Pictures: This is the Intracoastal Waterway near Hobe Sound, as our friend's neighbor caught a good shot of us passing by their condos; VICTORIOUS is in the mooring area near the Las Olas Bridge in Ft. Lauderdale; Ken is checking out a very low-rider outside of one of the tatoo parlors near the beach in Ft. Lauderdale; a new cruising friend, Louise, and I found these comfortable tables at the Florida International Univ. campus near our anchorage; another new friend took a picture of Heidi while kayaking in the Oleta River State Park; this group of happy kayakers makes it look like so much fun!; a typical line of kayakers as they explore the waters at Oleta River S.P; approaching Miami from the north on the ICW; in No Name Harbor after sunset, the boats are lit by their masthead anchor lights; this is how the sailors at the regatta move their boats from the launching area to the overnight area; here are Brazilian sailors and their 49er FX class boat passing us in the mooring area
This month we don't have a schedule and can revisit some favorite places, get lazy and stay in one place for a week if the mood (doesn't) move us, and we are enjoying the better temperatures mostly, comfortable for sleeping at night and not overly hot during the day. We've got DVDs to watch, quite a few books to read, and something new to us, podcasts to listen to. There is no TV on our boat and it is a relief in a way to get away from bad news, repetitive commercials, and somewhat unintelligent programming. We are also in the area of Cuban-American food, music and sexy lit-up speed boats! Every once and a while there is work to do, like changing engine oil, emptying the composting toilet, or cleaning the waterline of the boat, but we can space these chores out.
We only had a brief stopover in Ft. Lauderdale. A familiar boat was there, ELAN from Hull, Mass. We've been talking with Steve and Lynn off-and-on all trip and wondering when we would meet up. Here we had a chance to invite them to see our boat and they returned the favor. From the City Marina at Las Olas the area we could walk to was somewhat sleazy with tatoo parlors, the beach, and lots of liquor stores and bars. In the other direction we walked to a grocery store and got an Uber ride back as it was quite a distance. It is a busy boating place, and right now there are extra cruising boats accumulating, waiting for a good weather window to cross over to the Bahamas. The trip passes through the Gulf Stream (a strong current going from south to north just a few miles from the Florida coast) and this makes it a tricky passage, as you want to be sure to get the best weather. We don't plan to go to the Bahamas but we are getting caught up in the discussions and the excitement!
The next stop is a return to Oleta River State Park where we first went 5 years ago when we came south in our Mainship powerboat. There is a bay adjacent to the Park, room for 2 dozen or so boats to anchor. It is well protected from the wind and happens to be bugless on this visit. Best of all the bay dead-ends nearby so there are no wakes from fast boats. There is also a uniersity campus across the bay; all this is in North Miami. The Park rents kayaks and also has a lot of mountain-biking trails and rents bikes. Every day dozens of kayakers paddle through our anchorage, mostly young people in their teens and twenties, but also families. They are almost all having a great time, splashing each other, racing, yelling back and forth. Our kayak got a lot of use here, as Heidi went on daily trips from one end of the bay to the other, and through the mangroves on narrow, bending routes.
We immediately met up with people from four sailboats who have recently connected with each other and are all waiting to cross to the Bahamas. Each day there was either a large group cocktail party on one boat or another, or smaller groups getting together for a hike in the park, to play board games, or to exchange books (this activity was initiated by the couple on WHISPER from Newfoundland). The other couples were from Maryland, Maine and a single-hander from Ohio.
One early evening gathering we were treated to a line of kayaks paddling by, lit with lightsticks on each bow and stern. It was the special "Full Moon Tour" for people who signed up at the rental center. This place is like a Kayakers Disneyland!
While taking a walk in the Park we saw a fox. It actually was waiting near the dinghy beach and most likely had spied our small plastic garbage bag we were bringing in to dispose of. It came quite near to us, but we headed in the other direction and waved it away. Other than the fox, wildlife was scant. Not too many birds other than herons, no manatees or dolphins. Good-sized orange iguanas are often seen hanging from the mangroves over the water. The weather has been a bit unstable, with clouds and passing showers, sometimes two or three times a day. But it hasn't really stopped the activity.
There are no services (water, laundry, etc.) here so the other four boats and ours had to eventually leave. Most of the group crossed to the Bahamas on the 18th of January. We moved down to Miami, to Key Biscayne which is across Biscayne Bay from the city center. We really enjoy No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne. We have anchored here on each of the three trips we have made to Florida. There is a restaurant in the small harbor, and another State Park with good bicycle trails. The ocean beach is just a few minutes on the bicycle trail. We only stayed for two days this time because we still need water, but it was long enough to meet boaters from Fairhaven, Mass. and get together with them to compare notes. We rode bikes to get groceries here and had lunch each day at the two restaurants in the Park and Harbor, featuring seafood and our first Presidente (from Dominican Republic) beers of the trip!
Finally getting to the first "real marina" in quite a while, we got water at Dinner Key in Coconut Grove, part of Miami. While at the dock we were almost sideswiped by two girls on a small boat, sailing by fast with a spinnaker up, downwind, in the inner harbor. They were followed by two more female crews on similar boats. They all had insignia on their sails indicating where they were from -- Norway was the first boat. It turned out that a lot of sailors are in town for a "Sailing World Cup" that starts this week. It is so much fun watching the different classes (all are Olympic classes) sail out of the harbor with their coaches for training runs each day. We also pass through their staging area by the launching ramp and see the sailors all over town, at the grocery store nearby, and at the pre-launch area assigned to them.
We need to move from Dinner Key where we have a mooring to a quieter spot as a big wind is coming that will make it uncomfortable for a few days. But we did have three nights and days there, and had time to get a gourmet pizza lunch, go to the beautiful Barnacle park nearby (it is a former home of a boat designer from the late 1800s and also has a boathouse and carriage house), ride our bikes around to hardware stores and gelato shops, and get our laundry done at the marina headquarters.
The wind is hitting us now, but we are back at Key Biscayne. This time we went to Hurricane Harbor, a very safe anchorage, where we have no access to shore, but we can ride out the high wind gusts and relax. The homes here are beautiful, many have private docks, and there are another 8 or 9 boats anchored with us. It's 76 degrees out, sunny, and even though they are threatening thunderstorms, and even possible hail and tornados, it doesn't seem likely!
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