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.

Bahamas dreaming...

We aren't there yet, but close enough that it's becoming real.  Left Vero Beach early this morning in company with Heather & Ken's boat.  Vero was a lot of fun.  We learned to ride the free buses all over town, ran around with Heather & Ken, met up with friends Marina & Dave for a couple of dinners, and long time friends of Luke's, Ange and Ray, came up from Ft. Lauderdale to spend the day with us on Saturday.  Note those Christmas lights in the cockpit, too!

They brought their daughter Nicole.  She took a turn at steering for a little cruise down the ICW.

The plan is tonight at Lake Worth, tomorrow to Miami or Key Biscayne, and then over to the Bahamas at the very first weather window. We're ready!!!

Vero Beach

We are at the mecca of sailors in the US, Vero Beach, aka Velcro Beach (because so many hate to leave here).  Before arriving at Vero Beach, we did a mini tour of Cocoa, a cute town with an old style buildings.

Early the next morning, we had a mixture of fog and sun.  Just beautiful.

As we left Cocoa, we passed an area of the ICW that is flat, flat, flat, with a narrow channel for the boats and endless shallow water on all sides.  It's a difficult are to go through, but a strangely beautiful area.

A little further and we saw the buildings of Cape Canaveral at a distance.  Tallest doors in the world.

A little further and small spoil island appear, small islands that support only wildlife.  But, boy, do the wildlife love it there.

Almost to Vero Beach, the homes become even larger and more outrageous.  How's this for a little beautiful yard art.

We met friends Marina and Dave here in Vero Beach.  We'll stay here for a few days, probably leaving on Saturday, weather permitting.

St Augustine to New Smynra Beach & warm weather

We left Cumberland Island at almost daylight to ensure an arrival in St. Augustine before dark.  There are a lot of shrimp boats working the GA and FL waters this time of the year.  We saw lots of them at night, plus a few that hadn't gone in for the day yet off of the FL coastline.  It seems that we always see them in groups of 3.

The weather held up most of the day, but about 2 hours out of St. Augustine, the rain hit.  and it continued to rain.  and it was cold.

Fortunately, friends Heather & Ken were already in St. Augustine and greeted us with a warm boat cabin, dry socks, and great dinner.  A nice way to finish up a cold, rainy day.

Turns out that this past weekend was the Christmas parade and the British parade in St. Augustine.  So, we left the boat early and headed to town for the day.  Haircuts for both of us at the local barber (wish I had a picture) and then to an ABC store for supplies.  They were giving out samples!  at an ABC store!  I love Florida!  Here are Ken and Luke getting their little jiggers full.

 

A little more sightseeing and then dinner at Scarlet O'Hara's.  The greasy fried food was a great antipoison for the organic lunch we had!

                     

After dinner, we watched the nighttime Brit parade.  Lots of fun and lots of local participation.

               

Both boats left early on Sunday for a run past Daytona to New Smyrna Beach.  Yes, here's Daytona, highrises and all.

                              

Look at the bridge supports on the Memorial Bridge in Daytona --- pretty cool, huh!

                       

South of Daytona, we passed the Ponce Inlet, the major inlet to the Daytona area.  Beautiful lighthouse protecting the entrance.

                                        

We spend an uneventful night at anchor in New Smyrna Beach, then left in light rain this morning for Cocoa.  The rain has stopped for now, maybe showers later.  I guess this makes up for the complete lack of rain we had last year.  I thought it never rained in FL... but the weather has changed and it's WARM!!!  I LOVE it!  60 at night, 75 for the next few days.

En  route this morning, we passed the strangest thing.... hundreds of comorants and white pelicans just milling about in the water.  We had to slow down to an idle to creep through them.  They would finally move, but not far.  This picture captures only a few of them.  Just amazing.

Onward to Cocoa later this afternoon, maybe for some cheap pizza!  The plan is falling together. We've met up with Heather & Ken, will see Vero Beach for a few days, then the Lauderdale area, then further south to look for a good spot and  weather window to cross to the Bahamas.

