Sunny and Glitzy --- must be Miami. and a possible delay

We left Vero Beach just before dawn and idled our way down the ICW to Lake Worth for the next night.  We are beginning to see signs of the times as we make our way into the more affluent southern FL region.  That's a "for sale" sign on the lawn... one of many we've seen.

                                 

The FL state government is actively working on the ICW, dredging out some of the more shallow areas.  The mid channel depth is supposed to always be at least 12 ft, but sometimes the shoals begin to build up, making the channel too shallow for most boats with 5.5 ft drafts. Here's a little guide boat to take the traffic around the dredging machine.  We're glad!

As we approached Lake Worth things really picked up.  We saw bits of a local parade going across a bridge (thank goodness we didn't have to wait for it!  Not a bridge we needed)

                  

And the boat traffic!!! OMG!!!  It REALLY picked up!  We're sort of waiting for that bridge in front of us to open on the hour and couldn't get there too soon. Note per Luke: One redeeming social virtue - most of the many fast runabouts sported at least one bikini cald sweet young thing!

                 

We spent a quiet, uneventful night in Lake Worth, left before dawn for Miami.  The decision was to go outside for that run.  The ICW is FULL of bridges, all that open at only particular times, plus the traffic, etc, and we didn't want to hassle with it.  And the kindly, friendly bridge keepers of further north have disappeared.  These guys seem a little annoyed by their jobs, I think.

When we got outside, we watched a storm crossing over from the Bahamas towards the Atlantic coast.  Here's the boat of our traveling friends, backdropped by the approaching storm.

                   

As the storm approached closer, you can really see the storm front.  Fortunately, it passed in front of us and we didn't get caught by it.

Soooo....here comes the northern Miami coastline, Golden Beach.  How many buildings can you put in one little strip of land between the coast and the ICW?  It just kept going until we got to the Miami inlet.

Here is the actual inlet, built up to the hilt, glitzy and busy.

                      

We found a good anchorage close to the inlet, in full view of the Miami port loading docks and staging area for the large cruise ships.  This photo can't do it justice.  There are about 8 of these huge cranes.  oh, see those curlie loops of "wire"  around the top squares of the cranes.  Fiber optic cables!!!!(Probably)

The cruise ship was only 1 of 4 that we saw leave, headed southwest, probably into the keys and Caribbean.  Can't imagine the mass of excited humanity.

Finally, things settled down a bit.  The Miami shoreline at dusk.  Although those cranes worked all night. As dusk matured, we could hear the throaty roar of fast cigarette boats muscling about -- out for that midnight drug run?

We are now awaiting a visit from the local friendly Raymarine radar repairman.  Our radar decided to simply not work yesterday.  We don't use it often, only in overnight situations and storms, but we like to have it available so we always have all options.  So, we shall see what he says. Could be a simple fix of loose wires or could need to be taken into a shop for repair.  or sent away for repair.  Today and tonight are our only passage opportunities to our chosen port, Bimini, until sometime next week.  We'd much rather cross over and wait out the unsettled weather there instead of anchored in Miami.  We shall see. I'll post our update and decision.