The Eiffel of Palm Beach

I flew to Palm Beach and Paul picked me up at the airport. It had been a few months since our one meeting and he saw me before I saw him. He was in a hurry because our other crew member, Dr. Bill, was double parked in a loading zone out front. We hustled out of the airport with my bags and I climbed in the back of Dr. Bill's rented Tesla.

"Do you want to go see Mar a Lago?" Dr. Bill asked me, by way of an introduction.

"Uh, not really."

"Why not? Why come to Palm Beach and not go see Mar a Lago? That's like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower."

"Did you just compare Mar a Lago to the Eiffel Tower?"

"Well you know what I mean, you should go see it."

"We don't want to see Mar a Lago," Paul interjected on my behalf. "Just go to the boat."

Dr. Bill turned out to be a very special character. He drove like a maniac and credited his skills (such as they were) to his time driving for Ferrari in the '60s. He'd taken that job while posted in Europe with the Canadian Armed Forces (Air Force, back then) as a way to make a few extra bucks between, presumably, doing doctor stuff with the military. All of his stories ended up being like that.

The good doctor was going to join us from Palm Beach up to New York, or as close as we could get in two-ish weeks, after which he'd have to jet off to perform some life saving surgery (or give a talk at a conference, the story varied). Dr. Bill and Paul knew each other from their marina in the Abacos, Bahamas. He'd done the trip in both directions dozens of times over the decades, and when I asked him details about various coastlines along the way he did have ready answers. He knew his boats and he knew the waters we'd be traveling, so I was happy to listen to his somewhat incredible stories along the way.

After a white-knuckle drive through Palm Beach, we arrived at the boat at the unassuming Cannonsport Marina on Singer Island. My first impression of Black Diamond, in person, was her floating pretty on the azure green waters of the intracoastal, with a half-sunk power boat sitting on a shoal half a click in the background. Ah, Florida... Black Diamond was outfitted for travel, her dinghy and life raft lashed to the deck and the interior a mess of provisions and equipment. Classic pre-departure chaos. But she looked good, and it was exciting to see her up close for the first time.

Look, she cleans up real nice ok? Just you wait…