St. Mary's Island and Cumberland Island

We arrived at St. Mary's, GA, early in the morning, only to await a severe storm that came through on Wednesday.  Not a lot of rain, but definitely wind.

Nothing much to do except chores.  I defrosted the freezer, always fun...

Luke did computer work

and we did decorate for Christmas.

When the storm passed, we decided to go tour St. Mary's, GA.  It's a cute little town, starting with the usual nice harbor

also full of old churches

and old homes

After a too quick tour, we left for Cumberland Island, now a national park but once  the home of Thomas and Lucy Carnegie, called Dunganess.  En route to the anchorage, we saw an eagle.

From the anchorage, we could see the Trident submarine refurbishing center.

Stately old live oak trees with loads of Spanish moss

The old home itself was maganificant

But it was deserted in 1916 with the death of Mrs. Carnegie and burned in 1959.  It's in ruins now.

The land now has wild horses and native animals like armadillas!  Never seen one in the wild before!

and wild turkeys

 and wild tourists...

Weather or Not? - Luke's Story

Weather is everything -- if it's good, the journey is easy and pleasant, if it's bad -- it's at least tedious, probably uncomfortable and just a pain. This last overnighter from Ossabaw Sound, south of Savannah, 72 nautical miles to St Marys on the Florida border, is an example of how it went well.

This NOAA web site (one of many) presents a good overview of fronts and weather for the next few days. It showed a well defined cold front, inland and parallel to the Georgia coast, on Monday afternoon. It was to move off shore late Monday night. As we left Ossabaw Sound, we could clearly see the frontal clouds in a line over the coast.

Another web site Passageweather.com predicted the progression of winds during the night. This showed that initially we would have relatively light winds from the SW, (about 10 kts) on the nose during the first part of the evening. Consistent with the passing of the front, sometime between 10 PM and 1 AM, the wind would clock to from the West, then NW then N and finally NNE and build a bit as the night progressed. All these directions would make sailing, rather than motoring,  possible. Another NOAA Coastal Forecast web site gave us a sanity check and confirmed all this in less detail.

In fact, at about 10:30 PM, the wind started clocking to the west. At midnight, when Bobbie finished her tour of sleeping, we raised the sails and were able to sail the rest of the night. The wind increased to 15 to 20 kts, and we had an easy downwind run. After the front, we were followed by a nearly full moon sparkling on the water, and passed a number of brightly lit shrimp boats (we think) working through the night.

Why through the night? Well, we were 12 miles up Ossabaw Sound, 72 miles to St Marys channel entrance, and 6 miles into St Marys. That's 90 miles. We wanted to leave Ossabaw Sound and arrive at St Marys in daylight. While we can generally sustain at least 6.5 kts, we can't plan on more than 6 kts. Even at 7 kts, 72 miles is 13 hours, and we only have about 10 hours of daylight these days. So, we kept it slow, and did the easy 72 miles between 5:45 PM and 6:45 AM.

Savannah Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Savannah.  Beth, our friends Ray and Randy, and we had a belated feast at Beth's on Friday.  Here are the guys at work, busily trying to figure out how 2 people can carve a turkey breast at the same time...

After feasting, Beth and I did some Black Friday shopping (no, not at 4a.m.).  A cookie making party with some girlfriends while Luke shopped filled Saturday.  On Sunday we went to services in the newly renovated, BEAUTIFUL church that Beth attends, Asbury Memorial.  After church, we had lunch with Savannah friends Kathy and Bill, back to the boat with all of our stash, then dinner with friends we met in the Bahamas, Dee and Dave.  It was a great weekend.
We left Savannah around 3:30 pm for an overnighter (we never learn) to St. Mary's FL, arriving at dawn on Tuesday.  The weather is not good for the next few days so we want to sit it out there and do some exploring of the area.
So, we're safely anchored to ride out the wind and are ready for a good morning nap!