We rose early to changing weather, the wind was now forecast to be unfavorable for our group. So we all left the dock at 5:45 am, first light, hoping to beat the worst of the coming wind. Sunrise came at 6:45 and our ride was not too bad so far. A while later when we hit the Gulf Stream the wave heights increased and due to the current we were having to crab a great deal to maintain our course. Steve hadn’t slept much the night before so he headed to the salon for a short nap.

At 9:00 am Abby and I received a visitor in the pilot house!! A little bird! It would fly in, hop around for a bit then fly out (we had both starboard and port pilot house doors open). I wouldn’t see it for a few minutes or more then it would appear again, fly in, hop around, fly out… several times. The next time it flew in it hopped across the helm then flew down the passageway, into the salon and landed on Steve’s pillow right next to his head!! Luckily the back sliding door in the salon was open and after a rest the little bird flew out. That was the last I saw of it, so cute!

Steve joined me back in the pilot house as the wave heights increased. We were thinking about our sailboat friends and hoping they were doing okay. At 1:10 pm we were very happy to enter the Palm Beach/Lake Worth Inlet and the ICW! Our sail boating friends were now close enough to the Florida coast, and had turn off airplane mode on the their phones. They had a few misshapes in the worst of the Gulf Stream waters but it had gotten a little better and were doing okay and only had an hour or so to go to reach the inlet. They reached the inlet safely after a long and uncomfortable ride and made anchor in Lake Worth for the night. Tomorrow they will continue their cruise to Southport, NC and beyond.

The Lake Worth (Palm Beach) Inlet boasts a deep straightforward big ship channel that is one of the easiest to enter on the Atlantic coast. The meandering Gulf Stream is closer here than at any point in the U.S. (sometimes as close as 1 mile offshore but usually out about 8 to 12 miles) and both commercial and recreational craft give the Lake Worth (Palm Beach) Inlet heavy use. Even with today’s wind the inlet and the ICW were experiencing heavy traffic on this beautiful Saturday.

We continued north on our trip via the Intracoastal Waterway to Stuart, Florida and the Sunset Bay Marina. It was a long day and we were happy to be “home”. Our plan is to stay at Sunset Bay Marina through the summer.

Thank you for visiting and we hope to see you on our next adventure!