Getting Closer to the Bahamas

On Thursday 12/15 (my sister's Birthday!) we pulled into Old Port Cove Marina in North Palm Beach.  We arrived middle afternoon so had plenty of time to take our walk and check out the area.  It turns out this is a very nice marina and is convenient to places to shop and to rent a car.  So Friday we got our car and headed to Miami for Al's one week follow up eye appointment.  Driving to Miami is horrible because the closer you get, the more cars there are and the highway loses lanes, becoming more narrow and traffic stops!!  Unlucky for me, I did the driving because Al, with one good eye, wasn't supposed to drive and he didn't need to stress his vision before the check up.  The wait for the doctor was long because she is so thorough and is always behind.  But it was worth the wait.  All good news at this visit.  Al's vision is much better than just one week ago and beyond the expectations!!  The gas bubble is dissipating fast which also helps with his vision.  The doctor only said very positive things and reduced the drops we have to remember to put in his eye.  So we left feeling elated and knowing we can really go to the Bahamas!

See how happy we are?  We had a great dinner with Mo, my college roommate and her husband, Harry to celebrate the good eye news.  The rest of the weekend we spent shopping for new stuff for the boat as our Christmas.  We bought real exciting stuff like bed pillows, towels and a fry pan.  Doesn't get much better than that!  We also found a wonderful Italian market and went crazy buying up treats to take on our trip.  So we are stocked and psyched!  Erik flies down on Friday and his good friend Austin is our special guest for the Christmas week.  Right now it looks like the best day to cross with the right winds and low wave levels is Friday so we will have to go without the boys and they will have to fly over to join us.  But weather changes and we are hoping to wait until Saturday. 

So today is Monday and we went a whopping 11 miles but it took way too long because of bridge openings and our poor planning.  The only excitement was seeing Coast Guard gun boats patrolling an area just before our last bridge for today.  Al put the throttle into high gear to get to the bridge for a scheduled opening and then suddenly we see the gun boats and one circled around and followed us closely for several heart stopping minutes.  Then it pealed off and we proceeded slowly to the bridge (just making the opening time).  Turns out, we were in the Trump property area and since they are present for the holidays, the security is high all over.  (It would have helped to know about the high alert area and not be scared of our imminent arrest!!)

It is a beautiful and quiet night.  This is the view off the stern in the direction of where Mr. Trump is spending some time.  Off behind the Mangrove trees is his palatial Florida home.  We didn't see it from the ICW but we also didn't know to look for it!

And looking West is another beautiful sunset.

Tomorrow we continue the slow journey to Ft. Lauderdale.  There are 14 more bridges between here and Ft. Lauderdale, a distance of 40 miles and lots of "slow, no wake" zones.  So we will only cover 20ish miles over each of the next 2 days.  At that point, we wait patiently for our weather window to open the way to Bimini and Christmas! Next blog will be of the crossing and landing in Bimini.