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.
 
End