Sun Feb 9 - In which there's a traffic jam

 Peck Lake anchorage to Lake Worth anchorage

We intended to get the dingy down and go explore the beach, we really did.  But neither one of us slept well - in fact, we (meaning me) were up to see the sunrise AND the moonset.  Good thing they were worth getting up for or I might have had a word or two to say about being up that early.

Moonset

America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association!

You may recall that we had promised ourselves to get the dingy down and go over to the beach.  Instead we promised ourselves that we would get the dingy down when we come back through, and we set off.  We anticipated an active day as we were leaving wilderness behind and coming down into the highly populated and utilized South Florida ICW.

Remember when I told you we would, one day, feel nostalgic for the time when we were all alone on the water??  Well, today was that day.  I now vaguely recall someone saying 'don't boat on the weekend, especially in South Florida' but, like so many other details I didn't remember it because my brain is full of other stuff (port, starboard, etc).  Well, today we learned why people say that...it was a bunch of damn AMATEURS out on the water!!!!!

Rounding the corner at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse -

 The water changed to this incredible blue green color -

And it became bedlam.  Everyone and everything was out.  There were big boats, little boats, fishing boats, party boats, police boats, cigarette boats, mega-yachts, working tankers, tugboats, sailboats, advertising boats,trawlers (like us!), and on and on...

The PoPo

This boat is so important that it has a mini-me tender

Apparently there was a memo:  EVERYONE MUST DROP WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND IMMEDIATELY GO TO PEANUT ISLAND EVEN IF THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DRIVE A BOAT

This is what the new mega-yachts look like - very modern with nontraditional lines

What even is this?  Doesn't anyone know?  It's full of children playing a duck-duck-goose type game.

I was suddenly, strangely, hungry for pizza!

Mega-yacht marina

I tried to capture the full extent of the chaos with a panoramic shot:

It was every 'sailor' for himself with little regard for the rules of the road, wake size etc.  We were all hands on deck until we got down a little further where the play boats thinned out.  By then we were passing the Breakers, and soon after, I'm sorry to report, Mar-A-Lago.  The Bully-in-Chief must not have been in residence because no security was on the water side.  Sadly, I had no eggs on me to throw...  I recognize I don't speak for all people, though, because there are MANY Trump MAGA flags flying.  Some day I need someone with more information than I have to tell me: 1) when was America not great to begin with 2) how exactly he has made America great once again.  The details elude me... I don't argue with some of the things he is trying to achieve, I argue with his horrible manners, lack of intellectual interest, narcissism and petty vindictiveness. 

A n y w a y - it's been a bridge day for sure.  Rick has been watching as we go under increasingly lower bridges to get a better handle on how high we really are.  Here we are, sweating it as we go under the lowest one yet:

This information will, I promise you, become critically important soon!  No spoilers here, tho.

Shortly after that last bridge we came into Lake Worth, which, again, isn't really a lake.  There are very strict rules about anchoring in Florida.  People with money do NOT want their view ruined.  So there are not many anchorages.   And it's important to read (by which I mean - for Rick to read) the fine print about an anchorage right before you anchor, so you don't forget the salient points.  A-hem.  We put the anchor down in a cable area.  And you don't want to catch your anchor on a cable.  So we pulled up again and tried for an anchor a little to the south, which was more successful...

Whew - off to bed, with that bright moon still putting in an appearance.

The moon watches out for us in the hatch above our bed.