Oliver Sails South: May 2013

We decided we better get a move on and the weather looked favorable for an outside run from Ft Lauderdale to Palm Beach on May 9. It is about a 50 mile trip which takes us a day. I know, in a car we would be there in an hour. It was a sunny day, fishing boats out and we saw one catch made, waves 2-3 feet, but not much wind, so we kept the motor going. We are at the North Palm Beach Marina where we have stayed before and liked. We are plugged in so our AC is working non stop. It is 86 and humid now. Not pleasant at anchor, so we are spoiling ourselves. Squalls keep forming in the afternoon, so we have stayed put and plan to leave tomorrow, the 14th.

We will miss Bruno and Ft Lauderdale. He told us slip 10 is ours and hopes to see us back next Fall. It was fun talking with him about the Tulip Festival as he went to Holland Christian and was required to learn the Klompen dance. He remembers the music and dance to this day! He also went to Hope College before switching to Western Michigan to get his pilots license. He flew for Braniff Airlines, the South American route for many years so he went from Holland, to Dallas and then Ft. Lauderdale.

We had some excitement in Ft Lauderdale. On April 24 a 45 foot powerbat on the canal just behind ours blew up. The man was badly burned, but his wife and child got off Okay. The sailboat next to him also burned totally and neighbor boats had minor damage. We saw the smoke and heard fire and rescue, even saw a fire and rescue boat go top speed by our slip, but had no idea until we saw the news, LIVE! The next day we took the dinghy and saw the destroyed sailboat which they had not towed yet. Our hearts were sick for the people. A few weeks later, my sister Phyllis sent me word that a boat in Marathon also caught fire. Yikes, I am glad we are diesel.

Anyway, not much news. Oliver was not happy to travel again and he had to settle in. He is now taking a nap and enjoyed walking around last night. I had to see an eye doctor the 26th and have a lymphanglectasis. It is a blocked lymph and the bump is on the white of my eye. It is not painful, but scratchy to blink. They don't know what causes it and I had a choice of draining it or wait for it to go away, which they usually do. Since the needle in the eye did not sound appealing and not sure if would come back, I opted to take prescription allergy eye drops and it is better. One sight mentioned cancer patients can get funny lymph things, so we will watch.

That is our update. We plan to head North tomorrow to check out some new places and revisit the ones we liked. We plan to stop in Vero Beach by Wednesday. Love to all.