We got help from our neighbors in bringing in our dock lines, exactly at 9 am, the earliest opening of the New River bridges after the blocked-out morning rush hours. On the way down the New one large boat leapfrogged with us and later told us that he had stopped at a dock to let off a passenger. After the four bridges over the New, which open on request, we passed eight more that open only at fixed times, on request. We missed one, because we miscalculated the time/distance/speed relationship, and because Lene wanted to arrive "on time". But the bridge tenders want us to hurry up, arrive early and wait. So we had half an hour to kill, because of missing that opening. We passed The Ocean Monarch, the one on the left, where my parents lived and my daughters enjoyed vacation days, its balconies looking north and over the sea.
We arranged to let Elissa know when we were passing her house so we could wave to each other. Thats Lene standing on the port side, outside the cockpit, waving.
Lots of big houses along the way; I shot only a few. So much money down here. Nobody "needs" such a big house. Many are empty, maintained to impress ones friends and colleagues when one chooses to visit Florida.
We dropped the hook in Lake Boca at 1:30 pm and after lowering the dink, got to a dock on the west side of the ICW, just south of the Palmetto Park Bridge, by 3:15. There Kathryn met us by car, took us shopping and then to her and Craigs beautiful home in Boca Lago, another of those gated communities for those 55-and-over that abound in this region. A great home cooked meal, lots of sailing talk. Craig is so handy; he can fix anything on a boat and renovated their house by himself, carpentry, plastering, plumbing, electrical, tile work, electronics and painting. And they play a mean piano and are superb racers. Another thing: we are so ungrateful; for months we were complaining about the weather, too cold, too rainy, too windy, etc. But having enjoyed several week of ideal weather with nothing but more of the same in the forecast for the next week, we forget to give thanks and express our gratitude. or even to mention it. And I have finally found a good home for "The Lighthouse Robinsons", reviewed in this blog, which was a gift from Judy. Kathy and Craig are not only sailors, but of Scottish ancestry, so Im sure they will enjoy the book. I would say we enjoyed a quiet night aboard and this is true as far as the wind was concerned, but false in that someone partied very loudly until 3:30 am, a drunken screaming woman disturbing the peace. The first episode of this on this trip.
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