Each time we enter a new bay we are surprised by what we see. We look at charts and the guide book but it never seems to be what we have imagined. Sometimes it is better and sometimes it is not.
We passed some huge mansions with enormous grounds. After doing a search we discovered that Billy Joel owns one of the houses.
His 26-acre property was for sale for $49 million in 2023, but is apparently off the market as it is being renovated. The grounds host a main house which is 20,000 square feet, a three-bedroom beach house, a three-bedroom guest apartment, a four-bedroom gatehouse, and a maintenance house. It also has a helipad, two swimming pools, a spa, wine cellar and of course, a music room or two!
There was only one other boat when we arrived in the bay, but a few hours later a cat came in and dropped anchor over the way from us.
Andrew had heard that this place was not very cruiser friendly so we decided to stay on board and didn't even drop the dinghy.
The family from the cat, Mellow Puff, came across on their way to shore and introduced themselves. They are a Kiwi family: Jeff, Jacqui and Daniel, who recently bought their boat in the US. They spent six months in the Bahamas before returning to the States. After exchanging boat cards, they went on their way. Jacqui sent us a message later to say the island was really nice.
While we were chatting to them, the chap from the other boat came across to ask us how we strap our water and fuel Jerries on the deck. He was wanting to do the same. Next thing we see him returning to his boat with a plank of wood.
Although we woke on Saturday morning to dreary skies and rain, we decided to head off towards North Port. We had a lunch date on Sunday and wanted to be settled on anchor before leaving the boat. The wind can come up quickly and we didn't want to stress about whether we were holding well or not.
The trip over was terrible, probably the worst we have had in a while. The waves were very choppy, it rained off and on and was thoroughly unpleasant. I couldn't spend too much time below and even Laura came up after a while. We don't generally get seasick but every now and again the conditions are like this, which makes it very bumpy down below.
We eventually turned into the inlet to North Port and the conditions improved a bit. We messaged Dave and Fiona, asking if they could see us from their house. Initially they said no, but when they looked again they could actually see us!!
As we anchored behind the mooring field we noted that we were the only boats there. It was nice and peaceful, compared to the chaos out in the Long Island Sound.
No comments:
Post a Comment