Riviera Beach to Boca Raton Lake, FL

Today:    30 miles, 9 hours, ICW, St. M 1048.1

Total:     1171.2 miles, 178.25 hours

     We were out of our slip and at the fuel dock by 7:50.  We filled the boat and the fuel cans, checked out and were on our way by 8:40 am.  The anchorage just south of the West Palm Inlet already had 100+ boats anchored.  There hasn’t been a good window for crossing in over a week and with the winds due later this week, boats are already seeking safety.

Some of the large boats in Boca Raton.
The blue hulled, wood accented one is a beauty,
but we would not want the upkeep of all that wood!

     From here to Miami the ICW is loaded with bridges.  We had 13 openings to time today on our way to Boca Raton Lake.  It is only 30 miles, but if the timing isn’t perfect, there is time to improve the “being stationary and dancing with the wind and the currents.” Since I was at the helm when Pete was on his conference call, I did “the dance” for 3 of the bridges.

Bailey loves her comfort, but really, on
 a stack of electrical lines AND an anchor?

     We dropped anchor in Boca Lake around 4. Pete has found the new sonar charts from Navionics to be a big asset. Here, in this lake, most of the interior of the lake is very shallow, but we were able to drop anchor with confidence.  It was a double blessing as our electronic chart plotter decided to keep beeping, trying to find other components that we do not have.  Usually, it will do this for about 10-15 minutes, then give up.  After listening to it beep for 90 minutes, Pete turned the unit off.   Now we had wonderful silence, but no anchor alarm! The anchor is well set and the winds are light. We will be fine. With the quiet we were able to hear birds that were either on one of the boats or on a balcony of a home along the shore.  It sounded like two parakeets that conversed almost nonstop until about 9.

     Tomorrow will be another busy day, so good-night!

~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~  K & P