January 21-23 Update

We left Sunset Bay Marina at about 10:15;  At 8:00 Andy started calling marinas and marine plumbers, to try and get someone to look at our Aft head, as it has stopped working.  No one in the area could do the work for at least 3 weeks, so we decided to move on and find someone closer to Miami.  We finally found a guy that will come to our boat in a marina we have booked in Biscayne Bay on Monday morning, provided we can get there. I called several marinas, before this one reluctantly agreed to take us—but the slip he assigned us to is due for some construction—I just hope it doesn’t happen next week!

We made it as far as West Palm Beach by 4:00 and tied up on a city dock, with our friends from I Love Lucy, who had got there several hours before us.  We are tied up in front of a very large ship called Grand Luxe.

 

 We met the captain, and he allowed us to stay tied to the dock as he had  a permit to use it for the weekend.  In the evening  near to us in  West Palm there was a band playing and the Budweiser Clydesdales were parading through the downtown- and we’re not in St. Louis!

January 22

Through the night it was quite windy and this continued on Friday with a small craft warning. We stayed put as it rained on and off all day.    At one point Andy talked to the captain from the Grand Luxe,

and he said we should be fine on the ICW.  So the plan is to make a run on Saturday.

January 23

We got up early and cast off at 6:45- reaching our first bridge at 6:55.  Today was definitely the day of bridges.  We went thought 26, 7 of which we had to have opened as the clearance was less than 17 feet, some bridge open on demand, while others open on the ¼  & ¾  past the hour and others opened on the hour and ½. Andy timed it well- I think we only had to wait a maximum of 20 minutes for any opening.  I saw a giraffe  lawn ornament which I found interesting.

We cruised through Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton. Pompano  and then Fort Lauderdale  were we saw a number of cruise chips,

and the inlet to the Atlantic.  I was also made aware that they are the yacht capital of the world.

There was a warning that with the winds the waves in the Atlantic and Gulf would be over 8 feet, glad we weren’t  going out there.  Andy also noticed the Blue Moon   tied up at a marina there—he had seen this vessel back in September on Lake Michigan.

When we got near Hollywood, we saw the hotel that we had stayed at when AACC conference was here in 2013.   We looked at a number of recommended anchorages for the night but with the brisk wind we opted for Bakers Haulover Inlet (North Miami) which is next to Florida University at mileage 1079.7  It is a little breezy here and we’re swinging; but are far enough away from the other 15 boats that chose this anchorage.      

Will be moving to our marina tomorrow.