DelRay Beach, FL

We left West Palm Beach this morning at 9:30 am and arrived in Delray Beach at 2:30 pm, traveling 28 miles.  We had hoped to "go outside" and make Ft. Lauderdale today, however, the winds were not in our favor so in order to move south we had to go via the ICW which will take 2 days to get to Ft. Lauderdale because of the bridges.  With the wind coming at our bow at 15-20 kts with gusts to 25, we could not do the speed to make the timed bridge openings, wasting about 2 hours waiting on bridge openings.  We went through 7 bridges.

There was one bridge we did not have to wait for because they tore it down and are building a new one:

new LantanaAvenue Bridge, under construction

We are docked at the Yacht Club of Delray Beach, which was previously a private yacht club, but is now under new ownership.  Their ultimate goal is to bring the facility back to being a private club, but right now they need revenue, so they are offering transient slips...lucky us.  There were no other marinas with available slips until Boca Raton and the only two anchorages in the area are too shallow for us.  The challenges we face.....

After settling in and enjoying gourmet hot dogs for dinner, we walked into town.  We were here on Christmas Eve day with Lew and Joan, but it looks different at night.  The town was packed with people enjoying dinner/drinks, live music, and shopping.  I posted pictures of the huge Christmas tree on the 24th....well, here's a picture of it with the lights: