Friday, December 18, 2009

Palm Beach to Miami

After a couple of nights anchored in the Palm Beach area, it was time to move on to Miami. We were underway by 3:00 Monday morning with the promise of sunny skies and light winds. We would be in sight of land for this whole leg of the trip. Our route straddled the 3 nautical mile (from land) mark. Some of you will know why, and some of you won't. It didn't take long to realize we were in a contrary current, so after talking to another sailboat who was closer to shore than we were, we hung a right for about a mile and we picked up about a knot of speed.

We have been without a knot meter since sometime in Long Island Sound. There is a little magnet encased in a plastic fin on the paddle wheel which enables the rest of the instrument to count revolutions so it can calculate your speed through the water. Apparently saltwater was able to penetrate the joint in the plastic and rusted out the magnet. Of course, I wasn't sure that was the problem until I left the paddle wheel inside the boat for a couple of months and the rusted magnate finally blew out the plastic (OK, I'm still not SURE). We get our speed from the Chartplotter/GPS that gives us our speed over ground which is more important to us than speed through the water. But it is nice to know your speed through the water as well, because it makes you more aware of the currents and lets you know if the boat is performing properly. We should have our new paddle wheel when we see my folks in a few days.



Monday turned out to be beautiful other than this squall that kept trying to get us (right now anything above 50 degrees F is beautiful to us). When it finally got us, it brought just enough wind for us to put some sail out. We were able to get a fresh water rinse on the genoa. A hard thing to do when you're too cheap to frequent marinas.  Then it was back to just the motor.

This was the week of rainbows.

The day was uneventful until we reached Government Cut in Miami. Then the Coast Guard did a securite on the VHF concerning cruise ships in Government Cut. We couldn't understand what they said---(as side note...we are not Coast Guard bashers. We love them, have a great deal of respect for them, and really appreciate what they do. But we often can not understand their announcements on the radio. When they talk on the radio, they have a routine they're required to follow which among other things, includes what sector they are from and then a "break"! Then a pause. Up until this point everything said is clear and understandable. Then they get to the real message they are trying to deliver. Here, they morph into teenage pronunciation--real fast, reduced intelligibility, then trailing off altogether. When that part is over, they make a strong recovery for their grand finale-- OUT! So basically, we normally get everything except the point of the message.) Anyway...we called them to verify no cruise ships were leaving the channel and that we were free to enter. They said no, the channel is closed because there were more than 2 cruise ships at port. We knew this was wrong, and I explained we would enter through Government Cut, and then turn on Lummus I. Channel to go south of Dodge Island on our way to Key Biscayne. This keeps you away from where the cruise ships are berthed, but the Coast Guard told us we could not enter. Another sailboat radioed us that our route was "legal", upon which the Coast Guard said no no no no. So we did a few circles around the inlet while Lisa called the Coast Guard on the phone, and after some "discussion" she was able to verify we would not be machine gunned down if we proceeded in. After that--no big deal.

 
A new house being built right in front of our anchorage.

We entered Biscayne Bay and dropped our anchor on the west side of Key Biscayne. It was quite peaceful and beautiful.

 
Doesn't look like much here, but the Miami skyline is quite stunning at night. We spent 2 nights anchored here and loved it. And it was warm enough to sit in the cockpit at night!

Wednesday, we made the 3.5 mile trek to Dinner Key Mooring field, where we will keep the boat while we visit family. We were finally able to get off the boat for the first time since Titusville. Then the winds came Friday and today. We got a ton of rain today with a lot of wind. Several squalls brought wind in the lower 40s, but most of it has been in the 20s and low 30s. We're a ready to do some walking.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Fernandina Beach to Lake Worth

We waited a week hoping for a weather window to go "outside" and sail south, but it was not to be. The week after Randy and Carla left was a wee bit on the chilly side with plenty of wind to boot. I even got to wear "big boy" pants which are normally reserved for cold offshore overnighters. "Big boy" pants fill up the hamper twice as fast so they are reserved for special occasions.


Lisa all bundled up.


On December 12th, we finally left Fernandina Beach via the Intercoastal Waterway. We were more than ready to head south for warmer temperatures.

It was great to be moving again. We spent the next few days motoring during the daytime and then anchoring at night. We anchored in St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Titusville, Melbourne, and Ft. Pierce.

We arrived at Ft. Pierce early Thursday afternoon anticipating strong thunderstorms through the evening. We don't like the anchorage at Ft. Pierce where most boats tend to anchor, and decided on a different spot near the inlet. It was so exciting to see beautiful blue and green water again. Just as I dropped the anchor, the temperature dropped 10 degrees and the rain and wind hit us. Fortunately no thunder and lightning. The rain didn't last long, but the wind kept up until the wee hours of the morning.

When the rain stopped, we were treated to a beautiful reminder that we will never need another ark.

Ft. Pierce has a good all weather inlet, and the channel markers are lighted, so we had our anchor up shortly after 5:00 am on Friday and slowly pounded our way out the channel. We knew it was going to be a bumpy day,but we were ready for a break from the ICW. The channel was rough, but once we turned south, it was just twisty and bouncy. We were able to sail all the way to Lake Worth and entered the Lake Worth Inlet at 1:30 pm with the anchor down before 2:00. It was a really brisk, fun sail between a beam reach and a broad reach the whole way. Therapy.

We are at anchor between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, waiting for a weather window to head to Miami. There is a fixed bridge north of Miami that we don't fit under, so the ICW is not an option. We wouldn't do it anyway, because there are something like 22 restricted lift bridges between here and Miami.

We are very much looking forward to seeing family around Christmas time.