We are enjoying the warm temperatures here in Palm Beach (sorry to rub that in for those of you in more northern latitudes) and trying to be patient in waiting for a favorable weather window to cross over to the Bahamas. We left Titusville on Sunday, December 11th with our anxiousness to be heading south again tempered by leaving our friends Chris and Susan. Their hospitality during our 2 weeks in their neck of the woods was most appreciated. We stayed with them a couple more times after our long Thanksgiving visit and enjoyed our time at the Conrad B&B and Laundry Facility.
We left Titusville on Sunday, December 11th under partly cloudy skies and cool temperatures. We had a good day motor sailing on the Intracoastal Waterway to our anchorage for the night near the Eau Gallie Bridge. We continued on the ICW the following day to Fort Pierce where we anchored for the evening and I enjoyed a quiet birthday dinner on the boat.
On Tuesday, December 13 we decided the northern winds would give us a good boost south so we left the ICW via the Fort Pierce inlet for the open ocean. Wow! What a day! We had 15-20 knots of wind and a following sea of 4-6 feet with occasional waves of 7-8 feet. We were flying! We were steadily doing 7 knots and would see 8-9 knots when surfing down the larger waves and we even saw 10.9 knots on the speed indicator! We made it to the Lake Worth inlet at Palm Beach in record time and were a bit exhausted after such an exhilarating day. We dropped the hook just inside the inlet for the night and then moved about 4 miles north the following day to wait with the larger group of boats with the same destination. Robert and Carolyn of “Gypsy Common”, whom we met in Brunswick, were there waiting for us and gave us a warm welcome.
So now we wait. Southern winds are forecasted for Sunday and we hope that holds true so we can cruise to the Bahamas! If that is the case then it may be a week or more before our next update. Stay tuned…
