Lake Worth Lagoon and Palm Beach, Florida

We were in the Bahamas for a week, on the dock in front of the condominium of our friends Paula and Andrew.  The Gulf Stream crossing was smooth and uneventful, according to Peter, even boring.  He was anticipating waves running counter to the current, but we were lucky with the weather.

I lost momentum on this blog, switching to island time--and also frustrated that I have finally been forced to switch from Picasa to Apple's Photos for storing, editing and labeling my photos.  Google developed Picasa, and I loved it, but they have not supported it in the last couple of years, leading to technical difficulties that have finally become insurmountable.  I am now learning to use Photos, but I find it more combersome and more finicky for editing, so I have procrastinated.  Anyway, I am trying to move on!

Now, back to where I left off over a week ago:

We arrived and anchored in Lake Worth Lagoon on Friday, Nov. 16, and stayed there until we set sail for Grand Bahama near sunset on Monday, Nov. 19.  (Actually, we pulled up anchor and moved twice during on stay to get closer to the places we wanted to visit on land.)  We were close to the Lake Worth Inlet at first, so the dinghy ride on Saturday to the municipal dock in West Palm Beach was a bit longer than usual; it took us at least 20 minutes, maybe 30.

A volunteer dockmaster in a wheelchair greeted us at the dock and told us about the Green Market that was going on just across Flagler Drive in Flagler Park (a lot of things are named for Henry Flagler along the eastern coast of Florida) and the flea market that was taking place just past it on Clematis Street.  Having run out of fresh vegetables on the boat, all of the produce looked enticing, and Paula couldn't resist buying a large carrot and munching on it like Bugs Bunny.  There was an abundance of prepared food, and we selected quiche and, for dessert, an apple tart just the perfect size to be divided among four people.

West Palm Beach Green Market

The city of West Palm Beach was busy preparing for Christmas.  A large Christmas tree sand sculpture was under construction in the park and smaller ones were in the early stages of development.  Crews were beginning to set up the equipment for the light and sound show to highlight the sand sculptures, and lamp posts were being festooned with greenery, garlands, ornaments and lights.

Green Market with sand sculpture Christmas tree in the background

Artist working on the Christmas tree of sand

Afterward lunch, we split up.  Paula went in search of tools, seat cushions and other items for their home in the Bahamas, Andrew set off to explore on his own, and Peter and I walked off in another direction.  The two of us walked south along the waterfront, stopping to explore the South Cove Nature Area, a man-made set of islands constructed to recreate a mangrove and seagrass habitat like those that were destroyed up and down the coast, first for tourist hotels and attractions and then by rampant population growth as people flocked to the warm climate and access to the water.  We watched a variety of birds soaring around the tops of buildings on shore, wading by the shore and diving into the lagoon for fish.

Peter and I encountered Andrew as we continued south along the waterfront, and he decided to join us for the 2nd Annual Sculpture in Motion show at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, a fundraising event for which the visitors center had given us free tickets.  There were a couple of dozen very well maintained, highly-polished and luxurious cars on display, including models by Ferrari, Jaguar, Mercedes, Austin, Lamborghini and BMW dating from the 1930's.  I noticed that, since it was Palm Beach, a few of the visitors arrived in their own classic cars.

Antique cars at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens

Front lawn of the Norton home

Most of the cars were arranged on either side of a massive and long brick sculpture centered in a large lawn surrounded by palms and cycads, while a few were tucked away under the trees within the sculpture garden. There are nine monumental sculptures, all by Ann Norton, all constructed of hand-made brick with the exception of the largest one, which is made of granite. The intent is for the visitor, wondering through the jungle-like garden, to be surprised by these artworks.

Andrew, Peter and I had previously been unaware of the artist, who, it turns out, received many grants and awards for her work. Born Ann Weaver, she married the widowed art gallery and art school owner Ralph Norton, who was decades older than her, moving into his house in the gardens.  He built a large studio for her adjacent to their home, and she worked there for about forty years.  We were able to visit the studio, where a lively docent talked about Norton's work. The first floor of the charming house has been transformed into a gallery, where a show called "Crossing the Grid" featured the bold and colorful paintings of New York artist David Kapp.

