Wild Ride

Palm Beach, 26 46 N 80 03 W

The gold standard for small cruising boats our size is to travel 200 nautical miles in a single day. We didn't quite reach that but we did do 203 nautical miles in 28 hours. Thank you Gulf Stream. This progress was despite light winds most of the time. Last night and this morning winds were only 8 to 11 knots, yet our ground speed was 8 knots or more the whole time. At one point I noted 8.0 knots apparent wind but 8.2 knots ground speed. It makes me wonder how much further we could have gotten if we had 20 knots or more of wind behind us.

We saw flying fish and the baggie creatures, just like in the Gulf of Mexico. I guess that makes sense. They may be born to take a lifelong one way trip on the Gulf Stream.

There was lots of ship traffic as we passed Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The majority of the vessels appeared to be casino boats. Casino boats wander aimlessly offshore at night all lit up like a Christmas tree. In any event, it made us keep a sharp eye out. This time fortunately there were no near collisions and no emergency maneuvers necessary. I plotted a course dead center on the axis of the Gulf Stream and stuck to it. We never needed to go more than 28 miles offshore.

Alas, the reversal of wind direction in the weather forecast moved forward. At first it was supposed to arrive Tuesday, then it was Monday night. Now is it late Sunday and the forecast sounds nasty. It will be a strong cold front passing, the same one that caused tornadoes and deaths in Tennessee in recent days. The Gulf Stream is no place to be in those conditions. We were forced to abandon our hope of an uninterrupted trip northward. At first I thought that we could reach Fort Pierce before the front arrived. It's only 50 miles more. But that would cut it too close so around noon we put in at the nearest harbor, which is Lake Worth. Palm Beach and West Palm Beach surround us. No sooner had we set the anchors and secured the gear when thundershowers began. It was just as well that we didn't push for Fort Pierce.

This is a very nice anchorage with lots of room. Coincidentally, we are anchored just a few hundred feet from the spot we anchored the evening of our maiden voyage on Tarwathie more than a year ago.

After an afternoon map, I checked our phone and found a voice mail from June and Chris on Albion. They are up in Saint Augustine and they wanted to warn us about the cold front. Thanks June for worrying about us.

Unfortunately, the north winds are now forecast to continue Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The first chance of a respite is Thursday. This is exactly the situation where my antsy impatience plagues me. Inaction and indecision drive me nuts. Will we sit here and wait? Will we motor against the winds on the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW)? Will we foolishly try to put to sea again before the weather changes? Stay tuned to find out.

There is a boat anchored near us that seems to have suffered a major collision. There are patches on both port and starboard side that appear to cover up holes. The bow pulpit, bowsprit and lifelines are piled in a junk heap on the forward deck. The hull shows rust stains that make it look like the boat sat here for a long time without moving. It may have been victim to one of the hurricanes. My presumption is that the owner is a live-aboard cruiser like us and that he doesn't have the resources to repair the damage. It is a sad and sobering sight for any cruiser to see.

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