Lantana, West Palm and Ft Lauderdale, Jan 25th to Feb 3rd

Thanks for you patience for this very delayed post!!!

We left the slip at Loggerhead Marina in Lantana and timed four bridge openings perfectly, then anchored at Lake Worth ( West Palm) where we would patiently (or in the Admiral’s case, impatiently) wait over a week for good weather to sail south and position ourselves to cross to the Bahamas. While there we met up with Greg and Luba on Rhapsody and dinghy’d to Rybovich Yacht Marina North to visit with Mark and Cathy on Nancy Lu. Both these couples we met and enjoyed their company at Brunswick, GA. We enjoyed Lunch with them and accomplished several on shore tasks like reprovisioning , etc. We also enjoyed a couple of luncheons at the very lavish facilities at Rybovich South. Including Pool, hot tub, gym, 10 foot round fire pit, etc , etc. While there we walked the docks and “awed”many Megayachts, spoke with several Crew members, and Nina even got us an invitation to board and tour Honeyfitz, the Presidential Yacht up to the Kennedy Administration. We also visited the Immigration office nearby for our LBO certificate… a painful process! (Having our LBO will allow us to call customs upon our return to the states without having to make a personal appearance at the office.) We filled our empty Propane tank,……..complicated by the fact that our tank certification had expired. But this was easily rectified. We had an opportunity to enjoy a few hours at the beach on Peanut Is., followed by a Curry Chicken dinner and lovely evening aboard Dolphin catching up with good friends Sally & Frank Graves, s/v Ciao
who drove down from Stuart, Fl.

Getting antsy with the wait we decided to take advantage of a NE breeze to head further south to Ft Lauderdale to take for a better position to ” Cross”. We weighed anchor and as we motored out the Inlet we met face to face with 3Tugs coming in the narrow inlet towing dredging pipes into the area. Soon after squeezing past the Tugs we were comfortably sailing on the outside towards Ft Lauderdale, passing many Flying Fish!!!!

Prior to entering Port Everglades we experienced starter problems ! With short time and rolling seas we did not have time to replace the starter, so the Capt used a screw driver to jump the starter winding, with the engine running we were good to enter! Soon we passed closely by 5 Cruise ships boarding new passengers for an evening departure, and waited a short time for the 17th St Bridge to open. We docked at Los Olas Marina for the night. we arrived just in time to receive Sue, our experienced first Mate. We called her on Friday morning when we learned good weather for a crossing was eminent… By Saturday afternoon she had cleared her schedule, scheduled a one way flight and arrived to board Dolphin! Her return flight was yet to be determined. After a Welcome cocktail went out for a great dinner at Bubba Gumps and walked the “Strip” along the Beach.
With all the interesting people watching experiences, we did some shopping, and listened to some great sidewalk musicians, had some frozen yogurt, then back to Dolphin for cocktails and some relaxation. The next day we took a trolley and reprovisioned, yes again, (beer, wine and food ). The Captain worked on getting the “starter problem” fixed and we were wondering where we were going to watch the Super Bowl Game ! That decision was made easy for us as we were invited onboard the 110 ft Mega yacht, Picosa Lady, for the Game and dinner ! She was 2 slips away from us. Thanks Capt Nick and Super Chef Kelley !! Kelley served mouthwatering pulled pork sandwiches, hot wings and a fabulous salad chocked full of vegetables included kale. It was a delightful evening meeting their friends, Capt John and his first mate Lise, and other Crew members and first mates from nearby stationed Megayachts ! It was an exciting Game with relaxed and interesting people.

We now waited for a good weather window to leave to cross to Bimini. That window opened the next evening, we planned to leave at Midnite !

“Privacy” Tiger Woods yacht. Rumor has it that the name of the boat is covered with canvas when she comes into a dock so no one will know who it is.

Honey Fitz still carries the Presidential Seal but is now privately owned and chartered out for small dinner cruises up and down the InterCoastal. The current owner enclosed what was once an open aft deck to allow for more dining space. They did a great job maintaining the look of the boat but too bad they had to modify it!