The Demise of Sea Fever: Final Chapter

As you can see, the sailboat from Delaware is no longer together; I wondered how they were finally going to get rid of the thing. One of the guys from the salvage company told me that because of the reef that it had run aground on, heavy equipment, either on a barge or ashore (picture a crane with a wrecking ball) was prohibited lest any more environmental damage be caused. I had forgotten, every fall at the beach the tides really pick up and there is trash and seaweed everywhere. Now that it's in pieces, the waves will continue to pound it until there's nothing left. As of last Saturday, it had been stripped of its name but was still intact; the final stage must have happened sometime last week.

The sky was beautiful but the water was not clear and actually kind of sudsy-looking; it didn't appear very tempting for swimming. The beach itself in large sections was littered with not only trash but unhatched sea turtle eggs; I saw two recently dug nests, but the season is winding down.

(Again, left-click any of these pictures for a larger version.)

Speaking of fall, the fish have begun their migration down the East Coast, as this helpful sign from the park explains. And there were large schools of mullet, sometimes right off shore; and there were also many fishermen and women out, trying their luck. But I didn't see one person catch one fish.

In other news, I also finally resolved the front basket problem with my bike with some plastic washers from Home Depot and a spacer from my original inner axle, so it's secure and no longer rattles. 

Sailboat Update, Part 2

Well, as you can see, Sea Fever has been stripped of her sails and demasted. How ignoble an end for such a fine sailboat. The last couple of times I've been to the beach I've gotten so many turtle videos which I'll try to post--my computer's giving me technical difficulties, otherwise known as very low memory, so things are a bit sticky at this point.

In other news, I'm trying to sell my car because the job situation is quite bleak. I'm probably going to have to move also. Not a pretty picture, but that seems to be what the future holds. What happens with the car will tell the tale, this weekend or beyond. We shall see.

Go Fly A Kite

Saturday was another gorgeous beach day--no low cumulus clouds but some really high cirrus stratus as you can see in the background here (this was the extreme south end of Palm Beach Shores). Today I made some more lasagna and my condo smells incredible as a result. At least the shell of Sea Fever is still sitting there, racking up more fines every day. And the baby sea turtles have begun hatching; I saw one nest with eggshells and tracks from a couple more, but otherwise they remain elusive. Girls from the turtle place up and down the beach in their ATVs. The tide was extremely low in the afternoon and I was able to walk on some sandbars; it was pure and simple heaven, as the water was so warm. I remember thinking that if could choose a Groundhog Day, to relive over and over again for the rest of eternity, Saturday would have been it.

Sailboat Update

As of yesterday, the local salvage company that takes care of things such as this was setting up shop to dismantle the entire boat and take it away over land; this is all that remains from a similar operation a few years ago about a half-mile south of there (again, left-click twice to see largest version; you can just make out the current boat along with a land rover which was out hauling gear). This is only visible during extreme low tide, which is what it was Thursday. Note the beautiful sky with wavy cirrus stratus as brilliant contrast.

It was hot also but there was a nice breeze off the water to cool me down. I met a tall gorgeous blonde who actually spoke to me just south of the guarded section in Palm Beach Shores; she seemed genuinely impressed that I had walked up to the pier and back but she also dispensed with me rather quickly so we'll see--I'll be back tomorrow and I'll be looking for her.

"Well, We All Make Mistakes,"

is how this was explained to me early Saturday morning, before MacArthur Park was even open, by the short overweight young lady who was working the morning shift as a park ranger (again, left-click each picture twice to view the largest version--this was the north end of the park; note the Lost Tree Village guesthouses on the right in the first photo and the Singer Island condos in the distance on the second). I also speculated that if you had as nice a boat as that, you'd take better care of it; which she rejoined that perhaps on the other hand you'd take it for granted. Ah well--Ahoy there 'Sea Fever' of Wilmington, Delaware: you are parked in the reddest zone of all of South Florida. Move your vehicle post haste or it will be moved for you (note yellow poilce tape at left; the North Palm Beach police mean business--grr).

It was hot at the beach, with surprisingly few honeys out. The breeze was out of the south and all that warm Caribbean air is pushing our normal afternoon thunderstorm activity off the charts. The water was nice and cool but I did not go in, except to get these shots. No jellyfish but I did spy one octopus, about two feet long, washing ashore as if it were dead, behind Lost Tree Village on my way back.

There were many turtle nests about, even in the beach renourishment area; shows what I know.

My bag was taken from me Friday but I still retain my census ID; supposedly all the vacants have to be verified--calling proxies to make sure they indeed spoke with said proxies, et cetera. This was supposed to be an eight week operation and we finished it in four because nobody goofed off; did we talk ourselves out of a job? So far today no call but we'll see.

Skipped the beach Sunday in favor of the pool; I swam for a couple hours but then my next door neighbors showed up. I ignored them for a while but then cut out; it's a good thing Claire gave me PR back--I've found two outright mistakes along with incalculable polishing. At least I have something constructive to do.