Briefly in the Berries and then on to Florida

Briefly in the Berries and then on to Florida

It was a long day from Eleuthera to Alder Cay but then we decided to grab the calm weather window and jumped to the Bahama Bank the next morning after a quick snorkel.  We spent most of that night anchored on the edge of the Bahama Bank in sight of a local fishing boat then headed across to enter the Lake Worth Inlet with a rising tide.  Our trip was aided by the favorable Gulf Stream which pushed us at times to 10 miles per hour.  A few fish snagged the bait Steve dangled and one very nice Mahi even made it into the boat. – good thing that freezer was cleaned to make some space!

West Palm Beach is a welcoming spot to reenter the USA.  We called in to the local boater number and were cleared back over the phone. 

That left us free to enjoy the beautiful weather.  We found time for errands and a trip to Peanut Island.This treasure was created by Flagler when he decided to dredge an opening into Lake Worth creating the inlet we used on our return.  The spoils are now an island just inside the inlet.  Early in its history – the 1920s – the island was hoping to ship peanut oil.  Although this activity was wiped out by a hurricane, the name stuck.  For more than 50 years a Coast Guard station was located on the island and although no longer an active post, the buildings from the 1930s remain as a museum.  Also there is a fallout shelter bunker constructed for President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile crisis. We enjoyed a tour of the museum as well as a walk around the park – views of the ongoing dredging in the ICW as well as the masses of boaters enjoying an afternoon on the park’s sandy beaches.

Over the next weeks we will head north – at our leisurely pace making stops according to the mood and weather. The plans are for a summer in the northeast – we hope to be in Maine by July and back in the Chesapeake by early October.