Last Stop

We believe we may have found the perfect marina but more of that later.  We arrived in Palm Beach yesterday after another overnight sail from Canaveral.

We ended up staying four days in Canaveral but most of the time we were over on the West coast of Florida.  On the Saturday we hired a car and had a short road trip.  This place is so flat it makes Denmark look hilly.

We took Calley and Sam to see Winter the dolphin at the Clearwater Aquarium and it turned out to be a really great trip.  Scott was expecting just another aquarium with maybe a dolphin show thrown in for good measure similar to numerous other aquariums we have visitied but at Clearwater its primarily a rescue, rehabilitation and release centre and so they talk more about where the particular animals have come from and their history.  Any tricks etc are worked in as part of their physical therapy.  We ended up staying the whole day at the aquarium and got to see Winter the dolphin with no tail.  Its quite an amazing story and you should get the film “Dolphin Tale” to see what happened.  To cut a long story short they rescued a dolphin who was entangled in a crab trap but he lost his tail due to the damage it had suffered.  He managed to learn to swim himself but by moving his tail side to side instead of up and down so they had to give him an artificial tail to make him use the correct swim muscles. He only used the artificial tail for therapy.  Calley was stoked to see Winter.  The aquarium looks as though its run on a shoe string budget but the film has brought a lot of international attention so they are able to expand.

Clearwater Aquarium

Winter with no tail 

Calley with Winter's tail 

At night we stayed at a cheap motel which looked like something out of a Quentin Tarrantino movie but turned out to be OK.  The next day it was off further south to see some old friends Nina and Walt from Scotland who spend time over in Florida each year to escape the wet and cold.  Nina and Walt live down in a place called Bradenton and we had a great visit with the staying overnight and then returning to Canaveral the next day.

While we had the car we made use of it by carrying out any last minute shopping errands.  We are both trying to remember all the last minute items which we need to buy before leaving the land of plenty.  On Bimini where we are planning to spend X-mas we have been told there are no ATM’s so I believe trying to get Lavazza coffee or a spare fuel pump maybe out of the question.

On Tuesday evening we left Canaveral and sailed overnight to Palm Beach.  We are getting a bit more accustomed to the overnight sails.  Nic is still not keen on them but at least we are coinfident about undertaking them.  It does make it easier that the weather is now warmer.  Around midnight we got hit by a thunderstorm - no real problem just got drenched and confused for a while as the wind spun through 90 degrees after the rain.  We lost the wind for a while and so did not arrive at Palm Beach until late in the afternoon.  We looked at the anchorage but decided against it as there are a lot of shallow patches and not enough space in the deeper water - which is not that deep for our draft.  Nic found a marina nearby called Cannonsport and so we inched slowly down a channel and tied up for the night.  The marina was full of massive (60ft plus) sportfishing boats - we felt a bit out of place being one of only a handful of sail boats.  Next morning (Thursday 6th Dec) we waited for high tide and then left Cannonsport headed for another marina further up the Palm Beach channel.  All the water is very shallow around here so moving around is done very slowly.

The next marina is called Rybovich Marina - apparently they are a well known fabricator of top end sport fishing boats.  As we were approaching all we could see was a sea of mega yachts.  As we pulled into the marina it felt like we were entering the land of the giants.  There are two basins here.  We are in the South basin and I would not be suprised if the combined value of the boats that are here is close to $500 million.  There are a couple of boats in the other basin with helicopters on the decks.  On the hard stand area are huge mega yachts completely enclosed in a plastic temprorary housing having work done.  Once in the marina we were directed to a slot all the way in beside the shore services.  So now we are moored literally 20ft from a cafe - Nic is in her element.  But it gets better - at night the cafe is a laid back open air bar.  In addition there is a swimming pool for the kids, a crew lounge etc.  Its a bit pricey but as this will be our last stop in the US we consider it worthwhile.

Dulcinea moored beside the cafe/bar

So for the next few days we need to complete all the last minute items which consists of buying any remaining items.  While we were in Canaveral the fresh water pump gave up the ghost.  Luckily we had a spare we could access but now need to get another spare but also find out why our pumps keep failing - there is always something.  Must say a big thanks to Lars and Diana who have been acting as our quatermaster for our trip so far.  They are joining us in the Bahamas but will probably only have room for a pair of swimmers what with all the spare parts and other bits and pieces they have received for us and must bring in their luggage.  Also while in Palm Beach we have to pay a visit to US customs and immigration (Homeland Security) to complete clearing out procedures.  It should be relatively straight forward but when dealing with officialdom you never know.  And finally there is the never ending task of cleaning the boat.  Since we got down south the frequency of bird excrement landing on the deck has increased substantially - not sure what they eat down this way but a lot comes out the other end making for a endless job cleaning up especially when we are docked in the uber chic mega yacht marina.

At this stage we are planning to transit across to the Bahamas on Monday when the weather looks good.  To do this we need to cross the Gulf Stream which runs at up to three to four knots at times in a northwards direction and is about 30 to 40 miles across off Palm Beach.  As such we need to take due note of it and plan accordingly.  It is said to be a pretty mean bit of water if you get northerly winds due to the opposing forces of wind and current.  We will be making for the west end of Grand Bahama island which will be a run of only about 50 miles so should be able to cpmplete in daylight.  Sam is very excited as the fishing is supposed to very good on the crossing and so he is getting ready to land the big one.

So hopefully this will be the last blog posting from the USA.  Must say that we have all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves over the last 5 months and 2500NM travelling here.  We have met fantastic people all along the way in many different locations and made some great friends who have all helped in some way to make our trip very memorable.  We have seen some great sights and been lucky enough to visit some of the most amazing places in the states but in the end its the people who make or break a memory.  Its also a new phase to our trip.  Certainly Scott is just as anxious now as he was when we started out in Newport even though we have five months under our belt.  This is a different kettle of fish though.  We are moving away from the organised US waterways with assistance around every corner to what feels like the unknown.  We are as prepared as we will ever be so its just a case of getting into it now.