Boom De Yada: The last push to Miami and hanging out before the Bahamas

Jan 1st, the ICW was understandably not very busy today. We made it down to Vero Beach, sadly we couldn’t stay longer. Anchoring is not allowed in Vero Beach so we grabbed one of the last two mooring balls available. This is the only place we’re aware of that rafting together on a mooring ball is the norm and it was the only place we were bothered by No-See-Ums (little flying bugs that bite and you never see them).

Heading out for the run to Miami

Friday, Jan 2 was a 50 mile day; we were underway by 08:00. There was no wind, we had a combination of rain and sunshine as we made our way down the ICW to Jupiter. The waterway was busy and we saw lots of dolphins. On Saturday, the temperature was in the low 80’s and the waterways were crazy busy. We had 16 Bascule bridges (bridges too low that need to be opened up to all) to go through. Sometimes the bridge will open as you make your approach and other times you need to wait for their next opening. At two we had to wait 30 minutes for a scheduled opening. So as to not have that wait, we pushed the throddle down a little further than we usually do just to make the scheduled bridge opening. As we passed Lakeworth Inlet (West Palm) we'd gone from having the current helping us move quicker - to going against the current...we dropped from 8mph to less than 5mph. We also passed friends on s/v Mistress who were waiting in Lakeworth for a weather window to crossover to West End (the north route to the Bahamas). We had a 42 mile day to Pelican Harbour for the night, arriving late around 16:00 due to the bridge delays.

Anchored in Hobe Sound by Jupiter, FLA

One of many beautiful homes along the ICW in Florida

Along the ICW

From Pelican Harbour, we had about 9 bridges to pass through for the 21 miles to Fort Lauderdale. We turned up Middle River for an anchorage and a good place for Ryan and Alyssa to meet us at a park close by. We hung several of our clothes to air them out as mold and mildew are a constant battle here in Florida...a city police boat came by to tell us it was against city ordinance. A knock-knock on the side of our boat, it was Walt and Honoree who we had met in Oriental, NC while our keel was being fixed. We chatted and followed them to the park where we could tie up our dinghy and walk to the Publix (grocery store) and to Starbucks where Julie could enjoy a coffee. We use a steel cable to lock our dinghy up. We heard the area was a little sketchy (where druggies and homeless people hang out). On our return, we stopped to chat at a nearby boat called Igloo with Adam and Delores aboard and we were invited for happy hour on their boat. Delores was from Montreal and Adam from Belgium...such a nice couple and we had similar plans of crossing the Gulf Stream from Miami mid January. That night was hot, not even a bed sheet was needed to sleep...not that we’re complaining!

Anchored in Pelican Harbour just off the ICW

A beautiful sunset

Jan 5 - We’re up early as Ryan and Alyssa land at 06:06 in Fort Lauderdale; a short cab ride to the park where I will pick them. Ryan text me that they were in the cab. So I jumped in the dinghy around 06:30, for the 4 min ride to the park. The sun had not yet appeared in the sky. Julie waits on the boat to prepare for our guests. Apparantly, truly a sketchy park as the cab driver asked Ryan if he wanted to be dropped at the 7/11 or did he want him to stay with them. Ryan’s big and with his girlfriend sends the cab driver on his way. They are standing on the dock, trees around and start to feel a little unsure so he called me to find out my whereabouts…”I’m just 2 minutes away”. It’s a no wake zone so I must go slow. I come around the corner and can see them standing on the dock waiting. As I enter the cove of the park, I see what looks like a body, I slow down to take a second look and sure enough, it’s a face down floating body; male, short hair, sweat shirt, jeans and running shoes...holy crap! My heart starts to pump a little more as I dial 911. Fire and police are there within minutes. At first, they want me to take them in the dinghy but they decide they think they can see it from the shore. I go to point him out and confirm in my mind that it was a body. Once the rescue guys confirm its a body it becomes a crime seen. By this time, Julie is wondering what’s taking us so long; as she had seen a police boat go racing by with its lights flashing not 5 minutes after I'd left to get the kids. Once I pushed my name and contact info to a passing police officer we headed to the boat with Julie standing on deck ready to greet the kids. After informing her why it took so long, I checked the weather and today was the better day to make our way down to Miami. Since there is a fixed bridge with only a 56ft clearance and we need 61ft, we have to go off the coast from Fort Lauderdale to get to Miami. We prepare the boat and lift anchor at 08:45, two bascule bridges to pass and we exit the ICW into the Atlantic for the 22 mile passage to Miami’s Government Cut where all the big cruise ships come in to port. The kids are exhausted from the red-eye flight and go for some sleep in the V-berth (forward cabin). Its a sunny day and the seas are okay...just some crashing into oncoming waves. Julie takes the helm and I prepare our new fishing rod to troll down the coast. I sit for an hour, then Julie sits holding the rod for a while but not even a nibble.

Our first attempt of ocean fishing off the coast of Miami

Our second attempt off the coast of Miami

Sunset over Miami

As we come in to Government Cut, the tide is going out so we have current against us and the wind is blowing on land which creates opposing forces of wind and current, causing the seas to stand up. It’s a slow rough ride for a while until we get passed the opening of the cut. Still another hour to get up the south channel (north channel used for the cruise ships and closed to other traffic since 9/11), right by downtown Miami and then we head east again to South Miami. We anchor just south of Belle Island with little wind and tidal current making it very difficult to know the location of other boat anchors. We have dinner aboard, chat and in bed by 21:30. An exciting first day for the kids.

We all jump in the dinghy for a slow ride (too much weight to get up on plane) to my cousin David’s place, a condo just a mile away by Miami Beach Yacht Club. During the kids four day stay aboard with us, we made it to the South beach three times, ate out at nice restaurants and saw dolphins in the anchorage. David showed us his other car in Miami...a Ferrari. The week went by too fast and it was good-bye to Ryan and Alyssa...a great break for them and great for us to see them. Ryan put together a wonderful collection of the photos he took...memories of some great times had.

Ryan and Alyssa visiting on South Beach

Yummy, gluten free pizza!

Julie socializing with Iguana

Another sunset over Miami

During our two weeks in Miami, my cousin Johnny and his wife Gigi came to visit twice. Johnny brought us some fishing stuff and frozen Ballywoo (bait fish already with hooks and wire leader). Johnny is a Fire Captain and had plenty of interesting stories. Meanwhile, we had been watching the coming weather window for a week. Our friend, Wally was booking his flight to move with us for a few weeks. My cousin Ronald picked us up to join he and his family for dinner at their place 45 minutes away in Fort Lauderdale, but first he was kind enough to take us to Costco with his membership card so we could stock up before leaving ($600 later) and get our propane tanks filled. His sister, Elizabeth and her husband JB came for dinner as well. Great to see them all again. David had to go to Trinidad for a few days and allowed us to use his place to do our laundry. These are some of the many things we did in Miami to prepare for the Bahamas. To list a few more: we topped up our diesel and gasoline tanks, picked up final items for our fishing arsonal, rum, borrowed water jugs from a fellow cruiser to fill up our onboard water tank as a precaution as we were still trying to commission our new watermaker we had installed in Canada...this was turning into a nightmare!