West Palm Beach

One of the city docks. Mr Mac is anchored across the river near the former Flagler mansion, now a museum

We’ve been hanging around West Palm Beach for a couple of weeks. This place is a great cruising stop! What makes it great? There’s protected anchoring between two bridges, right by the downtown waterfront park. There are three city docks where you can tie up your boat or dinghy during the day. It’s walking distance to the local Publix, post office, movie theater, and all kinds of shops and restaurants. If you want to go farther afield, there are free trolleys. Free city wifi. A fantastic Saturday morning green market. Must I go on? We meant to hit some of the museums, but didn’t make it. All told, a worthy stop along the east Florida coast.

Interesting artwork

Christmas morning moon setting over West Palm Beach

Referenced!

As a scientist, you know when someone has read and referenced your publications because they list them at the back of the paper. Writing for popular publications, it isn’t so clear. So I was incredibly happy to see this in the article “Mug Up, 46-foot Bowman Yawl” in the current issue of Good Old Boat. The article details the boatyard rescue and rehab of the yacht Mug Up. Mug Up’s new home port is Gloucester, MA, so it hits close to home, since I’m (Anne) from Massachusetts. Anyway, here’s the text that got me so excited:

“I had the topsides all finished, sanded and prepped, waiting for paint, when the contractor who agreed to do the Awlgrip part of the job backed out.” … “I was then faced with the prospect of finding someone else to do the painting or do it myself. I remembered seeing an article in Good Old Boat about painting the topsides with a roller and, after rereading it, I thought, why not give it a try?”

That’s my article (Hull Envy, Good Old Boat issues 93 and 94) he’s talking about! It’s nice to know that it’s helping people take that step in doing their own painting. Happy dance!

Stranded…Sort Of

Despite my raving about the Vero Beach City Marina, we didn’t intend to stay there long. Unfortunately, as we were motoring away, we realized that the transmission wasn’t working right – at low rpms, it wouldn’t go into gear, then would clunk in as we revved up. Not good. So, back we went to the mooring ball under the watchful eyes of a couple of friends in dinghies (ready to push us into place if necessary). Then…the engine-drive fridge crapped out, and I (Anne) developed a bump on my forehead necessitating a trip to the dermatologist (all was fine with that). Bad things come in threes, right? Anyway, as always, we had good luck in our bad luck. If you’re going to break down, there aren’t many better places to do it in. Now the fridge is chilling and the transmission propelling - we're back in business!