Key West: June 4

 

At 5:20 am, I awoke to the soothing sound of rain drumming on the deck above and a gentle sway as Cattitude rolled in the mild wind of a developing tropical storm. No one would be traveling today. I was almost happy because it meant we could sleep in late. Like 6:00 am or something crazy!

But before I could go back to sleep, the high water alarm sounded and Debbie sprang out of bed. I could not spring because I was experiencing my own high water alarm since I hadn’t peed yet. 

The incessant rain had breached the port engine hatch and water had collected in the bilge. A shitty float switch or back flow valve caused it to sound sporadically. All. F-ing. Day. 

The thought of sitting out another travel day weighed heavily on Debbie. We have a schedule, dammit. She watched the weather, called ahead to marinas and finally decided we’d make a run for it since it appeared the rain would lift by the time we got to Ft. Lauderdale.

We took advantage of free pump out at Lake Park Marina before tossing the dock lines at 11:00 am. 

For the most part, we were the only boat on the ICW! Most other people are sitting out the rain apparently. This was the best thing ever for us to make good time through an otherwise congested area.

The yachts and houses in Palm Beach were unbelievable as we sped past at a blistering  10 mph. Each one was more fabulous than the previous one.

This house had an upstairs swimming pool with a glass exterior wall. Another place had a giant waterfall slide rock formation. This whole trip can make you feel poor and tiny.

Although we only had 48 miles to travel, there are 21 bridges (6 of which had to open) and many no wake zones en route to Ft. Lauderdale that take an inordinate amount of time. Normally we would attempt to go offshore for this portion of the trip. But the wind grew stronger as we headed south.  

The rain stopped around Delray Beach and the sun came out. We arrived seven hours later in Ft. Lauderdale. Cracking a beer at almost 7 pm! And that damn alarm has stopped… for now!