We like to Socialize! Even if it's 80 miles away.

On Thursday, May 22nd, six intrepid boats set off for Jensen Beach for the weekend. Alebrije 2, Summer Wind, Eximius, Chasing Blue, Jazz, and Osprey. Sadly, Lady Grey was not among them. Most made an overnight stop at the Port of Palm Beach and arrived by mid afternoon on Friday. Around “5 O’clock” the cruisers mustered on Alebrije 2 to enjoy their new signature drink, created and served by Dave Lockman. The Alebrije Azul. Accounts of the journey included pirates, krakens, hurricanes, and giant rogue waves. Lady Grey’s crew arrived by land yacht and experienced equally treacherous conditions on Die 95 with holiday gridlock all the way to Hobe Sound. The best story was from Hector who called Tow Boat US to ask about navigating the St Lucie Inlet at low tide. He was told that Alebrijie would be fine if they follow their guidance. Hector also asked on behalf of Eximius with its deeper draft. The response was a cold “Make sure his policy is up to date.” After the tall tales were told, the evening's entertainment turned to trying to load WhatsApp into Dave Lockman’s iPhone 7. The phone was having none of it and ultimately prevailed over all of those on board.

On Saturday morning the Commodore led a landing party to secure the largest pavilion at the park. Claim was asserted by decorating with numerous flags and banners. We enjoyed a covered waterside spot complete with BBQ grills and six picnic tables. By midday Barrie Soloway, armed with burgers and hotdogs, had shown up and fired up the grill. His support staff was Marie Graham, Sharyn and Terry Usher. They kept the food coming all afternoon. Dave Pepper rented a pontoon boat from Stuart and took a group on a tour of the area. They had a blast. We enjoyed beautiful weather and breeze at our venue. Which led to roughly 40 people hanging out to nibble and socialize for hours. Previous members Mark and Deborah Menagh also joined us and reconnected with friends they hadn’t seen in years. They sold their boat to the Whitlocks (now Summer Wind) when they left and got to see it again as well. The event disbanded late in the afternoon but was planned to be reconvened at Conchy Joe’s around 5:30. Uncertain of conditions at the restaurant and with severe weather now threatening, the group split up for Conchy Joe’s. Although Conchy Joe’s was busy, it was not crowded as we had feared. But the kitchen was short staffed and they were not using all of their available tables. So we all had to wait little. Interesting to note was that the crowd was older and by 6:30 things had really died down. They were supposed to have live music that night but that didn’t happen either. They did have TVs and Chasing Blue stayed to watch the Panthers game.

The fleet departed early Sunday. Jazz sailed all the way back in one day. Osprey headed north to Cape Canaveral. Chasing Blue left later after staying up to watch the game. The fleet made it back to the Port of Palm Beach on Sunday to break up the journey. But on Monday the unfavorable winds and waves drove our intrepid sailors into the ICW for the last leg home. Deemed death by a thousand bridges by Chris Whitlock.

It was a great event. Well attended by those with and without boats. Thanks to everyone who came. There was some discussion as to whether this was the farthest destination we had ever done. The Bimini cruise was perhaps a little farther. But this one was simpler and certainly less expensive than Bimini. The cruisers had to dust the cobwebs off of their cruising skills. Planning, provisioning, outfitting, and planning (did I mention planning?). Several forgotten items reminded us we’ve gotten a bit rusty. Now that we are all warmed up let’s set our sights on the Labor Day cruise to the Port of Palm Beach and we are also planning to return to the Jensen Beach/Stuart area in October with Palm Beach and Castaways clubs.