Lee and Peter Sailing Trip was for Four not Two Years. Now an Italian adventure

We are in Palm Beach waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

When I (Peter) was young the Gulf Stream was this thing from a far off land that flowed to The British Isles and kept us warm. As I got older it became a massive current crossing the Atlantic allowing Palm Trees to grow in the North of Scotland. Recently it became large eddies meandering across the Atlantic often going backwards to catch unwary sailors.

Now it is a river between Florida and The Bahamas over 15 miles wide going North at about 4 miles per hour! It has waves that can be very high and steep. It is important to have the right conditions of wind and waves. So we and many other boats are waiting for the right conditions. People tell us you can see the Gulf Stream, the sea changes color and the temperature jumps 5°.

There is a lot to do to leave America in addition to the food provisions. We need guide books, Peter is applying for pensions in US and UK. A years supply of medicines. There is a US customs decal to apply for that makes it simpler to get your boat back into the US. Check out the boat since parts are expensive in The Bahamas.

Peter went up the Mast to fix the Halyard. I safety belayed him with line from the top of the Mast.  We could have got a help from people, but Peter wanted to do it by ourselves in case we need to fix in the middle of ocean.

We went to Palm Beach Sightseeing with “Wet Wings” (George and Maryann). They are from Canada and leave the boat in Jacksonville, Florida. Everywhere we go, Mariann is really busy to take photographs. She loves the Gardens and trees. The sculpture garden in Palm Beach is wonderful.

 

The Next day we all together went to a Movie “The Revenant”. It was pouring with rain so had to wait for a break to ride the dinghy to the shore. Even then we got wet, luckily it was not cold. After the movie we heard on the phone that their son Bert got two fish. He went fishing while we were at the movie. So we all went to their Boat and cooked dinner with the fish.

Maryann cooked the fish. It was delicious and of course so fresh. Since she is from Germany, she had home made cake made with molasses and special Mints from Germany both were delicious.

Jettie, from the catamaran Dutches was kind enough to take us to Fort Lauderdale in a car she has here. We went to a second hand Marine store, got Acrylic Sheet for our remaining windows, Korean groceries and had a lovely Korean lunch. A great day out.