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10 April 2017

Land Ho! | Stretching Our Legs At Peck Lake

Sunrise at Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge

"We haven't been off of this boat in a week," I said as I did a few knee lunges and leg raises. "It's time to get out of here and find ourselves a place we can stretch our legs."

{There's a  big, fat lie in the paragraph above. Can you spot it? Yeah, I certainly wasn't doing anything remotely related to exercise when I mentioned needing to get off of the boat. The more likely scenario was that I was lounging on the settee eating chocolate at the time.}

After doing the splits and a backwards somersault, I added, "Besides, Trump is coming into town tomorrow and we have to get out of there because I think this anchorage is part of the security zones the Coast Guard sets up in West Palm Beach when he's at the winter white house."

Scott looked up from his Kindle and stared at me. I think he was amazed by my flexibility and ability to do gymnastic routines in such a small space.

{Time for another aside. Scott has completely brainwashed me into calling my Kindle his Kindle. He seems to have taken a liking to it and when I'm sleeping I think he plays a tape recording which has subliminal messages along the lines of, The Kindle belongs to Scott. It's his Kindle. You don't have a Kindle. You'd rather read paperback books than use a Kindle.}

"Yeah, you're right," he said as he closed up his Kindle and set it on the table. "Let's head up to North Lake Worth. Rumor has it that there's a spot you can land your dinghy at and walk into town in search of the Publix grocery store. We could probably use some more fresh fruit and vegies."

{Spot the lie there? What Scott really meant by "fresh fruit and vegies" was tonic water.}

"Okay, let's do it. Pull the anchor up and I'll expertly maneuver us around all of these super expensive powerboats in the anchorage without a care in the world."

{And the final lie...I was a bit panicked that I might hit one of the super expensive powerboats and made us wait for a while until some of them cleared out.}

****

If you saw our previous post about the shortest cruise ever to the Bahamas, then you'll know that we're slowly making our way back to Indiantown Marina to haul out and deal with a few issues. We're not in a huge rush. We're happy to procrastinate boat projects for a while yet and enjoy a mini-cruise while we can.

We spent one night in North Lake Worth. It's a nice anchorage, but doesn't have the same appeal as where we had been anchored in West Palm Beach (small anchorage, well protected, great city view). We had gone there in hopes of going onshore, finding the nearest Publix and getting some fresh vegies and fruit. But the public docks were closed due to the Palm Beach Boat Show, so we had to rely on cookies, pretzels and beer for nutrition instead.

On our way to North Lake Worth, we checked out the big boats. You don't want to mess with these guys.



This one reminds me of when we got married 25 years ago in Copenhagen or København as it's spelled in Danish.


We have friends who've taken this cruise ship over to the Bahamas.


The Coast Guard out doing their thing, which fortunately didn't involve doing a training exercise and boarding our boat. Did you know that the Coast Guard can board any US flagged boat at any time, anywhere in the world without probable cause? I think the Coast Guard are awesome - they protect our borders and conduct search and rescue operations, but the fact that they can bypass the 4th Amendment perplexes me. {If you want to know more about the history behind this, I did a blog post about it a while back which you can find here.}


Fancy apartment buildings, condos and houses at our anchorage in North Lake Worth.


More super expensive homes on our way to Peck Lake.


And finally, anchored in Peck Lake and stretching our legs after a week on board.



Cruising Log | Thursday, 16 March 2017 - Monday, 20 March 2017

16 MARCH
Lots of powerboats staging for the Palm Beach Boat Show. Anchor up 12:30 PM. Anchor down 2:45 PM in North Lake Worth. Loud spring break party going on in house on shore. Nautical Miles = 8. Engine =  2 hrs 15 mins. Spending = Nil.

17 MARCH
Anchor up 8:15 AM. Briefly grounded coming out of North Lake Worth. The usual nonsense trying to make the bridge openings. Some bridge operators are fun - one sang "I love a parade" as three sailboats went under the bridge. Anchor down at Peck Lake at 12:45 PM. Some boats like to anchor really close. Went for a walk. Big wakes while off the boat. Stuff everywhere when we came back. Nautical Miles = 19. Engine = 4 hrs 30 mins. Spending = Nil.

18 MARCH
More walks. Much lazing about. Our dinghy may have a leak. {Sigh} Nautical Miles = Nil. Engine =  Nil. Spending = Nil.

19 MARCH 
More walks. Lazed about. Baked yummy treats to counteract calorie loss from walking. Very gusty overnight. Nautical Miles = Nil. Engine =  Nil. Spending = Nil.

20 MARCH
Much quieter anchorage during the week. Solar controller still acting up. The disarray with our solar array continues. Nautical Miles = Nil. Engine =  Nil. Spending = Nil.

