The anchorage was quite full the day we arrived at Lake Worth.
The migration from the Bahamas and South Florida to the Northeast had begun. Boats tend to go to and then depart the Bahamas in waves, because groups of boats are waiting for the same "weather window". The next day about 1/3 of the boats left.
While in Lake Worth, we spent a wonderful week with my Mom and Dad and my sister Carol. I have been blessed with a terrific family, for which I will be eternally grateful. We stayed at Carol's house, and spent the days and evenings at Mom and Dad's. We really had a good visit. On top of that we had great food, we got to sleep in a queen size bed, and the shower...lots of endless water pressure, and we didn't have to wipe it down when we were done. As usual, we gained weight while we were there as well. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Carol!
We were able to anchor for free, but the Municipal Marina charges $10.65 a day to dock the dinghy.
They used to have a water taxi service, but they will no longer stop at other boats. The dinghy ride to the dinghy dock is very wet because of the strong currents and wind. I'm sure we could have anchored in a more convenient place, but we were holding well, so that was good enough for us. When we got back to the boat it was filthy. There was black oily soot all over the boat and the dingy. I rinsed it off the best I could with the anchor wash down hose, but it was a mess.
Here is one of the ferries that docks at the Port of Palm Beach.
I wish I had taken a picture of the Dockwise ship that was in port while we were there. That's one of the ships that they partially sink, try to collect insurance, then they drive yachts into the submerged ship. They secure them on stands that they weld in position for each yacht. Then they float the ship and deliver the yachts across an ocean to wherever.
I wish I had taken a picture of the Dockwise ship that was in port while we were there. That's one of the ships that they partially sink, try to collect insurance, then they drive yachts into the submerged ship. They secure them on stands that they weld in position for each yacht. Then they float the ship and deliver the yachts across an ocean to wherever.
Our ocean jaunt to Fort Pierce was an easy day sail.
We left Port of Palm Beach (Lake Worth Inlet) on Saturday of Easter Weekend. It was a perfect day that you dream of for sailing. We had 10 to 15 knots of wind just off the stern. It made for an easy wing and wing downwind sail (that's with the main down wind and the genoa poled out to windward). We dodged fishing boats all day long. It is unbelievable how many sport fishing boats are in Florida. Our guide book indicated that there was a small portion of the ICW that we needed to transit on a half rising tide after entering the Fort Pierce Inlet. That meant we needed to time our arrival for late afternoon. We had departed Lake Worth at 10:00 am to time the tide right. The Gulf Stream is close to shore at Lake Worth Inlet then gets a bit further offshore further north. We stayed about 4 nautical miles offshore and got a good push from the Gulf Stream for about 2/3 of the trip. Then the wind died down as we got closer to Ft. Pierce and we lost the push of the Gulf Stream as well. We had benefited from current more than I had anticipated, so we took the pole down, rolled in the genoa, and putzed for a while under main alone. We were able to manipulate our speed (i.e. slow down) to time our arrival for the tide. I don't like arriving at a new to me anchorage too late in the day in case things don't work out, but I don't like going aground either. When we got there it was crowded. We dropped anchor in the only spot left that looked possible. Not to our liking, but we didn't have many options. We draw between 5' 4" depending on how much fuel and water are in the tanks, and how much misc. stuff is in the holding tank. I trained my brain that we are aground at 5' 6". When we were settled in the depth sounder showed 8.8', which gave us enough room for low tide. Then it was thump thump. We were aground with our depth sounder reading 8.8'. We took our portable dingy sounder and measured around the boat and it only showed 5 feet of water. We spent a long night heeled over at about 30 degrees when the tide dropped, but still resting on the keel. We also made the mistake of calculating tide at the Fort Pierce Inlet--since it was so close. I could almost spit on it. During our long night we realized our error. The tide was about 1.5 hours different at our anchorage. That meant we had further to lay over when the tide fell. The good news was it was a no wake zone next to a bridge and it was night time with no traffic. High tide was at a little after 12:00 pm the next day. During the night I noted, not for the first time, that every time we have run aground, the depth sounder read 8 foot something. The bad part is when it truly is 8 feet deep, it reads accurate, and we have been afloat with 5' 2" readings. I've checked the calibration with a tape measure several times. Usually after we are aground it will go to dashes. This time it read between 8 and 10 feet all night--while we were heeled over. I need to make a phone call. I wish we could use magnetic signs for our boat name so that we could take the name off at times like this. Sea Tow came by to offer his services at about 8:00 am, but I told him we would wait for high tide. At 11:00 am, I took the dingy off the davits to lighten the load. We were able to motor off with the help of the windlass. Our next step would have been to empty our most forward water tank, but that was not necessary.
