. 2/23 | Hobe Sound to Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Florida (took a mooring for one week at Lake Worth 1); 7 bridges (5 of which were opening and only the first one on demand) | 17.5NM | 6:01h |
| Dec. 3 to Dec. 8/23 | stayed at Lake Worth 1 | ||
| Dec. 9/23 | motored to Riviera Beach Marina for Diesel, Gas, Water and free pump out; then anchored north of Flagler Bridge | 4.09NM | 1:38h |
| Dec. 10 to 21/23 | stayed at Flagler Bridge anchorage | ||
| Dec. 22/23 | moved to Turning Basin at Lake Worth and anchored after a stop at Riviera Beach Marina for water and pump out | 3.17NM | 1:22h |
| Dec. 23 to Dec. 25 | stayed anchored at Turning Basin at Lake Worth | ||
| 24 days | Total | 24.76NM | 9:01h |
| 198 | Total trip so far | 3409.24NM | 679:48h |
Sailing Vitae 