We made it to BOCA RATON, FL

Today was another perfect day on the water. We motored past West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Riviera Beach, Del Ray, Boyton, etc. And again we saw many simply incredible homes on the water. As a bonus today we saw two manatees! Today was a day full of bridges. We had 12 bridges to go under and only one was fixed. The rest either opened on signal or opened on the hour and half hour or at 15 and 45 past the hour. Bill's timing was perfect (meaning we didn't have to wait long for the next opening). But it did take us about 7 hours to go 38 statute miles because of all of the bridges.

When we got to Boca we were amazed. We are staying at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. It is a small marina (20 +/- slips?) in a large resort located on the ICW. We are the only sailboat here and most of the boats are huge yachts. Some of the same boats that we saw at Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas are docked here -- including Carbon Copy, the boat that our friends Amy and Juan were on. We are docked right in the middle of the resort; our stern looks over the pool (awesome!) Bill and I look forward to exploring a bit more tomorrow.

When we got in we cleaned up the boat a bit and decorated the tree. It is perfect for the boat. And we love it -- although we weren't able to find the extension cord so we haven't exactly plugged it in yet... but it still looks great (if we do say so ourselves) all the same. We recieved a package from my mother so we actually have wrapped presents under the tree for the full effect.

And we got to see Cindy and Boyd!!! They live in Boyton Beach and drove over to Boca - and brought goodies -- including our first Christmas card. It was so nice to see them and hang out for the night.

Tonight was the Boca boat parade (another awesome thing that we stumbled upon!) Out of the three boat parades that we have seen this Christmas (Thunderbolt, St. Augustine, and here) this was the coolest. There were probably 25-30 boats and all were decked out. There were 30+ boats anchored directly across from us (which is a show in and of itself) and the parade literally went right by across our bow. Cindy and Boyd were here to enjoy also. Because we are staying at the marina we got 'passes' to the dock party. There were lots and lots of (mostly older) 'club members' viewing the parade and partaking in the festivities. There were a ton of food stations (shrimp, sushi, pasta, seafood, etc.) and an open bar. Cindy, Boyd, Bill and I hung out on the boat for a bit and then went up to the party and feasted.

So it was a fun night -- sort of the culmination of our trip so far. Boca has been 'the' destination for so long and we are finally here and enjoying ourselves -- and very much looking forward to the next few days.

For more pictures, click here.