Finally, Sunny, Warm Days

We were hoping "Orange at night, sailor's delight!"

Finally the rain gods let up and we left Ft. Pierce. We went outside in the ocean to come in at Lake Worth, which is the West Palm Beach area. As we were coming in the inlet, all of a sudden the GPS on the chart plotter stopped working. It did not show our position. Luckily, we had been in the area before so we knew where to go and got our anchor down off of Peanut Island. Al checked out the equipment and finding nothing wrong he finally gave the antenna a whack, and guess what, it came back. We had a very unusual sunset with the directional clouds in the sky but the orange was a sign of better weather ahead.

Las Olas Bridge construction right next to the mooring field.

 The next morning we were up early to go out the inlet to head to Fort Lauderdale. We had sunny, actually hot weather (I am not complaining) to motor to Las Olas Marina to get a mooring ball. There are only about 8 moorings, but because there was a mild weather window to cross, many boats left to do so and we were able to get one. Or maybe it was because they were working on the Las Olas bridge, jack hammering and using loud compressors until 5PM, who knows but it was beautiful at night once the workers left. It even felt "Christmasy "with the decorated palm trees right off of our stern.  Look at the view from our cockpit.                      

A view of this  private home and boat decked out for the holidays.

We wanted to visit with Al's aunt and cousin, so that is why we passed on the weather window to cross. We could not visit them for two more days so that gave us the opportunity to order a new antenna for the chart plotter because Al lost all confidence in it, especially after he called the company and they did not feel confident that it would last either. We don't want to be out in the middle of the crossing and lose the GPS!

Mega yacht zooms by.

We got to experience Fort Lauderdale for 3 days. Coming in the channel with mega yachts passing us, and numerous ones tied at the docks with beautiful huge homes always amazes me. Where does all that money come from??? 

Have you ever seen a window washer hanging on the side of a boat?

 








One day we hopped on the 50 cent Sun Trolley which took us out to a small shopping center where there is a Publix grocery store, Total Wine and an Ace Hardware which we needed, plus numerous other small shops. Al also wanted to visit “Sailorman,” another new and used boat parts place. It was a long walk but I just kept telling myself, pretend it is my usual exercise walk. Once there, I said it was the type of place they need chairs for the ladies to sit, while the men have their fun!

When we got back, I went to the beach. Fort Lauderdale's beach is beautiful and well maintained. They lost much of the beach last year from hurricane Sandy but it was filled back in and back to normal. They always have a sculpture or something at the end of Las Olas Blvd.

This year it is the sailboats. Last year it was fish all made out of plastic water bottles.






 It is interesting people watching on the beach. Some people were getting ready for Christmas with their Santa hats on!  The seagulls did not seem to care!

Later that day, a single-hander on Second Wind, came over so that Al could educate him about the Miami area so he knew where to go or not to go.

Al helping a new cruiser with information.

A super place to walk!

The next day Al took me ashore to get my several mile walk in while he did the laundry. What a fantastic place to walk. The view is great and the breeze off the ocean was fantastic.

After cleaning ourselves up at the marina, we got picked up by his cousin and aunt to go to lunch. They took us to the 15^th Street Fisheries which was a very nice place to eat at the water's edge. We caught them up on all the Mauger family news. It was good to see them again.

Al, his Aunt BJ and cousin, Leslie.

The antenna came in, so Al had his project for the night, while I just stayed out of the way until he called me to help pull the wires in place. While under the cockpit, he also discovered that the cotter pins for the steering were working their way out. So he dealt with that as well. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise with the antenna, because we would not have wanted to be out in the ocean and lose steerage!

The next day the wind would have been right on our nose to head to Miami, so we moved to the Lake Sylvia anchorage where Al continued to finish up his projects. The next morning we headed out early meeting three ships in the channel. Fort Lauderdale is a busy place and we were glad to be out and heading south with a southeast wind giving us a great sail. If Ft. Lauderdale is busy, Miami is even busier. You can see the numerous cranes that load and unload container ships, then there are the numerous cruise ships, water taxis, tour boats, etcetera!

Busy port of Miami.

We found the Mershons on Sequence anchored off of Di Lido Island at the Venetian Causeway. We anchored and later had a wonderful dinner on their boat and had time to catch up on what they had been doing since we last saw them in Vero Beach.

Antique and farmer's market in South Beach.

Since it was Sunday, I had Al drop me off at the causeway and I walked into South Beach to catch a bus to go to mass. However, I remembered there is a farmer's and antique market in town on Sunday's so I did that also.

Popeye the sailor iguana!

Al met me in town on the way back for which I was glad because my purchases were getting heavy. When we got to the dinghy, their was a visitor sitting on the Mershon's dinghy, a nice size iguana. We have seen them on the walls of the canal and bridges but never on anyone's dinghy.

Towing a stranded fellow cruising couple to their boat.

Coming back from town we helped rescue another cruising couple whose engine conked out on their dinghy.  We got them to their boat safe and sound and continued on to ours.

Later that day we enjoyed drinks on Serenity, with Mike and Mary Jo, whom the Mershons knew from the West End Yacht Club up in Philadelphia.

The men's side of the boat.

The following day we took the boat to a nearby marina and filled up with water and fuel just in case there would be an opening to cross. We listened to the weather but feel we will be here this week, with a possibility to cross on the weekend.

That is a way off, so only time will tell. For now we will enjoy a little more of South Beach and Miami under warm sunny skies.