Tag Archives | trawlers

On Thursday, we sailed on the outside from Ft. Lauderdale to South Beach, Miami, with Kevin and Courtney. We had a southerly breeze, which made the trip a little lumpy. As we approached Government Cut, we heard the Coast Guard warning recreational vessels to keep 100 yards away from a cruise ship that was stuck in the channel. We turned off before we got close, but we were betting that it made the news. We had a great steak dinner onboard and wonderful conversation.
Friday morning from our anchorage, we watched three cruise ships arrive and one depart. We launched the dinghy, rode down a canal, tied up to a traffic barrier, and spent most of the day in Miami Beach. We strolled up and down the Lincoln Street Mall and shopped in many of the trendy shops there. Lunch, courtesy of Kevin and Courtney, was at Van Dykes. We had be best grilled calamari appetizer that any of us had ever had.
We had dinner aboard and watched “Captain Ron” in the evening.

Monday, December 13, 2010, Day 78: We traveled the 6 miles from Pompano Beach to Ft. Lauderdale. The strong winds, 20 knots from the west, made maneuvering difficult. We tied up at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club. It was great to see Chris and Joyce (Celebrate, our sponsors here) when they visited in the afternoon. Kathy, an American Express/sailing friend of Linda’s for 28 years, and her friends Priscilla and Robert came for cocktails aboard. Wonderful to see them after Kathy’s many years in Asia. It is unusually cold here — the temperature range was 63/43, which is very cold for Ft. Lauderdale. The wind makes it feel even colder.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010, Day 79: Our Reston neighbor, Ray, who lives in Miami came to pick us up for lunch–a delicious lunch at Seasons 52 in the nearby Galleria. Then the fun really began. We needed to sign up for the Department of Homeland Security’s Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS), that allows us to leave and enter the country with a phone call vs. stopping by in person. I won’t go into all of the details, but this task (which is advertised as taking 15 minutes), actually required a day and a half, a $ 35 cab ride and, because that was absurdly expensive, a rental car. One note for those reading this blog, each crew member must sign up. This is a change. Before, only the captain needed to sign up.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010, Day 80: We finished the effort to sign up for the SVRS and provisioned Escapade. Kevin and Courtney arrived for a holiday visit in the evening. It is so nice seeing them and we look forward to their 10 day visit.

While the trip from Lake Worth to Ft. Lauderdale is relatively short, we felt that with a cold front predicted tonight with strong northerlies, it would be best to go some of the way today and take a slip in a marina. We are glad that we did. While …

Well, today we saw a lot of change from further north. The weather is decidedly milder. We don’t know if it is just a general warmup, our location further south, or a combination. We suspect the latter. We understand that it is forecast to get cooler on Monday.
The wealth is staggering. Our banner photo shows a marina with maybe a hundred mega-yachts, some of them shrink-wrapped (now that’s a lot of plastic sheeting!). Such yachts are rare further north but much more common here. The photo to the right shows tens of beach condo buildings.
We found people that are very helpful here. We stopped for a pump-out since the Vero Beach pump out had not been working as well as many along the way. New Point Cove Marina did not have the correct fitting for our boat. One man drove Ken to a hardware store to find it and, when they didn’t have it, worked for an hour to try to make their fittings work and get out enough to let us continue our journey. There was no charge (though other marinas we called along the way charged $ 15).
On the other hand, the go-fast boaters don’t even consider the damage and the unpleasantness that their wakes create. (See photo right.) We couldn’t even figure out where he was going in such a rush. This photo was taken about two miles from the north end of Lake Worth; there was no place further for him to go. We are continuously thankful for our stabilizers.
Up to this point in our trip, bridge tenders have been courteous and helpful. Not down here. Jupiter Federal Bridge: “If I open this bridge for you, it is going to cost you a lot of money.” (Referring to fines for requesting an unnecessary bridge opening. It was necessary for Escapade.) “What is you port of documentation and your documentation number?” We arrived at the PGA bridge about two minutes after its scheduled opening. He hadn’t opened it because there was no boat traffic before us. He made us wait for a half hour until the next scheduled opening. Yet for a mega-yacht he new (007) he said he’ll just open it when 007 got there. We arrived at the Parker Bridge about 7 minutes before the scheduled opening. Bridge Tender: “There will be a delay like there has been all day.” Ken: “How Long?” Bridge Tender: “One to Thirty Minutes, I have workers on the bridge.” Then later: “We will not open until the next scheduled opening (45 minutes later).” Still later: “We will only open the north span.” When she finally opened half of the bridge, we still had to wait for the oncoming traffic–small boats that could easily have gone under the closed portion of the bridge so that the 4 larger boats that had accumulated there could proceed.
We had planned on a short day. With all of the delays, we used the full day. We are not happy with the prospect of dealing with 20 bridges between Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. We hope that the weather permits an outside passage.