New Year’s Eve 2024. The last day of this year came in bright and sunny, cranking up our batteries from overnight with no need to run the engine. The anchorage has been stable with light winds and the current has had no competition to keep us in position. All of the boats, including the cats have been swinging nicely together.
We went to town for errands and walking. We walked to the post office to mail a bill which was a new route but we are becoming familiar with downtown West Palm Beach. There is a place to rent bikes and a nice long path along the waterfront that might be nice if we have a few hours. We can also see people riding on the other side and it might be possible to ride out to the beach. There is also a manatee reserve that I would like to go visit.
We got some produce at the grocery and came back to the boat for sandwiches, nap, boat cleaning. It was then time to go to Trevor and Denise’s boat for dinner. We stopped at the marina and picked up our new starter motor on the way. We are still waiting for our new starter switch.
I had been wanting to see the harbor from a rooftop bar and Trevor and Denise’s catamaran fit the bill. We sat on their rooftop sofa as the sun set. We met their boat neighbors Erin and Kevin, also on a catamaran,who joined us for a time. Trevor and Denise were amazing hosts. Trevor made cocktails with some light purple lavender addition, a dried lemon slice and mint from a potted plant on the boat. Denise made a pasta with shrimp, sausage and a spicy creamy tomato sauce. Amazing. We ate way too well, typical for 2024.
Denise and Trevor and black cat Nero, named for the color black in Italian, will have some boat work done in Fort Lauderdale and then head to the Keys and Bahamas. Some friends will join them for 2 months. They bought their boat new and designed a lot of the features. There is a 3 year wait list now for their boat. They are from Boston but recently bought a home in Jacksonville.
Denise is a retired fashion designer. She loves animals and wants to volunteer at the Jacksonville zoo. She has volunteered at the SPCA where she was in charge of the cats. In addition to caring and socializing with the cats, she decorated the cat area. Trevor works in cybersecurity.
Nero loves to perch at various places on the boat, he loves the back steps and is in and out of windows, At night, they keep him inside. Denise has a mitt that she uses to brush him. He loves it and comes running when he sees it and jumps in her lap. He also likes a dollop of whipped cream before bed.
Kevin and Erin are retired navy pilots. They bought their boat used in Spain and sailed it south, probably along the Spanish galleon route back through the Bahamas to the US. They are planning to go to the Bahamas soon. Their boat was a wild new eco design with four electric engines and a new kind of double wing sail. There was a diesel generator on board to charge the engines along with solar. They found the engines unreliable for long cruising and the wing sail also problematic. They switched it all out for a diesel motor and normal sail. They use less diesel now to run their motor than they did to charge their four engines. They have lived on the boat for three years.
The city of West Palm Beach did not have a special New Year’s Eve show but there were plenty of fireworks in the sky from all directions. There were noisy cheers and celebrations all around as we dinghied back to our boat to sleep until 2025. Happy New Year!
