3 Delightful Days in Delray Beach

We scored a great (cheap) slip at the Del Ray Municipal Marina and headed across the ICW to Ruthie (Kathy’s sister) and her husband Janek’s condo for drinks and dinner. It was wonderful to sit in real furniture, watch the weather from the 8th floor and enjoy the company and culinary skills that Ruthie (literally) brings to the table.

One aspect of this type of travel is our conversational focus on the journey. There is an enormous amount of information that we process daily, ranging from weather, destinations, fuel level, fresh water requirements, navigation, broken stuff, food requirements, clean windows (haha) etc.etc.etc. We talk to each other a lot and some days only to each other. While this is all good, it was really nice to spend a few days with Ruthie and Janek and expand our conversations. I feel like we entered talking, talked and left talking. Then when we left, we talked about what we talked about. Maybe we need to get out more. However, the visit to Del Ray was a welcome respite. A wonderful visit to the pool club for a swim and lunch but way too windy for even a walk on the beach. In fact, at some point, the wind took our plastic rug right out of the cockpit.

In the small world department, we had two neighbors at the marina in Del Ray. On our second day we met the folks in a Carver motor yacht (a little bigger than us), they were flying a Patriots pennant for a burgee and I asked them if they were from New England. (When negotiating the wind and current we didn’t notice the port of call on their transom). He said he was from Rhode Island. ”So are we, where about?” “Well we winter here but summer on Prudence Island, just south of the ferry dock”. “Really, we spend many summer weekends in Potters Cove”(a popular party destination on the north end of Prudence Island)…at this point the conversation shifted to how nice the weather was in Florida.

Our other neighbors were from Duxbury and they arrived in a Beneteau 42 (beautiful sailboat). They were heading north and asked about where we had stayed. We told them we were heading south and asked about where they had stayed. After exchanging information we asked them one last favor before we parted company. “Would they take a picture of the four of us?” They did and when done asked ” OK whose related…the brothers?” Sisters Kathy & Ruthie were nearly inconsolable. For those who haven’t met Janek, he and David have no family relationship, but the Killeen sisters seem to have an eerily similar taste in men! 😂😂😂