Lake Worth, FL

[Kevin's Post]We left Ft. Pierce yesterday morning and decided to go out the inlet and head down to Lake Worth on the outside to avoid the bridges and the weekend boater traffic on the ICW. So we knocked out the whole distance in one day. The wind was pretty much due south so we had to motor the whole way with the wind and waves coming straight at us. It wasn't too bad, we arrived about an hour before sunset.

Today we are taking care of some last minute tasks including fueling up the boat. Normally we would avoid going to a fuel dock on a weekend, but today we had no choice. The boat traffic here in Lake Worth is incredible and it is a nightmare trying to maneuver a big slow boat with a zillion small fishing boats zipping around like flys. Imagine trying to pull into a gas station, if the gas station were located in the median of I-10. We make our first pass with all our fenders on the opposite side of the boat from the dock. We were planning to turn around so our bow would be into the wind when we dock. No dice. There are half a dozen boats right behind me so I can't turn around. I try to turn into the marina past the fuel dock to let the boats go by, intending to back out and slide up to the fuel dock. But, it takes too long for the boats to go by and I can't hold our position with the wind and current. The current grabs us and pushes us sideways pinning us against a piling at the bow and the end of the fuel dock at the stern. Fortunately the slip that we were pinned in front of was empty and our rub rail protected us from any damage from the piling. After the boats went by, I was able to pivot the stern away from the dock and back out. No harm done. I tell Amanda to move all the fenders to the other side of the boat since the current was stronger than the wind and coming from the opposite direction. We set up for another pass. This time a small fishing boat sneaks in ahead of me. We set up for a third pass. This time we actually get tied up (with great difficulty since it was the dock hands second day and he didn't know how to tie up a boat). Of course from his perspective, he's probably thinking I don't know how to drive a boat. Anyway, we filled the tank and 5 jerry cans and filled the outboard tank too. $260. Ouch, but it's cheapest fuel we'll see for a while.

We're planning to leave tomorrow morning by 4AM and head for Lucaya on Grand Bahama, a distance of about 80nm. This is the same route we took last year and it took just under 12 hours. Hopefully we can make even better time this year since the wind will be out of the south. If we can't make it to Lucaya before dark, we will divert to West End.

Where we are:
Location=Lake Worth, FL
Lat=26 45.557
Lon=80 02.663