On my first trip south this was my staging point for the crossing to West End. Spent about 3 weeks there due to the capricious weather gods. I will always recall it with great fondness for all the reasons Chris mentioned as well as it was my first real introduction to the cruising experience. Going down the the ICW is an experience, but not a full dose of what cruising the islands is really like.

At the anchorage there, with many, many boats piling up waiting the the wind to change I met so many people that remain friends to this day. One of my fears when I set out to sail to the islands was , as I was singlehanding most of the time, was to be anchored in some beautiful place sitting on my boat alone. Turns out that it was a groundless fear. Cruisers are the best bunch of people on the planet, in my not-so-humble opinion. I know many here like to get away from 'the pack', and that has it's appeal, but as a singlehander some company to share the experience with is welcome indeed. (Besides, drinking alone is not a good practice...)

So Lake Worth was my real introduction to the crising life. I'll get back to it one day soon...

Some memories there:

Shooting rockets off the bow of Josuda on N.Y.'s eve...

Planning the crossing with Roger on Agassiz and Dana on Naiad...

I'm not much of a Christmas person, so I naively went to a Chinese restaurant in Florida on Christmas Day - what an experience!

First time I met Chris Gordon was on this trip. (The old man of the sea - I learned a lot from him.)

Below is a link to my blog (before the term was in use) of my 3 trips to the Abacos. For various reasons, I never made it farther south, much to my regret.