Boating with Sunset Delight

15 November 2025

Depart: Lake Worth, FL anchorage 7:50

Arrive: Private Dock, Pompano Beach, FL 12:45

Distance: ~ 35nm

When I stepped outside to look for the sun, I found it hiding behind the clouds.

I looked for and found the sailboat that had the multi-colored mast last night.

Red, White, and Blue Mast

Because we came in reasonably early yesterday afternoon, we had a spot not too far from the inlet this morning. Often we have had to drop anchor at the most remote portion of the anchorage. Consequently, it was a reasonably short ride to the inlet. Unlike yesterday morning when it felt like we were in a bouncy house, today we did not have to bounce over the waves to get out into the ocean.

As we left the anchorage, we heard a ship's captain calling Palm Beach Security. His accent was so heavy I could hardly recognize that he was saying "Palm Beach". We passed the ship as we headed out into the ocean - "Tropic Lissette" from Kingstown.

"Tropic Lissette"

Looking back at Palm Beach as we headed south, we could see the sun shining brightly on the buildings.

For a short while, I entertained myself taking cloud pictures.

Our travels today took us past Mar-A-Lago and Trump was in town. The USCG was busy on the VHF radio telling people where they could and could not go. As we passed by, thankfully on the ocean, we could see a large USCG vessel patrolling the area.

The Google Maps picture below shows the resort and our position as we approached the area. Fortunately we were far enough off shore that no one gave us any notice.

USCG Vessel "Skipjack"
patrolling Mar-a-Lago Resort area

Clark said he wanted to go on the ocean to avoid that whole area. We were through here one time when he was in residence and planned to leave the resort. Traffic (cars and boats) was stopped. Bridges did not know whether they could open or not. "Is he coming? No, Okay! Open up!" A zoo!

Unlike other days we have been on the ocean all by our lonesome, today we had lots of other boats out there with us (a Saturday). Many of them were small fishing boats like the one shown below.

We could see lots of tall buildings along the shore line, and one currently under construction.

Our destination for today is accessed via the Hillsboro Inlet. To pass the time, we listened to stories on NPR. We had to abort an arson story as we came up on our turn off from the ocean. Hopefully we can finish it later.

We go in by the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse. I could see the distinctive lighthouse up ahead.

I got a nicely lit view of the lighthouse as we approached the Hillsboro Inlet bridge.

The bridge would be opening soon and boats were "pouring in" to the inlet.

One of the boats behind us was a fishing charter. The captain is a "get out of my way" kind of guy, and I was glad we were in front of him and could disappear before he needed to dock just inside the inlet on the ICW.

"Starlight" Fishing Charter

I noticed something unusual floating in the water nearby here.

No idea what this is!

At the intersection of the ICW with the opening to the inlet, boat traffic was wild! Boats were coming in and going out while "Starlight" was making a bee-line to his dock! Crazy!

While waiting for the bridge to open, I had set up my lines and fenders for stopping at our friend's dock. We "raft up" next to his boat at his slip a short distance down the ICW from the inlet. I know from experience that his place comes up quickly and I need to do my lines and fenders asap in preparation.

After getting my lines / fenders set, I could relax and watch the boat traffic. I was glad I had my camera handy as a car came down the ICW! The guy in the back seat had a broad smile and a big wave when he saw me taking a picture. Clark noted that the car had no license plate.

Floating Mercedes

Also traveling through here were a number of PWCs. Saturday's offer endless interesting sights.

Fortunately, our friend Steve greeted us as we came up to his boat. I have no idea how I would manage to raft up to his boat without him there to catch the lines. He said he had just gotten back before we arrived!

We had take out Pizza Hut pizza for dinner. We ate outdoors and watched the various boats go by.

I enjoyed the lighting on the ICW and the lagoon at sunset.

View across the ICW

Sunset view on lagoon

We plan to stay to visit our friends in Pompano Beach for a few days.

10 November 2025

Depart: Titusville, FL anchorage 7:05

Arrive: Private dock, Vero Beach, FL 2:30

Distance: ~ 63 nm

We woke this morning at 5:00 a.m. to the sound of pouring rain and went back to sleep until a somewhat more civilized time of day. At 6:45 when we pulled ourselves out of bed, we had overcast skies with the sun trying to peek out from behind the clouds. Clark thought the boat shown in the picture below was one owned by a friend of ours traveling south at the same time as us. Turns out, it was not his boat, but it makes a great picture anyway!

As we traveled, we could hear a scratchy-sounding voice on the VHF radio haling other boaters for slow passes. I said, "That sounds like Dave", and it was him. Instead of being in front of us like we thought, he eventually caught up to us from astern. He left his marina in Titusville later than we left the anchorage, but we travel several knots slower than he does.

