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PALM BEACH
Palm Beach, what a unique place. There’s no other place quite like it. It is the most pristine place I’ve ever been. You could say it’s a kind of man-made paradise that has become obsessively and perfectly manicured. The concentration of wealth here in just a few square miles is mind boggling, a bit intimidating and definitely surreal. The social class division is unlike any other place we’ve been. It’s abrupt and obvious, and well defined. There’s an aire about the inhabitants, even the local work force, the service people that has an uppity “attitude”. Some of the elite can seem
a bit pretentious and snobbish if you encounter them at the grocery store
but then and at other times in the most unlikely of situations, they are
friendly, inquisitive and unselfishly helpful. The income makeup here is
a mix of nouveau riche and old stodgy money and the ones that don’t fall
into either category are putting on a good front. Old money dominates
though. It’s that amazing East Coast money, the amount and kind that just
makes you stutter. We also felt incredibly safe during our stay as the police are like well managed personal security guards for the island. There’s not a thing that happens without them knowing about it and nothing suspicious seems to venture across the two bridges from the real world to this Island of Oz as they must know they’ll have to pass the sifter test. It’s hard to grasp the meaning of this place but as you put all these impressions together, the understatement and simplistic word of choice is “expensive”. There are other rich places with equally impressive mansions, like say the Hamptons, or Bel Air, and more too numerous to mention, but somehow this place tops the cake of being a world unto its own. Well, how in the world did
we think we’d fit in here at the docks? We didn’t, not in any of the
above mentioned categories. We looked a bit out of place, ragged around
the edges after cruising for weeks on end, but here we came anyway to the
island of the rich and privileged. PIPSQUEAK Knottydog, though looking bright and smart, was nothing but a little “pipsqueak” compared to the majority of other boats here…oops…excuse me, I mean the other yachts here, at the docks. They were yachts for sure but I wondered if the majority of their lives were spent sitting at the docks here in Palm Beach rather than cruising and then when hurricane season came around they were moved north quickly for the summer to sit alongside another dock perhaps in the Hamptons, or Nantucket, or some other fantastic location. It’s only my impression, but during our stay their sole purpose seemed to be used for fancy early evening cocktail and dinner parties. Actually there were a few “boats” here that like us were small but they were mostly day fishers or fancy weekend picnic boats by makes like Hinckley, and other high end boat builders. God forbid though, as none of the owners of those boats was sleeping aboard like us. Eh, we didn’t care if we
didn’t fit the mold here. We’ve seen so many big expensive boats along
our travels in the Knottydog that this was just one more stop-over in a
place where they seem to gather.
MAYBE WISHING FOR A SIMPLER LIFE? We settled in quickly and were really enjoying all the amenities the island provided. I think at times we were having more fun than most of these people in the big yachts as many seemed so serious and not the usual friendly boater types we meet along the way. Some seem to go out of their way not say “hello” or have eye contact. Well, except this one morning, when this old codger dressed in his preppy blazer and expensive Italian shoes, the owner of a big yacht down the dock with full time crew, who had been walking by our boat each day as he went to his, and never before saying hello, stopped for a moment to look at our boat. He finally broke the ice to ask Larry how we liked our boat. He then seemed to open up and complained to Larry about all the expense he has with his big boat and how he wished that he and his wife could manage a boat like ours, to do what we’re doing, going on adventures without having to bring along a number of people to run and maintain their big boat. He said he envied us. Now, who woulda’ ever thunk one of these old muckity mucks would envy us? JUST ANOTHER STOP Like I said, we were there just for another experience, another stop along this amazing ICW and thankfully we didn’t have to worry like the rest, like this old codger, about being part of the crazy stressful competitive social climbing circuit that goes on here. Nope, we were just sittin’ back, watchin’ the show and enjoying ourselves. GOOD FOR A LAUGH? They must have really
fallen over laughing or at least dropped their jaws in shock the day we
arrived, covered in salt, and then once we got settle and the wind died
down we proceeded to wash our own boat. Or if not then, maybe they had a
little chuckle when I hung out bits of hand washed laundry to dry on the
back cockpit each day. Why? Well the public docks at Palm Beach don’t
provide bathrooms, showers or most importantly for us, laundry
facilities. And
GREAT WALKING AND BIKE PATH The thing we most enjoyed and used throughout our stay was the bike path I mentioned. It goes right past all these breathtaking mansions and has fabulous views of the ICW and Lake Worth. We rode our bikes all over the island taking in the miraculously manicured yards and yes, lots of perfectly trimmed hedges hiding those mansions. It’s about the most popular activity on the island except going to the dog restricted beach on the opposite side of the island. The path is used by just about everyone for exercise starting from early in the morning to well after dark when the temps cool down a bit. It’s also the most direct route to Publix too, our main source for supplies. We also rode the bikes down Worth Avenue and stopped frequently to gawk in the store windows looking at all the designer clothing and beyond belief hunks of jewelry.
SHIELD FROM THE REAL WORLD It’s definitely a quiet relaxing stay here. You don’t feel like there is a worry in the world, well until you turn the news on, and then you get worried. We watch in horror as the economy seems to be crumbling and the state of the world is in crisis. We wonder and worry at the crazy decisions being made in Washington about all our futures for years to come. Well feel helpless like everyone else but here in Palm Beach it doesn’t seem like any of that is going on as everything is beautiful and perfect, well at least on the surface. You never see any of the typical shady street people digging through trash cans or gang types decorating blank walls with ugly graffiti. No, the people are still wearing their diamonds, driving their expensive cars and going out to restaurants, as it’s a perfect world here or seemingly so, on the surface. If things are off here it is well hidden. It’s the few camouflaged well dressed scammers walking these sanitary streets and going to social functions, the likes of types like Madoff and other big money swindlers, as many of their victims and investors who have been severely dented reside on this perfect island. PEOPLE WATCHING We had lots fun watching the owners and guests of the yachts dress up each evening and clomp loudly down the long metal dock in their high heels to their fancy yachts from their expensive cars for cocktail parties and elegant dinner parties.
