Happy holidays everyone! We feel like we have worn old Stuart out. We have grocery shopped, done laundry, walked, dinghied, and Ubered.

Chris and I got up in the middle of the night to see a rocket launch! (Wren slept through it) Neat to see the rocket from afar, and it also explained the odd red light I saw overnight on passage as one of the bits returned back to earth.

Christmas was very different this year. We miss the big kids terribly and it’s our first Christmas without them. Santa was able to find us here in Stuart, though, and we are thankful to be fortunate enough to have this experience.

On Thursday I took our dog, Lily, to the vet for her health certificate for the Bahamas. She passed with flying colors! After the vet check, we pulled up the anchor, refilled with fuel and water, and headed down the ICW toward Palm Beach. We had a lovely stay in the Hobe Sound in Jupiter, then continued down the next day to Palm Beach.

Upon arrival in Palm Beach, we were pumped to be next to another Antares catamaran, Rex. They have two boys and have turned out to be an invaluable resource during our time here!

Catamarans and monohulls swing differently at anchor, and here in Palm Beach there’s a good deal of current. What appeared to be a perfect anchorage ended up being an uncomfortable overnight as a monohull ended up way too close – we did overnight watch to make sure the boats didn’t collide. Then we moved in the morning with daylight. Gosh darn it if a second (also unmanned) monohull didn’t try to eat our boat! Pick up and move yet again. Of note, a boat that has been anchored here for several days told us the one monohull has been dragging – it was further up in the anchorage earlier in the week.