Category Archives: Cruising Life

Describes an experience regarding the boating lifestyle of our travel.

Stormy Weather and Boat Work in North Palm Beach, Florida, USA

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Wednesday, April 8 — The last few days have been low-key, mostly spent onboard.

On Monday, a Yacht Tech worker knocked on our door first thing in the morning, while Keith and Christi were doing school. Eric had no idea which projects they were going to do in which order, so while he’d already prepped the boat as much as he could, he couldn’t get completely ready without knowing the order. The worker said he was there to change the group 31 battery in lazarette that started generator and wing engine. Eric had to quickly empty out the laz so he could access the batteries.

Eric generally tried to do as much work on Kosmos as he could, and it was kind of hard for him to pay someone to do this task because it was something he could have done himself. However, doing so involved awkward twisting in a tight space, and he didn’t want to risk hurting himself again. 

While the technician was working in the lazarette, Eric removed the sight gauges on the two 60-gallon water saddle tanks. He’d thought it would be a terrible job involving moving both fridges, but on Friday, the supervisor who’d come out had said it would be easy, so Eric did it himself. It was indeed easy. Once he had undone the screws, we held buckets under the screw holes so the water could drain out. It dripped for a long time after we thought the tanks were already empty. After a few minutes, we had Keith run from port to starboard and back again for a few minutes to rock the boat and help drain the excess water. 

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Keith’s Perspective on Our First Week in Florida (This Year)/Le point de vue de Keith sur notre première semaine en Floride (cette année)

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Saturday, March 28 – Frida, April 3 — This week has been mostly boring. On Saturday, we arrived in Florida. We anchored, then went to shore. We got some Mexican food, then we went back to the boat to rest. On Sunday, we went out to breakfast with some of my parent’s friends. I got chilaquiles and a blueberry pancake. They were both really good. We then went to Dad’s cousin’s house. We talked with them for a while, then we borrowed one of their cars. We went to a grocery store, then parked near the dinghy dock and went back to the boat. The dinghy ride back to the boat was brutal, we got soaked.

Keith demonstrates his cameraman skills

Cette semaine étaitetait plutôt ennuyante. Samedi, nous sommes arrivé en Floride. On a ancré le bateau, puis nous sommes allés à terre. On a mangé de la nourriture mexicainen, puis on est retourné au bateau pour se reposer. Dimanche, nous avons mangé le petit déjeuner avec des amis de mes parents. J’ai mangé des chilaquiles et un pancake aux myrtilles. C’était très bon. Après ça nous sommes allés à la maison du cousin de papa. On a parlé avec eux pour un temps, puis emprunté une de leurs voitures. Nous sommes allés faire les courses, puis retournés au bateau. Le voyage au bateau était brutal, on était très mouillé. 

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Back to Old Port Cove Marina, Dinner at Belle’s, and Rocket Launches

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Dawn on Wednesday, April 1, 2026

This morning, it was very rolly in the anchorage. During manatee season, boats were required to go slow here in Lake Worth. As of today, manatee season was officially over and the boats were allowed to go fast again, making the wakes bigger and the anchorage uncomfortable. We were having a hard getting anything done because of all the motion.

Given how unhappy we were about the motion, we were thrilled when Yacht Tech called and said they could get us in early — they had availability today at a slip in Old Port Cove Marina. Anxious to get to a more stable spot ASAP, we immediately stopped school, stowed the dinghy and brought in the flopper stopper. We had several lines attaching the dinghy to Kosmos, and we noticed that one of the lines had broken. The water dripping from the flopper stopper as we pulled it up was black – yes, it was an out tide and that was water that had come from deeper in the lake. In preparation for tying up, we got out the fenders and dock lines. We pulled up anchor at 1045.

The ride through the narrow ICW channel was disconcerting, but all went fine. Here were a few photos from the trek north. The narrow channel between the marinas/boat yards and Peanut Island. This photo did not do justice to just how narrow the channel was.

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Running Errands in the West Palm Beach Area, Florida, USA

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Dawn on Tuesday, March 31

By yesterday morning, the wind had died down quite a bit and we had light rain. But the anchorage was more uncomfortable than it had been the last couple of days. There was more boat traffic, and the wakes made the anchorage rolly. Also, the wind waves were causing a somewhat lurchy motion. Eric put out the port flopper stopper.

After Keith finished his school work, we took the dinghy to shore. There wasn’t much water in the bottom of the dinghy, so hadn’t rained all that much overnight, either. We hopped in the car and headed to the closest mall. It was very upscale and fancy. After being in The Bahamas for so long, where access to goods was limited, it was a bit overwhelming to be in a mall, with unlimited access to almost any good one may want to buy.

We bought Christi a new phone case — hers has been held together with blue tape for more than a month. We got a new keyboard for Keith — his had broken about a month ago. Eric found a work around, so Keith has been managing, but it was making school and talking to friends tough for him. Eric got his reading glasses fixed — one of the nose pieces had broken a couple of weeks ago and it actually hurt him to wear his reading/computer glasses.

After taking care of our errands, we went to El Mezcal for a late lunch. We were sad to find it was closed on Mondays. Having our heart set on Mexican, we found a place with good reviews called Torero’s and went there. It was in a strip mall.

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