WORKING CLASS This is a place full of
great people watching. As you would imagine, there are a lot of prima
donnas on the island and some stuft shirts exuding that old smelly moth
balled family money. There is an obvious contrast between the crass New
Yorkers and the stuffy New England conservatives and don’t forget the
people that are a big part of this island that are responsible for making
all this surreal fantastic lifestyle work like a smooth privileged
machine, and that’s the working class, the service business, a necessary
commodity here.
We saw more gardeners and maids than we did their employers and we’ve never seen so many maids dressed in pressed and starched uniforms walking those pretty streets, who’s daily job was taking some fussy little yapping dog for a walk and picking up after it. The nanny’s were not as plentiful as the island is more of an old generation but they too were there doing much the same except their job was pushing a fussy little crying toddler in a stroller and picking up after it too. Surprisingly and humorously we found the wait staff in the restaurants quite often were snootier than the rich they served. They had the proper “attitude” whether you liked it or not that made you feel lucky to dine there and have them wait on you. Ridiculous at times! HANDS FREE There were several interesting people in boats on our dock. They too had their sidekicks. One mother in particular never came off her big yacht without her Philippine maid accompanying her. The maid or nanny’s sole job was pushing this woman’s toddler in a carriage a few steps behind the mother even though the mother was always hands free or she had to carry all the bags from shopping trip on Worth Avenue back to the boat again while the mother was hands free. One morning as Zig and I were taking a walk, out she comes, dressed in her designer exercise gear and following close behind was the nanny non-appropriately dressed for exercise wearing flip flops on her feet. She too was required to follow the mother on her exercise routine all the while pushing the toddler in the stroller. Off they went down the path alongside Lake Worth and those big mansions, the nanny struggling to keep up. It seemed so silly to me. Why couldn’t she ever push her own child in the carriage? NICE MAN One day riding our bike on the path we met a man that lived in one of the mansions that faced Lake Worth. He stopped us to ask about Ziggy who was sitting lazily in my bike basket. Apparently he was a Jack Russell owner too. We began to talk about Jack Russell’s and he asked what we were doing here and became very interested in knowing where we’ve been and where we’re going on the boat. You see, he was a boater too in his past life and began sharing information about all sorts of places that we might like to go and see as we headed south to the Keys and the West side of Florida. We were quite taken back by his sincere friendliness and even more surprised when he showed up at our slip the next afternoon to see our boat and give us his phone number and some other numbers and brochures of places to go that he liked and recommended. He said to give him a call if we wanted to get into some of the private yachts clubs along the way as he “knew everyone”. What a nice man. So you see, who would think you’d find someone so open and friendly to some unlikely visitors to this protected enclave of Palm Beach? EXTENDED OUR STAY We stayed a couple extra days because of a storm that blew through and because Larry’s eye was acting up again. It was looking awfully red and I insisted he find a doctor to take a look at it. Again we lucked out with a fine doctor who prescribed some medicated eye drops and then wanted him to come back for a follow up in a few days. We didn’t need our arm
twisted to stay a few more days. Where else could you find such a nice
place to hang out?
FRONT The sky foretold the front by a large strange dramatic cloud formation and soon it arrived as predicted. We were tossed around for a whole day and night feeling much like being in a washing machine even while at a dock. We felt like we were out to sea in bad weather. WATER WARMING UP Hey, remember those
Manatees that were all huddling in the warm water put off by the power
plant in nearby Riviera? Well, during our stay we made friends with the
dock master and he came by one morning to tell us the Manatees were
leaving in mass from the Riviera power plant. A lot of boaters headed up
that way to see them. I rode one of our bikes 5 miles up to see them but
not a one of those stinkers did I see, nor do I ever see, as they again
were nowhere to be seen. That was a long 10 mile bike trip for nothing.
Dang manatees. GOT THE GO AHEAD We got the go ahead from the doc to continue on south to the Keys but not without promising to call back in four days to report Larry’s progress. HEADED TO FORT LAUDERDALE, ICK So the plan was to leave the next day and as Larry has always wanted to stay on the River Walk in Fort Lauderdale that’s where we were headed. It’s in the center of the Las Olas area which offers lots of nearby restaurants, shops, museums and performing arts. I wasn’t too anxious to go there as I had visions of noise and boat wakes but I got to go to Palm Beach and now its Larry’s turn by golly.
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DIFFICULT TO DESCRIBE
why would they? It’s because all these mega yachts have
everything they need aboard including washers and dryers or more likely
they have it “sent out”. I called around to see if one of the cleaners in
town could do our laundry. (I didn’t even ask if there was a laundro mat
because that would be ridiculous.) They said they could, but they’d need
a three day turn around. Well we couldn’t be without sheets and towels
that long but they also said they could do a 24 hour turn around if we got
the wash hand pressed and folded. Now does that make sense? Naw, I
didn’t even ask how much that would cost nor would I think our underwear,
especially Larry’s would pass the muster test. So hand wash and hang out
to dry it was.