Along the way, he found us and as we motored along for a short distance, we grabbed photos of each other's boats.

"Uptick"

The forecast for today / tonight sounded miserable with gale force winds predicted and temps dropping into the 30s or 40s in Florida depending on location. The winds never hit the levels predicted and it turned out to me a nice morning for traveling inside. We were very glad we were making our way to our friend's private dock where we would be secure against the wind and have electricity for heat during the night. The winds picked up a little in the afternoon.

Tying up at our friend's dock always takes a chunk of time to get lines and fender boards in place. Thirty minutes after we pulled up to the dock, we finally had everything set to our satisfaction.

11 November 2025

No boat travel

My friend Cathy, who lives in Vero Beach, took me on a much-needed food shopping trip to Publix this morning. We were out of several important items like potato chips! Seriously though, we were down to two slices of bread and that is totally unacceptable! Cathy wanted to stop at Fresh Market as well. I headed straight for their bakery department and grabbed up a Blueberry-Raspberry pie for Clark and some scones for me as special treats!

Decoration at entrance to Fresh Market

After returning from the shopping trip, I did all the tasks that come along with provisioning like packaging the meat into meal sizes and freezing, for example. When I was done with that task, it was time to go out to lunch with our hosts and our friends - Cathy and Franklin.

Our hostess chose the Tequila Azteca Mexican restaurant. They served us enough salsa and guacamole appetizers to be our lunch, and it was too delicious to pass up. By the time my taco salad came, I was already pretty full.

After lunch, having not seen a washing machine since Carolina Beach, NC, it was time to catch up on laundry. That kept me busy until the sun had gone down. In between washes and dries, I ordered up Advent Calendars for my grandchildren as I do every year. The choices were seemingly endless, and I had to search diligently for ones that seemed age and interest appropriate.

12 November 2025

No boat travel.

Our friends, Sandy and Bill, whom we know from our time spent as boat neighbors at Faro Blanco in Marathon, FL, live north of Vero Beach but close enough that they agreed to drive down to see us while in town. When they arrived, promptly on time as always, they gave us a choice of hanging out in Vero Beach or traveling north to their apartment to watch a rocket launch from their porch. We opted for the rocket launch. It was scheduled for 2:00, so we had plenty of time beforehand.

When Sandy and I were together in Marathon, she had a car and would drive us to a farmer's market in town on Saturday morning, and then we would go shopping together at Publix afterwards. As we traveled north today, Sandy suddenly pulled off the road, and I looked up to see she had stopped at a permanent Farmer's Market on the side of the road. It felt like old times!

After buying our vegetables, Sandy had a restaurant in mind for lunch called "Morning Glory".

The restaurant does not look very impressive from the street, but they are actually located on the water and have outdoor seating with a nice view. Unfortunately, Bill said that 68 degrees was too cold for him to sit outdoors, so we ate inside. I got one of my lunch favorites - an omelet with whole grain toast. It came with crunchy home fries that were great as well.

While there, I stopped into the ladies' room. Normally I do not take pictures in a restroom. I made an exception today.

On the way to the restroom ...

Fall Specials

Anyone interested to let the restaurant know how far they traveled to eat here could stick a pin in their chosen location. The pins surrounding NJ were so plentiful, I did not bother to add another.

In the ladies' room ... Mermaids!

After lunch Sandy drove us to her condo. Since we rushed home from Vero Beach in the spring, we had not seen this place that they moved into in March. Very nice! From their living room we could see the launch pad for the rocket launch and see the rocket ready to go. The liftoff was scheduled for 2:00!

When we checked the status about 20 minutes before launch time, we found that the ULA rocket launch had been canceled around 10:00 in the morning due to particles in the atmosphere related to the solar flares that were causing the amazing Northern Lights display in the U.S. (We later learned that the launch took place the following day.)

While there we got to tour their condo. It is lovely and spacious with a nice ocean view.

View from their balcony / patio

View of pool from the condo

We stayed until 4:00 when it was time for Sandy to take us back to Vero Beach before the sun retired for the day. As we drove south, I tried to capture a sunset picture out the car window. It was the only shot I was going to get.

13 November 2025

No boat travel.

Cathy and Franklin invited us to their home for dinner this evening. Until then we had the day to do as we pleased. Sandy had told me about a gourmet food store down the road from the place we are staying, so I decided to take a walk and check it out.

The route to the store took me past the local park. Since I was in no rush to get back on the boat, when I got to the park, I decided to walk the boardwalk before going to the store. To get there I have to cross the highway. Fortunately, they have a traffic light for peds to cross to the park. I pushed the button and magically all the traffic came to a halt. I am sure none of them were thrilled with me being there.

