Vero Beach to West Palm Beach

--Blogpost written by Bob

This blogpost covers our short 2-day trip from Vero Beach to West Palm Beach on the ICW  and a layover day in West Palm Beach.  We anticipate of crossing the Gulf Stream on Tuesday (12/19).

Vero Beach to Jensen Beach

After 12 nights on a mooring in “Velcro” Beach City Marina, we topped off our diesel, water, and gasoline tanks and headed south again. It’s kind of bittersweet, leaving a place we really like but feeling the need to head further south and meet up with our weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream. Our dreams are filled with the visions of the turquoise waters of the Bahamas—the beauty of it all drives us to return.

Crossing Weather Window Update:  Our weather window has expanded from Monday through Friday, with light winds in almost every direction but the north.  Tuesday is still our best day with a light southeasterly wind.  We will also have light winds for our journey from West End to Marsh Harbor as the week progresses.

We left at 9:30 AM this morning (December 16) because we have a short 29-mile day ahead of us today. It was 67 degrees but felt warm as we motored toward Fort Pierce. Later in the afternoon, the temperature reached 74 degrees. It was very comfortable.

This sailboat was hard aground near a
tiny island in the Indian River.

This was a view looking out the Ft. Pierce Inlet
as we came by this afternoon.

We anchored at 2 PM just south of the Jensen Beach fixed bridge near MM 981 in just under 8 feet of water—we anchored in this same spot last winter.  We’re still in the Indian River.

Here, we are anchored just south of
the Jensen Beach fixed bridge.

Jensen Beach to West Palm Beach

We got a much earlier start than yesterday, leaving at 7:30 AM.  It is so beautiful and peaceful motoring down the ICW early in the morning!

Sunrise from our anchorage at Jensen Beach.

Hobe Sound Bascule Bridge was the first of seven
bridges that had to open for us today.

This is just something that amused me--a frayed yellow cover
on a shock cord that holds our dinghy's gasoline
jugs in place on the deck. 

A barge full of derelict boats sits just north
of Peanut Island in Lake Worth.

A decent-sized power boat is hard aground
on the south side of Peanut Island.

We anchored in Lake Worth, just south of the West Palm Beach Inlet, at 1:30 PM.  It was a short but frustrating day.  By the time we got to West Palm Beach Inlet we were frazzled.  The area between Jupiter and West Palm Beach was full of crazy boaters with no common sense nor sense of responsibility.  A red Hinckley power boat zoomed past us doing about 30 mph only 10 or 15 feet away on our starboard side in a congested area near Jupiter--the boat's name was Gigi out of Newport RI.  A small fishing boat was almost swamped.  They, obviously, have more money than brains!  We had some soft drinks that were lost and our new chart book was drenched with salt water.  

Crossing Weather Window Update:  Our weather window still looks great for Tuesday morning but Wednesday or Thursday would do equally as well if we decide to delay.

Layover Day in West Palm Beach

There are seven other sailboats and one large power boat anchored here near the inlet--we believe that they are staged here for crossing to the Bahamas, like us.  The large power boat left to go through the inlet at 7:15 AM--I'm envious of his "daytime" crossing.

Our Lake Worth anchorage with seven other sailboats.  The
West Palm Beach Inlet is on the far right of this
image, on the other side of the trees.

Crossing Weather Window Update:  As of this morning, our weather window still looks great for Tuesday morning but Wednesday or Thursday would do as well.  WINDY shows 6.2 to 6.9 mph winds primarily out of the east (varying from ESE to ENE) while Weather Underground shows 7 mph wind from the east.  BarometerBob.com (located in the Abacos) forecasts crossing weather to be east winds at 5 knots becoming northeast at 5 to 10 knots in the afternoon (but we will be docked in West End by the afternoon).  All apps basically agree that our weather window (from 3 AM to 1 PM) should be great for a motoring trip.  (If the wind forecast was for anything greater than 10 mph out of the east, we would postpone our crossing because the headwind would slow us down too much.)

This morning, I connected two dinghy painters.  One dinghy painter already frayed on this trip and I didn't want to lose our dinghy in the middle of the Gulf Stream.  (The tow line between the mother ship and the dinghy is commonly called a painter.)

I added a second dinghy painter to act as a
spare in case one chafes through.

The weather was gorgeous in West Palm Beach--sunny and warm, near 80 degrees.  The water here in West Palm Beach is a beautiful blue-green and it is warm.

The industrial waterfront on the west shore of Lake Worth.

In the afternoon, we got out our CREWSAVER life vests and adjusted them (since we both lost a little weight recently).  We also setup our cockpit seat extension on the starboard side of the cockpit so that the person off helm duty can nap while we are underway.

We put our cockpit seat extension in place
on the starboard cockpit seat.

We had a leisurely afternoon, getting some rest and eating well before we begin tomorrow's journey across the Gulf Stream.

We will be leaving West Palm Beach at 3 AM in the darkness and arriving at West End about 1 or 2 PM.  Our next blogpost will be from Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas (about 4 or 5 days from now).  We plan to stay one night in West End, then proceed to Great Sale Cay (about 50 miles), then onto Powell or Manjack Cay, and, then, to Marsh Harbour.  We plan to stay on Marsh Harbour over the holidays.


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