Vero Beach to Lake Worth Florida

 Today we had another very pleasant day on the water. While there were a few squalls off of Ft. Pierce on a parallel course they never really came down on us. It was interesting to see them develop and then dump rain on the ICW and surrounding (flat) terrain. We could clearly see where the rain was coming down in the distance. It's sort of like looking at a storm while driving across the plains of the U.S..
 There were no dolphins to keep us company today. There were stretches of channel that went straight as an arrow for quite a distance so we used the auto pilot to hold a course for us. Given traffic on the ICW is very light this year vs. last year, we had no concerns because the channel is just about clear of traffic. Every once in a while all we had to do was tweek a dial to bring the bow around for a shift in the channel or turn it off due to approaching traffic. At 8 knots the auto pilot was a blessing since it managed all of the minor course corrections required to keep the boat in the narrow channel.

 We had some interesting discussions with others moving past us about the Bahamas. One boat out of NY was heading South to leave the boat in Fl. so they could use it in the Bahamas when they had time. Given the forecast for the G.S. they elected to leave the boat South and return to work next week. The G.S. is forecast to have 8-10 foot waves (at this point anyway and we all know how forecasts go) this weekend.

 I would not go there. Neither would Deb. The G.S. is nothing to mess around with.

 So we'll sit in in Florida a while, rent an econobox type car, and provision. We'll also pick up some spares since we used so many on the way through Georgia.

 Here is a photo of the Jupiter Inlet Light. Approaching this we had the opportunity to pass in close quarters with a SeaTow operator that was towing, not HIP TOWING, a small boat upstream under a bridge. We held for them in adverse conditions given our size, manuverability and current. They passed us and all waved gratefully in spite of the situation and what little wake our boat makes. This was a far cry from what we have experienced elsewhere.