Lake Worth, FL

North Palm Beach condos and yachts line Lake Worth, FL.

Departing Vero Beach, FL, is a challenging aspect of cruising because Vero has everything a boater needs....BUT...we did press on and move down to the Lake Worth anchorage. Anyone who has driven a car to Florida recalls passing the PGA Boulevard exit. Well, that same PGA exit turns into the PGA Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway at the Lake Worth anchorage.

This lake could hold at least 100 boats at anchor and provides a dinghy dock a few short blocks from a Publix grocery store. This lends itself to boaters who are waiting for a weather window to cross over to the Bahamas, only about 75 miles east of the inlet. Our plan this first trip south is to fully explore the Keys and the West Coast of Florida before heading over to the Bahamas in March and April. So, we dropped anchor in Lake Worth with a different perspective, we just needed a place to sleep and relax after the 64 mile run with SP Cruiser, Catspaw, Carey and Bobbi. This is the furthest south we have been on Island Spirit, so it was great to have experienced cruisers in the lead.

Tomorrow, both boats will pick up anchor and move on to Fort Lauderdale where we will explore that beautiful city from the anchorage at Lake Sylvia. I must say, this section of the ICW was very interesting and colorful with beautiful homes and large yachts. I am glad we did not miss this by going outside as we had planned.

Here are some photos of this section....with entertaining captions of what locals might say.

Look, we keep our small 80 footer docked behind our winter home...very nice!

We have our own sandy beach, powerboat and Caribbean home resort with palms...ahhhh

Come on, where is YOUR Hinckley Picnic jet boat? Ours is here, behind the home....$500K....check!

Yes, but we have our 58 footer lifted and dry sailed behind our home....Check that!

Wait... we have the corner lot with our 26' DONZI and a 60 foot mega yacht....SCORE...

Our Good Friends Carey and Bobby show us the way south
SP Cruiser Catspaw with famous watch cat Tiller and stealthy hidden Heidi cats aboard

Finally, the ninth bridge of the day - the PGA Boulevard Bridge and we are safe in Lake Worth....ahhh


GOOGLE MAP of this Location

WOW...that was really an interesting section of the waterway, and I am glad to see our economy doing so well that people do not have to sell these homes. There were very few FOR SALE signs like in other areas up north. Looks like we are reaching the real 1% soon. Just wait until we see what's next....Fort Lauderdale....

Vero Action

Quality gear a must...shuffleboard action :-)

We completed our tasks at Vero Beach and this allowed us to slip the grasp of this wonderful town and marina. We completed...

1. Laundry
2. Groceries
3. Riverside Cafe Happy Hour via dinghy
4. Sonny's BBQ via the Bus
5. Shuffleboard with Almon and Carey, our Vero Coaches, and 6 other cruisers
6. Cruisers' Cocktail Party with 40+ cruisers
7. Bike rides around town
8. Walks to the beach and walks down Date Palm Drive
9. Water, Fuel, Pumpout - the big three!
10. Mail call - our first batch of forwarded mail since departure, thanks to our terrific house sitter.

Oh, the excitement of being in port! Life takes on a new feel and the options for adventure are vast. Vero Beach Florida is one of those towns we both agree we could move to. This and Wrightsville Beach, NC are the two towns so far that make us feel that way. We don't ever plan on moving out of our beautiful solar home, but it is fun to look and imagine. Here are a few photos of Vero 2.

Our raft of 3 IPs, Island Spirit 35, Catspaw SP Cruiser & Cutter Loose IP 460

Vero Beach AM sunrise

Carey takes a morning stroll on the crowded beach at Vero

Date Palm Drive, our favorite street right off the marina.

Radeen enjoys a bike ride through the beautiful parks at Vero

The action on the shuffleboard courts, a must visit...

Our Coach, Almon, who is so kind and helpful. He teaches us how to play the game.

The required shuffleboard couple's photo...this is one for the mantle :-)

 Yes, life in Vero Beach is wonderful! There are so many services and you don't need a car due to the free bus. The beach is fantastic, the restaurants delicious, the marina is a dream, and the boaters flock to this location. It is easy to stay here for weeks, and it is very difficult to make yourself press on, but that's what we did AND we did it in 15-20 knots NE wind with rain..... WHAT? ARE WE NUTS?....yes we are, but the Florida Keys are calling us and that is our next big destination.

Arriving Vero Beach, FL

Dancing with DOLPHINS....

 Greeted by Great Blue Herons...

 Perplexed by Pelicans...

 Blanketed by Blue Skies...

 Entertained by Elegant Homes

 Bounded by the Merrill Barbor Bridge...

We arrive VERO BEACH CITY MARINA and raft up with our boat buddies, Catspaw & Cutter Loose

 Our FLEET of Island Packet Yachts in Vero on mooring #40.

 We check in, and pay $13.90 per night for a mooring ball....what a DEAL...

 Off we go, for our first walk down DATE PALM DRIVE....

Welcome to Vero Beach Florida, a city that knows how to build, manage and run a city marina. The location provides everything so well, that it has been given the name "VELCRO BEACH" because many boaters arrive here and never leave! We too love this location and we look forward to a few days of relaxation before pressing on towards the Florida Keys!

