March 15-21, The Trip Home So Far

We began the return trip for home from Key Largo on March 15, after a very nice sendoff party combined with an early St. Patrick's Day celebration the night before. Sabbatical followed the outside route up Hawke Channel to No Name Harbor where we anchored out after viewing the crowded conditions inside. Though the wind was blowing 15+knots we were kept from big waves by the shallow barrier bar and reef that separates Biscayne Bay from the Atlantic. The next morning we rounded Key Biscayne and sailed for Port Everglades on the ocean. It was a wonderful sail with an apparent wind on the starboard beam that gave us over 8 knots of speed. We obviously were getting some help from the currents off the Gulf Stream which was close to shore here.

Sylvia Lake in Fort Lauderdale was our next anchorage. Once the "Irish" revelers who had spent the afternoon playing on the lake departed, we settled in for a quiet evening despite the heavy winds off the ocean. We were well protected by the buildings and trees that surround this small lake.

Previously, we had always gone from Port Everglades to Lake Worth on the outside (on the ocean). Because of the high wind from the southeast, we decided to remain on the Intracoastal which gave us 18 bridges to have opened for passage. We created a list with distances and times. We made every bridge with the exception of the last two which were just a bit too far to travel the distance in the time allotted, particularly when we had to wait for a barge to clear the bridge just before these two. We were rewarded for our efforts, however, by sights like this bridge and the beautiful homes along this previously unseen (by us) stretch of the waterway. Lake Worth was a bit rough because of the winds and our desire to be at the far northwest corner in order to minimize the dinghy trip to shore.
Our stop in Lake Worth was highlighted by a visit with my friend from high school, Bonnie Sova Meere and her husband, Tony. They live nearby in Coral Springs and graciously invited us to their home and showed us the area. Bonnie's sister, Sharon, and her husband, Hugh, met us near where we had pulled up our dinghy. Sharon had been in my class in high school. They were coming to visit Bonnie and we arranged the rendezvous in a Publix parking lot. The next morning on Lake Worth was not nice. There were whitecaps everywhere. We debated whether to stay put or try the inside route. We finally decided to go for it. The first bridge was right around the corner and had to be timed as it opens every half hour. We started with what we thought would be sufficient time with some to spare. The wind had other plans for us. In taking up the anchor we managed to get the boat ahead of the anchor and then get the anchor rode across the bow so that we were beam-on to the waves. After a two tries we were able to get the boat rotated and freed from the bottom. We had lost out time margin, but did make the bridge opening by the barest of margins. The thought of having to maneuver the boat in front of the bridge with the tidal current and strong winds waiting for the next opening was not pleasant. Once on the ICW, we made good time and found an anchorage at Fort Pierce. It proved a little iffy in terms of depth and at two in the morning, I found us a little close to a big catamaran that was doing circles around its anchor. I woke Annette and we moved away and re-anchored safely nearby.

On the first day of Spring, March 20th, we found our mooring ball at the Vero Beach City Marina. This is a picture of the bridge next to our mooring as it is lit up during the night. The next day found us on the bus system finding our way to book stores and all the other places we like to go when ashore. On the recommendation of Richard Condon, a friend we made in Key Largo, I bought a copy of Ken Follette's The Pillars of the Earth. This life affords one the opportunity to read which I consider one of life's great pleasures.

We had looked forward to our time in Vero Beach as it is the home of two friends, Bill and Mary, whom we met on the trip down in the fall. After a first day of shopping and relaxing, we spent our next evening enjoying their company and attempting to repay their kind hospitality of our last visit to Vero. We went to Good Friday services at their church and then to a nice meal at a beachside restaurant.