2022: Vero Beach to Palm Beach FL

 8 December 2022

Vero Beach Private Dock - no boat travel.

We stayed an additional night in Vero Beach at our friend's dock. I took advantage of the opportunity to do a very large load of laundry. Afterwards, we headed out to lunch at a nearby restaurant - Citron Bistro. Even though we arrived late, around 1:20, we still had a 15 minute wait for a table for 3 to become available. They had room inside, but we wanted outside dining.

I shocked myself and Clark by deciding I wanted dessert! I almost always peruse the menu and then pass, but today I decided to go for the Ghirardelli Chocolate Brownie a la Mode. Truly decadent! Imagine the brownie shown below in a large bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, two shots of whipped cream, and drizzled with both caramel and chocolate syrup.

Clark and I both agreed that the vanilla ice cream tasted unusual and left an unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth. We could not decipher what might have added the odd flavor. The brownie itself was heavenly!

When we got back to our friend's house, we sat on the patio overlooking the water and talked until the sun started to settle in the west.

Neighbor's decorated palm trees at sunset

9 December 2022

Depart: Vero Beach Private Dock 8:10

Arrive: Lake Worth anchorage 4:00

Distance: 64 nm

We counted out the days to reach our destination of Marlin Bay in Marathon, Florida to see how much play we had in our schedule. From that we looked at our alternative paths and opted for traveling on the ocean today. Before exiting the ICW, Clark told me the prediction was for 6 foot waves with a 13 second period. That sounded fine to me, so that is the route we chose. 

The ocean trip was fine with the boat slowing going up and down as the waves passed. We had to fight the current to get out the inlet, but we got a push from the waves on the ocean and made better time than we had used to estimate our ocean travel time. The ocean was peaceful. At one point I saw a rambunctious dolphin that jumped way out of the water multiple times. Otherwise, we saw nothing of note until we reached the Palm Beach inlet.

Views from the ocean off North Palm Beach ...

As we approached the inlet, I could see lots of folks sunbathing on the beach. It still messes with my head to see sunbathers on a beach in December. Once we get to Marathon and everyone is wearing summer attire, it feels normal but until then it takes some getting used to.

Views as we enter the Palm Beach Inlet (aka Lake Worth Inlet) ...

Fishermen on the breakwater

Kite flying and beach umbrellas on the beach

Sailboat entering the inlet with us

Lots and lots of Palm Trees here

Typical scene - large house with palm trees in yard

View opposite of the beautiful houses and palm trees
as we came off the inlet

Time to look for a place to drop anchor in the crowded anchorage area ...

Clark found a spot for us at the far end of the anchorage. He had hoped for something a bit closer to the inlet but that was not to be. We exited the inlet at 3:30 and had the anchor down at 4:00.

I am in the midst of reading an epic set of novels based on true stories about archers traveling on boats between England and Constantinople during the crusades. As soon as we were settled in, I grabbed my book to continue reading my saga. Eventually I heard Clark give a shout out that it was sunset time, so I grabbed my camera to go take a picture.

Later, when I went to start dinner, I noticed that the sky was a lot redder than earlier and the buildings were lit, so I snuck out for a couple more shots.