01/12/2025 ICW Day 12 : Life of the Peacock.

by Brian · Published January 12, 2025 · Updated January 23, 2025

Sometímes when I travel through regions of great wealth, I look at the display of opulence and ask myself, “Why?”

Why would someone choose to spend money on an enormous yacht that has a little “bat cave” on the side with another boat (larger than ours) tucked away inside at water level? Why would someone spend so much money on a house that is so big, Janet and I keep asking ourselves, “wait… is that a hotel? Or a house?”

Why would someone purchase life-size statues of kids playing in the front yard and a corresponding statue of a dog and a man fishing with his child?

Today we passed by cruise ships with elaborate balconies and dozens of high rise condos, each with their own fancy looking balcony with a bistro set. The perfect place to enjoy a morning cup of coffee.

The only thing is, we can see all 240 balconies on each complex… and each time, there is maybe 1 or 2 people enjoying this decadent view of the waterfront.

Being practical in nature, to me, all of this stuff seems excessive. What I mean is, after you reach a certain point of happiness from life, you can’t get any more happy by having all of these fancy things. Something like a balcony overlooking the waterfront may seem exotic to me, but once you live in a place like that for a while, it probably becomes mundane enough that you end up like the other 238 people who don’t venture out to their balconies any more.

I’m not complaining or judging, but I can’t help but feel like sometimes people have so much money, they ask themselves, “what should I do with all this money?” In these cases, it seems as if the answer is “buy more showy stuff.”

Still fresh in my mind are the scenes I saw last year on the other side of the Atlantic. What would they do if they encountered such wealth? Maybe the same thing. Perhaps the peacock lives inside all of us, waiting for the opportunity to let the feathers fluff out.

Photos:

Feeling kinda small!

We passed several “super yacht” harbors. These Yachts frequently reminded me of the Batmobile.

Took a photo of the Internatioanl Swim Center Hall of Fame for Mark Glenesk.

Mornings are good. Miami and environs are sleepy places until noon. Then the shit hits the fan and the ICW turns into a washing machine of wakes. Most people are nice, though. Everywhere we go, people wave and smile, and take photos of our boat. People yell out “I love your boat!” One guy even called out from shore, asking us to stop so he could look at it.

We sailed the ICW peacefully until noon. Then, boats surrounded us, creating wakes every 30 seconds. We zigzagged across the channel (narrower than here) and avoided boats, wakes, wake reflection, and bridges - all while trying to keep wind in our sail. Finally, I told Janet, “it’s going to be calmer in the open ocean…” and it was!

We passed so many houses like this. It is hard to tell if they are vacant or not. Of course, a married couple with 2 kids could disappear in a such a structure. I left the bucket in the front for perspective.

Speaking of vacant houses, there is nowhere to camp still. We have another 30 miles until we get back to a more natural setting. We were getting a bit desperate after all of our satellite view beaches were packed with people and boats blasting music. Then I saw this little undeveloped lot with a ramp like thing. Janet agreed, and now we are camping between two houses on a vacant lot. Hope it work out.

Last night, we were visited by 4 police riding in an ATV golf cart. They shone the lights on the tent, but I could hear them casually chatting about something else. Clearly, they weren’t too interested in us. They asked me to come out, and I did (in my boxers). I explained that we were doing the ICW. “In THAT?” They exclaimed, pointing at our boat. “Well, we have had some problems with this area. You don’t seem like those type of people. Look, it’s a nice night. You pick up your trash, and leave tomorrow, and it will be like this never happened, OK?”

This is our tent spot tonight on the vacant lot. Fingers crossed

Strava Comments:

Hugh J.

Happy to hear it’s been mostly positive experiences with law enforcement.

Janet W.

I have a good feeling about our campsite tonight. I had a good feeling last night too. I’m glad you turning off the light on the locator beacon this time. Thanks for sailing the ocean smoothly today so I wouldn’t be scared.

Dan L.

Same thoughts go through my mind sometimes. For some its probably a show of status, and for others they may genuinely have liked the idea of a balcony with a great view but like you said, they probably got used to it after awhile and stopped appreciating it. Speaking for myself, I'm probably guilty of some form of this. My non-biking friends ask, "why do you need 5 bikes?". And truth be told, I probably don't *need* all those bikes, but I want them - because that n+1th one has some perceived value and I can afford to get it.. I think the same applies to other people, in one form or another.

Hugh J.

N+1 is REAL!

Nancy P.

Ecclesiastes.

Brian L.

Dan L - I like your thoughtful reply. Actually made me think, because of course 5 bikes are necessary (road/gravel, mountain, tandem mountain, tandem gravel/road, commuter)… but 5 extra bedrooms isn’t necessary

. You’re right: From my point of view, the need for extra bikes is obvious.. but not to other people. Likewise, the extra bedrooms may be necessary to those who have them, but I just can’t see it. Thanks for perspective.

Dan L.

Brian Lucido - my latest (and last, but that’s what I tell myself) bike is an Omnium cargo bike. I’ve been using it for grocery & trash/recycling runs and gravel bike packing with a dog. Nothing that my other bikes with rack/panniers or trailer can’t do but boy, it’s so much fun riding it. What others spend on their cars I put into bikes, so it’s all relative

Mark G.

Brian Lucido thanks for the swim center photo. I swam there when I was in the area years ago. Nice pool for sure. In some of the photos of the huge container ship or cruise ship I imagine your boat in the photo but next to it....

DogMeat Q.

I could not agree with you more Brian! Paul and i are totally in your camp