The cruise from Palm Beach to Lauderdale presents a choice: either an outside (ocean) run from Lake Worth Inlet and a straightforward run down the coast to Port Everglades Inlet at Ft Lauderdale, or an inside ICW route that is protected and scenic, but requires running a gauntlet of bridges, 17 of which must be raised. Most of the bridges are on restricted schedules, so arrivals must be timed to each bridge’s scheduled opening. Since many of the legs between bridges are distances that are too great to transit in the time required to arrive at the scheduled opening, we must either travel at an idle or loiter at the bridge to kill the time until the next opening. So provided conditions outside are acceptable, the 5 hour run in the ocean is much easier. As we approached Lake Worth Inlet, conditions appeared OK, and forecasts were for seas 2-4 ft. with a 7 second dominant period, winds out of the NE, so we anticipated a relatively smooth ride, and decided to take the outside route.
Conditions were fine for crew, not so much for our guests. The 7 second period was accompanied by some wind chop that added some roll, and winds clocked more to the east, adding more roll. Poor Jim was a bit green about the gills, but kept his breakfast down, and toughed it out for the trip. Unfortunate for his last day aboard. Stabilizers helped considerably, but not enough to ease Jim’s discomfort. Fishing can be a good diversion of focus to ease the quease, so we set out some lines, but no help for the big guy. Several miles off the Port Everglades inlet, one reel started singing, and we landed a 24″ amberjack. Jim spent a short time in the cockpit to join the excitement, but soon returned to his comfort zone on the foredeck! The jack hit hard and put up a good fight, a fun fish, but not so good eating, so he was granted a stay, returned to the deep! We arrived in the inlet, and Jim’s color returned as the motion settled and we made our way up the river through Lauderdale, the mega-yachts, and arrived at our destination at Coral Ridge Yacht Club shortly after 1530. Despite the discomfort, Sue & Jim enjoyed the cruise- or so they said!
We got settled into our slip, were greeted by Joyce, and our guests gathered their gear to get ready to head to their hotel and their meetings on Friday evening and Saturday. It was great having them aboard, we hope we were able to provide them with a taste of the cruising life that was memorable and fun. We were sad to see them go, but glad to have had the company for the few days they spent aboard.
Barb’s (3rd?) cousin Janie and husband Bill met us later as they arrived at the club for a dinner, and were very gracious to leave a car behind for our use for a few days. The car was also filled with packages we had sent ahead. Janie is our receiving depot! We spent Saturday running around restocking and provisioning; having a car is a wonderful luxury! We made plans to join Chris and Joyce for dinner and a Rod Stewart impersonator show at the club Saturday, it was great fun, and wonderful to catch up. Dinner Sunday at Florida Seafood with Jane and Bill, a wonderful dinner with some of the best seafood Ft. Lauderdale has to offer. We’re blessed to have friends here!
