Sunrise Bay to North Lake Worth; Ft. Lauderdale to Palm Beach
42.5 NM 8 hours, 15 minutes
Today’s journey was from Sunset Basin near Ft. Lauderdale to Lake Worth-North. We left 30 minutes ahead of Steve and Susie for a fuel stop. One of the pleasant surprises of this trip has been the fuel economy of our slow boat. The bonus (bad economy usually means cheaper fuel) has been the drastic reduction in the fuel prices. After paying over $5.00/gallon (only once) in Canada last summer for diesel, I happily paid $1.94 today. They threw in all the ice I needed and topped off our water tank. As we pulled out of the fuel dock, Steve and Susie drove by, timing our rendezvous perfectly.
We continued our gawking at the real estate, wondering how can so many people make so much money and all congregate in one area. Often, we would say, “Surely, that’s a hotel.” But each time the structure was a single family dwelling. For entertainment, we’d pull up a real estate web site and check out a house. For example, one we liked was $6.65 million. But the pool was just too small, so we decided not to make an offer. Our favorite sign said, “Now reduced to $4,995,000.00.” We passed through Boca Raton, which drips with wealth. The places are immaculate. We passed the Boca Raton Resort where Amanda and I attended a fire sprinkler convention on my 50th birthday. We stayed in the tower overlooking the lake, enjoyed great times with friends from the industry, and made lots of memories. It was fun seeing it from the water side.
It would be fun to bring the boat here in the Boca Raton Resort. I need a good surge in the stock market first. 
Lake Boca Raton was commercial on this side and private residences on the other. The homes don’t look that much different than the resort hotels.
Bridge construction 
The trellis raises to 65′ at mid tide. 
The 63′ mast on this sail cat cleared the bridge span by about 1 foot. Unfortunately, the other sail cat behind him had a 65′ mast and had to turn around, leave the ICW, and go into the Atlantic to continue northbound. 
One of the newest bridges we saw. 
The Palm Beach Yacht Club in the foreground. Pretty sure that’s a hotel in the background, not another private residence. 
Our anchorage in North Lake Worth, Palm Beach. I couldn’t get the light right to show it, but the boat with all the lights was named Honey. Sa-weet, indeed. 
Lightning in the background toward the ocean; Steve’s boat in the foreground. The lightning stayed in the Atlantic this night.
Lake Worth North was a pretty anchorage. We did get our late afternoon thunderstorm, but we can’t hold that against the anchorage. The storms are becoming quite the norm.
The anchorage, we learned later, is the neighborhood of Jack Nicolas’ home. Wished we had known before we left. I’d have called The Bear and asked him over for supper. Rumor has it Tiger Woods’ home is here, too. Too bad we missed it.
Steve and Susie came over for dinner. I threw the dinghy in the water, picked them up, and we enjoyed orzo salad, grilled chicken, asparagus, and for dessert, Blue Belle ice cream with Amanda’s famous homemade chocolate sauce. After the sugar buzz wore off, I slept really well.