A section of Ann Norton's studio

Works by David Kapp in the gallery

A bit tired of being on our feet all afternoon, we got an Uber back to Flagler Park. I had been told that there was a concert at 4 p.m. at the adjacent outdoor amphitheater, but this was misinformation. It was scheduled for the next day. So, we walked north along the waterfront in a rather relaxed manner, heading for the neighborhood of Northwood, where we had plans to rendevous with Paula and meet my best friend from college, Sue, and her husband Tom, who live in the area, for dinner at a Turkish restaurant.

We were having a great time and enjoying the delicious food when the evening got even better; flickering lights alerted us to the unanticipated belly dancing performance. Since we were seated in the middle of the small restaurant, we had virtual front row seats as the attractive and colorfully dressed belly dancer entertained everyone with her sensuous movements and castenet playing. The sword dancing was particularly impressive.  She enticed Peter (but not Andrew) to join her!

Peter enjoying the belly dancing

Andrew, the belly dancer and Peter

Paula, Andrew, Peter, Sherri, Susan and Tom

It had been a long day, and I was tired so not amused as I was splashed as we dinghied back the long distance over small waves to Mantra.

The next morning, we pulled up anchor and re-anchored in a less crowded place much closer to the dinghy dock.  First, we took an Uber to Manatee Lagoon, operated by Florida Power and Light.  All along the coast of Florida, manatees tend to congregate near the warm water outlets of power plants in the winter months.  Unfortunately, even though it is manatee season, they have not started to gather at the power plants because the local water temperatures are still quite warm.  At least the displays in the museum were informative and attractive.

Peter split off from the group to go to Riviera Beach City Marina to check on picking up packages that had been sent from Baltimore containing storage boxes for the deck.  The person making them had not had them ready when we were in Baltimore earlier in the month, so she had to ship them.  We weren't sure if they would arrive before we departed for the Bahamas, so Peter had to arrange with the marina to allow Susan and Tom to pick them up on our behalf.

Paula, Andrew and I went back to downtown West Palm Beach where we enjoyed great food at Kabuki's, a sushi, Thai and tapas restaurant. Susan had recommended it, and we were not disappointed. We had arranged to rendevous with Peter at the Flagler Museum. He made it there before we did, so he started to explore the mansion on his own before our arrival.

We walked to the Flagler Bridge and crossed Lake Worth Lagoon. On the west side of the bridge, we had to stop to admire a great flock of green parrots camouflaging themselves in a large tree but revealing there presence with loud squawking and occasional solo recconaissance flights.

Two parrots

The Flagler Museum is housed in the opulent 75-room Beaux Arts mansion named Whitehall in Palm Beach overlooking the lagoon. Completed in 1902, Henry Flagler built it for his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan, as a wedding present.

Mary Lily Kenan Flagler

At the time, Flagler's net worth was around $60 million, so the Gilded Age gift was just a small token of his affection. Along with the more well-known John Rockefeller, Flagler had established and made his first fortune with the Standard Oil Company. According to Rockefeller, Flagler was the real brains behind the market manipulations, transportation discounts, acquisitions and monopoly development that made Standard Oil so successful. By the end of the 19th century, Flagler was less involved in the day-to-day operations of the corporation, and he moved to Florida with his first wife for the benefit of her health. The Florida coast, with white sand beaches, barrier islands and mangrove swamps, was undeveloped at the time, and Flagler saw the potential for development. He founded the Florida East Coast Railroad and built luxurious resort hotels in St. Augustine, Palm Beach and Miami as well as other locations. He also developed agriculture. During his time, pineapple was a more important crop than oranges. In 1905, he extended his railroad from Biscayne Bay to Key West in anticipation of the opening of the Panama Canal, because Key West would be the closest port for ships coming from the Pacific.

We took the group tour of the mansion, which the staff had just finished decorating for the Christmas season. Lavishly furnished and decorated, with European paintings and sculpture acquired by dealers (because Flagler, unlike most wealthy men of his time, never travelled outside the U.S.), the rooms are attractive but not stunning.  The loveliest room was the music room, where we were entertained by a pianist/docent who played and talked about music that was popular in such settings at the time. She used sheet music that had been found in the mansion. Some of the pieces were written specifically in honor of Flagler. The Flaglers often entertained on the first floor and accommodated friends in the many guest rooms on the second floor of the mansion.

