Lorenzo & Delois Johnson

This morning, we left our friends behind.   C-Life  and Precious Time  will be spending a few more days in this enjoyable town.  We got off to an early start, and timed the bridges perfectly.  By 2 PM, we had passed through all 13 of the bridges that needed to open to let us pass.  Lois thinks that it should have been 14, becaused we had only 4″ clearance under one of the bridges.  Her sense of adventure diminishes with birthdays.

We anchored at about 3 PM in a very nice anchorage.  This anchorage is the North Palm Beach Lake Worth North Anchorage. This location rivals any other location we have ever anchored.  We rated it a 10 in our log.  The night view was really great.  The bottom was sandy and provided good holding.  Lots of room, and good protection from the wind from all directions.

We made dinner on the grill, and spent the evening on the Sun Deck, enjoying the moment.  Added more wine to our shopping list.  Fort Pierce is only 55 miles away, so we should have a short day tomorrow.

We had a good travel day today.  There were three boats traveling together (C-Life, Precious Time, and Lil’ David).  We covered 54 miles in a short time, and arrived at the New River Downtown Marina around 2 PM, thanks in great part to Robert Creech .   His knowlege and experience in boating was often the difference between a bad day and an enjoyable day on the water. 

 This is a really great place to stop.  The staff really does a good job in making You feel welcome. 

We are planning to spend only two days here, then we will move on to make sure we make the Farmers Market on Saturday.  We need to arrive in Fort Pierce in time to do some grocery shopping before we leave there on Saturday afternoon.     We would like to be home by Easter.

We didn’t leave the anchorage this morning until around 11 am.  Our destination was Bocha Chita State park.  This is an Island that has been converted into a state park.  There is no power on the island, and all water is salt water, not suitable for drinking.  There is 200′ of dock in a small basin.  Lots of palm and coconut trees makes a beautiful setting, and picnic tables and barbecue pits make this a favorite hangout for the local population.  From past experience, we knew that the place would be deserted before dark.  A late arrival improves the chances of finding dock space for the night.  We were about a mile away from the park when the radio came to life with a familiar voice.  One of our Marathon dock mates had arrived ahead of us, because they traveled here via the ocean route (Hawks Channel).  When they recognized us in the distance, they proceeded to find us dock space.  Other boaters agreed to allow us to raft to their boats until dock space became available.

Lois prepared a really good dinner meal.  She was initially expecting four of us for dinner, but now the number had swelled to seven.  I don’t know how she did it but everyone had enought to eat, and we even had a little left overs.  The wine was plentiful and the conversations were top notch.  We toured the Island again, and went looking for sprouting coconuts, but no luck.  It just doesen’t get any better than this.    

We left bright and early this morning.  Really hate to leave here, but I am looking forward to the enjoyment of the trip home.

Bill and Kathy were there to see us off, and that was very fitting and appropriate to have close friends watch us leave our home of two months.

We had a very good trip today, and we did not hit the bottom, even though it was always there and waiting for one lapse in concentration to reach out and bite us.  The water traffic was far different than when we came this way in January.  There was a fairly large volume of boat traffic on the water today. 

 By the end of the day’s trip, I was considerably more relaxed than when we left early this morning.  When we left, I was acutely aware of every sound, vibration, smell, or anything that was being generated bt Lil’ David.  Even though He had been sitting inactive for two months, He fell right in step woith out missing a beat.  Starrie and Portie fell quickly into their old routine, and sounded really good.

We anchored in Tarpon Basin, as planned.  Robert, on C-Life, and I rafted up to spend the night.  Kay provided a wonderful dinner for all of us.  It was a great night on the water.