Keeping up with the Joneses'-- statues by the pool

January 17-20

Cruising along the ICW from say, Stuart to Miami, the houses are bigger, the boats are bigger and the outdoor statues by the pools are bigger than the next guy’s.

This is a congested, over-populated area along a stretch of fairly narrow water that’s awash with all manner of trash and bobbing coconuts. Even though the houses are within a few feet of one another, they’re in the $15 million range. It’s conspicuous consumption at its best. Some of the architecture is stunning; others tasteless. Some of the outdoor art is worthy of any museum. Others, ah, not so much. And, yes, there are a lot of “for sale” signs in front of many of the McMansions and McYachts.

We made the quick trip from Lake Boca Raton to Pompano Beach and anchored out in Lake Santa Barbara for several days. Philip and I celebrated my birthday on Monday with lunch at the Cove in Delray Beach and had a lovely dinner that evening at the home of Philip’s friends in Pompano. Jim Ellis is the former president of BoatUS and succeeded Philip as chairman of the American Boat & Yacht Council. Jim’s wife, Lori, is a consultant and a fantastic cook. When they’re not in Pompano, they’re at their home outside of Annapolis or on their Fleming 55, Seaworthy. Like the Lovings in Stuart, they kindly loaned us their car for a grocery store run (this time for fresh food), a hair appointment and, of course, the required stops at West Marine.

Our plans also have changed.

Instead of heading immediately to the Bahamas, we’ve decided to first spend a month in Marathon in the Keys. Philip thought that waiting until later for more settled weather made more sense. So we’ll likely cross over to the islands at the end of February when the winds and weather normally have improved. 

Before leaving Pompano on our way to the Keys, Philip pored over the wires he had nicked KO’ing the radar while installing the XM weather satellite service. His goal was to teach himself to solder and repair the wires. Success! He was one happy guy and Epilogue is now radar ready.

We’ve had the first luscious taste of warm weather this week. Today, we went on the “outside” in the ocean, which was amazingly dead calm and the color of turquoise. We(and a dozen other boats) are anchored out tonight in a protected state park south of Miami called ”No Name Harbor.” We saw our first manatee and relaxed on the flybridge after a not-so-hard day with a margarita and homemade guacamole. Life is good.