Further South

Further South...

This blog is out of position and belongs before the Bimini Blog. Apologies!
We left Ft. Pierce after a 3 days of work, cleaning, shopping, stowing provisions We spent a lovely Sunday with Pat and Bruce including Sunday supper and Superbowl for the guys and a good visit for Pat and I!
Since Bill had a few things to do we did not get away until afternoon on Monday. We stopped for a quick overnight in Stuart then early rainy morning continued on past Jupiter to North Lake Worth where we anchored just at sunset. We had been held up for 2+ hours at the Donald Ross Bridge just south of Jupiter. We just dropped the anchor on the edge of the channel and relaxed until the bridge finally opened!
Lake Worth was calm and a serene anchorage and we slept well. beautiful reflexions from the buildings around the lake.
Early Wednesday we headed south through the ICW and 25 bridges much to Bill's disgust as he did want to go outside. It was an interesting trip through amazingly wealthy areas and mangrove swamps and huge condos. We passed a condo complex in Deerfield that my Aunt and Uncle and a lot of cousins used to go to. and had since the 1950's. The bridges are quite well timed for the distance between them so it went more smoothly and faster than Bill had anticipated.
We arrived at Las Olas Marina, a Ft. Lauderdale Municipal Marina about 3:30 and Bill and Marilyn joined us just at dark after a bit of difficulty finding us due to my poor instructions. We did get them there though!
What a treat to have them with us for a few days. We had dinner on the boat. Unfortunately we had had to schedule the water maker repairs while they were there as we did not get there early enough to get it done ahead. Bill also help with the install of a new water tank gauge...now we know how much water we have and are using. The wind continued to blow and it rained on and off. We ended up exploring Ft. Lauderdale a good bit and of couse did some shopping thanks to friends and family. We were joined Thursday by Bill's sister Pat and her husband John who had been at a trawler school and then training on a trawler out on the water. They are looking for a boat to do the Great loop or circle, up the east coast and Hudson River, through the canals in upstate NY to the Great Lakes and back down the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi to the Gulf and a back east around FL. They will then be called Loopers!
We all had dinner together at the 15th Street Fishery. Lots more rain that night too.
Friend Bev. joined us for dinner on Wind Spirit on Friday evening and stopped by Saturday AM with a friend too.
Bill and Marilyn left mid-day Saturday to go to Ft. Myers and on to Sarasota to visit family.
Bill and I decided to chill at the marina another night as it was very windy to get off the dock, so went out for an early Valentines to a place Bev recommended called Coconuts which was the best place we had eaten. We wished we had gone there with our visitors!
Our weather window to cross over changed to the end of the week so we went on down the ICW and anchored in Baker Haulover Inlet...or at a park just across the river from the inlet. The anchorage is lovely . It is not near any services so is very quiet. We watched the most beautiful sunset there and dolphins were all around us jumping and swimming for almost an hour in the lake. We took the dinghy down but the motor was not doing well and would not start. Bill worked on it, and then a motor angel came by and stayed to help. We or they got it going but it was still running roughly. Ed Rivers (grandson of E. Rivers of Atlanta fame) lives on a very small boat! He is a paraplegic he told us, from a teen accident. He is a motor genius but this one wasn't easy. He and Bill looked at everything that afternoon and the next morning when it wouldn't start again. They decided it was the electrical system.

We pulled anchor and went north to the Hollywod Municiple 'Ariana to a slip after saying goodby to our angel who would not take anything except thanks, no cookies, no a meal, no$$. He was just an angel!

One of the reasons we went back north was that there is a bridge on the ICW only 57 feet above the water and we are 53 ft from the deck so too close for comfort. The other reason was the huge boat show started in Miami the 16th so did not think we would find a marina easily! We had called several with no response.

We rented a car the next morning, took the motor to the service folks there, did last minute shopping again...the third time! It was a good day on land and wend fun AND got a lot done. Took advantage of the car to have brunch and dinner out...smile!
Motor...needing one new spark plug (had just been serviced in St,Augustine in December) was ready early! We went to a huge West Marine in Ft Lauderdale ...always a dangerously expensive place to enter! Finally picked up some new dock lines as they were on sale!

We were ready to go! We have been working towards this since September!!!

Our weather window was Thursday through Saturday to cross the Gulf Stream, we went back through 2 bridges to the cut at Ft.Lauderdale and outside. Wind was of course on our nose so we motored south a couple of hours, in through Governors cut at Miami and tucked into a lovely anchorage behind Fisher Island that is close to the cut and where we had stayed once before. We tied on our new Jack lines, had dinner and went to bed...me only to lie awake, but Bill slept. The alarm went off at 4 AM and we left at 5:30 after coffee, a breakfast snack, a final look at the charts, final check of email and Facebook, texting to Christine, and oil check. The city lights were brilliant, and we sailed out with them to our stern just as the sky was lightening in the east. It was an amazing start to our adventure!