Happy New Year!

We are currently at the Loggerhead Marina in Palm Beach Gardens waiting for the weather to cooperate for a crossing to the Bahamas. We need at least a full 2 days of settled seas, preferably 3 if something should happen. We look for winds with a southerly component so the Gulf Stream is not "thorny" as they say. We almost had a window last week, but it closed pretty quickly. Today the seas are 9-11 feet with a blustery north wind. Oliver is our important crew, so we will wait for the waves to be  below 4 feet. We prefer that also. If it doesn't occur, we will head farther south in Florida.

Oliver hanging out on the dock. 

Oliver is happy with the dogs here. They are larger and do not have the Napoleon complex of. "attack".

We were so proud of our Spartans winning the Rose Bowl. We wore our shirts , turned on the green lights and enjoyed the moment.  It was so cool!  I am sure my friends and nephew, Jason who attended, had the best time. I know I did in '89.

For those who do not follow Facebook, we had a horrible journey down here. Day one was smooth, day 2 was anything but! We woke up to howling southeast winds.Where were anchored gave us no protection and a large body of water pushing against us. Dale had checked the anchor twice and we were Ok. I poured my first cup of coffee and went upstairs to look, screamed "we're dragging" and the games began. We started the engine, Dale on the bow getting the anchor up, came up with someone's old anchor (not easy) tried to reset, but we're blowing back so fast, we took the anchor up and kept motoring. Then we tried the other side of the causeway but there was not enough depth. Poor Oliver is wondering when his morning dinghy ride would occur. We thought of going down to Stuart, but saw an anchorage called Peck Lake. It was more protected, had a beach. Got there, boats were anchored close to shore, but the dredging equipment should have been a clue. We followed charts and went from 9 feet to 3 feet in a second. Oops, grounded, couldn't get off. So we wouldn't get sand in the engine, we shut Nautical Dreamer down and called Tow Boat US (we have insurance for this). I said to Dale it would be thirty minutes, so we decided he would dinghy Oliver ashore while I waited with the boat. Dale finally got Oliver to shore at 10:00. Poor puppy. I then noticed Oliver back in the dinghy and Dale trying to start the engine. Then he was working on something which I found out later was the gas cable which had a leak. They couldn't get back. The Towboat shows up and I asked the gentleman to go save my husband and dog first so he towed then back to the boat.  Ok, progress. He then pulled us off the shoal and we were on our way. Finally, we are making our way down the ICW on a Saturday which is a busy day as people are off work enjoying the weekend. There are lots of  powerful motor vessels that create quite a wake. When they fly by the waves created rock a sailboat back and forth, sometimes rather violently where things fall. Well, of course that happened multiple times, we are just about to Jupiter where you make a starboard turn to the next drawbridge. There is a hazard can placed for a shoal as you make the turn. We were 10-12 feet off the can, should be Ok but powerboats from the other direction are not leaving us much room to navigate and yes, we grounded again. The powerboats kept flying by as Dale tried to get us off this one. As he was getting us off, a large boat started cutting right in front of us so I went to the bow and waved him off, saw his wife say something to him and he immediately turned and stayed on his side of the channel. We got off and then had to sit waiting for the next bridge for 20 minutes while boats sped by. Dale kept us off anymore shoals as wakes pushed us constantly. Anyway, we finally made it to the marina. Mind you, the winds are still howling and docking a sailboat is not easy under those conditions. It took the dock hand and myself,  who jumped off the boat to help to get us tied enough, then the dock hand hopped on the boat to help Dale get the pilings in back. Florida has many finger piers that only are 10-12 feet long. You then try to lasso the back pilings or use a hook if you can. It is a pain! Anyway, we are here and safe.

Oliver keeping watch as we travel.

All tired, need a nap.

Sunset the first night at anchor.

Who would have thought we would wake up to "hell"

Low tide on the ICW.

Nothing much around. I walked over a mile one day to check out the CVS and little strip mall. The grocery would be a bike ride as it is more than 2 miles. It is not the distance, but the stuffed backpack and bags that make it a work out coming home. Glen, the harbor master arranged for a ride, so I  lucked out.

Walking back over the bridge. Marina is the distance. 

Goodyear blimp headed south to the Orange Bowl. 

Happy New Year. Michigan family and friends, sat safe.