In Lake Worth, North Palm Beach
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Mon 12 Dec 2016 14:59
Lake Worth anchorage 26:50.25N, 080:03.18W
We spent one night in Peck Lake before tackling the seven bridges in the
eighteen mile stretch of ICW between Peck Lake and Lake Worth. The first three
of these are on request but then you encounter three timed bridges which open
half an hour after each other with around three miles between them then a final
bridge on the 3/4 hour! If fighting an adverse current slower craft often
miss the half hour openings and have to crawl along so as not to end up too
early at the bridge for the subsequent opening. If you are too early at the
bridge you can be pushed all over the place by wind and current conflicts.
That’s not much fun so we endevour to make the required speed and give the
engines a good thrashing in the process. Basically you have to be mindful of
these timings or else in certain conditions life becomes tricky at best and
downright horrible at worst.
We are now in ‘bandit’ country and our sleep was interrupted in the early
hours by two police helicopters h flying around the anchorage which was then
joined by two fast police launches. If the rotor noise hadn’t woken us then the
wake from the speeding boats would probably have done the trick. Then a third
boat arrived with it’s bright blue lights flashing. By daylight the choppers had
gone and the three police boats sped out of the large anchorage which is
surrounded by condos and upmarket houses that sprawl along the waterfront. Now
what was that all about we wonder.
We have a two day weather window to cross over to the Bahamas in the
Tuesday/Wednesday timeframe so all being well we’ll go for that slot and see
where it takes us. Another strong cold front is due Thursday/Friday, depending
on how far south you are in the area.
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