Saturday - Tuesday, Mar. 31 – Apr. 2
It was a short trip from Boynton Harbor Marina to Old Port Cove Marina in North Palm Beach – only 21 miles in three hours with six bridges. We had to pass by a security area near the President’s place at Mar-a-Lago since he was in the area. The US Coast Guard maintains a security zone on the ICW using their patrol boats with manned machine-guns on the bow and 4 armed crewmen on board. There are two boats on patrol, one to intercept someone that might stray from the channel and another to be the next line of defense. We also heard that there is a Navy submarine offshore when the President is here to monitor any potential threats from the ocean side. We saw a similar line of security while touring the area by car with Andy and Liz a couple days earlier. Beyond the security zone, we passed by a couple more USCG boats that were not yet on duty (machine guns were not manned and they were not wearing their helmets yet) and they seemed quite friendly, even waving back to us.
The marina at Old Port Cove was only about a mile from Andy & Liz’s place. Tiger Woods normally keeps his yacht at this marina, but it was out-and-about someplace else during our stay. Andy and Liz again treated us to fun-filled day, this time on their boat! They have a wonderful Grady White boat that they keep at a nearby marina. This boat will go really fast compared to our operating speed. They picked us up at our marina and took us for a tour of the water side of the beautiful homes then to Peanut Island for a walk around the small island and a picnic lunch. Bo quickly found a new place of comfort on their boat to enjoy the fast ride (see photo). We can’t thank Andy and Liz enough for all of their hospitality while we were in their area – truly wonderful friends!
The only negative since reaching Boynton Beach has been the emergence of Sue’s no-see-ums allergy! After a few days she had up to 40 bites, but some were from something we’ll call “see-ums” – a tiny dot of a black bug that she felt bite her and saw it, killed it, yet the itching and bumps didn’t come out until the next day, just like no-see-ums, though she doesn’t see or feel thosewhen they bite her. Her usual prescription cream, plus Benadryl (same stuff we give to Bo for rough water) made the next 3 days tolerable. She has started to douse herself in Deet again before heading onto land – it’s the only thing that stops the bites!
Onward north …