Days 52, 53, and 54 Sailng

Pennykamp is a Florida State park with lots of amenities: camping, museum, aquarium, beach, boats for snorkel trips, a dive shop and  dive boats. The boat camping is on hold because they are repairing the docks. The mooring balls are available but their erroneous website lists the mooring balls as unavailable until September. I kept calling the dive shop until I got a real person on the line to make an inquiry. Tenacity is the key to succeeding in life! Consequently we were the only boat on a mooring ball in the park.  The dive shop folks set us up with a dive to the 40 ' deep wreck of the Benwood, a WWII ship. It had a collision with another ship. The captain was running with their lights off and in quiet mode because German U-boats were rumored to be in the area. Poor sailors The second dive was Molasses Reef where we swam through coral arches. 

We left Pennykamp with fond memories at daybreak so to make 60 NM to Fort Lauderdale before sunset. It was time to leave the Keys and head home. But the blue water sailing was such a joy, heading north was a delight, too. 

Polo on the Beach with big screen for yachts

More catamarans

Other sailboats, too

Lake Sylvia, Ft. Lauderdale

We left Ft Lauderdale and Lake Sylvia 2 days later after provisioning. My favorite chocolate shop was closed due to the flooding damage the occurred in Fort Lauderdale several weeks earlier. They were inside shoveling up the flooring. 

It was a really rough day motoring 40 NM to Lake Worth (West Palm Beach). We averaged 6 kts but the 3' waves were from the East which make our ride in the catamaran to the North bouncy. 

The highlight of the day was the dolphins swimming with us in the gorgeous aquamarine water. We were both so tired. But cruising on Katmandu has all the comforts of home: hot showers, hot cooked meals, LED lighting for reading, ice from the freezer for soft drinks and memory foam for sleeping. Really roughing it? Knot!

After drinking coffee and reading the daily news, we raised the sails and left the anchorage then headed out the short Palm Beach inlet for Fort Pierce . A side note is that we have only stayed in one marina for the last 50 some days! It was a Gorgeous day to be blue water sailing! Following seas and fresh Southernly breezes.

We sailed into Fort Pierce about 4:00 PM. We picked a spot behind a little island along with a few other boats. We put out about 35' of chain. About an hour later a very violent storm hit. The anchor did not hold. Ben jumped on the throttle and pushed it high to keep Katmandu heading with as many RPMs against the wind as necessary. We saw that the beach and an old wrecked boat were within 5 ft. of Katmandu's stern at one instance. For 30 long minutes, we held our own against the fury of the wind. After the storm, 2 of the boats next to us were aground on the island. Soon a couple in a dinghy came over to ask us if we were ok. They were going over to help their friends on the other boats. They said the winds were clocked at 60+ knots! 

Storm approaching at Fort Peirce

                    Dive boat at Pennykamp