Kennedy Space Center

We awake to a beautiful sunrise over the Space Coast

Today we rented a car and spent the day at the Kennedy Space Center out on Cape Canaveral. What an inspiring place, demonstrating our countries ambitions and accomplishments in the race to conquer space. Rockets and vehicles are on display, from the first Mercury-Atlas up to  CURIOSITY, the Mars rover which we saw launched last week. The exhibit on the moon landing with the full size Saturn rocket, the Apollo Command Module, moon rocks and the Lunar Landing Module was very interesting! 

We learned that in the 1960' when President Kennedy put forth the vision to land a man on the moon and return him safely, we as a country allocated 7% of our national budget to NASA. Sadly today, we have cut the funding to NASA and it is severely underfunded and recently they have laid off thousands brilliant employees as the USA is exploring the privatization of our space program. Currently the SHUTTLE program has ended and it will not be until 2016 that we have a vehicle capable of sending men and women up to the service the International Space Station. We currently pay the Russian Space program $68 million dollars per astronaut to launch us into space! Next year the fee goes up to $85 million dollars per astronaut. Everyone needs to tour this Kennedy Space Center to fully appreciate our amazing accomplishments in space. 

Arrival at KSC with the rocket garden under the USA flag

Eric, Patricia, Radeen and Hayden with the VAB in the background
Thank you Bob W. IP380 Judith III, for this fun photo

The VAB, Vehicle Assembly Building. 63 stories tall
used to assemble the rockets
This building has not been open to the public since 1976

Looking up into the VAB, the Saturn Rocket moon launch
was assembled in this building as well as all Shuttles. Look at the crane

One of the cranes used in VAB to lift the Shuttle and fuel tanks

Eric, Bob and Hayden in front of Shuttle Endeavor

Pad 39a, this is THE PLACE where the moon launch happened
as well as most of the Shuttle launches.

Radeen and Hayden overlooking Pad 39A and the diagrams

Saturn rocket engines!

Saturn Rocket, stage one. Still the largest, most powerful rocket ever built

Apollo space capsule

Retired Shuttle now being built into a new exhibit building

MARS CURIOSITY rover, just launched. This will take 8 months to reach Mars
Powered by plutonium and electric motors! About the size of a Jeep!

What a fantastic tour, what a great day. Thank you Bob W. IP380 owner of Judith III and knowledgeable space scientist, for enhancing our day at KSC. It was wonderful! Next stop....Palm Shores  anchorage, then VERO BEACH....

Arriving Daytona, Fl

Welcome to Daytona, Florida where the bridges
have mosaic tile work like this! Beautiful

Arriving Daytona Beach is always fun because of the bridge bases tiled with mosaics of manatees and dolphins. Welcome to Florida! We have been here 3 times now and have never been to shore, we always drop anchor, sleep, wake up the next day and move on. Sometime soon we will actually have to stop in Daytona and spend some time exploring.

One exciting aspect to today was passing over 999 NM, that is 999 nautical miles from Rock Hall, MD where we departed Oct 22. Moving a boat 1,000 miles takes some effort and most of all, TIME. We travel at 6 knots, which is 6.6 MPH or at a fast jogging / running speed. So, imagine jogging from Maryland to Florida. You need to run 8 hours a day for about 20 days to do that. It takes time and time is what we have. Lucky us, we count our blessings every day!

There it is...999 NM nautical miles from Rock Hall, MD!
This needs to be added to our 1,560 nm summer up to Maine and back.

OK...here we go again, let's run up another 999 NM :-)

Radeen...1,000 miles....actually this makes 12,000+ miles for her
Ocean Sailor Girl, who loves to be on the boat.

Boat house roof at a fishing club / restaurant

Fort Matanzas, built in 1750, Spanish Fort just south of St. Augustine

Beautiful and typical view heading down the ICW

Arriving Daytona, FL, the high rise condos begin to appear

Thank you Daytona for these beautiful bridge base mosaic art pieces

 Next stop....Titusville and Kennedy Space Center....

more St. Augustine, Fl

Spanish fort, Castillo de San Marcos, a National Park

We spent 3 days in St. Augustine, Fl and really like this town. We could see spending a longer period here next visit and even leaving our boat here as many cruisers do. We enjoyed walking around the fort, strolling across the Bridge of Lions, and exploring the historic streets. Radeen couldn't resist touring the former Ponce de Leon Hotel again, with Tiffany glass window, amazing tile work and detailed murals. The students of Flagler College eat in the grand dining room, which is beautifully maintained. There are many opportunities for dining within blocks of the marina. Columbia is a lovely Cuban restaurant, owned by the same family for 6 generations.

The mooring field is very nice, except at slack tides when the mooring ball bashes into your bow like a big bass drum and wakes you at night. We tried several processes to shorten the scope but the mooring pennants are too large to come over your bow roller and the pennant is long enough, 9 feet to still allow the ball to hit the bow. There was no way to prevent this that we could work out. Next stop....DAYTONA, FL...

IP37 Still Crazy under palms off the fort, St. Augustine, Fl

The newly restored Bridge of Lions, a great bridge to walk across

Great Blue Heron guards the St, Augustine mooring field

New IP arrives from Denmark!

GOOGLE MAP of this location