Intermezzo is anchored safely in Lake Worth (Palm Beach, FL), literally just feet away from where we anchored before departing for The Bahamas on February 4th. Same boats moored around us, too.
Once we passed tiny Great Isaac Island, about halfway through our passage from Great Harbor Cay, the wind started building from the south, we switched off the engines and were soon sailing along at a good clip, over seven knots over the ground. As we entered the Gulf Stream, the wind was blowing steadily around 18 knots and, together with a boost from the northerly current, we were humming along at over nine knots for the rest of the trip. Robin captured a peak speed of 10.3 knots during her watch!
Needless to say, we arrived at Lake Worth Inlet early. Like, at dawn. Six hours ahead of our passage plan.
NOAA data provided for the Gulf Stream had it's western edge 11 miles east of Lake Worth. Wrong. It was still flowing strong less than two miles from the shore. That caused me to overshoot my arrival waypoint by a couple miles north. We had to bash our way south against the current for about an hour to get to the mouth of the inlet, both engines running hard.
Once in the inlet, we were greeted by big FloridaMan sportfishing boats leaving the inlet, flooring their throttles just before passing by us, throwing up gigantic wakes. The roughest part of our passage. So many power boaters in Florida are either clueless or just plain obnoxious. Some know what they are doing and are courteous, but they are a small minority.
I haven't found a marina here that has space and doesn't cost a fortune, so we'll anchor out until I do.
I'll post a Bahamas wrap-up soon and then outline my plans for the next month, getting Intermezzo ready to be transported back to La Paz, Mexico by ship.
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| If you look closely, you can see the "tricolors of Bahama", the blue-green, light blue and deep blue colors of the water extending to the horizon. |
