West Palm Beach

We departed Titusville this past Saturday and took the intercostal down and arrived in West Palm yesterday. We took it slow and spent three nights on the ICW. The trip presented several challenges. There are numerous bridges along the way some are 65 ft bridges and some are draw bridges. Each has it's own difficulty. We did take all the instruments off the top to enable safe passage.

The first night we were in the Melbourne area.

The second night we took a left at one of the 65 ft bridges and went into the mooring field at Vero Beach. Thank goodness that was there. The wind had been blowing out of the South all day, up to 20 knots at times. The water board on that bridge said that there was only 63 feet of clearance. It was early afternoon so we went for a 2 hour walk to check out the area. The beach and downtown was about a mile away from the dingy dock. There was a sidewalk art and craft show going on. After checking the tide and seeing that low tide was at 6 am. We got up at the crack of dawn to see of we could get under the bridge. Needless to say we made it, the water was down due to no wind all night and low tide!

The third night was spent in Hobie sound. The last day was spent dealing with the timed bridge openings, tides and shoaling. At one spot we did bump when the water was only 5 1/2 feet deep. Thankfully it's just sand. Nevertheless we got here unscathed.

The wind has been blowing like stink since we arrived. The anchorage is wide open with a large fetch creating a bumpy time. The good thing is that we have been able to visit with Abe. Today we visited the Flagler Museum. This was one of his many homes. You could construct our entire house inside its ballroom and had room to spare.

The weather will likely keep us here until early to mid next week. There is a small Yacht Club here that gives us access to shore and use of there facilities. They have been most welcoming.

The wealth in this area is mind boggling. The homes along the waterfront are incredible. I have never seen so many mega yachts in one area. One belonged to Steven Jobs of Apple fame. He had the 400 ft boat made in Europe however it was not delivered until after his passing. I guess money can't buy everything.

What I couldn't believe is if we had driven here it would only take 3 hours not 3 days!