There's no recession here

January 10-16

Two  cottages along the ICW between Delray Beach and Boca Raton, Florida.

There are few “houses” along the ICW from Palm Beach, south. They are mansions, villas, castles and estates that are such orchidaceous behemoths they put some hotels and museums to shame. The yachts at their docks often are equal in size to the homes. 

Even though it was a beautiful, warm Sunday afternoon, few people were outside. We figured they were either working 24-7 to pay for the bungalows or were out west skiing.  

Leaving Vero (aka “Velcro”) Beach after eight days was like leaving home. We had met a lot of great folks, some of whom we hope to see in the Bahamas, depending on who leaves when and which Bahamian islands they’re heading to.

We had our first en route get-together on our boat in Vero (or “Zero Beach,” as Linda Lane said the county folks call the area, deriding their big city cousins.) Bob and Nancy Anderson from Puffin, Gail and Gene Knight from Nightingale, and Gayle and John Crowley from Sirens Call joined us for a couple of hours of cocktails and -- what else -- boat talk. It’s fascinating to learn where everyone is from, where they’re headed and where they’ve been. The Andersons hail from Vermont and keep their boat in Maine. The Knights are from Ohio. 

John Crowley built his 50-foot boat over five years in their Port Townsend, Washington, driveway, sold their home and they've been cruising for the past two and a half years. And cruising.

They’ve been to Alaska, the coast of California, Mexico, Central America, the Panama Canal and Florida, with Bahamas as their destination for the winter. Gayle, when asked which countries they had visited: “Well, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, and Honduras (I think that's all of them...) Also, all over Pacific Mexico and Cancun.” In the summer they’ll point Sirens Call north to Maine. Next year? They plan to cross the Atlantic to Gibraltar.

Gayle, whose parents live in Rocky Mount, N.C., talks a mile a minute and everything she says is fascinating. She figures (conservatively) that she has 160 pairs of shoes on board and multiple sets of dishes (my kind of gal). She said something about returning an item to Macy’s because she knew it was going to be discounted the following week. She’s such a skillful shopper that her husband (who is as quiet as she is loquacious) calls it Gayle’s “catch and release.” 

He also allowed that Gayle is a home wrecker because she puts other boat cooks to shame. An example: she makes homemade ravioli onboard. To get the crab to stuff the ravioli, Gayle got a crabbing license and caught her own crabs. She bakes her own bread and makes her own desserts. We were the recipients of her largesse -- yummy homemade peanut butter balls (“They melt in your mouth,” Gayle said) and homemade caramel and chocolate turtles. 

After leaving Vero Beach, we motored 35 miles to Loggerhead Marina in Stuart. Pam Loving, whom we met at the Krogen Rendezvous last fall and saw again when they were in Edenton by boat, was waiting at the dock when we pulled in. Pam and John, who also have a 42 Krogen, graciously let us use their car for two days -- we ran errands (oil to change the motor and generator, a new XM radio for the Garmin that covers the Bahamas, extra belts for the engine and nearly $400 worth of canned and dried goods for the trip, or enough to have in the event of war, whichever comes first.) Pam also treated us to a great dinner on their boat, Compass Rose, on a chilly night. 

John took us to the weekly Krogenite breakfast on Thursday where we met or renewed acquaintances with more than a dozen other Krogen owners and talked about boats. Get togethers with any boaters, of course, are wonderful because we pick up so many tips. Thanks John and Pam!

We headed out first thing Saturday morning. Destination: Boca Raton. The windlass, however, had a mind of its own so as we were motoring, Philip noticed a West Marine on the GPS and within minutes, he had called the store to see if they had a new switch for the windlass and had pulled alongside a pier at the E&H Boatworks in Palm Beach Gardens on a narrow stretch of the ICW. It’s amazing how deftly (and quickly) he can maneuver into a slip, at a mooring or an anchorage. He makes it look easy.

Philip telephoned the boat yard. Would it be OK to leave Epilogue there while he got a taxi to West Marine?

“Oh no, I’ll take you over there,” said Chris Hodge, a weathered 58-year-old whose mother owns the boatworks and two other boat facilities. 

We talked briefly at the dock with Jim Harlan. He was unloading his trawler, “Slip Away,” from Jupiter, Fla., to go to his mother’s house. She had died a couple of weeks earlier at the age of 90.

“It was time,” she told him. Jim said he’s a true Floridian -- his grandmother moved from Alabama to Florida in the 1800s. He doesn’t know why. “Now I’ll never know,” he said.

That afternoon we anchored out just past the bridge, south of Lantana. It was a dinghy’s ride to the Old Key Lime House, billed as Florida’s oldest waterfront restaurant. The original dates to 1889. A lot has changed since then. Today’s open-air restaurant (and its multiple bars) has no fewer than a dozen TVs, including one worthy of a drive-in movie. All were tuned to the Steelers-Ravens game. “No one’s from Florida,” said one fan, explaining why the patrons were nosily cheering on either Pittsburgh or Baltimore.

Tonight we’re docked at Lake Boca Raton -- really a cove --off the ICW surrounded by high-rises and the Boca Raton Resort and Club. (Literal translation of Boca Raton: Mouse Mouth.)

The fun part about being here is that there’s a city cam and we could see our boat and the scores of others that flocked here on a warm (80s) sunny Sunday afternoon to party, sunbathe and mostly to be seen. Ego Alley is a better name for it as high-speed boats with big engines and loud radios strutted their stuff. Thankfully, most left at sunset. A nearly full moon and lights from the high rises illuminate our fish bowl and it’s quiet.