Could you stay on a boat for seven days without going onshore? What's the longest you've ever been housebound or boatbound?

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25 comments:

  1. LOL I have a hard time staying in my house for two days straight. Hope the beer and pretzels were tasty.

    I grew up in Oregon where the Coast Guard was treasured.

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    1. The Coast Guard are amazing and definitely should be treasured. We lived in Portland for five or so years and loved it. Oregon is such a beautiful state.

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  2. No, I think we'd all kill each other at the end of 7 days. I think I would have a freak out even before Hastings!

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    1. That's too funny :-) Hastings probably wouldn't care as long as you kept feeding him cheese.

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  3. I love your asides!
    I've only been on board a sailboat for two days and I was longing to get off - a dinghy ride to the nearest tiny island in the San Juans - before getting back on for another day. (Really, I was sadly that impatient, but I was 20 and more active then.)
    This year, I've been more housebound than I've ever been in my life with health issues. I think the longest now is three weeks - literally, in the house, not even going out to the deck. It was worse because we had 72 days in a row with rain (of some kind) and cloud cover - which is a record even for where I live (just 45 minutes south and slightly west of Seattle on the peninsula).

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    1. I think being housebound do to health issues would be so difficult. I hope things are going better for you and that your health is improving.

      We used to live in Portland so I definitely understand about the continual rain. It can be quite a downer after a while.

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  4. The longest we've ever been boat bound was 10 days, I think, and many of them were cold and rainy. By the time we found land we could access, I was a little insane. Had we been actually sailing, I think I would have been ok because when you are moving there is always something to do. I worry about all the chocolate and lack of leg lifts and how that is going to translate in terms of my clothes fitting me. I used to have a portable stepper on board and I did use it a few times. But it takes up a lot of valuable real estate. I'll have to find a better way.

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    1. I know people manage to do yoga and all sorts of exercise on their boats, but I just can't seem to be bothered to figure out a routine that works for me. I find the solution is to just wear yoga pants which conveniently stretch to accommodate all of the cookies I eat.

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  5. I think I'd go stir crazy! Super impressed at your exercise regime though. Those chocolate chip cookies can be heavy to lift........

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    1. They're very heavy to lift especially if you put a lot of chocolate chips in them ;-)

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  6. Yes, I can stay on a boat for more that 7 days and I have. I just need food and alcohol. Just saying.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  7. With dogs onboard, it would be impossible to stay longer than a day onboard without getting off. Without dogs, say when it is rainy out, I could last a day of three, probably. Nice to relax once in a while! We had the US Coast Guard board our boat once in Florida, to check our holding tank and once in Puerto Rico to make sure we were legitimate. Other Coast Guards that entered Irie were the Venezuelan one and the French one in French Polynesia.

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    1. Having dogs would definitely change things. It must be a pain at times to have to go to shore for the dogs when the weather is bad.

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    2. We have had to deal with muddy paws and lots of wetness at times, but it was worth it! :-)

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  8. Looks idyllic. The sunrise picture is awesome. The opening of your post was very entertaining. I would clear out if Trump was coming too - hopefully, he won't have time to be back in Scotland for a while and moan about offshore wind farms near his precious golf courses!

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    1. It is such a lovely place - definitely idyllic. Trump certainly has ticked some Scots off with his golf course. Love them or hate the, wind farms are a big part of energy generation in Scotland.

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  9. I couldn't be cooped up on a boat, though I had lived on ours for a short time. In metro Detroit we have easy access to lakes and rivers so you are never far from a port. Cruising on the St. Clair River I would get a little concerned when the big freighters would come by. They produce quite a wake even at slow speeds.

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    1. The wake is the worse. One minute everything is calm on board, the next you're rocking side to side.

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  10. Actually these days any law enforcement agency can board your boat any time they please. Only difference is that the Coast Guard doesn't have to answer for it later, while the other groups might, if you can afford a good enough lawyer!
    Time to throw away that solar controller and get a new one - it's got a hex on it!

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    1. Sadly that's probably so true about anyone being able to board you without probable cause :-(

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  11. Sadly, yes. Most of the places we cruise are so remote that there isn't good shore access. And then, of course, there's the concern for bears and cougars. We can actually go weeks before stepping on land, but we go kayaking whenever it's not raining.

    Stephanie @ SV CAMBRIA

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    1. The thought of bears and cougars would keep me on board too :-)

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  12. Reading this made me want to stretch my legs! I'd definitely need some land time. There were huge boats coming up in the river through town when we were in Savannah. It was astounding to me that they could fit up the river.

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    1. The pilots of those boats are amazing, especially how they get such big ships through tiny places.

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