WET AND WILD
This is probably the best way to describe the past week. We left Marathon Tuesday to sail overnight to Lake Worth. By mid afternoon we experienced a thunder storm, 30 knots of wind and heavy rain. We gave up after forty miles and sheltered behind Rodriguez Key for the night. American friends Lyn and Russ on 'Blue Highway' were there also, the rain stopped, the sun came out and we got together for drinks and enjoyed a glorious sunset.
We left for Lake Worth the following morning and had a wonderful quick sail along the Miami coast assisted by 3 knots of current in the Gulf Stream. We ran into another thunder storm again experiencing 30 knots of wind, lots of lightning and torrential rain. We arrived into Lake Worth at 10pm in dead calm conditions after motoring for the last two hours; who can figure the weather around here?
MORE AUSSIES THAN KIWIS
We are now with lots of friends. Our Kiwi friends Mark and Amanda on 'Balvenie' and Aussie friends Harry on 'Malua' and Peter and Carol on 'Jack Tar'. Wednesday was check in day and the cruisers came away from the Customs Office feeling beaten up. There is a complaints system but the form needs to be signed and stamped by the said officer, so we won't be taking that any further.
Thursday it rained mostly all day. As someone said "we had so much rain the animals were lining up in pairs behind the boat". Andrew and Harry (Malua) went into town to T-mobile to get internet access. Andrew returned some hours later soaking wet. His wet weather coat kept his chest dry but that was about all. The dull and dreary photo of the anchorage shows it all.
Anchorage on Thursday and again today
Friday was a beautiful sunny day and so washing and shopping were the order of the day. Late in the afternoon we met in the marina's Tiki Bar for drinks. However our social gathering was cut short by another squall and more torrential rain, the anchorage was a white-out. Eye Candy dragged about 50 metres in the wind; good thing I had taken the washing in. FRIENDS FOR YEARS
Yesterday we returned to the Tiki Bar for lunch. Our American cruising friends Steve and Karyn who live in Fort Lauderdale drove up to met us. Their boat is currently in Turkey and as we all met in Europe it was a terrific opportunity to get together again.
Drinks on Friday and Lunch, Sat with Carol, Pete, Harry, Steve, Andrew, Clare, Karyn and Amanda
After lunch Steve and Karyn took Amanda (Balvenie) and Andrew and me out to Costco's (members only) Wholesale Warehouse. We provisioned up with non perishables for next season. Steve then drove us back to the marina. An otherwise expensive and arduous job made easy thanks to Steve and Karyn's generosity. For the last few days Andrew has been busy helping 'Jack Tar' and 'Malua' with their HF radios. 'Jack Tar' has a new installation and had very low transmission power and 'Malua' had a loose antenna cable. Both are working well now. 'Balvenie' wanted his solar panel regulator adjusted and so Andrew helped Mark with that also.
We all first met on the radio and although some people think the radio is just for a chat fest, the last few days s a good example of the friendships made and the help given and received within the cruising community.
SO WHAT'S NEXT
Tomorrow we leave to sail 200 miles to St Augustine. We should be there by late Tuesday. Last time we were there is rained almost continuously. Let's hope for better weather this time.
Love Candy xx
At 10:24 AM4/05/2013 (utc) our position was 26°45.78'N 080°02.56'W
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