Final Cruise of 2010 to Lake Park Harbor Marina, Lake Worth, Florida (Mile 1016 ICW)

     We were up before the alarm looking forward to our final day of cruising for a while.  It was brisk with the temperature hovering around 38 and the winds steady around 18 from the northwest.  Once again we are thankful for the enclosure.  As Pete brought to mind, the enclosure was very similar to childbirth . . . very painful at the time, but the painful memories have begun to diminish with the joy and value of the “baby.” (However, 5 weeks of intense labor are hard to totally forget!)

A pelican in flight

     The further south we cruised, the higher the temperatures climbed. The sun is much more intense here in Florida, but it had to work real hard to reach the high of 60 by 3PM.  All the farmers are very concerned for their crops as tonight it is supposed to be colder yet, and the citrus and strawberry crops are just about ready for harvest.

     Surprisingly, today was the lightest traffic we have seen on the ICW.  Some of that is due to December 1^st being the date that some insurance companies hold boats north of the Florida line for hurricane season.  We are too far south for that traffic to catch up with us.  As for the sport fishermen, between cold and the Gulf Stream currently closer to the Florida coast mixing with these winds, the seas are running a choppy 6-8 feet. I guess the fishermen will choose more comfortable fishing conditions.

The water's beautiful
shade of blue



Color and vegitation on the ICW

      When we are furthest from an inlet the water is fairly still, no current and the color is very similar to the Chesapeake, brownish-blue. However, the closer we get to the inlets the currents increase to about 3 knots and the color will change to blue and then to clear, tropical, green-blue. (It is a taste of the waters we will be seeing further south and in the Bahamas.)  Today we passed the St. Lucie Inlet, which must be a major traffic intersection on weekends and during the height of the “migration.”  Not only is it the north/south passage, but also the east/west passage to the St. Lucie River to the Okeechobee River to the Gulf. One other point of interest is the homes of Jupiter and Singer Island.  These are magnificent waterfront homes, many of whose homeowners block their views with 100+ foot yachts!

      We passed the ICW 1000 mile mark and we only had 16 miles to finish this leg of our trip. However, since we chose to stay on the ICW due to the conditions on the ocean, we now had to deal with 9 bridge openings, only 3 of which were on demand.  The winds chose to stay at 15-18 NW and the currents were against us.  Pete decided that it was a great time to practice my “dancing” skills: holding the boat in position, waiting for the bridges to open.  This was a real challenge for the Jupiter 707 Bridge (1004.1) followed very shortly by a sharp right turn after exiting the previous bridge into current from the Jupiter Inlet for the Jupiter Federal Bridge (1004.8). Then it is a sharp left, staying closer to the green on the turn and head for the Indian Road Bridge (1006.2). And so it continued at mile markers: 1009.3, 1012.6, 1013.7 (This bridge opened 10 minutes early for a tug and work barge, but the bridge tender agreed to open at 2:30 for us once she cleared the traffic. We just got lucky!) and our final bridge at 1017.2.  We were both glad t be enter Lake Worth and know we were almost there.

     We pulled into the Lake Park Harbor Marina around 3:15.  The water is so clear.  As we were approaching our assigned dock I spotted a school of 100 fish that were about a foot in length in the marina!  Once secured in our dock we wanted to just chill, but there are certain chores that need to be done. While Pete was taking care of things in the Marina office, Semper Fi arrived.  He is from Castle Harbor Marina, dock B.  He will only be spending one night here then heading on to the Keys.  We might see him again there.

     Dinner was grilled cheese sandwiches and salad.  We sent the SPOT message, checked in with the kids, touched base with Jay Bliss regarding picking up our car tomorrow in St. Augustine, made arrangements with the car rental agency and called it quits for the night.  This blog entry will be written another night.

View from our "home" in the Lake Park Harbor Marina across the ICW at sunset.

     We made it all this way averaging 7 miles an hour, having the time of our lives, with a great group of friends, and it ain’t done yet!

51 /1218    Total Statute Miles                                ~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete