Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Headed Home





We left Lake Worth headed North on the intracoastal – it was Tuesday morning and gone were the throngs of party animals that had overtaken Peanut Island just one week earlier. In fact, the scenery looked completely different than it had on our way South. A few ski boats zoomed around, most evidentially being driven by the out-of-school-for-the-summer children of the boats’ owners. We only had one close encounter - one opportunity to use our air horn - a really long blast aimed at some punk-kid skiers that crossed their tow line directly in front of our boat. In fact, had the skier not fallen off, we would have hit him. I yelled at them until the veins in my face nearly popped out. I don’t know if they fully appreciated their near death experience, but I assure you that they will never forget the crazy screaming lady with the air horn.

The voyage up the river was lovely – if you have never experienced the color of the water around Jupiter Inlet, you haven’t lived. It looks like it is died with food coloring because no river could possibly be naturally colored that turquoise blue. We hustled and made it through the bridges one-by-one, barely catching each openings on their half-hour schedule. Arrival in Peck Lake was early afternoon.

After anchoring we unloaded into the dingy, pulled up to shore and crossed the dune to check out the Atlantic side. Tropical Storm Barry had completely re-landscaped the beachside. There were so many shells that you could barely see the sand. The air was still and the ocean was lying down - flashing us with all variations of the color turquoise under a lazy late afternoon sun. Absolutely breathtaking.





We hung out a few days, did some snorkeling, did some exploring, did some shelling. Park enjoyed checking out the sea turtle nests, surveying them closely for evidence of hatchlings. Except for a few occasional visitors, we had a private beach. Park proclaimed it Kaleidoscope beach – aptly so I thought, considering how it had changed so drastically over the time between our visits. Three days later, we reluctantly packed up, pulled anchor and headed for home.

Friday evening we found ourselves in familiar waters and anchored at Sebastian just south of the inlet. We were treated to a rocket launch as we sat in the cockpit. You got to love a place that provides this type of entertainment for its weary travelers. The setting sun caused a strange illumination of the rocket’s left over smoke plume. We thought it looked like the Northern Lights.

Saturday afternoon and we were at Harbor Town – Just in time for D Dock Happy Hour. The journey was over and we were in the familiar comfort of our D Dock comrades. Bitter sweet indeed.

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