Whitehall

Courtyard of Whitehall

Master bedroom

Totally floral guest bedroom

Pre-Raphaelite guest bedroom

Tiffany glass on display in the dining room

Dining room

Music room with matching art-case Steinway

Part of Whitehall is now a gallery for changing exhibitions.  We were delighted with the black and white photographs in "Star Power:  Edward Steichen's Glamour Photography."  It featured dramatic, intimate portraits of celebrities and models from the 1920's and 1930's, when he was chief photographer for Vogue and Vaniety Fair.  We admired these works of art until the museum closed at 5 p.m.

We crossed Lake Worth Lagoon again and west to the amphitheater in West Palm Beach to enjoy the free concert featuring tribute bands for Elton John and Billy Joel. Paula and I danced to some of the music. My favorite piece was "For the Longest Time," performed acapello by about ten talented musicians. Peter snagged some street food because he had missed lunch, but by the time the concert was over, Andrew was hungry, so we all went to a nearby restaurant, Lynora's, for dinner (and a beer for Peter).

The next morning, we re-anchored in the first location, in proximity to Riviera Beach. The boxes had arrived at the marina. Peter, Paula and I dinghied to the dock. While Peter got the boxes, I went to Publix to get provisions and Paula went in search of power tools at Lowe's and Home Depot. (She loves power tools!) Paula's errands took longer, so Peter and I returned to Mantra and unloaded the overflowing dinghy and stowed everything, and later Peter retrieved Paula. We got the boat ready and pulled up anchor in the late afternoon, bound across the Gulf Stream for Lucaya in Grand Bahama.

Peter and Andrew pulling up anchor

Fortunately, the wind had been mild and from the south for more than 24 hours, so the crossing was smooth despite Peter's warnings of possible rough seas. We were able to sail much of the time. At night, we monitored vessel traffic on the chart and on the radar but we couldn't pick up signals from green lights that we sighted south of us as we entered the Gulf Stream. At first, we thought there was one, then two, then three then many more boats all heading from Grand Bahama to Florida, because the green lights indicated to us the starboard side of vessels. They were uncannily spaced at even intervals. Was it a race? How far away were they? As we got closer to the points of light, we discerned that they were green and white, markers on buoys running in a straight line from west to east, being left behind by a large fishing vessel. We could see its white stern lights in the distance, perhaps two miles away from us as we crossed between two lighted buoys showing where the ship had dropped an enormous purse seine across the Gulf Stream.  I have read about miles-long fishing nets, but until that night, I had not fully appreciated the sheer magnitude of this type of commercial fishing.

On Tuesday afternoon, we arrived in Lucaya and cleared customs and immigration before docking at Paula and Andrew's condominium. We spent the next several hours unloading their purchases from Mantra.

Peter kept occupied on the Internet and on the boat the whole week we were with Paula and Andrew, and I was lazy, although I did some cleaning and organizing. Mostly I read, swam in the pool and played games with Paula. We only left the property on our next to last day there. It used to be that you could walk over to Port Lucaya to find food and entertainment, and Peter and Andrew did walk over one evening to listen to live music in the outdoor marketplace (which we could hear perfectly well from home), but tourism is quite low since Hurricane Matthew destoryed a vast amount of property in 2016; the major resorts in Lucaya have not re-opened.

On Sunday, we went to the restaurant at Banana Bay for lunch and then took a long walk on the white sand beach. I simply could not spend a week in the Bahamas without going in the crystal clear, warm water, so I took a quick swim before we left the area.

In the evening, we went out to dinner at the Manta Ray Restaurant on another stretch of beach.  Mainly, we went for the excellent live jazz, which was good, because the food selections were less than stellar.  Amazingly, with the abundant waters right there, they were out of fish! They were even out of tortilla chips. Despite this, we enjoyed the music and watching a couple of people attempt to climb a 20 to 25 foot rope to ring a bell to earn a free shot of local rum. After we were finished with our meal and getting ready to leave, Peter decided to give it a try. I had no doubt that he would succeed easily, and he did! What a guy! Here's a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYe9ohHS5cA

Yesterday was spent getting the boat ready to be left unoccupied for a couple of months and packing for our return to California. We are now sitting in O'Hare, waiting for our connecting flights to Sacramento. We are looking forward to getting home and getting ready for the holidays!