13 May - Day 71. Once we cleared the Lake Worth breakwater at 0400 this morning we hoisted the quarantine flag and then cell phoned U.S. Customs and Immigration. After a few routine questions they gave us a mile long confirmation number and told us to report to one of their offices within 24 hours. Now, after having visited them, I'm happy to report that Nellie's crew successfully dodged yet another bureaucratic 'reef and shoal' by checking-in without incident. To celebrate we had lunch ashore and bought 2 gallons of milk for $3/gal. Yahoo! The dichotomy between the east and west side of palm beach couldn't be more stark. Beautiful, immaculately landscaped homes and 100' yachts on one side of the ICW and a ramshackle, hand-to-mouth existence on the other. By 1330 hours we're back aboard and heading north. The weather is perfect. About 40nm to the north we pass a slow moving tug, the Katherine, with a load of dredging equipment. At the helm is John Mackie (owner of the LNVT John William, hull #68). After some pleasantries we tell him that he's motivated us to try a night passage on the ICW. From then until dawn the next morning our watch schedule is two-hours-on and two-hours-off. The spotlight on Nellie's pilothouse roof is invaluable as it can light up a channel marker 1/2nm away. A tremendous attribute when much of our navigation is marker to marker. Complement the spotlight with a radar and a chartplotter and night navigation is very doable by one person alone. Underway near Coco Beach, Florida. 68nm today: 1792nm total. DBH
