Fort Lauderdale to Miami.

23rd Jan – 10th Feb 2014

With a  forecast of a nice gentle north easter,  we set off for the 25 mile sail down to Biscayne Bay and the glitzy lights of Miami. Finally we felt like our cruising season had begun. A warm breeze, flat seas and bright sunny skies brought a smile to our dials all the way down. We even partook in a celebratory beverage up on the bow as GWTW sailed herself merrily along.

Arriving late afternoon we stopped at Key Biscayne for the night, next morning we checked out the National Park end of the island. There were a couple of  trails to follow along  the waterfront  leading to an old lighthouse and keeper’s quarters.

From what we could see there was only a sole occupant, a very laid back iguana sunning himself on the keeper’s roof.

                        

A little way off shore in the middle of the bay  we could see  some wooden structures which looked very similar to the large fish traps that we’d seen when sailing through Indonesia back in 2006. We were puzzled as to what they were.True to form the National Parks Service can always be relied upon to fill in the gaps with informative signage as to what the structures actually were. Stiltsville, as it was called ,got it’s start in the 1930’s when  a guy named ‘Crawfish’ Eddie set up a bait shop in the middle of the bay. The area takes it’s name from the seven houses built on stilts above the water. By the 1950’s and 60’s, it was a popular gathering place for fisherman, boaters,club goers and well known citizens of the area. The homes have long since been abandoned and are now part of the Key Biscayne national park.

Friends Donnie and Judy, who we’d met in Deltaville back in 2011, had their boat in the Dinner Key Marina. We had quite a few days catching up with them during the 3 weeks that we spent in Miami, including a really fun night at a local sports bar watching the Superbowl, the grand finale of American gridiron football. It’s a huge event in the States, and the atmosphere in the bar was terrific. We especially loved the national anthem and it was pretty neat seeing the locals upstanding with hands on hearts. The Yanks are seriously patriotic and we love it. For the record, Seattle smacked the Denver Broncos, big time.

          

The World Cup sailing regatta happened to be on while we were there with over 550 competitors in various classes, and a number of Aussies competing as well. As the yachts slipped by us each morning heading out to race, the Aussie contingent would give us a friendly wave while we shouted encouragement and waved the Aussie flag. Naturally, the Boxing Kangaroo flag was also flying proudly. Team Australia performed well overall, scoring a number of wins in what turned out to be a very light-wind regatta.

   

Miami was also an excellent place for shopping and Donnie,it’s actually Judy’s car, very kindly lent us their car, a  very flash SL550 Mercedes. It was a stunning set of wheels. Jet black, retractable roof, bucket loads of power and it made for a really cool shopping trolley! It was the perfect pose machine for these parts, and we certainly made the most of it.

  

After lots of visits to the various shopping outlets we managed to fill most of the nooks, crannies, fridges and freezers onboard, provisions to last us the best part of 3 months we figured. With Cuba and parts of the western Caribbean on our radar, we knew that getting many basic items there would prove a major challenge.

Finally the day to depart came around and after some hugs and kisses and goodbyes to friends, GWTW weighed anchor, next destination Bimini in the Bahamas.

 

 

 

 

 

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TEST BLOG

24TH FEBURARY 2014

West Palm Beach to  Fort Lauderdale Florida.

1st - 23rd January 2014.

With the new year’s celebrations done and dusted now it was a case of sit and wait until all the marine business reopened after the holiday break. After many phone calls, taxi rides and bus trips, Liam found a guy who could make up a replacement hose for the hydraulic steering system, it wasn’t something that you could just rock in and buy off the shelf. Ably assisted by Terry from Cristata and Peter from The Southern Cross, Liam and the boys had the new system installed and up and running within a few days. At last we could move off the dock and go out to anchor once more.

We’d had a few 2am revelers  jump on board while we’d been tied to the dock. They were out for a good time and thought nothing of just hopping on to the transom and up the steps into our cockpit for a look around. I guarantee if our doors had not be closed they would have come right into the saloon. They got the a real shock when Liam jumped out of bed and asked what they wanted. 

After some last minute provisioning  were were all set to go. Fort Lauderdale and Miami beckoned and with the former being just 30 odd miles away we decided, as a novelty, to try the Intracoastal Waterway route and see how 90% of yachts  that travel the east coast live, so to speak. As our air draft, that’s the trendy term for mast height these days, is 76 ft off the water we always have to sail up and down the coast in the ocean. No nice calm waters or going from A to B regardless of the weather for this pair of brown ducks. Those pesky 65ft bridges strategically placed along the waterway take care of those ideas. That is except for this one short stretch where every bridge is an opening one.

  

Nineteen bridges lay ahead of us between West Palm Beach and Ft Lauderdale and we knew that timing the bridges right meant that you could make the trip in a day. Our good intentions of a 7am start went by the wayside and a 10am departure seemed more realistic. By the time we got to the eleventh bridge the novelty of travelling along the ICW had worn off. It’s quite mentally intense watching the channel markers, the depth sounder and keeping the rev’s up to make the next bridge opening, and just to keep you on your toes the bridges aren’t all in sync. You miss one, as we did, and you are snookered. By late afternoon we decided to cut our losses for the day and anchored amongst the homes of the rich and famous at Lake Boca Raton. There certainly are some impressive mansions lining the waterfront in this neck of the woods.

  

Next morning we hit the road early and arrived at Lake Sylvia in Ft Lauderdale just after lunch. Friends from Good Trade had been anchored there for nearly 3 weeks and it was nice to catch up again. American friends Steve and Karyn from Thresold, whom we met years ago when we were in the Med, live on one of the canals not far from Lake Sylvia. They invited us over to their place for a BBQ one evening which was a lot of fun and helped us out on a few shopping trips including a couple to the mother of all chandleries, West Marine. Our mainsail halyard was starting to get a bit long in the tooth and West Marine happened to have one day sale on ropes while we were in town. Never one to miss a bargain, Liam was out there early ordering the length we needed before they sold out.

As an added  boost to the Florida economy, or more to the point West Marines’ bank balance, we also became the proud parents of an additional freezer. It now occupies the front bed in our starboard cabin and will come in mighty handy when we are cruising in remote areas this year and especially when it comes time to cross the Pacific. Just when we thought we’d spent enough dollars in the sunshine state, our Mase generator went on the blink. A couple of hours and a few hundred bucks later the mechanic had it fixed  and it was all good to go.Next stop Miami.

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