Day 186
We left Lighthouse Point Marina at 7:50 am in calm, sunny weather. Because of the large population, there are still continuous no wake zones, so we cruised slowly north on the ICW. Paradise continued as we passed waterfront mansion after waterfront mansion, sprinkled with multi-million dollar boats. Everything was bright and shiny and in tip-top condition. If looked like a movie set… for MILES.
About 8:30 am, we crossed underneath Hillsboro Blvd drawbridge, upon its scheduled opening. Now, instead of crab-pots littering the waters around us, it’s coconuts! Steve did his best to avoid them, but they were not nearly the threat of those danged crab-pots.
We continued north past Hillsboro Beach and Deerfield Beach, and into Boca Raton Lake, where we’d ridden on the Rochats’ boat earlier that week. Boca Raton Lake is surprisingly small, and absolutely chock full of every size boat imaginable – especially on weekends. It reminded us of Arkansas area lakes on summer weekends. So many boats, it’s basically impossible to do anything but drop your anchor and float, talking to the other boaters floating all around you. The day we cruised the Rochats’ boat to that lake, Anna told me it made her uncomfortable to be crammed in so tightly with lots of other boats, which I understand. Boating should be more of a back-to-nature experience – not that of sitting in rush-hour traffic…
We had to wait until 9:30 am for the scheduled raising of the Palmetto Park drawbridge, and after that we felt like we were making some tracks. We passed through Boca Raton, Del Ray, and Boynton Beach, still surrounded by beautiful homes, gleaming high-rise condos, and the occasional nicely-maintained waterfront park.
Steve was monitoring Nebo (boat-tracking app) and saw that our friends the Conways, on Pearl, were either anchored or tied-up at a marina near Lantana, FL. (Nebo will place a boat on a map, but doesn’t give you specific information, like marina names.) So, as we cruised, we kept our eyes peeled for our sister Ocean Alexander, Pearl, somewhere in the waters ahead. Sure enough – just south of the Lantana Bridge, I spotted a familiar looking vessel anchored just outside of the channel to our west. Steve confirmed it was indeed Pearl! I have no idea why we didn’t just hail them on radio channel 16, but I ended up texting Connie that we had just cruised past them. I’m really not sure why we didn’t make an attempt to stop and visit with them – it was like we were on some sort of liquid conveyor belt that kept us moving, no matter what. So, we just cruised on by, texting (rather than speaking to each other in person) and wishing each other well in our travels. This whole Looping life is kind of confusing, to be honest. Loopers are supposed to naturally gravitate to one another when we spot the familiar flag that shows we have something big in common, but at the same time, many of us don’t want to just force ourselves onto others. We didn’t turn Legacy to port and cruise toward Pearl, but then the crew of Pearl didn’t invite us to stop, either. So, it’s a conundrum. A strange dance we do to be friendly, welcoming and outgoing, but – at the same time – not over-bearing and intrusive. We hoped we’d see Pearl a little bit later, perhaps at a common marina.
After passing the Lantana anchorage and going under the Lantana Bridge, we passed through Lake Worth, just south of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Next it was on into the North Beach Waterway, through Juno Ridge. So many beautiful homes and gorgeous scenery! Far too many to photograph them all (though I tried). Right before we entered the North Beach Waterway, we passed Riviera Beach with all of its amazing, mammoth boats. Anna had advised us to keep our eyes open through Riviera Beach, and we could certainly see what she meant!
We arrived at Loggerhead Marina in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, that afternoon, just before 3:00 pm. We have a routine, when nearing our destination marina for the day, where we call the marina when we’re about 20 minutes out, to obtain entrance instructions into that marina, to find out our reserved slip number, whether they have floating or fixed docks, and on which side we’ll be tying-up, when slipping stern-in. This tells Gilligan (Moi) what needs to be done on the decks prior to arrival. If the docks are floating (which means they rise and fall at the same level as the boat during tidal changes), I will hang out three fenders – the bow, the mid-ship, and the stern, for hull protection against the docks. If our reserved slip has a dock finger to Legacy’s port, once she backs into her slip, that means I need to get lines ready on the port (left) side, which means a bow line, two spring lines (which keep the boat from drifting backward and forward once it’s in the slip), and a stern line (for floating docks). If the docks are fixed (which means they’re stationery while the boat rises and lowers next to them with tidal changes) we will most likely have a stern cross-tie, so I’ll need to have stern lines ready on both sides of Legacy’s stern. These lines are then crossed by the dock assistants (you always hope that dock-assistants are available upon arrival!) behind the boat, so that each stern line is tied to the opposite cleat on the dock. This also helps to keep the boat stationery in the slip. When the docks are fixed, it’s more trouble than it’s worth to try to hang-out fenders in advance, as they will invariably not be hanging at the same level as the slip’s dock fingers, and can hinder with backing in the boat, if they get hung-up on said fingers. Many fixed docks have protective rubber rails mounted along the edges of the docks and associated pilings, so if the boat’s hull makes contact with them, there shouldn’t be any damage. Unfortunately, not all docks are this well-maintained, so extra care must be taken when entering or leaving them. Once we have the information we need, we don our headsets, and I set to work hanging and tying everything appropriately. The very large, buoy-type fenders we have for Legacy are almost as big as I am. They’re way too wide to carry inside the rails on the boat’s decking, so I have to dangle them over the side as I walk to the appropriate position. If the water is at all rough while I’m doing this, I lose my balance and ricochet between the rail and the side of the boat (like a pinball), which are thankfully close enough to at least keep me upright during my walk (stumble) to either end of the boat. Obviously, if our upcoming dock finger will be on Legacy’s starboard (right) side, I will need to hang and tie everything on the starboard side before we arrive at the marina. We prefer floating docks to fixed, as they invariably provide for easier boarding and de-boarding, since floating docks stay even with the boat continuously. The main reason I fell off the boat back at C-Quarters in Carrabelle, is because those docks were fixed, rather than floating. ☹
We were only booked for one night at Loggerhead Marina in Palm Beach Gardens, which was a shame since it was a very nice marina, with top-notch facilities. The only downside was that it wasn’t really walkable to anything and had no courtesy vehicle, so we had to Uber. On the way up the ICW, just prior to arriving at out marina, we passed an inviting waterfront restaurant called The Waterway Café, so once we were settled in our slip and freshly-showered, we called an Uber to drive us there for dinner. At this restaurant, we noticed, again, what our friends Brenda and Mike Wehrle have always told us about south Florida. There are a LOT of extremely elderly residents there, especially during this time of the year, known as “Season”. We were the young whippersnappers in The Waterway Café that evening, which you would think would be a good feeling, but instead it was rather melancholy, which is how the Wehrles have described it.
Position: N 26° 52.806, W 80° 04.365
Distance traveled: 43 SM
Total distance traveled: 2646 SM
Total marina nights: 164
Total nights at anchor: 21
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 27