January 13, 2012 Friday Lake Worth to Miami

Lunch Time

Sunrise Lake Worth

The pic is sunrise at Lake Worth!  We entered the ocean at sunrise at Lake Worth Inlet and motor-sailed to Miami.  We had a southwesterly wind early and with the jib and engine we made good time.  The wind soon died to just a couple of knots and the sails came down.  The day was extra long with setting anchor at dusk.  Much of the day the engine ran at about 2250 rpms.  I prefer to run closer to 1800 rpms but in order to make Miami before dark we needed to push a little harder.

North Miami

We entered Government Cut from the ocean and turned left behind Dodge Island to downtown Miami.  Just before entering the harbor channel a huge tour ship followed the pilot boat out to sea where the local pilot gets off the tour boat and come back into the harbor.  It's my understanding that local pilots are used to bring large ships in and out of the harbors. The feeling being they don't want foreign pilots unfamiliar with the local knowledge of the harbor getting stuck or in some way damaging the harbor or cruise ship.  What a racket!  I do see the logic, however!
As we entered the cut another huge cruise ship was coming our way down the right channel.  We met at the junction of the channels that are separated by Dodge Island.  This ship was a Norweigian Cruise ship with brillant colors painted on the bow like graffiti!  Check out the pics!  Interestingly enough, passengers on board the cruise ship were taking our picture as Bonnie was taking theirs!

Miami at dusk

Colored Roof Line Lights

We motored past the docks and headed straight toward downtown Miami. We turned left and entered the ICW traveling south to the Rickerbacker Causeway Bridge.  Once under the bridge and clear we turned to port and anchored in 9 feet of water in a wonderful bay surrounded by the causeway road!  There were bright street lights as well as the downtown buildings lit up, many with colored trim lights along the roof lines!  What a sight!  My pics don't give it justice but you can still see its splendor!

ICW Downtown

Downtown near our Anchorage

With an early day tomorrow and another long day it's time for sleep!

Captain Sid

January 12, 2012 Thursday Vero Beach to Lake Worth

The wind pretty much on the nose all day!  When this happens it's not a sailing day, but instead,  a motoring day.  Traveling south on the ICW was slowed somewhat by the timed bridges.  We missed two because they are timed for trawlers that move quicker than we do.  We lost a total of 45 minutes as a result.  This may not seem like much at first glance, however, if you spend 10 hours on the water it's significant and makes for a longer day!  Pat and Walt decided to exit the ICW at Fort Pierce sail on the ocean and pull in at Lake Worth.  We chose to stay on the ICW and anchor at Lake Worth with them later in the day.  We talked on our cell phones and met them at R6 in the anchorage.

Captain Sid

January 10, 2012 Tuesday Vero Beach,FL

Brittany and Courtney Anchorage Marina

Vero Beach is one of our favorite sites with a limited mooring field it is expected boats will "raft up" in order to make room for any boat in need of a safe mooring.  We were lucky we were able to get a free buoy next toWaves of Grace.  Our early afternoon arrival made it easy to get the necessary things done to enjoy a dinner prepared by Pat and Walt.  Registering was interesting since we tied up to buoy #42.  The clerks in the office asked where we were and I told him "next to the mangroves by red post #14."  He said that was impossible and that I was at #37.  I said no that I was sure it read #42.  He me took over to the office map of the mooring field and while it showed #37 I know we were at #42.  To make a long story short their map is old and someone renumbered the buoys without correcting the map!  It's like being assigned a motel room with conflicting numbers.  You really don't want to be disturbed or move to another location.  In any event, we stayed put and there were no problems.

Table set for Pat & Walt

Bon and I took the Go Line #1 bus (free) into town.  It cruises past the beach and its shops while crossing the ICW bridge to other areas of Vero Beach including grocery stores, West Marine, Panera's and the like.  After returning to Fiu we took our dinghy to have dinner with Pat and Walt.  She served up a Chinese stir-fry over rice that would knock your socks off!

New Place Mates

We decided to stay an extra day and head out on Thursday for Lake Worth, Palm Beach.  We will decide how to spend our day tomorrow.  Time to sleep.

Captain Sid