After spending a week in Marathon waiting for a weather window, it was time to start heading north. Our plan was to make it to Tavernier Key on the first day which is about 45 nautical miles, then head to Lake Worth Inlet (a.k.a. Palm Beach Inlet) for along haul of 115 nm the following day. We wanted to bypass all of Miami and Fort Lauderdale by cruising outside on the Atlantic, so we went to Lake Worth Inlet so we would have the option of the ICW. We basically had a weather window of 2 days to get there before another windy front was headed our way.

We left our Marathon anchorage at about 8am. Seas were a little lumpy with the wind coming directly on our bow. Sea spray was blowing onto the boat and into the cockpit. Thankfully, everything calmed down later in the afternoon. Our “sister CSY ship”, Marionettes Revenge was an hour behind us but later caught us and passed us. We later met up with them once we were in the Tavernier anchorage and caught a couple photos of them and their boat. They plan to wait there in Tavernier for a weather window to head to the Bahamas.

Since we had 115 nm to get through the next day, Randy set an alarm and woke at 1am to leave Tavernier by 1:30am. I woke around 6 am (not having slept much since he started the engine) and relieved him so he could try to sleep. There was little wind and definitely some swell. Sleep was difficult throughout the day since we were getting hit in the beam with the swell. I was happy to have the sunrise watch and it was beautiful with hardly any boats around. Once we neared Miami, boats and tankers started popping up on AIS and things got a little busier. As we neared Palm Beach, the seas began to calm some. Randy and I both tried napping through the day with little success. To say we were a tired crew was an understatement. Even Sophie was exhausted not having her 19ish hours of napping she normally gets.

Finally, we saw the inlet. As we were making our way there, Randy spotted a huge Loggerhead turtle (sorry, no pics!) pop his head up. It was absolutely beautiful. We made our way through the inlet, pass the “lifestyles of the rich and famous” homes and yachts to our anchorage for the night. Boats are definitely much bigger on the east coast. Once we dropped anchor, it was time for a celebratory drink since this was our first time on the east coast of Florida on our own boat. The Keys and Dry Tortugas were always our stomping grounds, but we finally made it past that threshold and are so excited to explore new waters. Stay tuned…

Marathon to Tavernier = 45 nm
Tavernier to Lake Worth Inlet = 115 nm
TOTAL miles: = 321 nm