It is Christmas Eve but does not feel much like it. It is warm and breezy today, predicted to be in the 70’s. Today’s goal is to head to shore to do laundry and grocery to have something fresh for Christmas dinner. We thought we might picnic on Peanut Island on Christmas if the weather is cooperative. We had contacted a marina yesterday that allows dinghy dockage and shore access for a fee.
Unfortunately we did not take the holiday into account. When we got to the marina, they were planning to lock the gates at 12 for the holiday and we would be unable to get back to our dinghy. We thought about Peanut Island, they have a shuttle to the main shore every 20 minutes but they could close if there were a thunderstorm and again, we would not be able to get to out dinghy. Someone suggested Jim Barry park and we headed to check that out. On the way, we saw a beach with a paddle board and kayak rental. We pulled up and asked if we could leave the dinghy there for a few hours. The beach area belonged to the marina but the water sports worker ok’d our few hour stay. We locked Fat Tuesday to a palm tree and brought our motor with us.
It was about a mile to the surfside laundry with a large Publix across the street. We walked by the street side of the Jim Barry park along the way. There were a lot of people living/hanging out there. One guy was using an outlet to cook on an electric pan in his shopping cart. No one was bothersome to us.
Our route then took us through some lovely quiet neighborhood streets . People had planted red and white flowers and poinsettias in the ground. We also passed several other boatyards and marinas. We were really in the town of Riviera beach at this point.
We arrived at the laundry. David talked to a fellow boater and charged our electric motor while I went to the Publix. Clothes and groceries finished at the same time and we decided to try to be true boaters and walk back with an electric motor, 3 bags of groceries, and a bag of clean clothes. Before we left, we had a laundromat picnic with sandwiches from the grocery.
We returned to our dinghy and a local boater came to ask us about it. She lived on a boat outside the Jim Barry park and said we could have tied up there but to lock it. She also said we could ask one of the local boaters near there to keep an eye on it for $5-$10.
It was windy and choppy for our ride back but David was great navigating Fat Tuesday through chop, wake, wind and current. She did well with all of our ballast and we did not get wet.
We spent the late afternoon, working on boat projects, hemming shower curtain, securing bathroom trash can so it won’t slide around the bathroom when sailing. There was a little napping. We pulled Fat Tuesday up on deck due to wind and chop.
We prepared dinner as texts were coming in from friends and family. Hanna and Marina were making Grammy’s applesauce so we decided to make some too.
Amy sent best wishes, Nancy, Tom, Ali, Ethan and Pinto sent pictures of Maine Christmas with snow and sand. The Panucos sent a family portrait with dogs, Grace sent pictures of Florida “White Christmas”, white sand beach. And the tunnel of love!
We had our lights and David endured some Christmas music but we missed everyone. After dinner, we played Chauncey which was thankfully interrupted by a facetime call from the Short family. It seemed like the young Hellers and Cholula were very busy in the kitchen with cleanup. The table was beautiful and we heard about a new family game that Ellen had given. After the call, I finished losing at Chauncey. We need a new game.