View of park from across the highway ...

Jaycee Beach Park

One end of the park is set up for young children.

Along the walkway through this section of the park, there are lots of painted graphics like the ones shown below.

The walk along the boardwalk started out a little more interesting than I expected. The town had a fleet of dump trucks busy replenishing sand washed away due to recent storms.

Dumping the sand

Pushing it off the "cliff"

Beach erosion has taken its toll here. They appeared to have just started the project and have a lot of work to do!

With the pictures below, I tried to capture the dearth of sand currently at the beach.

Deep gully where sand should be

I walked the length of the boardwalk and back again taking pictures along the way.

Today was a "yellow flag" day. Not too many people were in the ocean water. Most were busy getting a tan on the beach or walking the boardwalk like me.

In the picture below, Grandma and granddaughter were chased by the waves.

One woman was actually in the water. I could not tell if she saw me and waved or if she was blocking the sun from her eyes.

Is she waving at me?

After walking the boardwalk and back through the park, I stopped the traffic once more to cross over to go to the market. As it turned out, I was not the only one stopping traffic on A1A. A flag man took advantage of the fact I turned the light red to stop traffic coming the other way to let his dump trucks in and out of the park.

Dump trucks lined up to dump their sand loads

Next in line backing up the road to the dump spot

When I walk the boardwalk, I pass a lot of tall buildings. Walking to the market, I got to see them from the other side! They are lined up one after another, I just snapped a couple of pictures as I walked by.

Finally, I reached my target destination. Sandy had recommended I check this place out and what a great suggestion. I found the item I was looking for and a lot more besides. Good thing I brought a tote bag with me to carry it all back to the boat.

Before returning to the boat, I saw a couple more things I liked.

Back on the boat, Clark was busy doing emails and boat maintenance. He was also learning more about the autopilot reversing hydraulic pump.

Cathy and Franklin invited us to come to their house for dinner. We borrowed a car from our hosts and drove over there. Cathy always puts on an elaborate spread, and tonight's dinner was no exception from that tradition.

We tried sitting outside, but Clark and I were not dressed warmly enough for that. Although Franklin was in shorts and was comfortable! We climbed onto the boat at 10:00! We watched the TV show "Elsbeth" and then went to bed.

We plan on leaving at 8:00 tomorrow morning to catch the out-going tide at Fort Pierce inlet.

14 November 2025

Depart: Vero Beach, FL Private Dock 7:25

Arrive: Lake Worth, FL anchorage 3:20

Distance: ~ 63 nm

Clark set 8:00 as our goal for departure, and we beat that big time. We were out pulling in our lines and getting ready to leave before 7:00 and on our way shortly afterwards. As we left Bethel Creek, I took a few pictures.

Creek Reflections

Boat named "Miss Fit"

Look closely at the picture below and you will see a Blue Heron in the driver's seat.

After leaving Bethel Creek, we passed the Vero Beach marina, traveled under a bridge and were on our way!

Vero Beach Marina

Marina through the bridge supports

Non-boaters might be interested in the "road signs" boaters see.

"Idle Speed No Wake"

Road sign / advert for "Vero Marine"

"Slow Speed Minimum Wake"

Floating Billboard for Pizza Delivery

More bridges coming up ...

The two pictures below are 1) approaching the bridges with the sun in our faces and then

2) looking back at the bridges with the sun shining on them after we passed under.

We passed by a curious boat anchored on the water near Fort Pierce that we have seen here in the past. I decided this time to Google the boat name. The article about this racing sailboat that suffered catastrophic damage during a race it was winning was interesting to read.

"Elim' Emotion"

After that it was time to head out through the Fort Pierce inlet into the Atlantic Ocean for our trip to Lake Worth. As we made our way out into the ocean, the water looked very calm until we got to the mouth of the inlet where the waves were fast and steep.

However, once we got out there we found a following sea that made us work hard all the way down the coast. Depending on the wave height, we were pushed either to port or starboard repeatedly. Keeping a straight line without a working autopilot is exhausting in our boat.

Finally after about 5 hours on the ocean, we arrived at the Palm Beach Inlet.

Lots of folks were soaking up the sun.

As Clark navigated to an anchoring spot, I got busy with the camera. The general theme here is boats and affluence.

Cruise Ship

Boats and Tall Buildings

Big Houses

I saw a boat going by and struggled to read the name. "Pickle Rick" appears to be a floating gas station.

As I was working on this blog update, I looked up and had to run out to take more pictures. In the opposite direction to the sunset, the clouds were pink!