It was great to see the other side of that bridge. We towed the dingy all day, because we didn't want to stop to raise it.
The high speed boat traffic on the ICW is unreal. You'll have 2 sport fishers pass you at full throttle on either side of you, then 2 bass boats will thread the needle between you and the sport fisher coming the other way--at full throttle. You are never sure of their intentions. They will come at you at full throttle then swerve at the last second. It seems that half of them grew up driving on the British side of the road, and the other half on the American side of the road. This goes on all day long. Of course it was a holiday weekend. It seems to calm down the further north you get in Florida. It is much worse when you are close to the inlets to the ocean.
We had a great down wind sail under genoa for the rest of the day. This part of the ICW is on the Indian River and is easy to sail on. We anchored on the northeast side of the Melbourne Bridge. There were only two other sailboats there. A much needed uneventful, quiet, and peaceful night.
Fixed bridges. We like these kind of bridges--so long as they are 65 feet tall.
We left Port of Palm Beach (Lake Worth Inlet) on Saturday of Easter Weekend. It was a perfect day that you dream of for sailing. We had 10 to 15 knots of wind just off the stern. It made for an easy wing and wing downwind sail (that's with the main down wind and the genoa poled out to windward). We dodged fishing boats all day long. It is unbelievable how many sport fishing boats are in Florida. Our guide book indicated that there was a small portion of the ICW that we needed to transit on a half rising tide after entering the Fort Pierce Inlet. That meant we needed to time our arrival for late afternoon. We had departed Lake Worth at 10:00 am to time the tide right. The Gulf Stream is close to shore at Lake Worth Inlet then gets a bit further offshore further north. We stayed about 4 nautical miles offshore and got a good push from the Gulf Stream for about 2/3 of the trip. Then the wind died down as we got closer to Ft. Pierce and we lost the push of the Gulf Stream as well. We had benefited from current more than I had anticipated, so we took the pole down, rolled in the genoa, and putzed for a while under main alone. We were able to manipulate our speed (i.e. slow down) to time our arrival for the tide. I don't like arriving at a new to me anchorage too late in the day in case things don't work out, but I don't like going aground either. When we got there it was crowded. We dropped anchor in the only spot left that looked possible. Not to our liking, but we didn't have many options. We draw between 5' 4" depending on how much fuel and water are in the tanks, and how much misc. stuff is in the holding tank. I trained my brain that we are aground at 5' 6". When we were settled in the depth sounder showed 8.8', which gave us enough room for low tide. Then it was thump thump. We were aground with our depth sounder reading 8.8'. We took our portable dingy sounder and measured around the boat and it only showed 5 feet of water. We spent a long night heeled over at about 30 degrees when the tide dropped, but still resting on the keel. We also made the mistake of calculating tide at the Fort Pierce Inlet--since it was so close. I could almost spit on it. During our long night we realized our error. The tide was about 1.5 hours different at our anchorage. That meant we had further to lay over when the tide fell. The good news was it was a no wake zone next to a bridge and it was night time with no traffic. High tide was at a little after 12:00 pm the next day. During the night I noted, not for the first time, that every time we have run aground, the depth sounder read 8 foot something. The bad part is when it truly is 8 feet deep, it reads accurate, and we have been afloat with 5' 2" readings. I've checked the calibration with a tape measure several times. Usually after we are aground it will go to dashes. This time it read between 8 and 10 feet all night--while we were heeled over. I need to make a phone call. I wish we could use magnetic signs for our boat name so that we could take the name off at times like this. Sea Tow came by to offer his services at about 8:00 am, but I told him we would wait for high tide. At 11:00 am, I took the dingy off the davits to lighten the load. We were able to motor off with the help of the windlass. Our next step would have been to empty our most forward water tank, but that was not necessary.
It was great to see the other side of that bridge. We towed the dingy all day, because we didn't want to stop to raise it.
The high speed boat traffic on the ICW is unreal. You'll have 2 sport fishers pass you at full throttle on either side of you, then 2 bass boats will thread the needle between you and the sport fisher coming the other way--at full throttle. You are never sure of their intentions. They will come at you at full throttle then swerve at the last second. It seems that half of them grew up driving on the British side of the road, and the other half on the American side of the road. This goes on all day long. Of course it was a holiday weekend. It seems to calm down the further north you get in Florida. It is much worse when you are close to the inlets to the ocean.
We had a great down wind sail under genoa for the rest of the day. This part of the ICW is on the Indian River and is easy to sail on. We anchored on the northeast side of the Melbourne Bridge. There were only two other sailboats there. A much needed uneventful, quiet, and peaceful night.
Fixed bridges. We like these kind of bridges--so long as they are 65 feet tall.
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